University News Last updated 07 March 2024
Four Composition students were given the opportunity recently to take part in Project Remix, where young musicians are mentored by City of 探花直播 Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) players before performing in a concert at Symphony Hall.
The theme for Project Remix this year was 鈥楩rom the Small Screen鈥�, and four student composers Vinicius Motta, Ella-Rose Rayner, Katherina Hristova and James Sharif selected the theme tunes from Netflix鈥檚 鈥楽quid Game鈥�, 鈥榃ednesday鈥�, and 鈥楾he Witcher鈥� for their arrangements.
Brazilian-English fourth-year student Vinicius arranged Squid Game鈥檚 鈥楶ink Soldiers鈥� song. He maintained the motif鈥檚 repetition, while adding more elements to the work. These included dynamic changes in timbre, a rich harmonic language, and a gradual layering of instruments.
Vinicius said: 鈥淭his arrangement served as the opening piece for the concert at Symphony Hall, marking my debut at this prestigious venue.
It was a memorable experience, not only because my work was being performed by brilliant young musicians, but also because it was my first time at Symphony Hall, and I was opening the concert. The orchestra nailed my arrangement! 鈥淚 am thankful to CBSO and RBC for providing me with this opportunity, as it allowed me to expand my knowledge of composing and arranging for performers of varying skill levels while having the chance to hear my work being performed at a world-class venue.鈥�
Third-year student Ella-Rose portrayed the mysterious and eerie atmosphere of 鈥榃ednesday鈥�, composed by Danny Elfman, in her arrangement. Ella鈥檚 approach to writing typically comes from improvising on flute and piano.
Ella-Rose said: 鈥淎s there are many motifs throughout this work, I decided to keep the original length of the piece (one minute), rather than extending it to maintain the original atmosphere. For my first orchestral arrangement, it was special, as it鈥檚 a Danny Elfman piece and I really enjoy his work.鈥�
Fourth-year student Katherina kept her arrangement of 鈥楾he Witcher鈥� close to the original, while also including some creative and unexpected turns.
As a composer, she likes to connect to the audience through her harmonic and melodic content, which is why the calmer sections in combination with a lighter orchestration were used to incorporate more lyrical ideas in the arrangement.
Katherina said: 鈥淭he score peaks at the end, when it picks up full pace, is high on energy and is moving towards the last chord where it finishes boldly.鈥�
Third-year student James loves the music from 鈥楾he Witcher鈥�. He arranged 鈥楾he Wolven Story鈥� with the goal of using a large ensemble to convey their growth. The piece starts with a solo but gradually builds up until the full ensemble is in full swing.
James said: 鈥淥n hearing I was going to be orchestrating 鈥楾he Wolven Storm鈥� (Priscilla鈥檚 Song) by Marcin Przyby艂owicz, I was over the moon! The original song is about the love between Geralt and Yennifer, and it represents the strong connection they鈥檝e developed throughout their story.
鈥淚鈥檝e had an amazing time working with conductor Mark Goodchild and everyone at Project Remix. It鈥檚 been so inspiring to hear these talents.鈥�
Head of Composition Joe Cutler said: 鈥淚t's very exciting to see our composers collaborating with CBSO's Learning and Participation Team on this fantastic project. It's so important that our talented composers have the opportunity to work with and inspire the next generation of musicians from the region, and it was thrilling for them to hear their music performed to such a large audience at Symphony Hall.鈥�
Pictured: Student composer James Sharif