24th – 25th February
Dai 大 hall, the Piazza, unit 29/30, Victoria Ln, Huddersfield HD1 2QF
A two-day residency consisting of an exhibition, performances and installations exploring different aspects of piano playing.
The exhibition – Subject – compiles varied objects and photographs gathered and created in collaboration with composer Mark Dyer. These collected objects are presented or photographed (by Sam Walton) and relate to Ledger’s memories of playing, learning and hearing the keyboard music of J.S. Bach.
The collection focuses on three years from her musical upbringing (2000; 2004; 2007) represented by three pieces of Bach (BWV 875; 876; 912 respectively).
The Saturday event will include performances of James Creed’s Piano Studies 1-6 centred around the premiere of a new interactive piece developed by Creed and Ledger: Piano and Group Chat Study. These studies will be interspersed with other related work that explores similar themes of layering, indeterminacy and pulsing.
Friday the 24th
18.30 – The exhibition opens and is available to view until 21.00.
19.30 – Artist Talk.
20.30 – Mini Piano performance.
This will all take place in conjunction with the free Composer Social happening at Dai Hall.
Saturday the 25th
3pm – 5pm – Concert (Pay as you feel).
7pm – 8.30pm – Concert (Pay as you feel).
James M. Creed is a composer and guitarist based in London, UK. His recent music is concerned with increasingly simple material, even simpler processes, clowning, and experimental notations. More generally his music tends to be quiet and slow, without the need for much rehearsal or training. Alongside recent projects in Germany, Austria and the USA, James is in his first year of PhD studies at the University of Leeds.
Mark Dyer is a composer and researcher working in new and experimental music. His work explores the entanglement between borrowed material and narrative. Mark has worked with ensembles such as EXAUDI, the Arditti Quartet, House of Bedlam, The Riot Ensemble, Psappha and CoMA, as well as soloists Kate Ledger, Kathryn Williams, Jason Alder and Amy Jolly. In addition, he has had work installed at HOMEmcr, Warrington Contemporary Arts Festival and the Street Road Artists Space, Pennsylvania.
Kate Ledger is a pianist specialising in experimental music and collaboration. Her PhD explores the relationship between compositional aesthetics and self-aware piano technique. Performances include: BBC Radio 3’s New Music Show, January 2023; Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival; Frome Festival; The Society for Electroacoustic Music (Stockholm); the PERFORMA conference (Porta); Johan Wagenaar Prize (Den Haag); the world premiere of Steven Takesugi’s Sideshow with Distractfold ensemble, for which they won the Kranichstein Music Prize for Interpretation at the 47th International Summer Course for New Music Darmstadt.
This project is funded by the Hinrichsen Foundation.
