Event overview
Scottish composer and writer Alastair White talks about the methodologically in the creation of his four-part "fashion-opera" cycle "WEAR, ROBE, WOAD and RUNE".
The Contemporary Music Research Unit presents current PhD student Alistair White.
The theory of contingency dialectics involves a combination of philosophy, historical musicology, critical theory, and composition as research. In this, it attempts to deploy (and so make a case for) composition as an epistemological tool distinct from practice-based research or musicology. Using these, it attempts to think through the consequences of a non-Newtonian reality for a materialist theory of aesthetics. The theory has been realised methodologically in the creation of a four-part "fashion-opera" cycle between 2018-2021: WEAR, ROBE, WOAD and RUNE.
Alastair White is a Scottish composer and writer. His work is characterised by a lyrical complexity which draws influence from technology, science, politics and materialism, and has been described as "a whole exciting new genre of art" (BBC Radio 3), "perfect" (Vogue Italia), "genuinely original" (TEMPO), “highly poetic...excellent” (BBC Music Magazine), and "the height of compositional magnificence"(Fanfare). He is currently composer-in-residence for the Ljubljana-based .abeceda [new music ensemble], and his scores are published by UMP. Recipient of a Tait Memorial Trust Award (2021) and shortlisted twice for a Scottish Award for New Music (in 2019 and 2020) and Creative Edinburgh Award (2019), Alastair's music has seen multiple releases on Métier and Navona, been featured across Europe in performances and on Radio 3 and Klara Radio, and is supported by major institutions internationally. Recent publications include work on Carter and Jameson (Società Editrice di Musicologia) Finnissy and Lacan (Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre) and Ferneyhough (Göttingen Studies in Musicology).
CMRU events are free and open to all.
Image: Still from "RUNE"
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 3 Nov 2022 | 6:00pm - 7:30pm |
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