Benjamin Oliver 'Embedded' in the BBC Symphony Orchestra
Southampton Lecturer in Composition Benjamin Oliver has been selected to work with the BBC Symphony Orchestra for a year as part of Sound and Music's Embedded artist development programme. Funded by The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Embedded places artists from a range of disciplines into real-world artistic contexts with leading national creative organisations.
During his year with the orchestra, Ben will develop a new twelve-minute piece, Lullaby for Joni, for performance at Maida Vale Studios in November 2013. The performance will be recorded for potential broadcast on Radio 3’s new music programme Hear and Now. He will have the opportunity to try out initial sketches and ideas with the orchestra and conductor Garry Walker in two workshops in March and April 2013.
In other news, Ben has been commissioned to write a piano concerto for jazz pianist Ivo Neame and the Kent County Youth Orchestra for performance in September 2013, and in December 2012 his newest work Prelude, Fugue and Riffs will be premiered in Canterbury and Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the International Composer Pyramid Competition 2012.