A few moments with Peter S. Shin

Later this month we will be playing at Nottingham Trent University as part of the university’s ‘Groundbreaking’ series of contemporary music. On the programme will be works by Georg Friedrich Haas (Tria ex uno) and Chaya Czernowin Ayre, towed through plumes, thicket, asphalt, sawdust and hazardous air I shall not forget the sound of), as well as works commissioned in our 2017 Call for Scores, Baby Magnify/Lilith’s New […]

A few moments with Tom Coult

Our next concert will take place on 2 August, when Riot will be appearing at West Sussex’s Petworth Festival. On the programme will be works by Klaus Huber, Cassandra Miller, Gabriella Smith, Paul Burnell, and Siemens Music Prize-winner Ann Cleare, as well as a new work by Petworth composer Terence Allbright. Also featured will be […]

Couch to Sequenza XII: An interview with Ruth Rosales

The great Italian composer Luciano Berio (1925–2003) wrote thirteen Sequenzas for solo instruments, from voice to accordion (fourteen if you count his arrangement of the clarinet’s Sequenza IX for alto saxophone). They are among the pinnacles of the repertory for solo musicians – contemporary equivalents to Bach’s cello suites, or Liszt’s piano études. They also […]

Speak, Be Silent: A Testament to Riot Ensemble’s Vision and Artistry

Jarret Goodchild reviewed our latest album Speak, Be Silent for the new music blog I Care If You Listen, declaring it “a testament to Riot Ensemble’s vision and artistry.” Read the review below or check out it out here. Since 2012, the London-based Riot Ensemble has given over 200 world and UK premieres and has become a spearhead at the forefront […]

A few moments with Play for Progress’s Alyson Frazier

On 8th April we invite you to the Crypt on the Green to celebrate the launch of our third CD, Speak, Be Silent, our first release on Huddersfield Contemporary Records. You can pre-order the CD here. Riot Ensemble artists will play solo works by each of the composers represented on the CD: Rebecca Saunders, Liza Lim, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Mirela Ivičevič, and Chaya Czernowin. […]

Even more moments with Georg Friedrich Haas

Excitement is building at Riot headquarters as in less than two weeks we will be giving the first performance of a major new work by Georg Friedrich Haas, one of the world’s leading composers. Titled Solstices the work will receive its world premiere appropriately at the Dark Music Days festival in Reykjavik on 26th January. But don’t worry if […]

A few more moments with Georg Friedrich Haas

In January 2019 we will be giving the first performances of Solstices – a new work for ensemble by one of the world’s leading composers, Georg Friedrich Haas. The world premiere will be at Dark Music Days on 26th January, and we’ll follow up with the UK premiere at the Royal Academy of Music’s Susie Sainsbury […]

A few moments with Nicole Lizée

We are delighted to be bringing an all-Canadian portrait concert to the Spitalfields Winter Festival, featuring music by Christopher Mayo, Richard Reed Parry, and Nicole Lizée. Canada is the home of some of the world’s most exciting new music right now, so it is a real thrill for us to be able to perform these three […]

A few (more) moments with Christopher Mayo

We are looking forward very much to playing at the Spitalfields Winter Festival next month, and happier still to be returning to the music of Christopher Mayo, which we will be performing in an all-Canadian programme alongside Nicole Lizée’s Black MIDI and Richard Reed Parry’s Music for Heart and Breath. Mayo’s extraordinary Youngblood II for five bassoons (yes!) was […]

A few moments with Georg Friedrich Haas

We are very excited to announce that in January 2019 we will be giving the first performances of Solstices – a new work for ensemble by one of the world’s leading composers, Georg Friedrich Haas. The world premiere will be at Dark Music Days on 26th January, and we’ll follow up with the UK premiere at […]

A few moments with Judit Varga

On Wednesday 31 October at the Warehouse in London we will be playing Jonathan Harvey’s masterful Song Offerings, the world premiere of Benjamin Graves’ Four Facades, and new pieces from two of our 2018 Call for Scores winners, Caterina di Cecca and Judit Varga. Judit, a Hungarian-born resident of Vienna, spoke to us between house moves about beauty, […]

A few moments with Caterina di Cecca

On Wednesday 31 October at the Warehouse in London we will be playing Jonathan Harvey’s masterful Song Offerings, the world premiere of Benjamin Graves’s Four Facades, and new pieces from two of our 2018 Call for Scores winners, Caterina di Cecca and Judit Varga. Caterina, who is based in Rome, spoke to us about saxophone potential, the poetry […]

A few moments with Benjamin Graves

On Wednesday 31 October at the Warehouse in London we will be playing Jonathan Harvey’s masterful Song Offerings alongside new pieces from two of our 2018 Call for Scores winners, Caterina di Cecca and Judit Varga. The concert takes its title from another world premiere, Four Facades by Benjamin Graves, written for Riot and our fantastic violist Stephen […]

A few moments with Ann Cleare

Next Thursday, 14 May, we will present the second of our two spring concerts at Goldsmiths College, London. As well as pieces by Pauline Oliveros (her almost forgotten string quartet The Wheel of Time, of which we gave the UK premiere at hcmf// last year), Clara Iannotta (Limun for violin, viola, and two page turners), and Patricia […]

A few moments with Patricia Alessandrini

Next Tuesday, 8 May, we will give the first of two concerts at Goldsmiths College, London, this spring (the second is on 14 June). These have been arranged with Goldsmiths’ Lecturer in Sonic Arts, Patricia Alessandrini, whose music will feature in each concert. In June we will play her string quartet De profundis clamavi [hommage à Alban […]

A few moments with Bára Gísladóttir

We’re in Reykjavík today, and ready to make our Icelandic debut at Dark Music Days with music in our ‘Approaching Dutilleux’ project, built around his chamber masterwork Les Citations.  This concert features a new addition to the repertoire from Icelandic composer Bára Gísladóttir.  Bára is en route to Iceland to work with us today, but Aaron Holloway-Nahum […]

A few moments with Molly Joyce

Our first concert of 2018 is already almost here! On Friday 12 January we perform Elliott Carter’s legendary Double Concerto for harpsichord and piano at LSO St Luke’s, with Riot members Goska Isphording and Adam Swayne in the challenging solo roles. This will not be the only highlight of the evening, however: the concert is […]

A few moments with Pierce Gradone

Our first concert of 2018 is already almost here! On Friday 12 January we perform Elliott Carter’s legendary Double Concerto for harpsichord and piano at LSO St Luke’s, with Riot members Goska Isphording and Adam Swayne in the challenging solo roles. This will not be the only highlight of the evening, however: the concert is […]

A few moments with Sylvain Marty

On Saturday, we will be at St Nicholas’ Church in Brighton, giving the world premiere of Block Mouvementa by the French composer Sylvain Marty, one of our 2017 call for scores commissions. (Also on the programme: another call for scores commission by Mirela Ivičević.) Sylvain is currently very busy with pressing compositional deadlines, but he managed to find time to answer […]

A few moments with Mirela Ivičević

On Saturday, we will be at St Nicholas’ Church in Brighton, giving the world premiere of Baby Magnify/Lilith’s New Toy by the Croatian composer Mirela Ivičević, one of our 2017 call for scores commissions. (Also on the programme: another call for scores commission by Sylvain Marty.) This week Mirela took some time out of her busy travelling […]

Sarah Dacey’s Calliope: Song, Sexual Politics and Steam Organs

Song recital discs are not uncommon. The nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century lieder repertoire is rich and rewarding, and there’s no lack of charismatic singers looking to make a mark. Those devoted entirely to new music are somewhat more unusual, however. And those that add humour, fantasy, and mordant characterizations to the mix are rare indeed. […]

Exploring Norway’s fringe music scene at Only Connect

Hello, Tim here, Riot’s resident writer. Last month I travelled to Oslo for the annual Only Connect Festival of Sound and I’d like to tell you about it! Only Connect is organised by Norway’s principal organisation for new music, nyMusikk and curated by the indefatigable Anne Hilde Neset. In fact, nyMusikk supports two such festivals […]

2017 Call for Scores: Seven Commissions

Our 2017 Call for Scores – which received 279 applications from all over the world has resulted in seven commissions for composers from France, Croatia, Poland, England, the United States, and South Korea. Read more over on our composers page.  

Meeting Tim Rutherford-Johnson

We’re completely delighted to welcome Tim to our artistic board. As well as composing poetic and illuminating programme notes to our concerts, Tim brings an academic slant to our programming as well as a keen contextual eye on our activities within a wider contemporary scene. Tim has just published (with University of California Press) ‘Music after the […]

Speak, Be Silent – Programme Note

‘Find the thing and it disappears’, warns the composer Rebecca Saunders. ‘Name the thing and it loses shape.’ In Saunders’ piece a visible trace we hear a piano keyboard squashed hard, before its sound backs away, as though embarrassed; a double bass glissandos downwards, as if being swallowed up; violin and flute essay a note, […]

A few moments with Liza Lim

It’s my pleasure to be giving this Friday the UK Premiere of Liza Lim’s violin concerto, Speak, Be Silent.  Liza is a generous composer and collaborator, and I’ve been an admirer of her music for a long time, so it was a particular pleasure to spend a day working on the piece with her, and asking […]

A few moments with Anna Thorvaldsdottir

We hugely enjoyed performing Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s piece ‘Shades of Silence’ during our last concert in Brixton, so we’re immensely looking forward to presenting her ‘Ró’ on March 3rd at The Warehouse, Waterloo. Anna is commissioned and performed all over the world, so we’re really grateful to her for taking time in her busy schedule to answer […]

A few moments with Heather Stebbins

The ensemble is currently hard at work at Real World Studios, and tonight we will be recording Heather Stebbins’ miniature written especially for our two pianists Claudia Racovicean and Adam Swayne. ‘Ursa Minor’ is a beautiful and semi-improvisatory piece featuring some extraordinary sounds that we can’t wait to get ‘in the can’! Find out more […]

Talking Toy Pianos

At our session at Real World Studios this week we are recording super works for toy piano(s) by composers Monica Pearce and Thomas Kotcheff. Here they answer Adam’s questions about their intimacies with these dinky noise-makers, embracing sonics, tonics and politics … You are both seasoned ambassadors for the toy piano. Please can you describe your activities to […]

A few moments with Oliver Brignall

A couple weeks ago, we spent two days at Brunel University workshopping a scene Oliver Brignall’s new opera Palace of Junk.   The multi-media opera retells the terrifying tale of the Collyer Brothers (do not follow that link lightly!)  Oliver’s music is as beautiful and haunting as the story, and we’re really excited to premiere this scene […]

A few moments with Rebecca Saunders

We’re actually quite amazed that we’re going to be giving the London premiere of Rebecca Saunder’s A Visible Trace on 3 March at The Warehouse.  We know we’re not alone in being deep admirers of Rebecca’s music, and we’re excited to be hatching plans to bring a lot more of her music to her homeland’s concert halls over […]

A few moments with Utku Asuroglu

We give the U.K. première of Utku’s Hayirli Olsun at our concert on February 16th at Brixton East 1871, 7.30pm. Find out more about him on his website, and read his thoughts on composing, conducting and his Turkish heritage in our interview below! Your musical studies and career have taken you from Turkey all across Europe. Did […]

A few moments with Michael Cryne

We are hugely looking forward to giving the premiere of Michael Cryne‘s five-movement work Celia’s Toyshop at our concert on February 16th at Brixton East 1871, 7.30pm. Michael lives and works in London and is currently pursuing doctoral study in composition under the supervision of Mark Bowden and Helen Grime at Royal Holloway, University of London, […]

Meeting Ausiàs Garrigós Morant

It’s been quite a year at Riot HQ. Aaron had to buy a new sofa in order to squeeze in all our new members of the artistic board. (Maybe I’ll pop a picture of the sofa up on instagram.) Our final ‘unveiling’ of the year is the astonishing clarinetist Ausiàs Garrigós Morant. Ausiàs will be […]

Meeting Louise McMonagle

Don’t double-take- this is not a magical christmas movie! It’s actually the amazing (and much more magical) Louise McMonagle. We’re so pleased to have Louise and her magnificent cello playing on our artistic board! Louise will be joining us at the recording sessions for our second album A Chest of Toys, which will be released […]

Meeting Andy Connington

We’re chuffed to bits to welcome fabulous trombonist Andy to our artistic board. Our first concert of 2017 features Andy playing alongside Goska Isphording (harpsichord), Sarah Mason (percussion) and Adam Swayne (piano) in the UK Premiere of Utku Asuroglu’s Hayirli Olsun. Come along to Brixton East 1871 at 7.30pm on Thursday February 16th! In the meantime, find […]

Micrographia by Laurence Osborn

One of Riot Ensemble’s 2016 Commissions, this is the live, World Premiere performance of Micrographia, by Laurence Osborn (text by Joseph Minden) from our Micrographia Concert in Brighton, Oct 2016.

Meeting Stephen Upshaw

Stephen is a brilliant viola player and a fantastic new addition to our artistic board. Come and hear him play alongside Sarah Mason (percussion) and Claudia Maria Racovicean (piano) at The Forge, Camden on Monday November 21st at 8pm. The programme includes Morton Feldman’s ‘The Viola In My Life’ alongside new works for viola by Mark Simpson, […]

A few moments with Laurence Osborn

We come to new music in a lot of ways here.  You’ve already been introduced to Yukiko and Lee, the two winners of our 2016 Call for Scores competition.  This Saturday’s concert will also feature more than a dozen World Premieres from New Music Brighton composers – whom we collaborate with in Brighton annually.  Laurence […]

A few moments with Yukiko Watanabe

Yukiko Watanabe is one of two winners of our 2016 Call for Scores competition. She studied with Beat Furrer in Austria and now lives in Berlin. Her music is truly adventurous, embracing the dramatic and the bizarre alongside truly heartfelt sensitivity. We are excited to perform her new work In My Room at our Brighton concert […]

A few moments with Lee Westwood

Lee Westwood is one of two winners of our 2016 Call for Scores competition. We are excited to perform his latest work at our Brighton concert at 5pm on Saturday October 29th. Lee needn’t make extensive travel plans to attend this concert as he has made Bohemia-by-Sea his home for well over a decade. He is […]

Meeting Sarah Saviet

America-born, Germany-based violinist Sarah Saviet is a new member of our artistic board. Hear her live performances of Liza Lim’s solo violin piece Philtre and Jack Sheen’s work for solo violin and ensemble Television continuity poses on Radio 3’s Hear and Now (recording available until October 28th). Sarah has a pretty intense schedule of travel and concerts, so […]

A few moments with Jack Sheen

Composer and conductor Jack Sheen has been co-commissioned by Riot Ensemble and BBC Radio 3 to compose a new work Television continuity poses for performance this Saturday (01/10/16) at the Southbank Centre with simultaneous live broadcast. He kindly took a few moments out of quite an intense schedule to answer our questions. What’s happening in […]

Meeting Sarah Dacey

Welcome to the first contribution to a mini-series of interviews with new members of our Artistic Board. Today we put the big questions to singer Sarah Dacey, who is also a member of vocal trio Juice. This Saturday (01/10/16) she will perform Void by our 2016 composer in residence Nina C Young alongside Stephen Upshaw […]

Reflections on the Text Scores of Pauline Oliveros

Music entails listening. This may be a truism, but it is one that Pauline Oliveros’s music considers from every angle. What is listening? How is it different from hearing? Can we activate it, and then shape it at will? Can we compose music with it? Listening needs stillness. As does reading. ‘First imagine silence’ begins […]

A few moments with Evan Johnson

The music of American composer Evan Johnson has been described as “conjuring a Beckett-like eloquence from stammers and silences” (Ivan Hewitt, The Telegraph).  He’s a truly international composer, with works performed regularly by ensembles such as MusikFabrik, Elision, and EXAUDI at festivals ranging from Darmstadt to Spitalfields to Dark Music Days in Iceland. Even with such an array […]

Catch up with Young Composer of the Year

We have been having SUCH a wonderful time with our second year work with Young Composers from the foreSOUND School of Music in our ‘Young Composer of the Year’ education project.  Quite uniquely to this project, we ask young students to undertake the serious task of composing and notating a complete new work for our […]

Call for Scores 2016

Our 2016 Call for Scores received 218 applications from composers all over the world.  It was an incredible and humbling experience to come into contact with so much great new music, being made by such an inspiring and eclectic array of composers.  We are extremely proud to announce the composers we’ll be collaborating with for […]

A few moments with Nina C. Young

We are thrilled to announce that Nina C. Young will be our 2016 Composer in Residence!  During the course of 2016 we will give the UK premiere of a number of Nina’s works, alongside a co-comission (with Ensemble Échapeé) of a new viola concerto. Nina’s has a unique background in engineering, and she describes her music as […]

Live on In-Tune

We were thrilled to appear live on BBC Radio 3’s In-Tune from the Tate Modern as part of their #newyearnewmusic festival.  We performed Capricci (Augusta Read Thomas), dreams, shadows, and smoke… (Patrick Harrex), NocturNe (Benjamin Graves) and Edgard Varèse’s seminal Density 21.5 (alongside Calder’s wire sculpture of his friend). Our players spoke live on-air to Suzy Klein about our work and the music, […]

A look back at HCMF 2015

We had a wonderful time performing on the opening night of the 2015 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Ian Faragher and Nigel Bryant – of Sonic Imperfections – discussed their experiences of the weekend (including our concert) on Resonance Extra: Huddersfield’s Artistic Director Graham McKenzie had this to say: You can watch our performance of Jagoda Szmytka’s sky-me, type-me below, […]

A few moments with Helga Arias Parra

This Monday, at the Spitalfields Music Winter Festival, we give the first performance of Helga Arias Parra in the UK: the World Premiere of Incipit (Omaggio a G.B. Pergolesi). This piece – a co-commission between Riot Ensemble and Spitalfields Music – is fourth and final piece commissioned from our 2015 Call for Scores (NB composers, we’ll be opening […]

Six Autumn Concerts 2015

Have a look at our six concerts taking place this Autumn, including the Spitalfields Music Winter Festival, opening night of the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, ongoing work with BreatheAHR, a return to Brighton with NMB and more!

A Clockwork Operetta

I’m keen to write a few lines about our ‘Wednesdays at the Forge’ concert next week as we’re looking forward to it hugely and hope there’ll be a fine crowd to enjoy it with us. We’ve decided to have programmes for this concert and, although the short notes will tell you everything you need to […]

Portfolio Recap

We had a wonderful time giving six World Premieres at MeWe360 on our Portfolio concert last week.  You can hear an excerpt from all six pieces in the 2-minute recap video below:  

‘Wired’ wins audience prize at Annelie de Man

We had a wonderful time in Amsterdam this past week, giving the Dutch premiere of Chris Roe’s Wired at the Prix Annelie de Man.  We commissioned Chris’ piece as part of our Approaching Dutilleux project in 2014, and it won the audience prize as part of the composers’ competition in Amsterdam!

Young Composer Scores

This Friday we present the final concert of the foreSOUND 2015 Young Composer of the Year Award.  It has been an absolute pleasure to work with these new composers, who have blown us away with their creativity and passion.  You can check out their scores (which we typeset for them) here:

Young Composers at Work

We’re having a great time working with five young composers (Samuel Carrington, Nikhita Nandi, Marie-Louise Ptohos, Amelia Mills and Molly Kain) from the foreSOUND school of music as they prepare their pieces for our 15th May ‘Young Composer of the Year‘ concert. We began by introducing the students to the instruments they would be writing […]

Portfolio Workshop, LSO St Luke’s – 8.4.15

Yesterday, at LSO St. Luke’s, we workshopped three new pieces written for us by emerging UK composers Chloe Knibbs, Daniel Kidane, and Ed Nesbit.  In collaboration with Sound and Music, we commissioned these composers to write us new pieces featuring international soloists Rafal Luc, Heather Roche and Marco Fusi. We’ll give the world premieres of all three […]

Call for Scores 2015

Our 2015 Call for Scores received 151 applications from composers all over the world.  It has been a pleasure to get to know so much new music, being made by such inspiring and exciting artists.  We are extremely proud to announce the composers we’ll be collaborating with for our 20th November concert, this year. Thanasis […]

A few moments with Amy Williams

Tonight we welcome Helena Bugallo and Amy Williams (the Bugallo-Williams Duo) to London to perform a concert of virtuosic and exciting music for four-hands piano at MeWe360. In addition to being a fantastic pianist, Amy is a composer, and was one of my first composition teachers at Northwestern University.  It’s a pleasure to welcome her […]

Introducing: Kate Walter

Flautist Kate Walter was one of the founding artists of The Riot Ensemble, and has been on our Artistic Board since our first concerts at Guildhall.  Kate performs regularly in London’s top orchestras – such as the Philharmonia – and in West End Shows such as Les Miserables. Kate has a busy year of Rioting in 2015, starting with our […]

Introducing: Sarah Mason

Percussionist Sarah Mason is the newest member of the Artistic Board of The Riot Ensemble.  Sarah has consistently performed with us since our earliest days at Guildhall.  She is also the principal percussionist of the Ossian Ensemble, has toured China, Russia and America with the LPO, and played on the recording for Howard Shore’s score for ‘The […]

Introducing: Goska Isphording

Harpsichordist Goska Isphording joined the Artistic Board of The Riot Ensemble after our Les Citations projects in 2014.  Goska is one of Europe’s top contemporary specialists on the harpsichord, previously winning first prize as a soloist at the Krzysztof Penderecki International Competition of Contemporary Music 2002. Goska will be performing in two Riot Ensemble concerts in 2015, including our end of year […]

Introducing: Adam Swayne

Pianist Adam Swayne has been on the Artistic Board of The Riot Ensemble since our very first concerts at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2009.  In addition to his busy performing schedule, Adam teaches piano at the Junior Royal Academy of Music and is Senior Lecturer and Head of Chamber Music at the University of […]

Introducing: Claudia Maria Racovicean

Pianist Claudia Maria Racovicean has been on the Artistic Board of The Riot Ensemble since our very first concerts at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2009. Claudia is currently preparing to record her first album, which will include Aaron Copland’s Piano Variations, which she started learning this summer while living at Copland House.  Claudia will […]

Introducing: Celeste Cronje

Soprano Celeste Cronje has been on the Artistic Board of The Riot Ensemble since our official launch in 2012. In addition to being a soprano up for absolutely anything voice-related, she founded and runs the foreSOUND School of Music in North London, where we will be hosting the 2015 ‘Riot Young Composer of the Year’ project in […]

The People United: Countdown!

There are just a few days to go until the first of my three ‘People Uniteds’. The Chilean wine is on ice, the programme is ready and my pre-concert talk has been composed. The cadenza, by contrast, has not been composed because I am thoroughly enjoying the release of improvising it differently each time. I […]

The Pianist Will Never Be Defeated!

Updates (and confessions) from behind the 93-page score of Rzewski’s ‘The People United’. Having plenty of nervous energy can often be a good thing. It’s what propels me to bounce around the many faces I wear in the week (tutor, lecturer, conductor, teacher, supervisor, Rioter and – oh yes – pianist!)  Colleagues – mostly those […]

The (Fingers/ Eyes/ Brain) United Will Never Be Defeated!

It might seem like all’s gone quiet on the Riot front, but we are actually furiously at work behind the scenes gathering a shortlist for our Sound and Music Portfolio Scheme and preparing music that we’ll be performing this Autumn. Here are some little musings from a pianist holed up in his garret practising Rzewski’s sprawling opus.  As […]

Sound and Music: Portfolio

I am absolutely delighted to announce that the call for scores for The Riot Ensemble’s 2014-15 Portfolio Scheme with Sound and Music are now open!  This will be the first Portfolio Scheme to pair emerging UK composers with international musicians. There will be a public UK masterclass from each of these musicians in November, followed by […]

A few moments with Chris Roe

Today – 20th May – is the (first) culmination of our Les Citations project.  Programmed in memory of Henri Dutilleux, tonight’s concert is at The Forge, and we repeat the concert tomorrow in Cambridge.  Among an array of World and UK premieres, we are very pleased to be presenting Wired, by emerging English composer Chris Roe.   We first […]

A few moments with Jenna Lyle

The Riot Ensemble is gearing up for our upcoming Les Citations project, programmed in memory of Henri Dutilleux, with an array of premieres from around the world.  We’re hugely excited to be hosting Jenna Lyle for the premiere of her new piece, Falterer.   Jenna is a composer, vocalist and performing artist from Carrollton, Georgia.  She’s currently pursuing a […]

A few moments with Jose Manuel Serrano

The Riot Ensemble is gearing up for our upcoming Les Citations project, programmed in memory of Henri Dutilleux, with an array of premieres from around the world.  We’re hugely excited to be hosting Argentinian composer Jose Manuel Serrano for the premiere of his new work Cenizas de un Madrigal Triste (read on for the translation). I first met Jose in […]

A few moments with Arne Gieshoff

The Riot Ensemble is gearing up for our upcoming Les Citations project, programmed in memory of Henri Dutilleux, with an array of premieres from around the world.  One of the pieces coming from closer to home is from emerging composer Arne Gieshoff.  Arne’s currently a Sound and Music Embedded composer with BCMG, and a fellow-member of the New […]

A few moments with Drew Schnurr

The Riot Ensemble has had a busy month of May – from an outdoor performance of Workers Union (to which the police were called!) to Vox Balaenae and the UK premiere of Djuro Zivkovic’s I Shall Contemplate… on the Platnauer Concert Series at Brasenose College, Oxford. Next week, though, is where we really get going.  Our Les Citations project, programmed in […]

A few moments with Djuro Zivkovic

This Saturday we make our Oxford Debut, with a programme stretching from J.S. Bach’s Second Cello Suite, through to the UK premiere of Djuro Zivkovic’s I Shall Contemplate….  (The programme also includes the magical Vox Balaenae and two preludes of Claude Debussy). We were incredibly lucky to have Djuro with us for rehearsals of I Shall Contemplate… this week, and it […]

A few moments with Scott Lygate

Well, tonight is the night!  Tonight at The Forge we unleash The Flatulence of the Gods: pieces for 5 bassoons, 4 trombones and tenor, and 5 Bass Clarinets.  The lineup is – so far as we know – a totally unique one, created by drawing upon various existing pieces for groups of low instruments.  The […]

A few moments with Chris Mayo

Tomorrow evening at The Forge in Camden we’re opening up a new series of contemporary music concerts called Wednesdays at The Forge.  The concert is a rather extraordinary array of low instruments: 5 Bass Clarinets, 5 Bassoons (including 3 contrabassoons) and 4 Trombones, along with Tenor.  Opening up the concert, will be a brand new […]

A few moments with Alastair Putt

  Of all the pieces in our concert this Friday, only two will be ‘non-first’ pieces.  One of these will be Harrison Birtwistle’s second wind-quintet Five Distances for Five Instruments, and the second will also be a wind quintet: the very beautiful Halazuni by Alastair Putt. (Here performed by Martha Long (flute), Graham Mackenzie (oboe), Danny Goldman (clarinet), Elyse […]

A few (brief) moments with Thomas Adès

  As you’ll know by now, we’re interviewing some of the composers featured in our first concert of 2014, which takes place this Friday at Club Inégales.  So far we’ve spoken with Richard Causton and Joanna Lee, and tomorrow we take a few moments with Alastair Putt.  We did also send some interview questions to […]

A few moments with Joanna Lee

Our first concert of 2014 is just around the corner, and it’s been my pleasure to interview a number of the composers whose ‘first pieces’ are being performed this Friday at Club Inégales. Our co-principal pianist Adam Swayne will be performing Joanna Lee’s first piece: a piano solo entitled “The Hungry Caterpillar”.  Joanna was kind […]

A few moments with Richard Causton

We have a great season of concerts coming up in 2014 – the first of which, Number Ones, features ‘first pieces’.  We love the idea of taking a look back at where some of today’s composers began their journey, and to listen for the ideas that have either grown more important to them or faded […]

More Hands: Patrick Harrex

We’ve got a concert coming up tonight (!) at the Friend’s Meetinghouse (in Brighton) where we’ll be recapping some of our favourite pieces of the 2013 season and also playing some pieces by composers from the New Music Brighton collective.  We’re gearing up for the concert by asking the NMB Composers a series of questions, so you can get […]

More Hands: A Playlist

As you’ve hopefully heard by now (!) we have a fantastic concert coming up this Thursday (31st October) at the Friend’s Meetinghouse in Brighton.  We’re going to be performing a number of works by composers from the New Music Brighton Collective, while also revisiting some of our favourite chamber pieces that we performed this past […]

More Hands: Guy Richardson

We’ve got a concert coming up this month at the Friend’s Meetinghouse (in Brighton) where we’ll be recapping some of our favourite pieces of the 2013 season and also playing some pieces by composers from the New Music Brighton collective.  We’re gearing up for the concert by asking the NMB Composers the same series of questions, so you can […]

More Hands: Phil Baker

We’ve got a concert coming up this month at the Friend’s Meetinghouse (in Brighton) where we’ll be recapping some of our favourite pieces of the 2013 season and also playing some pieces by composers from the New Music Brighton collective.  We’re gearing up for the concert by asking the NMB Composers the same series of questions, so you can […]

More Hands: Jonathan Clark

We’ve got a concert coming up this month at the Friend’s Meetinghouse (in Brighton) where we’ll be recapping some of our favourite pieces of the 2013 season and also playing some pieces by composers from the New Music Brighton collective.  We’re gearing up for the concert by asking the NMB Composers the same series of questions, so you can […]

More Hands: Barry Mills

We’ve got a concert coming up this month at the Friend’s Meetinghouse (in Brighton) where we’ll be recapping some of our favourite pieces of the 2013 season and also playing some pieces by composers from the New Music Brighton collective.  We’re gearing up for the concert by asking the NMB Composers the same series of […]

A few moments with Helen Grime

Tomorrow and Wednesday of this week, as part of our collaboration with the fantastic ECCE Ensemble, we will be performing Helen Grime’s Seven Pierrot Miniatures for (as you might expect) pierrot ensemble (Flute, Clarinet, Piano, Violin, Cello).  I’ve been a big fan of Helen’s music from the first time I heard it, and so it’s a great […]

Invisible Worlds with Nicholas Omiccioli

Two of the works receiving their UK premiere in our upcoming Transatlantic Collaborations concerts with the ECCE Ensemble were chosen through an open call for scores which drew in more than 100 applicants world-wide.  I recently had the pleasure to chat with Nicholas Omiccioli, one of the selected composers. Nicholas!  Thank you very much for […]

Songs and Haiku Resonance FM Broadcast

Yesterday evening, our Artistic Director Aaron Holloway-Nahum and Artistic Board Member Celeste Cronje spoke on Resonance FM about our recent Songs and Haiku concert at the Warehouse.  The discussion ranged from advice for composers in writing for the voice, to thoughts of programming and presentation, and included a number of the live performances from the […]

Contemporary Music: Pleasures and Pitfalls, with Brian O’Kane

One of the things I most enjoy about The Riot Ensemble is that all of our concerts and projects are planned and produced by the same artists who perform the music.  This means that the same artist who performs a contemporary work to a new audience has had a real hand in curating both that work […]

Context is King

So the Rite of Spring is 100 years old, and so it the ‘Riot’ that accompanied it. Commentators then and now seem divided on what caused the fracas; was it the music, the dancing, the performance itself, or some class-based tension in the audience that had little or nothing to do with the show? The […]

The Holst Foundation supports The Riot Ensemble!

We are pleased, proud and very grateful to announce that The Holst Foundation has generously made a grant toward the remainder of the 2013 Riot Ensemble Season. The grant comes less than halfway through our first full season, and will be a significant help in successfully completing all of our 2013 concerts. If you’d like […]

Estudo sobre gravitacao

Gustavo Penha‘s Estudo sobre gravitacao, from our Shapes of a Square concert, LSO St. Luke’s, 8.3.13.

Our First Call for Scores!

We’re really pleased to announce that we’re running our first call for scores! The call is in collaboration with the fantastic East Coast Contemporary Ensemble.  Two scores will be selected for performance at both The Forge (Camden, 16th July) and The Meetinghouse (Brighton, 17th July) as part of our Transatlantic Collaborations projects. You can apply […]

A few moments with Christopher Theofanidis

Christopher Theofanidis is certainly one of the most prolific and decorated American composers.  He is currently working on two (different!) operas for the San Francisco and Huston Grand opera companies, and has received (among other awards) the Rome Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fulbright, SIX (!) ASCAP Morton Gould Prizes, and the American Academy of Arts Charles Ives’ Fellowship.  He […]

The Shapes of a Square in Pictures

Thank you for all who came along to our concert this past Friday (08.03.13).  It was great to have you with us, and we hope you enjoyed hearing the music as much as we enjoyed playing it for you!  The Navarra Quartet were brilliant guests and gave fantastic performances of all five works on the […]

The Shapes of a Square – Tonight!

Tonight is the 2nd concert of the 2013 Riot Ensemble Season: The Shapes of a Square. Here is tonight’s exciting programme: and a short video trailer to introduce the evening to you: We hope you can join us at 7:30pm at LSO St. Luke’s for the Navarra Quartet and 5 string quartets from around the world!

A series of Riotous events!

“Why the ‘Riot’ Ensemble?” I’m quite often asked. I usually reply that our Artistic Director Aaron Holloway-Nahum dreamed up the name many years ago, pre- 2011, and has nothing to do with a quick smash for a new flatscreen or pair of trainers and, as far as I know, no-one’s tried to launch a brick […]

Flute Reflections with Kate Walter

We had a fantastic response to our first concert of the 2013 season, and it was great to hear an extended concert that focused on the many personalities and guises of the contemporary flute player.  Kate Walter (above, warming up for the concert) performed on bass, alto, and c-flute for the concert. Watching her perform, […]

The Magic Bass Flute in Pictures

Thank you for all who came along to our concert this past Saturday (26.01.13).  It was great to have you with us, and we hope you enjoyed hearing the music as much as we enjoyed playing it for you!  One of the highlights of the concert this past weekend was having composer Amy Beth Kirsten […]

Thoughts from Behind the Piano

Posted by Riot Ensemble pianist, Adam Swayne I have a confession to make: I’ve never been very keen on works for flute and piano. I usually think of the combination as like a lemon curd sandwich where the flute is the curd (always delicious in a symphonic cake) and the piano is the ever-dependable bread. But […]

A few moments with Amy Beth Kirsten

I’m very excited about our upcoming season which reflects The Riot Ensemble’s dedication to introducing British audiences to contemporary music by composers from around the world.  In our first concert of 2013, ‘The Magic Bass Flute,’ we have programmed a piece entitled Two Monologues by American composer Amy Beth Kirsten. Amy was previously a singer-songwriter based in […]

2013 Season: Composers

We’re extremely excited about our upcoming 2013 season.  Here’s a list of the composers we’ll be performing, with links to websites where available. Giovanni Albini Terence Allbright Julian Anderson John Aylward Samuel Barber George Benjamin John Cage Henri Dutilleux Patrick Harrex Aaron Holloway-Nahum Marc Hyland Mario Garuti Ric Graebner Helen Grime Amy Beth Kirsten György […]