WGC Nidus

LSO's 'Soundhub'  |  London, UK

by Fabricio Mattos

Hi everyone! I’m Fabricio Mattos, creator and artistic director of WGC. Together with collaborators Ogmundur Thor Johannesson and Fabio de Oliveira, we will bring in this blog some of the most exciting music projects that we know of.

I thought it would be nice if my first post was about some project in which I’m currently involved, and I've chosen a project of London Symphony Orchestra called ‘Soundhub’, based at St Luke’s, London. As they say in their website, through this project they provide a “flexible space where composers can explore, collaborate, and experiment, with access to vital resources, support from industry professionals and LSO players”. You can access their website here. 

Before I went there, on November 19th 2012, I only knew that it would be a collaboration with composer Emma-Ruth Richards in a piece she was composing for guitar and dancers, and try out some different stuff in an almost jam style, which is what we usually do in first meetings with composers... That's exactly what we did, with one difference: when I arrived at St. Luke's, it came as a  shock the view of what seemed to be dozens of dancers stretching on the floor (actually there were 14 or 15, but the shock...), cameras flying around, people making photos, and then I immediately thought: "oh no, I should have practised more!". Here you can feel a little bit the situation:

When the first shock was gone, it was possible to enjoy the rest of this first meeting, along with other musicians, photographers, choreographer and dancers, and, of course, composers. Emma-Ruth is one of the three members of the group of composers "Collective and Curiosities", and the other two composers wrote pieces for solo viola and solo voice. At the end of this first workshop, we've all (musicians and dancers) participated in a collective jam of improvisation only commanded by the sound of a gong, which meant dancers should change their partners. You can read a review of the event here and watch some videos of this first meeting here.

Even with the natural tension of first meetings, everything went very well, many ideas came up from improvisation. We have a second session booked for April 12th and the big concert on June 21st at St. Luke's. It's a really cool scheme of LSO, and more schemes such as this one, which provides structure and recognition for young composers to start an exciting work that wouldn't be possible otherwise, should be available for composers in many countries. I'm looking forward to the final event on June 21st, and if you live in London or know someone who does let them know, because it's going to be awesome!