SING YE TO THE LAW

JABEZ HOGSBARROW reports
from the London International
Contemporary Composers' Conference

Last night's well-attended inaugural London International Contemporary Composers' Conference, the brainchild of Carol Jon McNaughy, gave attendees the chance to meet a wide-range of the world's up-and-coming composing talent. One clear observation is that never have there been more female composers actively working in the industry, as you can see for yourself by browsing the attendee list below. These include New Zealand-born Avril Ngaire Poisson, featured previously on these pages, and the brass band composer Bertina Engeldinck Umpa. The evening was fascinating not just for the awards ceremony or the networking opportunities, but also for the chance to hear more than an hour of live performances, including new compositions from the much-hyped school of the Stylus Neo-Phantasticus.

Most interesting of all was a talk on mu-runes, thought to have been invented by obscure Albanian nun Prill Mjaullin (c1620-1657), which, in a similar way to Chinese hànzì, encapsulate the essence of complete works of music in small, delicate but complex logograms. Mjaullin, who is also believed to have written the words set by Rossini in his Duetto buffo di due Gatte, must have had a brilliant mind, on a par with that of Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Leonardo da Vinci or McRonald J Trumk.

A wide range of sponsoring publishers of contemporary music were in attendance, notably Eugenberg, Hoosey & Barks, HUMP, Karmus, Muzak Fails, Recalldy, Rover, Sabre, Schrilmer and Schplott.

The evening concluded wonderfully, when Martina Field and her Academy of St Neville in the Marriners (divided into the requisite six geographically separated quartets) gave us a complete performance of a work never previously performed in London — Adolpha Maugham-Villiers' amazing Six Phantasy String Quartets on a theme of Thomas Tallis the Tank Engine.

An excited Carol Jon McNaughy tweeted: Eees vury nyes zat nous hass dis conferenzay un ve vurkt zoo hart een de making. Aim vurry prood zat Prill Mjaullinz vurk en specilly de logograams gott snowcasst hier avec zein mumuroonz gemutlich. A beeg multumim a nos sponsewers foh de coffernanz, purtikyoulear HUMP und Schplott worrr phantastischk. Antler ze nixt zeit!

AVRIL NGAIRE POISSON