New Project: Collaboration with English National Opera, Opera Up Close and SIOW Music

On Friday 4 July 2025, I led the final performance for a new educational and participation project, working with English National Opera (ENO), Opera Up Close and Southampton and IOW Music.

The project was part of the ‘Finish This…’ programme from ENO: a programme to support composition in schools across the country. As part of our local engagement with this, I worked with Opera Up Close and SIOW Music on an exciting cross-form remix and improvisation project.

The project began with work year 8 pupil’s at Redbridge Community School composed in response to the ‘Finish This…’ resources. Drawing from their compositions, I reworked the musical material into an electronic remix using a variety of sonic transformation and compositional approaches: I sampled recordings of their work as the basis of new synthesised timbres using granular synthesis; I chopped and reworked samples into percussive loops and rhythmic layers; I rearranged and recomposed some of their lyrics; I used and developed rhythmic, melodic and harmonic motifs and gestures, revoicing these as synthesised and electronic elements. This new electronic work was turned into an example arrangement as well as remix pack of samples, loops and stems.

In a two hour workshop in early June, I led a workshop with the same group of pupils, using the remix pack to enable them to create their own arrangements of work. Some chopped and reworked samples, some worked created clear musical structures using the materials, some added their own instrumental performances. Drawing from these remixes, I returned to the material, and arranged a backbone score and electronic palette of sounds in Ableton Live for use in a live, collaborative, improvised performance with Flora Mcintosh from Opera Up Close.

In the morning of Friday 4 July 2025, I worked with Flora to improvise together based on the backbone score. We worked the material together in the music studio at Mayflower Studios, and then went to Redbridge Community School to present and perform the work as part of the celebration programme.

The final piece was recorded, and it is my hope to share recordings in the coming weeks.