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Composer and ACPA researcher Yannis Kyriakides awarded first prize in the International Rostrum for Composers

Former student of Leiden University professor Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, Cyprus-born ACPA researcher Yannis Kyriakides, currently developing his PhD dissertation under the supervision of Professor Frans de Ruiter and docARTES PhD supervisor/ORCiM research fellow Dr. Bob Gilmore, has received the International Rostrum for Composers award, in the category over 30 years, for his cello, video and electronics piece: Words and Song Without Words.

Former student of Leiden University professor Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, Cyprus-born ACPA researcher Yannis Kyriakides, currently developing his PhD dissertation under the supervision of Professor Frans de Ruiter and docARTES PhD supervisor/ORCiM research fellow Dr. Bob Gilmore, has received the International Rostrum for Composers award, in the category over 30 years, for his cello, video and electronics piece: Words and Song Without Words

The work was presented by NPO-Max radio station (Netherlands) and premiered by cellist Larissa Groenveld on the 29th October 2012 at the Muziekgebouw aan`t IJ, Amsterdam. It had been commissioned by the Amsterdam Cello Biennale. This work is a response to a quote from a letter written by Felix Mendelssohn to Marc-André Souchay in 1842, in which he explained his position regarding the Songs Without Words cycle, highlighting the opposite view he takes from the norm, regarding the relative meaningfulness of words in relation to music. According to the composer, the piece is about the act of speaking and the way in which the words resonate in the body. The cello acts as a surrogate inner voice, but no outsider will be able to make out exactly what that voice says.

The International Rostrum of Composers (IRC) is organized by the International Music Council with the financial assistance of participating radio networks. Prof. Frans de Ruiter was president of the IMC from 1997-2001 and from 2009-2013. The Rostrum of Composers is an international forum of representatives of broadcasting organizations who come together for the purpose of exchanging and broadcasting contemporary art music. Pursuing its mission to promote contemporary music creation through broadcasting for more than sixty years, the annual Rostrum has this year again strengthened its role as one of the most important “rendez-vous” for professional exchange between radio producers. Its overall objective remains fostering the exchange of performances of contemporary music between broadcasting organisations. For example, works chosen at the preceding Rostrum (2013) were given well over 500 broadcasts by participating networks as well as affiliates of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

The 2014 Rostrum gathered representatives from 27 national radio networks from four continents, which presented 50 works composed within the five years preceding the Rostrum. After the listening sessions, the assembly of delegates selected and recommended the most distinctive works in two categories: general and “young composers under 30”. These and other works will be presented in concerts and broadcasts after the Rostrum by the participating and other interested radio stations.

Link to the awarded work:

http://www.kyriakides.com/words_and_song_without_words.html

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