Bringing Oram's final score to the Proms

A research assistant from the Goldsmiths, University of London Music department is set to perform a previously undiscovered Daphne Oram composition at the BBC Proms on Monday 23 July.

James Bulley and fellow composer Shiva Feshareki will perform a world premiere of the final score written by the electronic music pioneer alongside the London Contemporary Orchestra.

Bulley and Feshareki discovered the score, previously thought lost, in December 2016 when researching the Daphne Oram Archive at Goldsmiths, where Bulley has recently completed a PhD. The Proms performance will follow Oram’s exact specification.

Still Point will form the centre piece for Prom 13, 'Pioneers of Sound', at the Royal Albert Hall, and is thought to be the earliest example of a composition specifying real-time electronic transformation of instrumental sounds. The show has been featured as part of the BBC’s ‘Pick of the Proms’ round up.

It was the last composition Oram wrote for orchestra before founding the BBC Radiophonic workshop in 1958, which laid the roots for the new fields of British electronic music that were to come.

James Bulley said: “This concert will see the culmination of years of work by Shiva and I, and we are both very excited to have the opportunity to perform on such a huge platform. As Oram came up with the ideas for this piece while working for the BBC at the Royal Albert Hall, and at Maida Vale during World War Two, this is the most fitting scenario we could have imagined for this composition’s world premiere.”

Pioneers of Sound will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and highlights will be shown on BBC Four.

More information about Pioneers of Sound