Will Dutta
Commissioned by:
Tate
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Will Dutta, pianist, collaborator and independent producer, works within the shady borders of contemporary classical music. He has recently worked with electronica stalwarts Plaid, DJ Yoda and Heritage Orchestra, producing events at some of London’s more alternative live settings, Ginglik, 93 Feet East, Scala and more.
He completed his studies at Trinity College of Music in 2007 spending summers at both the Rachmaninov Institute in Russia with Victor Merzhanov and at Yale School of Music in the USA with Boris Berman.
After graduating Will established Chimera Productions, a company committed to providing musicians and composers with interesting and often unusual platforms to perform and premiere new music and challenging a wider audience to listen to classical music through pioneering commissions and cross-genre collaborations. Drawing on artists working across all aspects of dance music, from DJ culture to electronica, pieces are created that will strike a note of relevance with audiences, after all this is no different from Chopin taking inspiration from Polish popular and folkloristic material or Bartók and his in-depth study of folk song. What has become known as the “standard repertoire” would be stripped of much content had it not been for this long-standing tradition of cross-pollination of sound.
Collaborations so far include Plaid and Max de Wardener as well as hosting performances by top soloists and ensembles: Elysian Quartet, O Duo and Powerplant to name a few. In July 2007 he conceptualised, commissioned and staged Gabriel Prokofiev’s Concerto for Turntables & Orchestra, which featured DJ Yoda and Heritage Orchestra at London’s Scala.
Chimera Productions assisted in the production of Wired Up: Festival of Electronics in Performance for Trinity Laban and curates Blank Canvas; a night that has a reputation for eclectic contemporary classical and experimental music programming, which pays no heed to classical music convention.
“New Music Plus offers me a plethora of unique and fantastic opportunities to help realise my vision for the future. First and foremost, I hope to deliver a fantastic co-production with the Tate. I am really excited about learning from and being part of this world-class arts institution and see it as being invaluable in helping me to develop not just my ability to plan and deliver an event but also my artistic ideas, something I have always aspired to have the very highest standards in.
I look forward to the Creative Circle learning network, which will allow me to foster new relations, sharing and developing my ideas with 7 other inspiring emerging producers, whilst the training and mentoring will provide me with the essential toolkit of the trade, something which so far I have had no specific and concentrated training in.
I look forward to taking on the many challenges facing me over the next year!”