I’m absolutely thrilled to be starting this month as Composer-in-Residence Apprentice at Handel House Museum, and really excited about all the projects I’m going to be involved with and leading over the next year.
My role kicked off in earnest this week, with a meeting with the newly established Handel House Talent artists - it was great to discuss projects with them for the coming months, and I’m hoping there’ll be plenty of time for us to collaborate and exchange creative ideas during our respective residencies. So watch this space…! (You can read more about these fabulous people here - http://www.handelhouse.org/about-us/handel-house-talent )
As this is my very first blog, I thought I’d share a little about myself, and the kind of music I’ve been writing recently. I’m a London-based composer, and have just completed my Masters at the Royal College of Music (where this month I’ve started doctoral studies alongside my work at Handel House). In terms of the pieces I’ve been composing, the last few years have been quite varied, including a fully-staged chamber opera, (http://boulezian.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/hogarths-stages-five-short-operas-royal.html) numerous smaller-scale chamber and vocal pieces, a work recorded by the London Sinfonietta, soon to be released online by NMC (http://www.nmcrec.co.uk/next-wave/edwin-hillier - keep your eyes peeled for an impending shameless plug!), as well as an upcoming performance by Lore Lixenberg at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.
I’m now greatly looking forward to getting started on a few new pieces, some of which are to be performed at Handel House (the first being a premiere with the awesome BLOCK4 recorder quartet [http://www.block4.co.uk/] who play for us on 1st January).
The next few weeks see me busily working away at Handel House, in the role’s other main activity - leading creative workshops with school children (of a variety of ages!) on the music of Handel. I’m loving planning these at the moment, trying to make the compositional process tangible and immediate for them, and introducing them to some of the stunning music which was written in this building.
I’m looking forward to sharing some of these experiences with you soon!
Edwin
