Dave Fennessy - Soundbytes Commission

Der Lärm

For 2 electric guitars, 1 electric bass guitar, 2 pianos, 4 trombones, 4 violas, 4 women’s voices, 1 percussion and tape.

Der Lärm will premiere at soundfestival 2016.

Der Lärm is part of a joint project involving sound, our associate ensemble Red Note and I Solisti del Vento (Belgium). The two ensembles will combine forces to perform Sounding the Alarm which is conceived as a direct conversation with Louis Andriessen’s seminal work De Staat (1976) alongside which it will be performed, exploring issues of the relation of music to politics and the effects of social conditioning on the listener/ performer/ creator.

After the premiere at soundfestival 2016, the work will be toured to three Belgium venues as well as November Music in the Netherlands.


Biography

David Fennessy was born in Ireland and lives in Glasgow where he teaches composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. His music has been performed by, amongst others, the RTE National Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Modern and London Sinfonietta.

Recent significant works include Pass the Spoon, a “sort-of opera” written in collaboration with the English visual artist David Shrigley and Hauptstimme, a work for solo viola and ensemble premiered by Garth Knox with Red Note Ensemble at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Since 2012, he has embarked on a series of works based on the diaries of the German film director Werner Herzog written during the production of the 1982 movie Fitzcarraldo, which will culminate in a new, large scale music theatre work to be premiered at the Munich Biennale in May 2016. David’s music is published by Universal Edition, Vienna.