Availability
Score and parts for hire
Programme Notes
DreamCity is a vibrant, energetic and rhythmically pulsing song without words for string orchestra. Inspired by conversations with the young string players of the LSO East London Academy (ELA) on their personal experiences of the lockdowns that occurred in 2020, I drew upon the themes of personal creativity, perseverance, uncertainty, dreams, dance and playing games.
The process of creating this piece was unique to us all in that I first created a series of 34 individual fragments that reflected the themes. These themes composed for Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Cello and Double Bass were then recorded by five Members of the London Symphony Orchestra at LSO St Luke's. From these recordings, I created a series of 'backings' to support each of the 34 fragments that the LSO East London Academy would later record.
With the support of the five LSO Members as section mentors, the fragments were learned and then recorded by the ELA players at home to create a total of 480 recorded audio fragments that I then used as raw material to build the piece.
As a collective, I felt that we were all linked through our experiences of living in one of the world's most active and engaging cities, physically and culturally, and I wanted to reflect that in the energy of the piece, combining the elements of classical lyricism and edgy inner city vibe. Working with Deon Elsworth on the video added an important dimension to the music in that it enhanced and expanded the themes, really bringing to life the energy of the cultural city backdrop of the piece and balancing it with dreamy underwater scenes in a melting pot of colours and movement that to me represents DreamCity.
Note by the composer