United Kingdom: May 2006 Report

Bmic Launches Download Site For New Music

In December 2005 Bmic launched a new download site for contemporary music. Entitled Critical Notice, the site focuses on music by thirty composers whose work has recently featured on Bmic's New Voices. More than eight hours of music will be available for download from the site, in performances by some of the UK's leading new music ensembles and soloists. A Critical Notice publication, from the innovative CD and distribution company Unknown Public, will also be available, featuring a sampler CD from the project and critical essays about the composers and the New Voices programme. The web address for the project, including the download site, is: www.criticalnotice.com.

Bmic Concert Series

The Cutting Edge launched in September 2005 and ran until mid-December. The events focused on recent and brand new music from the UK, but there was also an international component in the programming: a concert from the Canadian-formed, Brussels-based Trio Fibonacci, a progamme entitled Soundings promoted by the Austrian Cultural Forum featuring young composers from Austria and the UK, and the London debut from the acclaimed Irish group Crash Ensemble, which closed the series. Half-a-dozen of the concerts (including the Austrian 'Soundings' programme and the Crash Ensemble) have been recorded for broadcast by BBC Radio 3. Full information about the Cutting Edge series is available at: www.bmic.co.uk/concerts/ce2005/.

Bmic on Tour

Bmic's concert touring programme The Cutting Edge Tour reaches its climax in late November with seven concerts in nine days at venues and Festivals across the UK, including the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Dartington Arts, Birmingham Conservatoire, Durham Musicon, Liverpool Cornerstone Festival and Cardiff University. For more information, please visit: www.bmic.co.uk/concerts/tour2005/.

Bmic Appoints New Information Manager

In September 2005, Bmic appointed Richard Thomas to our Information Manager role, in succession to Ross Parfitt, who left the Centre in August. Richard joins us with a Degree in Music and Acoustics from Southampton University, and masters in Performance (cello) also from Southampton. His responsibilities include systems and IT management, and development of the Bmic website.

Matthew Greenall