Joe Duddell
+44 (0)161 295 2692
Joe Duddell studied music at Salford University and then with Steve Martland at the Royal Academy of Music, where he became Composition Fellow. He spent four years as Lecturer in Composition at Exeter University after which he joined the staff of Brunel University. In September 2007 he took up the position of Reader in Music at Salford University.
His works have been performed at many major festivals and venues both nationally and internationally and he has received several commissions from the BBC, including Parallel Lines for the percussionist Colin Currie, The Realside for the BBC Singers' 75th Anniversary, and Vaporize for Paul Lewis and Steve Osborne's Proms chamber music recital in 2000. Duddell has featured strongly in the Proms: in 2002 he was part of the King's Singers' Orianna project and in 2003 his percussion concerto Ruby was premiered by Colin Currie and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop. It immediately received further performances in both the BBC Young Musician of the Year and the European Young Musician of the Year contests.
Snowblind, a concertante work for Colin Currie and the BT Scottish Ensemble, was toured in Scotland and taken to Europe in 2002. Not Waving but Drowning, Duddell's first major orchestral work, commissioned by the BBC and written for Catherine Bott and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, was premiered at the 2002 Huddersfield Festival. It was nominated for the BBC Radio 3 Listeners Award in the first British Composer Awards in December 2003. His cello concerto, Shadowplay, commissioned by Sinfonia ViVA! for their 21st birthday season, received its first performance by Thomas Carr oll and ViVA! under Nicholas Kok, in April 2003 at the Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham and was then repeated at the 2003 Lichfield Festival, where Duddell was composer-in-residence. Shadowplay has since been performed and broadcast by Carroll with the BBC Concert Orchestra.
2004 saw premieres of two new chamber orchestra works; New Dawn Fades for The London Strings and Mnemonic, commissioned by the Presteigne Festival. Duddell was commissioned again for the 2007 festival to write a short string quartet, Four (mere) Bagatelles. He was Composer-in-Residence there in 2008.
A further work for Colin Currie, Freaky Dancer for vibraphone and guitar quartet, was commissioned by the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet and toured With Currie throughout the USA. It has subsequently been recorded for Telarc.
2008 also saw the premieres of The Redwood Tree, a symphonic wind band work for the Royal Marines Band, Azalea Fragments, an orchestral work for the London Symphony Orchestra, Nightswimming, a piano trio for the Presteigne Festival and Isolation, for chamber orchestra, a commission from the Orchestra of the Swan.
In 2009 two short commissions have appeared on CDs released by NMC, Cease Sorrows Now, for baritone and piano and Tree Carving, for flute, viola and harp.
Also in 2009 Duddell's interest in alternative music came into play when he was asked by the Manchester International Festival to orchestrate and conduct the band Elbow and the Halle Orchestra. The concerts at the Bridgewater Hall received unprecedented critical acclaim. He then collaborated with Peter Hook (from Joy Division and New Order), the Manchester band James and members of the BBC Philharmonic for the Verses Cancer Charity concert at the M.E.N. in December 2009.
Current projects include a large-scale work in conjunction with composer Craig Vear, an extended orchestra collaboration with James, a Magnificat for the 2011 Presteigne Festival and a CD of his chamber music from 2000-2010.
Duddell’s compositions are all published by Schott & Co.
Links
for more information on Joe Duddell's research and projects please visit his Seek profile
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