Adam Gorb’s new song cycle Beggars Belief is his fifth collaboration with the poet and librettist Ben Kaye. The work focuses on the subject of homelessness and is for soprano and piano. The premiere will be rescheduled for the autumn with Yuliya Shkvarko as the soprano soloist, at the Royal Northern College of Music.
Gorb has also recently completed 23 Preludes and a Fugue for the pianist Clare Hammond. The work will allow for flexible programming where all 24 pieces can make a more contemporary setting lasting about an hour, or a group of pieces of varying lengths can be played alongside other music. There are performances planned from August 2020 and the complete set will be recorded in December 2020 for the Toccata Classics label.
Adam Gorb is currently writing a short piece for the pianist Duncan Honeybourne in response to the present lockdown. As Duncan writes:
Contemporary Piano Soundbites will be a collection of solo piano miniatures composed, directly or indirectly, in response to the 2020 coronavirus crisis. I am inviting a selection of today’s leading UK-based contemporary composers to write a piano miniature, lasting anything from 30 seconds up to 5 minutes. Each miniature will be premiered in a video recording, posted online in the Contemporary Piano Soundbites series over the coming weeks. I’m planning to post one or two each week during this difficult period, and to invite donations for the Help Musicians UK Coronavirus Hardship Fund from those who enjoy listening.
Duncan Honeybourne
Adam Gorb’s next project is a short song cycle for mezzo soprano for the 100th birthday of the Royal Academy of Music.
We look forward to all this new music by Adam Gorb which will be added to our catalogue and made available for purchase in due course.
Tags: 23 Preludes and a Fugue, Adam Gorb, Beggars Belief, Ben Kaye, Clare Hammond, Contemporary Piano Soundbites, Duncan Honeybourne, Help Musicians UK, lockdown music, Royal Academy of Music, Royal Northern College of Music, Toccata Classics, Yuliya Shkvarko