OKEANOS ENSEMBLE

Okeanos was brought together in 2001 with the aim of creating opportunities for young composers, reaching out to new audiences, initiating pioneering performance events, and collaborating with other art forms. As part of Japan 2001, one of the ensemble earliest projects was to invite 6 young Japanese composers to write for them inspired by the touring Textile exhibition, Textile Space.

In celebration with Japan-UK150, Gavin Henderson, Artistic Director of Dartington International Summer School, invited the ensemble to give concerts and workshops in August 2009, featuring the music of Somei Satoh, Dai Fujikura and Howard Skempton, as well as presenting works from the Advanced Composition Class. This echoed an earlier project from 2006 curated by Rolf Hind, then Artistic Director of Spnm, in collaboration with the Asian Music Circuit and soloists Etsuko Takezawa and Clive Bell, which toured to Spitalfields Festival, York and Manchester.

The ensemble has also been featured on Radio 3’s ‘Here & Now’ and their recordings featured on Australian and UK radio. They have premiered over 100 works, including commissions from Robin Holloway, John Joubert, Howard Skempton, Judith Weir, Nicola Lefanu, Judith Bingham and many other composers of international standing. They have been at the forefront of many young composers’ careers, namely, Lynne Plowman, Dai Fujikura, and Basil Athanasiadis to name a few.

Regularly part of the prestigious Bmic Cutting Edge Series (2002, 2003, 2005 & 2008), in 2009 Okeanos joined [rout] ensemble for an electro-acoustic collaboration, which they have recently recorded for CD. They have performed at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Vale of Glamorgan and at the Oxford Contemporary Music Series. In 2007, they participated in the Guildhall School of Music’s Elizabeth Maconchy chamber music festival. They have played at both Hereford and Gloucester Three Choirs Festivals.

Composition workshops initiated by Bmic and Oxford Brookes University have led to similar opportunities at Cardiff University and Manchester. This autumn at Huddersfield University the ensemble will be part of a post-graduate composition project involving acoustic and electro-acoustic techniques co-ordinated by Bryn Harrison and Michael Clarke.

Okeanos has recently recorded chamber music by Geoff Poole and Beth Wiseman. Future CD plans include an NMC CD of the music of Dai Fujikura specially composed for them including the addition of two new pieces to his Breeze Trilogy which they will premiere at King’s Place in November 2010.