Mini Chamber App released!

A project I've been working on for a couple of months has just come into fruition - the release of my Mini Chamber application for iOS! Developed to coincide with and celebrate the gargantuan performance of my piece that will take at Voices Now festival 2017, Mini Chamber adopts the principles of 'Vox I: Echo Chamber', reimagining it in a digital and portable form that can be brought to life anywhere. The app is available for free so I really hope you give it a try and #MakeModernMusic that you can share with your friends and also with me; I'd love to hear what you come up with!

Click here to download.

'Vox I' to be performed in York's Late Music series

Vox I: Echo Chamber will be performed by York's Late Music Ensemble at their concert on Saturday 1st July. The evening is inspired by composer Meredith Monk, celebrating the year of her 75th birthday, and it takes place at St. Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel in York at 7.30pm. Full programme and ticket info can be found here.

Click here to learn more about the piece in question, or stream a recording of the premiere below:

Brocket Summer Residency

I will be working with printmaker Ashleigh Thompson on a collaborative project through the month of August, using the Brocket Gallery's project space in Kennington as an open studio for audiences to visit, and engage with our works and processes. 

Ashleigh's hand-manipulated mono-print series, Fractures, will be converted into sound with software assistance, by treating them as spectrograms and then reverse-engineering them back into audio files. These will form the basis of a palette from which I will construct a soundscape, which can then feed back to Ashleigh to respond further. 

Ultimately the residency will culminate in an installation consisting of Ashleigh's prints and my soundscape, derived from the artworks. The soundscape will be procedurally generated in 5.1 surround, controlled via iOS. 

The final product of our residency will be exhibited at Brocket Gallery on 30th August.

Vox London Collective launch Commission Opportunity

Vox, the vocal ensemble I co-direct, is setting up a commission for one emerging non cis-male and one emerging BAMER songwriter/composer interested in writing for the voice. The winners will have an existing piece of theirs performed at this year's Southbank Chorus festival (July 1st/2nd), and will receive a paid commission to write a new work for Vox, to be premiered at Chorus 2018. For more information on how to apply, click here.

'Vox I' to be performed by 200 singers at Voices Now Festival

Vox I: Echo Chamber will receive a performance like no other in the main space of the Roundhouse on the evening of July 9th this year: A super-conglomerate of five choirs (London Humanist Choir, Veda Slovena Bulgarian Choir, Soul of the City Choir, Côr Llunsain & The Roundhouse Choir) will give a 200-part rendition as part of the programme of Voices Now Festival 2017. The festival runs from July 8th-9th 2017 and features many fantastic UK-based ensembles covering a wide spectrum of sounds. Check out the Voices Now website for more details as they arise.

Click here to learn more about the piece in question, or stream a recording of the premiere below:

Club Inégales Spring Academy

I've been invited to take part in this year's Academy Inégales Spring Weekender - a weekend of improvisation leading to a concert at Club Inégales, London, on Sunday 26 March. The workshops will be led by Club Inégales residents Peter Wiegold & Martin Butler, and by special guests Dhruba Ghosh & Kiya Tabassian - several performers representing music from varied traditions, and I'm looking forward to performing/creating with them all!

Review of 'Colour Etude I' at Chapter

A review of the Sleeper Society's concert at Chapter Arts Centre by Cardiff-based online magazine, The Sprout, contained the following words about Colour Etude I:

"Omar Peracha’s Colour Étude 1, ended the second half of the night, in an evocative and wonderfully harmonised composition. Though not present, the sense of how his music work[s] was clear and precise."

Read the full review here.

'Colour Etude I' to feature in NYCEMF 2017

Colour Etude I will be included in this year's New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival. The festival runs between June and July and takes place between National Sawdust (Brooklyn) and the Abrons Arts Centre (Manhattan), as well as a few other venues across NYC. 

Colour Etude I will feature in the final concert of the festival, which takes place at National Sawdust on 16th July, 7pm.

Click here to learn more about the piece, or stream in in full below. 

Upcoming collaboration with Xenia Pestova

I have been selected as one of eight composers to take part in a project with acclaimed pianist and keyboardist, Xenia Pestova, who currently serves as Director of Performance at the University of Nottingham's department of Music. The project is based around the toy piano and includes the commissioning of a short piece from each participant composer, to be premiered at a concert in London on Saturday 18 March.

'Colour Etude I' to be premiered in Cardiff

Colour Etude I has been selected by the Sleeper Society to receive its premiere at their concert in Cardiff next month. The concert will take place at the Chapter Arts Centre on Monday 23rd January and tickets are available via this link.

Sleeper Society wrote the following to me about Colour Etude I:

"We thoroughly enjoyed listening to your piece, and were blown away by the ways in which your computer-generated piece contained such successful musical development and pace, more so than any other similarly derived pieces. It develops with sheer beauty, elegance and personality."

Click here to learn more about the piece, or stream it in full below:

'VOX I' Premiered at the Roundhouse

My latest improv-based work, Vox I: Echo Chamber, received its premiere at an intimate concert at the Roundhouse in London last night. The piece, scored for unfixed large ensemble, was performed a Capella by the wonderful voices of the Roundhouse Choir. Click here to learn more about the piece, or stream it in full below.