Ear to the Ground Scotland Ear to the Ground Scotland

Timothy Cooper is a composer and performer of electroacoustic music. Tim’s work is often collaborative, working with musicians, artists, and poets amongst others. Since 2019, Tim has been working with Ensemble 1604 composing a concert length show called Shadows That In Darkness Dwell that explores the music and life of English renaissance composer John Dowland.
Click Here to purchase the album and head over to The Night With... festival page for tickets and info!
Track List:
Labyrinth
Shadows That in Darkness Dwell - I. Flow
Shadows That in Darkness Dwell - II. Fled
Shadows That in Darkness Dwell - III. Darkness
The Narrow Way
Semper Melancholia
Whose Heavenly Touch
Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.
Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.
Sound edited by Mia Eames.
Website Links:
https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/
https://timothy-cooper.co.uk/
https://thenightwith.com/
https://ensemble1604.wordpress.com/

Henry McPherson is a musician and artist working across composition, improvisation, and pedagogical practices. His work has been shown internationally across diverse settings – from concert halls to galleries, bathrooms to dance studios, parks and warehouses to cafes, virtual halls and radio.
His current creative interests lie in the intersections of improvisation performance and ecology, which is reflected in his upcoming opera Maud, performed by Scottish Opera's Young Company at the end of July.
Track List:
Moss Gardens No. 1
Moss Gardens No. 3 - II. Slow Dance
Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.
Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.
Sound edited by Mia Eames.
Website Links:
https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/
https://www.henrymcpherson.org.uk/
https://www.scottishopera.org.uk/

In this episode we caught up with Neil Tòmas Smith and discussed his upcoming album Stop Motion Music. The CD has been several years in the making and features musicians from across genres including Carla Rees on flutes and Delia Stevens on percussion, as well as harpist Esther Swift, cellists Duncan Strachan and Justyna Jablonska and jazz drummer Simon Roth.
Neil is fascinated by the connections between sound, space and movement and with each new piece, takes the chance to explore something new, leading to a diverse range of work.
Track List:
Stop Motion Music
Scaffold For Simon
Manual
The Music Lesson
Progressions Of Memory
Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.
Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.
Sound edited by Mia Eames.
Website Links:
https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/
https://ntsmusic.co.uk/

Gemma McGregor is a freelance composer, performer and curator from Orkney, whose music has been described as polystylistic, whilst crossing the boundaries of musical genres. Gemma has been writing music with a sense of place either by referencing sounds from the environment, history or dialect poetry. Gemma plays Orkney traditional music and has researched its links with Norwegian music. Much of her music contains references to speech rhythms and a strong connection to Norn, the lost language of Orkney.
In this episode we chat about Gemma's collaboration with Nordic Viola on their Sagas and Seascapes, as well as previous instrumental and vocal works.
With special thanks to performers:
A Slaughter of Ravens
Jože Kotar and Luca Ferrini
Carry His Relics
Katherine Wren and Gemma McGregor
Love Was His Meaning
Godolphin School Girls Choir and Katie Salomon (Harp)
Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.
Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.
Sound edited by Mia Eames.
Website Links:
https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/
https://gemmamcgregor.com/
 

Gareth Williams is a composer and songwriter making work that ranges from opera, theatre and songwriting to chamber and orchestral music. His compositions seek to find new relationships, participants, collaborators and audiences for new opera, music theatre, and song, to shed light on stories and communities that have been overlooked, and to explore ideas of vulnerability in vocal writing. He has created three award-winning operas NOISE opera since 2012, each one bringing a new collaborator to the genre, from the patrons of Glasgow's oldest bar, the Shetland fiddler Chris Stout and the Scottish indie band, Admiral Fallow. Gareth has recently written Rubble with librettist Johnny McKnight, a new opera for Scottish Opera is being premiered in July 2022.
 
Music featured:
Rubble
Rocking Horse Winner
The Song from the last page of Lanark
 
Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.
Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.
Sound edited by Mia Eames.
 
Website Links:
https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/
https://www.garethwilliamsmusic.com/

In this episode we chat to Fergus Hall about everything from composing with hydrophone recordings, Hamish Henderson's poetry and jellyfish raves!
Fergus is a composer and musician from the west of Scotland whose creative practice is focused around how a musician can act as a creative facilitator. This stems from Fergus’ interests in jazz and traditional music practices which often blur the distinction between composer and performer.
As a composer, he has been commissioned by Glasgow New Music Expedition, Nevis Ensemble, Sound and Music, Making Music UK and An Tobar.
A new album of string music recorded in collaboration with Sequoia is due to be released this summer.
 
With special thanks to performers
On Sonorous Seas
Lea Shaw - Voice
Crossing the Simeto
Sequoia
Jellyfish Music
Long Green Jaws
Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.
Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.
Sound edited by Mia Eames.
 
Website Links:
https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/
https://www.fergushallmusic.com/