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‘London’s most important festival’ - The Wire

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London-based composer Laila Arafah's beguiling music invites a unique and intensive kind of listening: foregrounding sonic objects that are hazy, unstable, disorienting, vulnerable, and liminal. Her works have been commissioned by ensembles such as Explore Ensemble and LCMF, Aldeburgh Festival, and recently the London Symphony Orchestra and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Laila was a composer-in-residence for CoMA London, and a composer fellow at Aspen Music Festival; she currently studies at the Royal Academy of Music, with Rubens Askenar and Gareth Moorcraft.

Last year, we spoke with Laila about her use of timbre, counterpoint, and shifting listening experiences ➡️

Interested? Check out the full interview now - 🔗 in our bio 🔥

🎶 @laila_arafah_
✍️ @zdscomposer

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“The first time I saw Franz Liszt, I was about seven years old, and already accustomed to seeing the spirits of the so-called dead...” - Rosemary Brown

Pick of the day in the @radiotimes, tonight’s edition of Afterwords on @bbcradio3 explores the work of Rosemary Brown.

An English musician and spirit medium Rosemary said her pieces were dictated to her by dead composers like Liszt, Beethoven, Chopin and Debussy.

In this archive-led documentary, we dive into some of the recordings from the time and hear new interviews with the composer @arcoarcoarcoarco, pianist @siwan_rhys, radio presenter and journalist @katemolleson, Spectator Arts Editor and Director of the @lcmf__, Igor Toronyi-Lalic and the radio producer Daniel Snowman who interviewed Rosemary Brown in 1969.

Image credit: Louis-Maxime-Dubois

Produced by @eleanormcdowall
Mixed by @woolleymike

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Sissy études: HOUDINI

12’ performance piece devised & performed with my sissy @lauriewar.d — underwater mics and bowls of water, live video feeds, guitars, chains, blue tights, Kate and Dua and all the rest

performed at LCMF 2024

final put the full video capturing something of the essence of it on YouTube / link in bio

thank you to everyone who has sung “jingle jangle” to me in the 16 months since this performance :~)

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A conversation last week reminded me of performing Frederic Rzewski's "Coming Together" at the 2013 London Contemporary Music Festival. That was a good gig.

(Apologies - don't know who the photographer is.)

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Incredibly happy to announce I’ll be an Associate Artist at @wigmore_hall in its 125th year and for the next five seasons. So lucky to call this place a home away from home, for both me and @lcmf__ to enjoy without compromise.

My next concert there is on Friday 10th April with @bcmg_photos, featuring the UK première of Sciarrino’s ‘Aspern Suite’ alongside music by Gesualdo, Rebecca Saunders and myself. Tickets available in my bio. Tonight we perform in Birmingham, with the amazing @eleonore.sian and @darragh_morgan_violin.

In December London Contemporary Music Festical returns with @apartment.house performing Morton Feldman’s six-hour String Quartet no.2.

In January I’ll have a new piece premièred with @explore_ensemble — pictured here — as part of their Feldman celebrations.

Thank you Wigmore Hall 🙏🏻

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🔊 PINK LOUDSPEAKER no. 109
@soundartsuk's weekly listings of UK + Irish sound art (17–23 Nov 2025) 🇬🇧 🇮🇪

This week we share over 70 sonic artworks, exhibitions and events that you can experience this week across the UK and Ireland. 10 events are featured here, please read the full post over on Substack for in-depth features and comprehensive listings for all events. Pink Loudspeaker is a free weekly newsletter on UK and Irish sound art, you can subscribe here: 🔗 pinkloudspeaker.substack.com

[1]
Raheel Khan – Memory Police
📍 Goldsmiths CCA, London
🗓️ 24 October – 14 December 2025
@raheelkhan____ @goldsmithscca

[2]
Willow Swan & Ellis Berwick – The Beginning is Near
📍 Chisenhale Gallery, London
🗓️ 20 November 2025
@willow___swan @a_village_idiot @chisenhalegallery

[3]
Reverb (Yuri Suzuki / Folding Waves / Nadine Kennedy / Denis Kilty) // Yuri Suzuki – Acoustic Pavilion [Irish Design Week
📍 Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin
🗓️ 19 Nov 2025 // 17–21 Nov 2025
@creative_icad @riamdublin @yurisuzukilondon
@folding.waves @nabuie @deniskilty

[4]
London Contemporary Music Festival: The Artist Is Not Present
📍 Wigmore Hall, London
🗓️ 20 November 2025
@lcmf__ @milker_corporation @explore_ensemble @gbsrduo @wigmore_hall

[5]
Sandbox: Magnetic Resonance with Kathy Hinde
📍 Anthony Burgess Foundation, Manchester
🗓️ 20 November 2025
@kathyhinde @sonamb__ @anthonyburgessfoundation

[6]
Geo Aghinea – Gynodioecious
📍 Roundhouse, London
🗓️ 19 November 2025
@geoaghinea @roundhouseldn

[7]
Alan Abrahams – Transitions
📍 SPACE Ilford, London
🗓️ 13 September – 17 December 2025
@portable_aka_alanabrahams @space_studios_london

[8]
Built By Sound
📍 Loading Bay, Bradford
🗓️ 21 November – 14 December 2025
@dialledin_ @noghoststudio @bradford_2025

[9]
Sawt al Layla / 3oubour: Singing Rivers & Mountains with Fatima Lahham [3oubour: A River Between Mountains]
📍 Crafts Council Gallery, London
🗓️ 22 November 2025
@fictionalfatima @cldhoney @hamza_bouzhar @craftscouncil

[10]
Gaelic Futurisms
📍 Strange Field, Glasgow
🗓️ 22 November – 15 December 2025
@gaelic.futurisms @strangefieldglasgow

#soundart #sonicart #ukart #irishart

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This week at Wigmore Hall ✨

Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien perform together, London Contemporary Music Festival returns to the Hall with new works, the Elias String Quartet begin their Beethoven cycle, and so much more 🎶

#WigmoreHall #ClassicalMusic #ChamberMusic #WhatsOnLondon This week at Wigmore Hall. 17 November - 23 November 2025. Violinist Alina Ibragimova wears a black sleeveless top and holds a violin.

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This week: a very rare chance to hear Clarence Barlow's "Im Januar am Nil", conducted by Jack Sheen at Wigmore Hall as part of LCMF's 2025 special night "The Artist is Not Present".

This video shows Jack Ox's colour organ depicting the algorithmic spiral behind Barlow's ensemble piece. The synths play a spectral transcription of the phonemes of Barlow voice, signing nonsense phrases (in German) that avoid consonants, hence the title.

Join us on Thu 20 Nov for this retro-computer music treat, realised by acoustic ensemble. Tickets via link in bio!

#clarencebarlow #computermusic #retrocomputer #computerart #spectral #ensemble #london

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This year I find myself conducting a variety of amateur and professional ensembles . This is something I have been doing in both my professional and ‘private’ life for nearly 30 years. Increasingly also as an Associate Director of my musical family @musarcchoir. My dad is a conductor of orchestras and worked as a leader in arts education for much of his career, as did his father and Belinfantes beyond. Flailing arms, gentle hands, kinaesthetic actions and cues.

I have come to realise that this is fundamental to my practice and identity. Indeed, the gestures of conducting and the connected languages of choreography, direction, thesis and ictus can be applied to all of my experiments with audio-visual technologies.

I begin (again) tonight with a performance @kraftwerkberlinofficial @las_artfoundation with @cairokukii and @howielee_official a brass band and scratch choir. In the shadows of @studioprouvostsocialclub incredible installation. Later this month I am conducting for @edatkinsdiet again after 13 years @tate. Then a new collaboration with Haroon Mirza @wavesunlimited and in June/July.

Images:

Sam Belinfante, Stimmung, Tate Britain (2011)
Ed Atkins, Us Dead Talk Love, Chisenhale Gallery (2012)
Samuel Barber, Adagio for Voices, Leeds University Music Society Choir, (2006)
Sam Belinfante + Bruce McLean, A Cut, A Scratch, A Score, Dundee (2011)
Sam Belinfante + Musarc, The Orrery, London Contemporary Music Festival (2010)
Laure Prouvost, Ring Sing Drink for Trespassing (2018)
Sam Belinfante, ‘Stimmung’, Notes on a Return, Laing Art Gallery (2009)
Sam Belinfante + Laure Prouvost, The Long, very long Journey, Kunsthalle Wien (2024)
Sam Belinfante, On Falling Short, Museum Tinguely (2025)

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🎶✨ Meet the 2024 Diaphonique Laureates! ✨🎶

We’re thrilled to finally introduce the incredible artists and projects supported by Diaphonique this year! From bold new commissions to exciting cross-border collaborations, these laureates are shaping the future of contemporary classical music across France, the UK, and Ireland. Stay tuned as we spotlight their work in the coming weeks!

🚨 And don’t forget—the 2025 open call is now live! If you have an innovative project that brings together musicians and institutions from these three countries, apply now for a chance to receive support. Let’s make new music happen! 🎼🇫🇷🇬🇧🇮🇪

📅 Deadline: 15th May 2025
🔗 More info & applications: link in bio

#Diaphonique #NewMusic #ContemporaryClassical #MusicCollaboration #OpenCall #FundingOpportunity #FranceUKIreland @sacem @ifru_london @if_officiel @le_cnm @britishcouncil @cultureireland

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EDITORIAL // @ushara_x reflects on a night of sonic innovation at the London Contemporary Music Festival at @hackney.church

The exploration featured performances from @aya_yco, @musarcchoir , and @killer_ponzi among others

“The LCMF breathed into reality absurd performances and experimental works, continuing to push the boundaries of sound and contemporary music, asserting its place as a bold and transformative platform for avant-garde music and performance art”

Full Article -> 🔗 IN BIO

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Introducing composer Joanna Ward, commissioned by FIGURE to write a new work for our project SIDE BY SIDE — the world premiere is on the 15th of February at @stonenest_ldn, tickets are available from the link in our bio.

Joanna Ward (b. 1998) is a composer, performer, and writer from Newcastle upon Tyne, currently based in London. Joanna’s score-making ranges from the relatively conventional to the very experimental. She often works with pre-recorded audio, video, and in collaboration with other musicians and artists.

Recent projects have included working with her sister, Laurie Ward, on a collaborative piece for LCMF 2025; creating works for the Marian Consort for the Aldeburgh Festival 2024, for Slide Action for their album on NMC Recordings, for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra for Tectonics Festival 2022, for Zubin Kanga’s Cyborg Soloists project, for the Aldeburgh Festival 2022, for EXAUDI for the Norfolk & Norwich Festival, for Natalie Burch for her recent album on Delphian Records, a commission for The Gesualdo Six, and a co-creation project with Newcastle Youth Choir for the Newcastle Sings Festival 2022.

Upcoming projects include: a new piece for Musarc, for Summer 2025; new vocal music for Lotte Betts-Dean; an album of solo works and ambient music for Michelle Hromin (clarinet), Lucy Havelock (saxophone), Hugh Morris (trombone), Theo Guttenplan (percussion), and others; a graphic score for ensemble either/or (NYC); an album of songs; and a longer form stage work in collaboration with her sister.

Joanna is currently teaching on the MA Arts Management at Goldsmiths University. She graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with a Masters in Composition in 2021, learning with Amber Priestley. She was subsequently a Junior Fellow at GSMDs in 2021-22. She was also a Britten Pears Young Artist in 2021-22. Joanna graduated from the University of Cambridge with a BA in Music in 2019.

As a vocalist and performer, Joanna is interested in contemporary and experimental repertoires as well as songwriting and improvisation. She notably performs in a duo with fellow composer/performer Omri Kochavi, and experimental choral collective Musarc.

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