Anna Meredith
Performed in the BBC Last Night of the Proms, her music was broadcast to 40 million people. She's a former composer-in-residence with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and her music featured in the last year's PRADA Spring/Summer fashion campaign. Her projects include Concerto for Beatboxer and Orchestra as well as a piece for five symphony orchestras in different corners of the country, connected by satellite. After the first two critically acclaimed EPs, the Scottish innovator and composer, Anna Meredith, is about to release a keenly awaited debut Varmints and then will hit the road. Her tour will also include Pohoda where she'll perform her impressive music with attention to detail to our audience.
23. February 2016
Anna Meredith combines conventional music education (Royal College of Music) with significantly unconventional methods. Her work typically features original instruments. More often than not, the instruments you see sound different than expected (for example, a bassoon transformed into “Slash electric guitar” through pedals). In 2012, within the BBC Proms, together with The National Youth Orchestra (NYO), she created a gigantic percussion instrument resembling the sounds of jungle or ritual dance and singing of the cavemen. This piece of hers made a huge impression not only on the audience, but also on the journalists from The Guardian and The Telegraph. The fact that the 165-member NYO performed the masterpiece from memory is also worth noting.
Anna recorded her debut named Varmints with drummer Sam Wilson, guitarist Jack Ross and cellist Gemma Kost. The album features all the contrasts Anna Meredith is known for: “her love of big brush strokes with her eye for the devastating detail,” combination of acoustic and electronic features as well as complex harmonies and at the same time melodic motifs that are easy to grasp… In her music, opposites attract, but they also attract discerning listeners. We believe they've got something to look forward to at Pohoda.