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Tag Archives: Brian Howard

02 May

“Sentinel” by Brian Howard reviewed in Limelight Magazine

Wildbird is pleased to read the latest review from Vincent Plush at Limelight Magazine for the premiere performance of Brian Howard’s Sentinel (2020) which took place at the Canberra International Music Festival, May 2021, with Noriko Shimada on contraforte and Roland Peelman conducting. About Howard’s work for contraforte and chamber ensemble, Plush writes:

Nothing could have prepared us for the shock of Brian Howard’s new work. … Long ago, Howard eschewed the easy options of post-modern euphony in an uncompromising assertion of a tough, gritty and flamboyant personal language. Sometimes the result is confusing and disorienting. More often it is exhilarating and revitalising as it challenges the conventional orthodoxy of what new music can and might be.

Vincent Plush, Limelight Magazine

The full review of the concert can be read at the following link: https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/reviews/ḥarim-ميرح-canberra-international-music-festival/

15 Jul

3 Helpmann Award nominations for “Metamorphosis”

Wildbird Music congratulates the production team for the 2018 staging of Brian Howard’s opera Metamorphosis on the following nominations for Helpmann Awards in the Opera & Classical Music category for 2019:

  • Opera Australia, nominated for Best Opera
  • Simon Lobelson, nominated for Best Male Performer in an Opera, for his role as Gregor
  • Taryn Fiebig, nominee and winner in the category Best Female Performer in a Supporting Role in an Opera, for her role as Mother
21 Aug

Two new score publications

Wildbird is pleased to announce the publication of two more scores by Brian Howard:

Alchemy, his String Quartet No.1

Desires Ingrained, for solo violin

You can listen to Desires Ingrained performed by Vera van der Bie in Amsterdam in October 2016 in the Resources section of this website.

Wildbird has a Special Offer on these two new scores from 21 August to 4 September. You can access this at Shop / Special Offers.

04 Sep

Metamorphosis

Opera Australia has announced that Brian Howard‘s opera Metamorphosis will receive a new production in the 2018 season.

This will be the fourth production of this opera after Nigel Triffitt (VSO) Melbourne, Graeme Murphy (OA) Sydney and John Milson (WAAPA) Perth.

Metamorphosis will be staged in Sydney on 26, 27, 28 and 29 September 2018 and in Melbourne on 25, 26 and 27 October 2018.

The new production will be directed by Tama Matheson with set and costumes by Mark Thompson.

Paul Fitzsimon will conduct with Simon Lobelson, Julie Lea Goodwin, Christopher Hillier, Taryn Fiebig, Adrian Tamburini and Benjamin Rasheed as the cast.

Find out more from Opera Australia: https://opera.org.au/whatson/events/metamorphosis-sydney

22 Sep

Premiere of new work by Brian Howard

Brian Howard’s Desires Ingrained (2016) for solo violin will be premiered at the first of the three After the Silence concerts in Amsterdam in October. This work will be performed by Vera Van Der Bie on 3 October 2016. The concerts will present a series of compositions all 8 minutes or less in duration. Kate Moore and Konstantin Koukias will also have works performed at these concerts.

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/138974306552240/

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.nl/e/tickets-after-the-silence-new-sounds-concert-1-of-3-27684587346

31 Mar

Limelight Australian Composition Seminar 2016

Wildbird Music is delighted to support the Limelight Australian Composition Seminar again in 2016.  Taking place on Tuesday 19 July at Santa Sabina College, Strathfield (Sydney), and hosted by Karen Carey, Richard Gill and Andrew Batt-Rawden, we hear this special and enriching event for secondary school music teachers and students has already sold out.

We’re very pleased that alongside workshops of student compositions, the music of Wildbird composer Brian Howard will be featured this year, with a performance and analysis of Voyage through radiant stars 6, the stand-alone string quartet movement from Howard’s larger chamber work Voyage through radiant stars, also connected with the solo saxophone work Voyages 1-8. We’re looking forward to the education kit arising from the seminar, as well as a recording of Voyage through radiant stars 6.

14 May

Broadcasts

Saturday’s concert at the Canberra International Music Festival will be broadcast 8pm tonight (14 May 2015) on ABC Classic FM. Tune in to hear the world premiere of Brian Howard’s Full Fathom Five.  For those catching up on the broadcast on a later date, the link is:

http://www.abc.net.au/classic/content/2015/05/14/4236712.htm

Also, on Saturday 9 May 2015, author Elliott Gyger spoke with presenter Andrew Ford on ABC Radio National’s The Music Show about his book The Music of Nigel Butterley. The interview can now be downloaded/streamed at this link:

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/musicshow/elliott-gyger-on-nigel-butterley/6455916

09 May

World premiere of ‘Full Fathom Five’

We’re delighted to announce that Full Fathom Five, composed by Brian Howard and published by Wildbird, will receive its world premiere on Saturday 9 May 2015 at 3pm at the Canberra International Music Festival. The concert, ‘Movers and Shakers’ will take place at the Fitter’s Workshop, and performers on the programme include: Amy Dickson, saxophone, Geoff Gartner, cello, Roland Peelman, piano and conductor, YAFF string players, Ensemble Offspring, New Zealand String Quartet, Tinalley String Quartet.

The concert will be broadcast on ABC Classic FM, Thursday 14 May 2015 at 8pm.