news

July 2010

Tom Hammond, Artistic Director of sound collective, has been appointed as the new Principal Conductor at London's Royal Academy of Music Junior Department.

Tom succeeds Peter Stark, who held the position for twenty one years before deciding to step down, having overseen an incredibly successful period for the Symphony Orchestra of this leading Junior Conservatoire.

Although Tom's conducting career is in its relative infancy, he was selected from a very large pool of applicants to audition for the post and was appointed immediately after spending a day with the students. He will also teach conducting to groups and individuals. Tom is also Music Director of Sinfonia Tamesa, The British Police Symphony Orchestra and the Essex Symphony Orchestra. He is a regular guest with many other ensembles, professional and voluntary, and at Trinity College of Music, London.

Tom's recent collaborations have included working alongside poet Ian Macmillan, composer and author Richard Stilgoe and soloists Matthew Sharp (cello), Simon Callaghan (piano) and Alec Franck-Gemmil (horn). In the 2009-2010 season Tom conducted at Symphony Hall, Birmingham and in the Guildford International Festival. He gave UK Premières of music by Carl Nielsen and James Francis Brown, and directed sound collective's first ACE funded project.

www.ram.ac.uk/study/junioracademy/Pages/default.aspx

June 2010

sound collective currently fund raising for perhaps our most ambitious project to date, a collaboration with the leading youth ensemble the Penzance Youth String Orchestra to perform a brand new commission from the pen of Cornwall based composer Graham Lynch in a concert of exciting string orchestra music.

There will be chances for younger string players not yet old enough to join PYSO to join the performances, plus the players in PYSO will get to work alongside the experienced and excellent professionals from sound collective. The resulting work and Graham's new music will be made available for free use after the première via the internet, meaning our work together can benefit many other similar ensembles.

The budget for this project is large and the daunting task of completing the funding in these tough times will occupy our summer months! If you think you can help, please do email us -

www.pyso.org.uk
www.grahamlynch.eu/

June 2010

Due to the unfortunate cancellation of our project with Lewisham Arts Service in January, when we were hit by the exceptionally sever weather conditions, sound collective is working on an alternative music and education project with the important national organisation Sound and Music. Our plan is to use the remainder of our ACE grant to establish a composition project for teenage children in the borough. This would be our first collaboration with Sound and Music and further step forward with bringing the excellence of the group to wider notice, as well as continuing our crucial education and outreach work. More news about this over the summer.

www.soundandmusic.org

May 2010

The Coull Quartet, Warwick University's Quartet-in-Residence, welcomes Rose Redgrave as their new viola player. Rose brings a wealth of experience in contemporary and period performance to the Quartet, having performed with ensembles such as Chroma, Lontano, sound collective and the Orchestre Revolutionaire et Romantique. As a former member of the Luventus Quartet, she is greatly looking forward to immersing herself in the string quartet repertoire once more.

Rose is a founder member of sound collective, and our Principal Viola.

www.coullquartet.com

November 2009

sound collective are delighted to announce that the ensemble's forthcoming project - classical re-mix - with Lewisham Arts Service and Trinity Laban, has received a grant from Arts Council England. This is the first time sound collective has received direct funding from ACE. The award recognises the breadth of the project, as it involves an exciting mix of performance and education - not least working with young people from schools in Lewisham. Lead by the music team from Lewisham Arts Service, students at local secondary schools will be working on 're-mixes' of the music being played in the concerts and one composition will be chosen and performed at the concert on January 13 (Catford) and the children engaged in the project will be offered subsidised tickets for the performance. In this way, we hope to enthuse them about the music we are playing, and also learn from their interpretations. The concerts also represent the first opportunity for students from Trinity College of Music's Post Graduate course to play alongside professionals from sound collective in rehearsals and concert, a natural extension of the ongoing Mentor Scheme.

September 2009

The successful Mentor Scheme with Trinity College of music enters its third year, with eight Post Graduate musicians from the college being paired with professional players from sound collective. Students will have the opportunity to observe their mentor at work in rehearsals and concerts, plus make regular contact with them for advice and support.

August 2009

Tom Hammond was a prize-winning semi-finalist at the 2009 Leeds Conductors Competition, winning praise from an eminent panel of Judges (David Whelton, Tasmin Little, Jac van Steen, Richard Farnes).

sound collective are carrying forward their highly successful Mentoring Scheme in 2009/10, working with selected Post Graduate students from Trinity Laban. The students are selected through a rigorous audition process and have been identified as potential professional orchestral players for the future.

sound collective are developing an exciting new project that will unite live music and live dance. Performances are planned for autumn 2010, and performance details will be announced on this website early in 2010.

June 2009

sound collective are delighted to announce the appointment of Director of Development Vanessa McClune. Vanessa will begin to work with the ensemble from the summer of 2009, and intends to help develop both pure performance projects as well as education and outreach schemes.

sound collective will be performing two concerts this Autumn, featuring the original chamber version of Copland's masterpiece Appalchian Spring. Concerts will take place on Saturday November 14 at the Broadway Theatre, Catford and Sunday December 13 at the Conway Hall, Holborn. Please check projects and programmes for details of each programme and how to book tickets. These performances will be the first to take place in association with Trinity Laban's Post Graduate Mentor scheme.