ROLF HIND
In a career that has taken him all over the world in the last fifteen years, Rolf Hind has worked with many of the greatest names in 20th and 21st century contemporary classical music.
As a student of composition and piano at the Royal College of Music, he played works by Xenakis and Messiaen to the composers themselves, prompting the latter to describe the undergraduate as "a great pianist". Since then Rolf has worked closely with a broad range of composers from John Adams, Tan Dun and Judith Weir to Michael Finnissy, Simon Holt and George Benjamin. His recordings include early discs for the groundbreaking Factory Classics label to a recent recording for Nonesuch, via Bridge, Teldec, DaCapo and Virgin Classics.
He has performed at all the major European new music festivals, appeared five times at the Proms, and played in Carnegie Hall and Sydney Opera House. Tours have taken him as far afield as Cuba, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and New Zealand.
In the year 2000, after a long silence, Rolf began to compose again, inspired by repeated trips to India and a subsequent fascination with Hindi culture and language. Since then, most of his works have sprung from that source: The Horse Sacrifice, for six instrumentalists, The City of Love (a setting of Hindi texts) for voice cello and piano, Your Black Mouth, for clarinet and harp, and Sunnata for six keyboards. In 2008 he premiered his piano concerto "Maya-Sesha" with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
Rolf is also inspired by working with players at the cutting edge of instrumental technique and innovation, as in Thirteen O'Clock Shadow for the percussionists Chris Brannick and Richard Benjafield, The Eye Of Fire and The Flower in the Next Corner for the Duke Quartet, and Das Unenthullte for himself and his violin duo partner David Alberman.
He has already built up a significant list of performances and commissions from notable organisations: Bromsgrove concerts, Brighton Festival, South West German Radio, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Soundwaves festival, Spitalfields Music, York Late Music. He is currently working on a clarinet concerto "Sit stand walk" for Stuart King and Chroma, and an accordion concerto for James Crabb and the BBCSO, as well as a solo viola piece and a duo for oboe and percussion which both premiere in March 2011.
Maya Sesha and the piano piece A single flower, a jasmine petal, seven mattresses, a pea.. (2009) were both nominated for British Composer Awards.
View Rolf Hind on NMC's Music Map www.nmcrec.co.uk/musicmap
WORKS
ORCHESTRAL
Maya-Sesha (2007) 21'
(piano and orchestra)
Commissioned by the BBC and premiered by the composer and BBC SSO under Martyn Brabbins in City Halls Glasgow, March 2008
CHAMBER
The City of Love (2002) 10'
(voice, cello, piano)
Written for Lore Lixenberg (voice), Zoe Martlew (cello) and Dominic Saunders (piano) and premiered by them in York as part of Cutting Edge tour April 2002
Das Unenthullte (2002) 12'
(violin and piano)
Commissioned by the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Premiered by David Alberman and Rolf Hind at the Huddersfield Festival, November 2002.
Available on CD Secret Melodies works by Per Nørgård & Rolf Hind (Dacapo Label)
The Eye of Fire (2004) 28'
(string quartet & prepared piano)
Written for the composer and the Duke Quartet and premiered them at the Bromsgrove Mixing Music series November 2004
The Flower in the next Corner (2008) 21'
(string quartet)
Composed for and premiered by The Duke Quartet in August 2008 at the Dartington Festival
Follow the Leader (2006) 10-12'
(voice and percussion)
Commissioned by Lore Lixenberg and first performed by her and Damien Harron at the RIOT spnm concert 9th Feb 2007 LSO St. Luke's.
The Horse Sacrifice (2001) 20'
(fl/bfl/treble recorder, cl/Eb/recorder, vln, vc, perc, pf with ratchet + triangles)
1st Performance: Brighton, May 2001.
Commissioned by the Brighton Festival for the New Music Players
Recorded by the New Music Players on London Independent records (LIR003)
King David (2008) 7'
(clarinet and violin)
Shashankasana (2008) 5'
(string quartet)
Composed for and premiered by The Duke Quartet in May 2008 at the Soundwaves Brighton Festival.
Sunnata (2005) 11'
(grand piano, four uprights and a honkytonk)
Written for the composer and five student pianists at Nottingham University premiered by them at Djanogly Recital Hall March 2005
The Thing is (2006) 14'
(piano, cello, violin)
Premiered at the Corsham Festival 2006 by the Fidelio Trio
Thirteen O'clock Shadow (2001) 4'
(2 singing percussionists)
Written for Richard Benjafield and Chris Brannick. Premiered at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival 2001
Your black mouth (2002) 12'
(Bass clarinet, harp)
Premiered by Fiona Cross and Hugh Webb at the Leasowes bank festival Shropshire in August 2002
INSTRUMENTAL
A Single Hair, a Jasmine Petal, Seven Mattresses, a Pea... (2009)
(solo piano)
Cloud Shadow & Solgata (2000) 11'
(solo piano)
1st Performance: Seoul, S. Korea, April 2000
Solgata performed by the composer on the State of the Nation CD from NMC
The Towers of Silence (2007)
(solo piano)
