Composed in Cornwall: Graham Fitkin shares creative identity with Falmouth staff

Friday, 25 September 2009

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Composing for global markets from Cornwall's westerly edge and the mathematics of music were the key themes of the annual Governors' lecture for University College Falmouth staff, delivered by Graham Fitkin at the Tremough Campus this week.

Cornishman, Graham Fitkin, has created music for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the New York City Ballet, the Halle Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and San Francisco Ballet, and is widely recognised as one of the most dynamic British composers of his generation.

He has conducted orchestras in venues ranging from London's South Bank to the Lincoln Center in New York and his music has been recorded by Factory, Decca and Sanctuary to critical acclaim.

Describing his interest in fusing ancient instruments with electronica and experimenting with the human voice; how the mathematics of music creates tension and resolution; and the lifeline of a composition from commission and premier to performances and CD release, his talk provided a fascinating insight into how the viral expansion of the market made possible by the internet enables him to maintain an internationally-recognised creative identity from a remote corner of West Cornwall.

Graham Fitkin is currently composer-in-residence with the London Chamber Orchestra and is working on a new piano concerto for Kathryn Stott (that was co-commissioned by the BBC and Tokyo Symphony Orchestra) and a new piece for American cellist, Yo Yo Ma.

Other recent collaborations include a piano trio commissioned by the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; a BBC commission for the Duke Quartet; a solo for the new organ at Birmingham Symphony Hall; and a multi-location work for computers and video.

Graham is an Honorary Fellow of University College Falmouth, which offers a dynamic range of degree courses in Music, Theatre and Dance in addition to Art, Design and Media.

For further information about BA(Hons) Music at University College Falmouth's Dartington Campus, visit www.falmouth.ac.uk/music, email admissions@dartington.ac.uk or telephone Admissions on 01803 861620.

University College Falmouth is the only independent Higher Education institution in Cornwall with the powers to award degrees in its own name. It has two campuses in Cornwall - at Woodlane in Falmouth and Tremough in Penryn (which it owns, and jointly manages with the University of Exeter) - and a third campus at Totnes in Devon, following its merger with Dartington College of Arts in 2008.

This merger created a new institution focusing on the expansion of Falmouth's expertise in Art, Design and Media and Dartington's expertise in Choreography, Music, Theatre, Art and Writing. The Devon-based courses will relocate to a new, high-specification Performance Centre at Tremough in 2010, paving the way for a new specialist Arts University in Cornwall by 2012/2013 that will be unique to the South West.

The College is a founding partner in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC), a unique initiative to promote regional economic regeneration through Higher Education, funded mainly by the European Union (Objective One), the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall Council.

Ends

For further information about University College Falmouth, please contact Jilly Easterby MCIPR, Head of Public Affairs, Telephone: 01326 213792, or email: jilly.easterby@falmouth.ac.uk

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