Words by Ed King
On Friday 23rd September, Centrala Café & Gallery hosts the inaugural Post Paradise – a live music showcase of ‘local composers and artists amongst guests from around the UK and abroad.’
Doors open for 8pm at the Minerva Works based venue, with tickets on entry charged at £5. For direct gig info, including online tickets sales & directions to Centrala Café & Gallery, click here.
Kick starting the Post Paradise Centrala calendar are three UK composers – Zach Dawson and Paul Zaba from Birmingham, with Louis D’Heudieres heading up from London to fill out the bill. And in true trite media/listicle style, here’s our Graham (…Ed) with a quick reminder:
Zach Dawson
Seaford born/Birmingham raised, Zach Dawson is ‘concerned with critiquing subjects external from the context of music and art.’ Aren’t we all. Studying for three years at the Leeds College of Music, Dawson graduated with a Masters in Composition from Birmingham Conservatoire in 2015 – before settling in Birmingham to write, record and release.
Using ‘pre-existing formulas, aesthetics and actions in his work to make statements about things that exists in culture and society’, Zach Dawson’s current Soundcloud portfolio is a collection of stretched string over somewhat cinematic footsteps. Cheeky and particular, we’re a little curious to see what he conjures up live.
For more on Zach Dawson, visit www.soundcloud.com/zach-james-dawson
Paul Zaba
A composer and accordionist, who lives ‘mostly’ in Birmingham (but also in Bristol), Paul Zaba came to the second city after graduating from Wells Cathedral School – receiving composition lessons from Richard Causton whilst in the Somerset based sixth form.
Eventually following his mentor to Birmingham, where Causton was teaching at the city’s Conservatoire, Paul Zaba completed his Masters and stuck around to write and record original material. His Soundcloud material presents a melange of keys and string – some drawn out and stretched, some staccato. You can also watch a video of an original piece Zaba composed for the Czepiel family, including a part for saxophone, performed in their living room – click here.
For more on Paul Zaba, visit www.soundcloud.com/paul-zaba
Louis D’Heudieres
Travelling up from London to perform at the Post Paradise debut, Louis D’Heudieres ‘seeks to put individual interpretations of everyday sounds at the centre of the musical experience’. Experimental and interactive, D’Heudieres has an increasingly empirical approach to his projects of composition.
Having worked with a variety of musicians, mediums and cultures, from the Chicago based trombone of Weston Olencki, the Spanish clarinet of Victor Del La Rosa, the French pianist Gwenaëlle Rouger, and the globally reaching Atlas Ensemble, D’Heudieres is excitingly hard to pigeon hole. His work can range from the verbal manifestation of audio impetus, to the dissection of cacophony and an individual’s interpretation. Or you could just listen to it and choose your own 50cent words. Louis D’Heudieres will be performing a ‘new piece’ at Post Paradise… can’t wait for this one, dictionary at the ready.
For more on Louis D’Heudieres, visit www.louisdheudieres.com
Ed’s Note…
Birmingham Review is an avid fan of contemporary composers, leaving our editorial teeth marks on the bodies and ensembles that continue to pique our interest. And, apparently, watching too much Manhunter. And a series of showcases for the backbone of music is never a bad thing, with an extra string to this particular Cupid’s bow for championing some of our more local talent.
Visiting guests can be genuine and great – with Ages Obel, The Cinematic Orchestra and Ludavico Einaudi making November the most exciting month in Birmingham’s recent musical history – but after all, it’s not just charity that begins at home. That was a flowery reminder to SUPPORT LOCAL ARTISTS.
To read more from Birmingham Review on this here thing they call… actually, we haven’t settled on a name yet (contemporary classical..?) check out the following op-ed pieces from Sam James and myself. And, as always, write to reply.
OPINION: Michael Nyman Syndrome
OPINION: Contemporary music is bigger, broader and weirder than you thought
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For more on Post Paradise, visit www. centrala-space.org.uk/whatson/post-paradise1-centrala or follow them on Twitter.
For more from Centrala, visit www.centrala-space.org.uk
