Dear friends,
It’s been a month full of wonderful violin projects, from teaching at the annual baroque strings course at Cork School of Music (wonderful teenagers that give me much hope for the future!), to a new live recording of a long form violin and electronics improvisation, to last weekend’s performance of Purcell’s opera ‘Dido and Aeneas’ in Skibbereen Town Hall. It was an extraordinary performance, and when we finally arrived at Dido’s famous lament aria it felt like everyone in the room was collectively resonating with that universal human sorrow and longing that is so perfectly encapsulated in the music. (Check out Jeff Buckley’s take on it) My neighbour the artist Michael Wright took a welcome break from building his studio to come and sit and sketch in the dress rehearsal - wonderful energetic drawing below:
‘MAUNDY THURSDAY” - NEW VIOLIN STUDIES SERIES RELEASE
On Maundy Thursday this year I was invited to come and play an improvisation at the Church of the Ascension in Timoleague, in the dark, after the altar had been stripped and folk were sitting silently in the dark, illuminated only by a few bare candles. I responded to the void of darkness, the bare building and the resonance of this night of meditation on violence and grace. I wanted to ring a bell into the sense of futility that has filled me in the months since the violence began in both Ukraine and Gaza.
I have been toying with a new idea to release a series of live violin improvisations called ‘Violin Studies’ - to enter unusual and disregarded spaces and respond directly to their ambience and resonance with music.
‘Maundy Thursday’ is the first of this series and is now available to download (for whatever price you choose) at my bandcamp page. Please do click the link below and have a listen and consider downloading it - all the proceeds from this track will be donated to Doctors Without Borders work in Gaza.
MAY BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
As a homeschooling Dad I’m already following a different path with my kid, and really interested in these dynamics so Michaeleen Doucleff’s ‘Hunt, Gather, Parent’ was a fascinating and inspiring find. A scientist and anthropologist who made radio programs with tribes and societies less affected by the modern western culture she noticed that the parents and kids are more relaxed, less stressed, collaborative and helpful to each other. This book delves into some ancient cultures and is a profoundly positive reflection on kids and parents - refreshing in a world that seems to pit one against the other.
I had never heard Errollyn Wallen’s music before, but when I saw the title of this book ‘Becoming a Composer’ I felt I had to give it a read. Not only is she a prolific and highly creative artist (22 operas and counting!!!) but she writes really openly about the process of composing a work, from initial ideas, to sketches, to practical problems, working with commissioners, players etc as well as stories from her childhood….Highly recommended.
I’m only half way through ‘A Book of Noises; Notes on the Auraculous’ by Caspar Henderson, but it has sparked my curiosity and imagination in untold ways and left me wanting to explore new sounds, new instruments, new ways of making music. It is a beautifully written study of sounds - from the sounds of the universe in the cosmophony, to earth (geophony), the sounds of life (biophony) and finally the sounds of humanity (anthropophony).
Thanks for reading. I’d love to hear from you - do send me a line! Or a book recommendation. If you’d like to receive the new music, videos, studio tips and film music every month, I have a patreon community here. For the price of a coffee you can directly support my work and interact as projects take shape.
Love and here’s to longer evenings and warmer days,
Justin