Called after Ornina, goddess of music in Mesopotamia and ancient Syria, our ensemble is leading a revival in the tradition of female music-making by women in the Arab world. In the courts of Baghdad, Cordoba, and Medina women were highly trained in musical composition and performance, as well as in Read more…
I’m intrigued by the interplay between the sounds that are conventionally part of concert music, and those conventionally excluded. I recently started bringing external sounds in, while continuing to use traditional instruments and – with a certain ambivalence – becoming a studio musician. In the works below I engage closely Read more…
I composed ‘Talking about Tatyana’ when I was a student at the Royal Academy of Music in London. It is an oblique homage to Tatyana Nikolayeva, the pianist who premiered Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues. It’s a fugue, and I scored it for clarinet trio. Why? I don’t remember!