The Martin Read Foundation Announces Annual Festival And Young Composers 2023!

The Martin Read Foundation trustees has announced the awarded bursaries to four young composers from an impressive cohort of talented aspiring and emerging musicians. The awardees are William Dear, Felix Sladen-Jewell, Josh Clark, and Joe Jolliffe, and they have been commissioned to write short pieces on the theme of War, for solo cello.

The MRF Annual Festival will take place on Sunday 23rd April 2023, at St. Lawrence Church, Alton.

The Festival theme is War, past and current, and in celebration of Martin Read, 10 years on since his passing. The concert will feature Martin Read's Civil War cantata: The Death of Colonel Boles, with cellist Joseph Spooner and baritone Paul Sheehan conducted by David Gibson. Additionally, there will be a new work for Flexible Ensemble composed another one of our alumni.

The awardees have already participated in two workshops with Joseph Spooner, the performer in residence. Joseph has worked extensively as a chamber musician; regular collaborators include David Owen Norris and Madeleine Mitchell. His work also includes several premieres and recordings of works by Errollyn Wallen and Roger Smalley. The awarded young composers explored under Josephs mentorship, writing for the cello and the starting points of their pieces. They are now working hard with their mentors to complete their compositions ahead of the Festival.

Beccy Read, founder of the charity and wife of the late Martin Read said "We are thrilled to have such talented young composers and musicians as part of our program, and we look forward to showcasing their work at the MRF Annual Festival. The MRF young composer awards fill the gap between school music education and undergraduate composition programmes."

Tickets can be purchased at: https://www.martinreadfoundation.org/events/mrf-festival-april-23rd-join-the-audience.

Founded in 2014, the MRF was set up in memory of Martin Read who died suddenly in 2012 aged 53. Martin was an outstanding acclaimed composer and educator who lived and worked in Hampshire. The Foundation is a platform on which his passions for contemporary music and the teaching of composition to young people continue.

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