Siobhan Lamb

Composer

• Commissioned by Marsden International Jazz Festival in 2006 to compose the piece ‘Meditations’ which was recorded in 2008 at the Royal Academy of Music, London.
• Commissioned by WDR to compose ‘The Nightingale and the Rose’ which was performed by the WDR Big Band and WDR Choir in summer 2010 and by Danish Radio Big Band and Danish Radio Choir in winter 2011.
• Composer for the contemporary dance company ‘Betrachten Dance’ and for ‘Fallen’ – a part of the ‘Cultural Shift Festival’ for East London Dance.
• Composed the music for the children’s film ‘Tom’s Christmas Tree’.
• String arranger for Randy Brecker project with the Danish Radio.
• Composed Concerto for Trumpet and Timpani commissioned by The Shepherd Group Brass Band and Geneva Instruments.
• Composes for educational projects and workshops and was a seminar leader for Masters students on composition with improvisation at The Royal Academy of Music, London.
• Songwriter and lyricist for Sony BMG projects.
• Trained as a classical flautist at The Royal Academy of Music in London. Holds a degree in English and Theatre Arts from University of London.
• Freelanced with London orchestras and worked with studio musicians and in West End Shows.
• Performed all the major flute concertos for Richard Hickox at the renowned St Endellion Music Festival and was the featured flute soloist on Richard Rodney Bennet’s ‘Jazz Calendar’ with the Royal Ballet Company. Siobhan Lamb grew up in the UK listening to many different types of music as a consequence of having a renowned big band musician as her father. She subsequently trained as a classical flautist and second study voice at The Royal Academy of Music in London. She then pursued a successful flute playing career freelancing with London orchestras and working as a studio musician, and she did many West End shows, but her main love was playing chamber music and performing solo recitals. She performed all the major flute concertos for Richard Hickox at the renowned St Endellion Music Festival and was the featured soloist on Richard Rodney Bennet’s ‘Jazz Calendar’.

After ten years of working as a flute player in London, Siobhan wanted to broaden her horizons, embarking on an English and Theatre Arts degree at University of London. This period of study led Siobhan to realise the potential for storytelling within music composition. She began to focus on working as a composer and has since written for dance, film, commercial and concert projects of her own music.

Although a classical composer, with very much her own style, Siobhan has an understanding of many different types of music on which to draw. She is as comfortable writing for chamber ensemble, strings or choir as she is for a brass band or big band. Her music often has a strong sense of narrative, which draws together her many experiences of music as well as her love of literature. In 2006 Siobhan was commissioned by Marsden International Jazz Festival to write ‘Meditations’. It is an acoustic piece with an evocative and explorative mix of different and distinctive sounds which is written to four poems around the themes of Love, Loss, Hope, Joy, and Peace and celebrates landscape and sound. She was inspired by the desire to draw an improvised sound into a classical setting, and she wanted to create a room to pause and reflect and a space to explore silence and sound. In the piece she created the musical dialogue by weaving together the lines of a string quartet, a vocal group specialising in medieval chant, a harpist, a percussionist from the world music tradition, as well as for one section the pure sound of a children’s choir. This came to life with the interaction over the top of the soloist trumpeter Gerard Presencer’s improvising mastery, as he responds with his world class trumpet playing. The Guardian described ‘Meditations’ as ‘unmissable’, ‘tantalising’ and ‘expansively beautiful’. ‘Meditations’ was recorded in April 2008 at the Royal Academy of Music and was produced by Jeremy Summerly of Oxford Camerata. Apart from ‘Meditations’ she also composed the music for the children’s movie ‘Tom’s Christmas Tree’ in 2006. It as screened in ten major cities in the USA, and in 2008 it was accepted for Santa Fe Film Festival. In autumn 2009 Concerto for Timpani, Improvising Trumpet and Brass Band at York University was performed. It was commissioned by The Shepherd Group Brass Band and Geneva Instruments and it will be performed again in the September 2011 by Danish Concord Brass Band. In the summer 2010 Siobhan composed ‘The Nightingale and the Rose’ which was commissioned by WDR and performed by the WDR Big Band and WDR Choir. Later in winter 2011 it was performed and broadcasted by Danish Radio Big Band and Danish Radio Choir. The piece is composed on a text by Oscar Wilde and it tells us a story about a nightingale that sacrifices its life for love. Siobhan Lamb wanted to present the classical expression of the choir with the rhythmical universe of the big band and the improvising tone of the trumpet. It was not about getting the sounds to melt together, but on the contrary about maintaining and celebrating the differences. In spring 2011 Siobhan received a commission of new work for Hans Eisler percussion ensemble, Berlin. She has been a composer for ‘Betrachten Dance’, a contemporary dance company, where she worked with profoundly deaf choreographer Joanna Dunbar as well as a composer for ‘Fallen’ part of the ‘Cultural Shift Festival’ for East London Dance. In addition to this, she has worked as a songwriter and lyricist for Sony BMG projects, she was a string arranger for Randy Brecker project with the Danish Radio, she composes for educational projects and workshops, and she has given seminars at postgraduate level, most recently at The Royal Academy of Music, London.

General Manager:
Karin Taidal, Counterpoint Taidal Management A/S

Siobhan Lamb

Gerard Presencer

Gerard Presencer is widely respected as one of the finest trumpet players in the world. Having established himself as a soloist, studio musician and session player, he has received critical acclaim for his 3 solo albums. Gerard has recently become trumpet soloist for the Danish Radio Big Band and had the honour of directing the band on live television at the opening of the new studio complex with the Queen of Denmark in attendance. He regularly arranges for the band as well, most recently on projects for Randy Brecker and Charlie Watts. The Band's latest release on EMI is an album dedicated to West Side Story, featuring Gerard as soloist, arranger and conductor.

His playing credits cross musical genres and he has recorded with many leading artists including Sting, Robbie Williams, Ray Charles, Herbie Hancock, Joni Mitchell and Chick Corea. He has also played on and arranged for a variety of performers including Charlie Watts, Incognito, Zero 7 and Will Young.

Gerard has won the trumpet category of the British Jazz Awards 4 times.

In addition to this Gerard was Head of Jazz at the Royal Academy of Music in London from 1999 until 2010, and since 1999 is the Head of Brass at the Jazz Institute Berlin, and lectures throughout Europe in Jazz Studies.