“Innovative and cutting-edge” is how the music of Conrad Asman has been described, and it was that which won him the title of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra’s first Composer in Residence competition. Now named the Alexander SA Composer’s Competition with the final round being held on 9 March 2024, the concert will see Asman’s new work, Load & Shed, a commission as part of his win, being premiered, explains PETA STEWART:
Asman says that Load & Shed “is all about what happens to music when you overload, interrupt and constrain its resources. The work is centred around a single melodic line, variations of which are added upon it. As the overall texture gains density, the music suffers interrupts of silence that, over time, reveal other material, seemingly unrelated to the original musical idea. As time passes, both the original texture grows and these ‘musical silences’ become more frequent until the music reaches a metaphorical breaking point.
It is at this point that the true unity of these ideas is revealed, and exposes a recognisable tune which hints at the work’s wider imagery concerning what happens when demand of a critical resource outstrips its supply. This work has been a challenging engagement for me artistically, and has uniquely challenged my usual composition processes in order to make the certain unusual structure of the piece function in a musically interesting way.”
He hopes that the work’s audience finds the music to be extremely engaging, both at the concert and VIA the livestream.
Asman, who is flying in to be at the rehearsals to work with conductor Jeremy Silver, is completing a doctoral degree in music at the Royal Academy of Music as an Oppenheimer Memorial Trust Fellow and naturally is based in London at the moment.
Organisation of Sounds
He began his musical journey studying piano at the SA College of Music at UCT: “I often joke that I never became a performer because I was never very disciplined when it came to practicing. However, whilst this was and still is true, I think what made me turn to composition was my complete fascination with the ‘creation’ of music, and how the organisation of sounds was the key that turned random noise into something we can recognise as being ‘musical’. This was what most intrigued me about the artform, especially when compared to the ‘refinement’ of music and of musical interpretation, which is often the primary focus of traditional performers,” he says.
After he graduated from UCT, he went on to the UK:“ I was very fortunate in 2019 to win a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London for a Master’s degree. This, in conjunction with the incredible support provided by the both Oppenheimer Memorial Trust and the SAMRO Overseas Scholarship for Composers enabled this dream to come true. Since completing my Masters, both RAM and the OMT have renewed their scholarships to enable me to pursue a PhD, both for which I am extremely grateful.”
Global performances of works
The last few years have been busy.. His works have been performed in Africa, Asia, Europe and America in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Kimmel Arts Centre, Wigmore Hall and Alice Tully Hall. They have been performed by ensembles such as the Shanghai and Philadelphia Philharmonic Orchestras, the Nash Ensemble and the Cape Town Youth Choir, all leading to multiple awards and commissions around the world. He has recently worked with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra on a new orchestral work.
Over the past few years, he had works performed in competitions, participating in young artistic schemes and engaging with the UK opera world through his day job as the English National Opera’s music librarian.
“After being named the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra’s Composer in Residence in March 2023, I began working more inwardly for the remainder of the year, focusing on completing two larger projects. One was the completion of my first opera: Trial by Media, which recounts the infamous tragic love disentanglement of Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp. This opera will be receiving its premiere with Cape Town Opera as part of their pocket opera festival, and am very excited to be working with them to bring this work to life in April 2024. The other of course is the CPO commission, Load & Shed, together with a series of smaller solo pieces for the orchestra’s lesser known instruments: The alto flute, tuba, viola and musical saw.”
Apart from Asman’s piece which is being premiered by the CPO in this concert, there will be five works written by the final short-listed composers – Lize Briel, Owen Dalton, Micaela Loubser, Chesney Palmer and Kerwin Petrus — as well as the premiere of Smoke, a piece by Chinese composer Yixie Shen, who won a competition by the CPO’s German collaborator in this competition, the Junge Nord-deutsche Philharmonie (jnp). Four students from the jnp will play in the orchestra.
What: Alexander SA Composers’ Competition final round concert with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra;
Where and when: Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre, Newlands on 9 March 2024 at 7pm.
Tickets: Artscape Dial-A-Seat 021 421 7695 and Webtickets
WS
