After
studying joint honours, piano and composition for three
years at Birmingham Conservatoire, Genevieve is
now focusing on composition for her final year. She composes
using electronics and live instruments, working with many
artists and musicians. Various plans for the
year include composing for BCMG, writing for her
own ensembles and touring with Martin Creed's band and ballet
(Work 1020).
Genevieve
was born in Dundee and studied piano from early childhood. At
sixteen she was accepted to study at the junior
academy, Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama where she
studied piano with Haviland Wilshire, and cello for second study.
Towards the end of the first year at the RSAMD Genevieve developed an
interest for composition and opted to change from cello to composition
which she studied with David Fenessey and with whom she developed her
instrumental writing.
Genevieve
finished school in 2006 and was accepted into Birmingham
Conservatoire to study Bachelor of Music, joint honours piano and
composition. During her time at the conservatoire, she has explored
various styles of composition. In her first year she started
experimenting with electronics, and became increasingly
involved with combining live instruments with electronics in her
composition. This lead to her transferring to composition
with technology and piano joint honours.
Genevieve has
collaborated with the artist Elaine Shemilt and scientists from the
Scottish Crop Research Institute by developing music derived from the
DNA Genome sequence. The animations and her music have been
screened in various galleries in Scotland and in the Biopolis Centre in
Singapore. Genevieve subsequently completed a new composition on
the same
art/science theme for the V&A at Dundee: Making it Happen
conference to be held at the University of Dundee. The work toured to
the Scottish Crop Research Intstitute in Dundee for the Women’s
Achievements in Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths
(STEM) Conference and has been viewed by a wide ranging audience
of leading scientists, artists and academics.
Although
Genevieve still composed, she decided to focus more on her study of
piano performance over her third year at Birmingham Conservatoire. She
enjoys collaborating with other musicians and built up her experience
as an accompanist over this year. With the singer Frazer Scott, she
made it to the final of the Reginald Vincent Lieder Prize and performed
in the NEC for the 100th International Rotary Convention.
This
academic year (2009/2010) Genevieve has taken a year out before her
final year at the Conservatoire where she is having more time to focus
on both piano and composition. During this time she made it to
the final of the Philip Bates Prize, an external competition, open to
all composers from Britain under the age of twenty-five.
In
October 2009 Genevieve worked on the ballet ‘Work 1020’ by Martin Creed, winner of the
2001 Turner Prize, co-commissioned by Sadlers Wells and Frieze
music. She rehearsed with the dancers during the
development of the music and performed piano for the ballet in Sadlers
Wells. Genevieve
also in this year worked with various artists, including a PhD student,
Emile Shemilt and again with Elaine Shemilt. Both works were exhibited
in the DCA in Dundee.
Towards
the end of the year Genevieve has been playing synthesizer and piano
throughout the UK in venues such as the Tate Modern and the ICA in
London with Martin Creed’s band. She performed with the ballet again at The Traverse Theatre during the Edinburgh festival in August and
will be touring outside the UK in Paris (Palais De
Tokyo) and Vancouver.
Now in
her final year, Genevieve is focusing on composition for her Bmus
Honours at Birmingham Conservatoire. Other projects include writing
for the BCMG, collaborating with more artists, for instance working for
another PhD student’s final piece, and developing her small and large
ensemble writing. As a major piece of work, Genevieve plans to put on a
concert that will involve her own music, installations and films on
25th March.
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