Playing with Scottish Swing Orchestra tonight ‘Queens of Swing’ are Edinburgh Jazz Festival. Lots of great stuff happening at the festival this year – come and check it out if you can!
Scots College at St Andrews
Just had a lovely morning working with saxophone students and staff from Scots College, Sydney who are visiting St. Andrews Music Centre. We talked about technique, practice routines, and storytelling through music. Heard some really great playing, well done everyone!
SSE gig on Sunday 28th July
I’m looking forward to playing in Edinburgh on Sunday 28th July with Scottish Sax Ensemble and special guest from the U.S. David Milne. Do join us if you can!
New saxophone group in Fife starting August 2019
Exciting news! I am starting a new group for amateur saxophonists looking for an opportunity to play with others. I will initially be running a five-week series of rehearsals with an informal concert for friends and family in the final week. The rehearsals will take place at the Rothes Halls in Glenrothes on a Monday evening from 7-9pm.
Fife Community Sax Group will offer people of all ages the chance to play with others in a relaxed, supportive setting. The focus will be on learning the techniques of playing in an ensemble, which many learners do not have access to through individual lessons and practice. I will provide parts with a range of difficulties so that people feel comfortably challenged.
I hope you can join us for our first rehearsal on August 19th 2019. For further info and to register your interest, please visit this page.
Trip to Coll with Scottish Sax Ensemble
Here’s a few snaps from our recent trip to Coll with SSE. On our way up we had the opportunity to work with two groups from Park Primary School in Oban. We played to a welcoming audience at the lovely An Cridh. Despite a day’s delay due to a ferry which broke down, we had a great time – what a beautiful place!
‘The Virus Within: Hearing HIV’
Had a great time this weekend with Workers Union Ensemble performing ‘The Virus Within: Hearing HIV’ at Southampton University’s Science and Engineering Day. Ben Oliver’s work with scientist Chad Swanson has resulted in a wicked three-movement piece which uses strands of DNA and nucleotides in musical form. Fascinating from both a scientific and musical perspective, we are looking forward to touring this around the UK over the next few years.
Check out the promo video to find out more:
New CD featuring Workers Union Ensemble
NMC are releasing a new album of Joe Cutler’s music, featuring my new music group Workers Union Ensemble. The release date is 19th October. More info on the NMC website.
Promo video for ‘Hearing HIV’ project
Here is a snapshot of the fascinating project my group Workers Union Ensemble were involved with earlier this year.
‘Hearing HIV‘ brings together contemporary music and cutting edge scientific research. In collaboration with virologist Chad Swanson, Benjamin Oliver has composed a new three-movement work for ensemble and electronics that musically explores HIV replication processes and how innovative ‘Shock and Kill’ treatments might provide a cure for HIV.
This video is of extracts from the premiere at Guy’s Chapel, King’s College London, on 15 February 2018. You can watch all three movements in full here. Or why not come and see us live in Southampton in 2019? Exact dates and times to be finalised but check the Workers Union Ensemble site for the latest info.