Primavera

music by Enid Luff and Julia Usher

Julia’s news

Colchester New Music Day

On May 14th, 2008, Julia was the featured composer during the Colchester New Music Day. She had been commissioned to write two new pieces, which were premiered by the Gemini Ensemble, with Sarah Leonard, Soprano.

Il Pozzo di San Patrizio was played at the evening concert at the Swinburne Hall, Colchester, at 7-30pm, in a programme including works by Harrison Birtwistle and Mark Bellis, among others. Julia’s music was also featured at a presentation at 12-1pm at the Headgate Theatre, in a workshop which also included other new works.

The whole event went under the vivid title of Glass, Bells and Time.

Touching the Wall
     Recently Julia celebrated the launch of a new DVD; this was an exciting and unusual collaboration with an Italian graphic artist living in Berlin. Julia's prize-winning piece for Clavichord CLAVICLE : a Touch - Piece for Clavichord   has been realized and performed for a DVD recording by the brilliant clavichordist Andrea Gregori. But this was only the beginning of the project. Andrea Gregori not only wanted to explore the sonorities of the piece, and the very extended techniques suggested by the score. He was further inspired to create a sequence of surprising and extraordinary graphic images, which cut and intercut in dramatic synchronization with the music. Andrea is a photographer and graphic; he has used images many of which are taken from the graffiti, the cracks and the weathering that were on the surface of the Berlin Wall.

    This has been an exciting collaboration, starting with the composition of a piece in which Julia stretched the contemporary technique of clavichord playing with many unusual effects, including harmonics, use of double fretted unisons, and glissandi on the strings. Andrea's own interpretation of the score breaks new ground. Finally, his synchronized sequence completes a full circle: the new work is called TOUCHING THE WALL. Andrea has also designed a very striking sleeve cover for the DVD presentation.

    The DVD disc has been released through various internet outlets, from Britain and from Europe. Julia and Andrea are also planning to release the DVD to Festivals, art galleries and other forms of diffusion and projection.

     Find out more about Touching the Wall

    Julia was also involved during the spring in a project with the COMA EAST group Firewire, which she has directed over the last few years, and brought from being an ad hoc group to being a consolidated ensemble with a character of its own. The project, called the Tower of Babel, was undertaken in collaboration with the Colchester Institute. Julia also led a workshop for students on December 13th at the Institute, and thereafter, part of the work ll engaged the students in providing the Babel Chorus for Stuart Russell's music drama, which took place that evening. Julia's own new structured improvisation Last Fling was played for the first time as well.

   A recent piece for small ensemble, Malkin, for clarinet, violin, cello and piano, was composed for Colchester New Music.

Enid’s news

Lamentation, for wind ensemble, was given its first performance on Friday November 23^rd, 2007, at 7-30 pm, by the New Wind Ensemble, during the London New Wind Festival, director Catherine Pluygers. The piece was given favourable mention in Musical Opinion, during its review of the Festival.

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Primavera, 11 Langham Place, Highwoods

Colchester, CO4 9GB Tel (01206) 751522

enidluff@googlemail.com