Music, Birmingham City University
Thesis title:
From Scarlatti, (Clark, 1976), to Bartók, (Suchoff, 1971), classical composers have turned to traditional music for creative stimulus. However, there has been little evaluation of the interrelatedness of these genres with current performative approaches privileging composer and score over folk origin (Onderdonk, 2007). This study interrogates the extent to which ‘art music’ and ‘folk music’ are made meaningful only in relation to one another (Gelbart, 2007), through the lens of the Galician dance of the muiñeira, posing the question: What are the performative and compositional interrelationships between classical and folk traditions? Using the muiñeiras of violinist-composers Manuel Quiroga, Pablo Sarasate and Andres Gaos as case studies, alongside orally transmitted equivalents, this practice-led PhD will offer the first extensive investigation of the classical muiñeira and re-evaluate the links between classical and traditional music.
My research stems from 22 years of perfoming professionally across the globe. As a classical musician I have been invited to tour Canada, China and Spain with the Jenusses Musicales World Orchestra. I have also worked professionally with the Orchestra of the Swan, International Mahler Orchestra, Sinfonia Cymru, Welsh National Opera, Royal Shakespear Company and the Heritage Orchestra touring all over the country. In addition to this I have toured with String Quartets and duos around the UK.
I was part of the Carlos Nunez Band playing traditional Galician music with whom I toured extensively for 8 years performing in France, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, Scotland, Switzerland, Spain, Japan, and Morocco. Whilst in the band I collaborated with many distinguished artists including The Cheiftains, Sharon Shannon, Dan ar Braz, Liam O'Flyn, Kodo Drummers and Altan among others in diverse venues around the world from Dublin National Concert Hall to 'Le Nuit Celtique' (80,000 people). I have played to a wide range of audiences including the King and Queen of Spain and recorded a live album and DVD (Carlos Nunez Y Amigos) in front of 30,000 people which received the Spanish music award for the Best Folk Album 2005.
In 2009 I started my own band, the award winning UFQ, Urban Folk Quartet. The band have toured extensively for the last decade producing a heady mix of globally influenced traditional music all over the world at concert venues and festivals such as Cropredy Festival, (30,000 people), Shrewsbury Folk Festival and many more and have recorded 6 albums.
As well as regular recordings with The Urban Folk Quartet and Carlos Nunez, I have appeared on recordings by The Cheiftains, The Rolling Stones, Joss stone, Rodrigo Romani, Chris While and Julie Matthews, Fairport Convention among others. I also played on the Oscar winning 'Mar Adentro' (Sea Inside) by Amenabar and Studio Ghibli 'Gedo Senki' film soundtracks.
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