Event overview
This evening concert will feature a performance of selected movements from the epic piano cycle "Afrikosmos”, performed by Antony Gray.
Michael Blake says “The idea of writing an African response to Bartók’s 'Mikrokosmos' has a long genesis. I first approached it in 2003 with a tiny piece for young players called 'iKos’tina', commissioned by the ABRSM for Thalia Myers’ 'Spectrum' series. Béla Bartók composed his Mikrokosmos initially to teach the piano to his son Peter, and so it includes pieces for beginners through to more advanced students and concert pianists, with most of the pieces drawing on Eastern European folk music. I followed his format of six volumes, each one roughly following a similar format, with one or two pieces that fall into each of the following genres: studies, pieces focusing on rhythm and texture, character pieces, dances, pieces exploring a mode or scale, folksong arrangements and variations, transcriptions and homages. Just as Bartók wanted to represent a small world, or the “world of the little ones, the children”, so I wanted to represent as broad a picture as possible of African music and my own heritage.
I wanted to explore in as comprehensive a way possible the vast range of traditional music from sub-Saharan Africa. While a few pieces are piano transcriptions of existing music, most pieces are written in a neo-African style, reflecting my own compositional aesthetic which has drawn on African musical material and aesthetics since the mid-1970s. Throughout I tried to write music which doesn’t patronise or ‘write down’ to young players, however simple the music may be. The pieces use African five and six note scales, harmonies based on the overtone series, polyrhythm, interlocking, cyclic form, etc. And there are also pieces which are cutups or collages of existing music, some which use graphic notation, or are played directly on the strings, and some in which the pianist has to whistle or click their fingers as percussive accompaniment."
The Australian pianist, Antony Gray graduated from the Victorian College of Arts where he studied with Roy Shepherd and Stephen McIntyre, winning several awards and prizes.
Based now in London, he has long been regarded as one of the most interesting and communicative performers of his generation. His career to date has encompassed solo and chamber music performances around the world, as well as regular recordings for CD and radio. He has been a (selective) champion of contemporary music and has premiered many pieces written for him.
Micheal Blake, South African born composer and pianist, was based in London from 1977, returning to the ‘New South Africa’ twenty years later. Apart from teaching composition at several universities, he was responsible for a number of post-apartheid New Music initiatives. His musical language is partly the result of an immersion in the materials and playing techniques of African music, but also drawing on virtually any found material, and is influenced by both experimental film and African weaving techniques.
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 21 Jun 2023 | 7:30pm - 9:00pm |
Accessibility
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