West Dean College will be holding its first 'College Friend' event of 2016 with a dinner and talk by Matthew Harris. Following a two course dinner in one of the college's staterooms, guests will enjoy Matthew's presentation on his recent collaboration with leading British Composer, Howard Skempton.
Field Notes is a performance featuring specially commissioned textiles by Harris and a new music composition by Skempton. The work takes inspiration from an archive of Shropshire maps and also from graphic music scores and the result is a conversation of object and music that explores the difference, and similarities, of their two mediums. You can read more about the collaboration project here.
Wednesday 2 March, 6.15pm - 9p.m / Booking required by 12pm on 22 February.
£30 includes entry to West Dean House, two course meal and talk.
To book tickets please email [email protected] or telephone 01243 818256.
Matthew Harris has exhibited widely throughout the U.K, Europe, the United States and Japan. He has work in the Crafts Council Collection and The Whitworth Museum and Art Gallery, as well as numerous private collections. In 2010 he was shortlisted for the first Arts Foundation Award for Textile Art and in 2009 completed 'Scorched' a ten metre long Graphic Score for the new Colston Hall, Bristol. Matthew is represented by Erskine, Hall and Coe, London.
Howard Skempton is a professional composer whose works have been published by Oxford University Press since 1994. His best known work is "Lento" (1990), commissioned by the BBC for the BBC Symphony Orchestra and was performed at 2010 BBC Proms. Much of his music is available on CD. The Oxford University Press website includes discography, a biography and details of recent compositions. He is an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music.
'Only the Sound Remains' was shortlisted for the 2011 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards. The piece, a large scale composition for viola and chamber ensemble, was written for the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, and had its premiere in 2010. Howard has had previous success at the Awards with his string quartet,Tendrils, written for the 2004 Huddersfield Festival. It won the Royal Philharmonic Society award for chamber-scale composition. Tendrils also won the Chamber Music category in the BBC Radio 3′s British Composer Awards. 'The Moon is Flashing' won the 2008 award in the vocal category.
In September 2015 his work was performed by the Southlands Orchestra, Los Angeles, as part of a programme of three generations of British composers, alongside West Dean Visual Arts lecturer and Research Assistant Sarah Hughes.
