New > Robert Ames > announces Purcell Room show > 4 - 5 November 2021

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Robert Ames announces shows at Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre
4 – 5 November 2021 playing his debut album Change Ringing

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MEMBERS' PRE-SALE ENDS FRI 2 JUL, 10AM

£15

“Robert Ames is a super-connector in modern music, the arranger and conductor linking the likes of Jonny Greenwood, Frank Ocean, Little Simz, Jónsi and Actress with contemporary minimalists. His solo debut Change Ringing features six meditative, drone-based pieces…Ames’s slow motion, multilayered approach gets more microtonal and harmonically complex.” The Guardian

“An infinite landscape somewhere between the kosmische of Tangerine Dream and the minimalism of Philip Glass” What Hi-Fi

Multifaceted, daring and explorative are a few words we can use to describe Robert Ames. This exceptional musician’s new album unites Western classical tradition with 20th-century electronic techniques to transport listeners to other worldly stakes to mind.

Now he has announced his debut UK show performing his debut album as a composer Change Ringing at the Queen Elizabeth Hall’s iconic Purcell Room – which has just been refurbished ready to reopen after the pandemic. Robert Ames is no stranger to the 295 seat venue, having curated an Erased Tapes X London Contemporary Orchestra season at the venue in 2019 not to mention having frequently conducted at the Southbank Centre (Philip Glass’ Lodger Trilogy in 2018 for example).

As a conductor, curator and arranger, Ames has been a key exchange agent between the classical tradition and contemporary music. He has worked with world-class orchestras including the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra and BBC Concert Orchestra, and has conducted in concert halls around the world.

Ames was the youngest ever short-listed nominee for the Royal Philharmonic Society’s conductor award in 2019, is the co-founder, artistic director and principal conductor of the London Contemporary Orchestra, and an associate of the Royal Academy of Music.

The release of his debut LP this May 2021 herald the the dawn of a new symphonic era. Robert’s creative process begins with his instrument the viola and his rare ability to visualise and utilise all the instruments of the symphony orchestra. As a conductor, he understands the orchestra as an instrument; its glorious colours, rich textures and alluring power to create huge abstract spaces. Ames’ mastery of his medium leads the listener into blissful states of pure joy the music a guide into the deepest states of existing. Ames is a confident and mature composer that has created a healing listening experience.

“The majority of the album was written and recorded between April - May 2020 in my small studio in the Peak District” explains Robert (the Peak District is a famed upland area in the North of England known for its wide panoramas of valleys and gorges, cut through a limestone plateau). “I naturally found myself drawing on sounds from my childhood. The echoes of choirs and organs in large spaces, distant church bells, large symphonic gestures crackling through an old car stereo, competing with the low hum and rumble of wheels on the road and the cacophony of orchestras slowly tuning up. I resisted the temptation of using discernible tempos and time signatures to give a feeling of timelessness. I like the idea that each track sounds like it’s going on a journey that is infinite and what is recorded is just a snapshot of something much longer. I started by layering up multiple recordings of myself on the violin and viola as well as recording vocals. I would often slow down these recordings so they were unrecognisable, notate the recordings as sheet music and re-record the sheet music. I would go through this process several times until I had something that I enjoyed listening to.”

The record has features from LCO Lead Violinist and One Little Independent signed composer Galya Bisengalieva as well as the Steam Down affiliated harpist and composer Nala Sinephro. At a time when worldly activity is minimal, Change Ringing is a sublime inner flight, an impossible object, in flux and focus at the same moment.

https://www.robertames.co.uk/
https://www.lcorchestra.co.uk/

Dates & times
4 – 5 Nov
Price
Standard entry
£15*
Concessions
25%**

  • Excludes £3.50 booking fee.

** Limited availability. Read about concessions.

July 6, 2021 5:29am ET by Pressparty  

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