We are thrilled to welcome up-and-coming English composer at this important stage of her practice. Currently both a Tanglewood Composition Fellow and an Royal Philharmonic Society Composer, following on from a Britten-Pears Young Artist residency, transatlantic interest in her work has already extended from the New England Philharmonic to the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. She is also director of women’s music series Illuminate and Composition Professor at London Performing Academy of Music.
An initial selection of scores with Composers Edition represents some of Slater’s more recent activity. This set of six solo works is a result of from her Arts Council England-funded Connected skies project in which she set herself a lock-down challenge to compose six new solo works of about ten mins each. These was then premiered digitally in a monthly virtual event, starting from January 2021. You can catch-up on these digital events which show the collaboration process and the premiere performance of work via her Youtube Channel. The set includes new works for double bass, cello, flute with glissando head joint, accordion, percussion and mezzo soprano working with performers Maggie Cox, Sarah Gait, Emma Coulthard, Kamila Olas, Iris van den Bos and Kameryn Lueng. Angela tells us;
All of these new solo pieces reflect the difficult times of 2020 and 2021, and draw on a poem I wrote during lockdown. The titles of each of the works are based on lines from this poem:
When the sky enclosed around me Shrinking ever smaller I found woven half dreams fractured in spaces inbetween which ache and screams I tried to shut the noise out but it echoed right back at me never to leave or fully be
Slater continues to be busy with a summer working with Onyx brass with John Armitage Memorial organisation, Stockholm Chamber Brass Academy, New Music Gathering (US), Brightwork ensemble at Impulse New Music Festival (Los Angeles), Fresh Squeezed Opera Vocal lab (New York), Magnard Ensemble at Vale of Glamorgan Festival, and Northumbria Trio with Alison Gill at RMA Conference at Newcastle University. Angela tells us;
I am especially looking forward to working on a new piece for clarinet quintet for Ensemble 360 as part of the RPS Composers programme, developing a new accordion concerto working with accordionist Kamila Olas through Arts Council England’s DYCP fund and, in November 2022, hearing the long-awaited (and delayed) performance of my piano concerto Tautening skies, written for Laura Farré Rozada.
We very much look forward to publishing more of Angela’s works in the near future and to working with her as she continues in great strides.
It has been great to see the growth of Composers Edition over the years and I am therefore very excited to become part of such a forward-thinking enterprise. I am delighted to be publishing my work here at Composers Edition and looking forward to where this might lead. I am honoured to be invited to join such a respected community of so many impressive artists.
Angela Elizabeth Slater
Enclosing Skies
for solo accordion
Written especially for Kamila Olas as part of ‘Connected skies: solo series challenge’
Never to leave
for mezzo-soprano
Written especially for Kameryn Lueng as part of ‘Connected skies: solo series challenge’
Shut out the Noise
for solo percussionist
Written especially for Iris van den Bos as part of ‘Connected skies: solo series challenge’
The aching space between
for solo double bass
Written especially for Maggie Cox as part of ‘Connected skies: solo series challenge’
Woven half dreams
for solo cello
Written especially for Sarah Gait as part of ‘Connected skies: solo series challenge’
Tags: Angela Elizabeth Slater, Connected Skies, Never to leave, New England Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Society, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, The aching space between, Woven half dreams