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Composer Hayley Jenkins interviews composers and performers of music presented at Late Music concerts, to provide insight into the pieces, and why and how they were created.

Hayley Jenkins chats to Ruth Lee, composer, harpist, and singer about her lunchtime recital on Saturday 4th March. Ruth talks about her work as a musical storyteller, her interests in themes concerning mythology, and her blending of folk tradition with contemporary classical music. Ruth also tells us how some of the pieces for this concert require an electro-acoustic setup with additional pedals, taking the pedal harp to new and interesting places.

Dr David Lancaster talks to Hayley Jenkins about the intriguingly named February lunchtime recital Au Lapin Agile: Setting — A French café in Montmartre — and how his piece of the same name has evolved from a flute and piano piece to a flute, bass clarinet, and guitar trio. There are four world premieres and one UK premiere, performed by Music on the Edge, in this concert to transport you to a little bit of Paris.

Hayley Jenkins talks to composer Nicola Lefanu about the concert by Gemini Ensemble to celebrate her 75th birthday. In the discussion Nicola talks about the changing landscape of new music during her career, about arts funding, education and her new piece `Gemini Quartet’ which will be premiered at Late Music on Saturday 3rd December.

Hayley talks to pianist Duncan Honeybourne about the pieces in the lunchtime concert on Saturday 5 November 2022. The concert celebrates composer David Power”s 60th birthday.

Hayley talks to Chris Caldwell of the Delta Saxophone Quartet about the evening concert that opens the 2022-23 season, on Friday 30 September 2022.

Hayley talks to Amy-Jayne Milton and Henrietta Hill from Trilogy Ensemble about their evening concert on 4th June.

Saxophonist Chris Caldwell is one of the founders of the Delta Saxophone Quartet. Hayley discusses with him the programme for the evening concert on 7 May 2022. The first half has new work commissioned for the Quartet. The second half draws on pieces from the Quartet’s 2007 album “Dedicated to you, but you weren’t listening.”, inspired by and adapting for saxophone quartet earlier work by Soft Machine. The combination reflects the Quartet’s complementary approaches to cutting-edge new music.

Hayley talks to postgraduate student Hannah Garton about her new piece Octans for bass and piano which is being performed at the lunchtime concert on the 2nd April. Hannah’s piece sets the work of Leeds poet Amina Alyal who is published by Stairwell Books. To listen to some of Hannah’s work, have a listen to her SoundCloud.

Hayley Jenkins talks to composer James Else and poet Alan Gillott about their most recent collaboration ahead of the premier of Retratos 1 in April’s lunchtime recital by Stuart O’Hara — bass and Ionna Koullepou — piano.

For his forthcoming lunchtime concert on Saturday 5th March 2022, Jonathan chats to Hayley Jenkins about the programme, the basset clarinet and his passion for collaborating with composers to create new repertoire.

DotDasH Music is a group of composers — David Lancaster, David Power and Hayley Jenkins — who are launching their first collaborative project through Late Music. The 100 Second Song Project invited composers to collaborate with poets and writers to create short songs for soprano and piano. David, David and Hayley talk about how it all started and what to expect from the evening concert on Saturday 5th March 2022.

Soprano Jessica Summers is one of the founders of the Living Songs project in 2013 (the other is pianist Jelena Makarova). Living Songs is an ongoing project that puts 21st century songs into recital programmes alongside more well-known repertoire.York Late Music’s evening concert on Saturday 5 February 2022 features Living Songs; Songs of Love and Exile. Jessica Summers discusses the project (and more) with composer Hayley Jenkins.

Composer Jenny Jackson has the first performance of her piece Pacemaker in the evening concert on Saturday 4 December, performed by pianist Ian Pace. She discusses her background and the piece with Hayley Jenkins.

Composer David Power has a piece in each of the two concerts on Saturday 6 November. The lunchtime piece Joy, one of the Contemporary Piano Soundbites, composed during Lockdown 2020, was intended to cheer people up. The evening piece Transfiguration, performed by the Elysian Singers is based on several fragments of Biblical text, and intended to be a calming piece.The interview includes a discussion about changes of listening styles given new technology.

David Lancaster is a composer and associate professor at York St John University in York. He has a piece in each of the two concerts on Saturday 6th November: Angelus, one of the Contemporary Piano Soundbites pieces for Duncan Honeybourne; and Feathers performed by the Elysian Singers. He discusses them here.

Duncan Honeybourne is performing his collection of Contemporary Piano Soundbites at our lunchtime recital on Saturday 6^th November. During Lockdown 2020, he commissioned a series of short piano pieces (the “soundbites”) from many composers, pieces responding to the pandemic or lockdown, which he performed online. On Saturday, they will be performed live. He is interviewed about them here.