I’m absolutely thrilled to be working with The Nano Symphony throughout 2016 on a collaboration we’re calling Keeper.  With Catherine Thompson on clarinet, Neil Thompson on viola, and Lee Akinsanya on piano, and with electronics and effects from time to time, I’m composing a multi-movement work called Hive inspired by honeybees, colonies, and all kinds of social and environmental aspects to these fascinating creatures.  The finished work should be around 30-40 minutes, comprising numerous shorter movements for the trio and different configurations.

The Nano Symphony have made a Keeper micro-site complete with a honeycomb-shaped gallery of bee-related information and discoveries.  Check it out, new links and images are frequently being added.  We’ve been sharing ideas and discoveries about bees since the commencement of the project over cups of tea and coffee and also via this collaborative Pinterest board.

The Keeper project has been made possible through the Peter Sculthorpe Music Fellowship jointly awarded by Arts NSW and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.  We are very grateful for this support, which is allowing us to schedule several workshops throughout the year, as well as a goal of recording the work by the end of the year.  We’re also hoping to present some of the movements in performance during 2016, and a culmination performance of the whole work in 2017.

I’ve also compiled a Spotify playlist of all the Clarinet/Viola/Piano music I could find, and a spreadsheet listing all the cl/vla/pno trios I could find mention of.

These are all ever-changing resources, so if you’re a Pinterest or Spotify fan, you might like to follow the board or playlist to keep up with the latest Keeper project inspirations.  Suggestions are welcome for any links or works not yet included.