Continuing our Jazz Connector online meet-ups with a focus on career development, IMC would like to invite the Irish music community to come together for an interactive presentation, Q&A session and chat on Thursday June 23rd from 7:00 - 8:30 PM.
The topic at hand is:
Working Across Artforms - A Look Inside 'Grey Area' by Sam Perkin in collaboration with Crash Ensemble
'Grey Area' is a poetic nocturnal journey, blending the worlds of Street Skateboarding and Composition.
A conversation with Composer, Sam Perkin, and Artistic Director of Crash Ensemble, Kate Ellis, exploring the work and the collaboration.
We’ll be joined by:
Sam Perkin. Sam completed a residency in 2022 with Crash Ensemble, Ireland’s leading new music ensemble who play the most adventurous music of today. Grey Area (2017-19), his first major work for Crash Ensemble, imaginatively blends the worlds of Street Skateboarding with Contemporary Music and received its first three performances at MusicTown Dublin, Sounds From A Safe Harbour Cork, and Musica Nova Festival Helsinki.
Sam Perkin has enjoyed fruitful collaborations with artists such as Finghin Collins, Crash Ensemble, The Irish Chamber Orchestra, Miranda Cuckson, Vanbrugh Quartet, RTÉ ConTempo Quartet, IAYO, RTÉ NSO, Fidelio Trio, Thomas Schuttenhelm; and festivals such as Ortús Festival, Engage Arts Festival, Kilkenny Arts Festival, Killaloe Festival, New Ross Piano Festival, West Wicklow Festival, West Cork Chamber Music Festival, Gregynog Festival Wales, La Côte Festival Switzerland, Sound Scotland Festival, Musica Nova Festival Finland, Alta Festival Norway, and Network for New Music Philadelphia.
Sam holds degrees in Composition from CIT Cork School of Music, and an Artist Diploma from Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon, France, where he was awarded the Prix Salabert for Composition. In 2017, he was awarded The Next Generation Bursary from The Arts Council of Ireland.
Kate Ellis is a versatile musician dedicated to the performance and exploration of all new music. She is Artistic Director of Ireland’s Crash Ensemble, Cellist with Martin Hayes’ newly formed Common Ground Ensemble and is often seen playing with Francesco Turrissi’s Taquin experiments, Yurodny, Ergodos Musicians and the electro-folk group Fovea Hex.
Recent projects include the release of 13 EP’s of original music alongside bespoke films as a creative documentation of 2021 with UK based musician and composer Laura Cannell, supported by the Arts Council of England.
Kate has collaborated with, commissioned, premiered and recorded works by numerous Irish and International composers including Steve Reich, David Lang, Michael Gordon, Nico Muhly and Donnacha Dennehy and continues to push musical boundaries performing with a diverse range of musicians including Bobby McFerrin, Rhiannon Giddens, Martin Hayes, Iarla O Lionaird, Gavin Friday and Karan Casey to name but a few. These collaborations have seen Kate perform and broadcast in Australia, the USA, Europe and China, performing at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Centre, Shanghai EXPO, Istanbul Akbank Jazz Festival and Edinburgh International Festival.
In 2009, Kate co-founded the highly successful ‘Kaleidoscope Night’ series. A monthly event taking classical and experimental music out of its typical setting and transplanting it into an informal and intimate alternative, a sociable evening of lesser-heard, rarely-heard or never-heard small-ensemble music.
Guest Speakers:
Sam Perkin
Kate Ellis
Guest speakers will be expressing their own personal views and will not necessarily be speaking on behalf of their various companies/employers.
If you missed out on any of our previous meetups, you can read all of the talking points that were discussed here.