The fifth concert of an exceptional new series of five dates of contemporary music at the beautiful candlelit venue of St Mary le Strand. A unique opportunity to experience new and innovative works by some of the UK leading contemporary music artists. St Mary le Strand is an outstanding and intimate venue, well suited for musical performance. There are also many bars and restaurants nearby to complete your evening.
Effy and Litha Efthymiou present 'Shape, Form and the Meandros' - contemporary string works by women composers. Additional programme items to be confirmed.
Litha Efthymiou is a London based composer whose music has been described as ‘powerful’ (Timmy Fisher, Bachtrack, 2018), ‘brilliantly realised’ (Tamara Gausi, Time Out, 2008) and ‘cutting edge’ (Helen Wallace, Kings Place Magazine, 2014). Her work has been performed at venues including Kings Place, Southbank Centre, Royal Albert Hall, Bristol St George’s, Handel and Hendrix in London, the Sage Gateshead, and Southampton’s Turner Simms, by ensembles and soloists including the Ligeti String Quartet, violinist Darragh Morgan, Harpsichordist Jane Chapman, and the London Symphony Orchestra. Her music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Litha has been the recipient of awards from Arts Council England, PRS Women Make Music, the National Lottery, Hinrichsen Foundation, RVW Trust, and the Wellcome Trust. Litha undertook her PhD in composition at the University of Bristol, supervised by composer John Pickard and she currently teaches composition at London College of Music. As well as composition work, Litha also writes about music and has published journal articles and book chapters for Contemporary Music Review, Context, Airea, Intellect, and Act.
Effy Efthymiou is a London based composer, and a creator and producer of multimedia stage works that harness music, movement, the body and the spoken word. Her work has been described as ‘Brilliantly realized’ by Tamara Guasi in Time Out, and as ‘a powerful statement for 21st century innovation’ (Timmy Fisher, Bachtrack, 2018). Effy has won numerous awards to create and produce her work, including from PRSF (Women Make Music), Arts Council England, National Lottery, Wellcome Trust, Hinrichsen Foundation, RVW Trust and Playground Studio. Her work has been performed at festivals and venues across the UK, including at Kings Place (which has programmed three evening-long performances of her work), Queen Elizabeth Hall, Barbican, Sage Gateshead, St John's Smith Square, Handel and Hendrix in London, Kettle’s Yard, Westminster Abbey, Bridgewater Hall and the International Guitar Festival. Effy studied Composition at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, with scholarships from the Leverhulme Trust and TCM Trust, and recently undertook a Ph.D. in Composition at King’s College London, with a full scholarship from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (via the London Arts and Humanities Partnership). Her music is published by Edition HH.
Mark Gibbs is a member of the viola section at English National Opera, having joined in May 2022. He also regularly performs with orchestras throughout the UK, including the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Birmingham Royal Ballet Sinfonia and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He worked with the Macao Orchestra in China in 2014. He has performed numerous concertos, including Telemann’s viola concerto with Solistes de musique ancienne, Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with Ensemble Lunaire and Siegfried Camerata and Britten’s Double Concerto with King’s Philharmonic. Mark studied at the Royal College of Music with Jonathan Barritt, graduating in July 2013. He also completed an Erasmus Exchange at the Academy of Performing Arts, Prague, where he took lessons with Czech violist Jan Peruška.