James McVinnie: The Open Fund for Music Creators
For:
Commissioning and Touring a New Organ Work by Tom Jenkinson
This project will see a new organ work by Tom Jenkinson performed by James McVinnie as part of a national tour celebrating the county’s great organs as the first ‘synthesizers’ invented centuries before their electronic counter-parts.
Tom Jenkinson is best known as the electronic music artist and virtuoso bass player Squarepusher. An inveterate experimenter, the techniques and craftsmanship he has honed during his career are among his most recognized qualities. He has spent the last decade creating and refining his own software system which he used exclusively to make his most recent album ‘Damogen Furies’ (Warp Records).
Embracing a range of influences including Miles Davis-period jazz and musique concrète, his music has been embraced by the contemporary classical world which recognizes how the complexity of his style connects with that of the early electronic music pioneers. He was central to the London Sinfonietta’s ‘Warp Works’ which brought together audiences for electronica and contemporary classical music, combining works by Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, Varese, Ligeti, Cage and Reich within the same programme.
Tom Jenkinson first encountered traditional organ music at school and his fascination with the instrument has been a big inspiration within his electronic music. This substantial new piece is the first he has written for live performance on a traditional organ and represents a significant development in his work as a composer beyond electronic music.