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Conrad Asman | |
|---|---|
| Education | South African College of Music, Royal Academy of Music |
| Occupation | Composer |
Conrad Asman (born June 1996)[1] is a British-South African composer of contemporary classical music.
Early life and education
[edit]Asman was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He studied composition at the South African College of Music with Hendrik Hofmeyr. His first major orchestral piece Igniting Kites & Flying Fireworks received multiple performances by KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic and Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestras and went on to claim both the Jan Royce Foundation prize as well as second place in the New York Metropolitan Youth Orchestra composition competition.[2]
In 2018, Asman won the South African Music Rights Organisation Overseas Scholarship competition,[3] which enabled his move to the United Kingdom where he began studying at the Royal Academy of Music with composer Philip Cashian, where he won the Priaulx Rainier prize.[4]
Career
[edit]Asman’s works began receiving international attention in 2017, when he made his Carnegie Hall début with the Cape Town Youth Choir with his work On a Night, which went on to win the Stefans Grové National Choral Composition Competition. Asman was recognised as the Polyphonos Young Composer award laureate later that year, which sparked a new commission for The Esoterics choral ensemble in Seattle.
In 2018, his chamber trio Sense Twitch Sprint, originally commissioned by Liesl Stoltz for her African Explorations album, was selected as a finalist for the Thailand International Composition Festival.
His orchestral tone poem Shuāng Miàn Xiù [双面绣; English: Two-faced Tapestry] was named the joint winner of the Jinji Lake Composition Competition in China.[5] Asman was subsequently commissioned in 2019 by the Shanghai Conservatory of Music to compose a new work for the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra as part of its annual Listening to China project. Shuāng Miàn Xiù was the chosen work to represent Britain at the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) 2020 World Music Days event in Shanghai,[6] however the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020, his orchestral art song Drinking Song was named one of the ten grand winners of the iSing! Music Festival Composition Competition. The work premiered in the United States at both the Alice Tully Hall in the Lincoln Centre as well as the Kimmel Center with the Philadelphia Orchestra with conductor Marin Alsop.[7]
In 2021, his work Wrought was chosen for performance by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra to open its 80th Anniversary Gala of the Clydebank Blitz.[8]
In 2022, Asman composed a piccolo concerto for soloist Stewart McIlwham and the London Philharmonic Orchestra which premiered at the Queen Elizabeth Hall with Brett Dean conducting. The concerto is noted for being written entirely in the irregular time signature 13/16.[9]
Asman won the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra's inaugural South African Composition Competition in 2023 with his work Beyond the Atom, which enabled made him the orchestra's Composer-in-residence for its 2023-24 season.[10] The orchestra both commissioned and premiered a new work from him, Load & Shed, as well as gave the world premiere of Colour Concerto, a work for Clarinet and Orchestra written for Maria du Toit and conducted by Arjan Tien.[11]
In April 2024, Cape Town Opera premiered Asman's first opera, Trial by Media, as part of the opera company's "Opera Shorts" festival.[12] The opera explores how print and social media affects celebrity legal cases, using the Trial of Oscar Pistorius as a narrative arch. Notably, Reeva Steenkamp is present throughout the opera, who is cast as a posthumous phantasm whose appearance and personality is drawn from her Instagram account.[13] The work was critically received by national press for giving "a voice to the murder victim"[14] whilst being "a brave and audacious piece of operatic theatre."[15]
Selected works
[edit]Opera & Stage
[edit]- Trial by Media (2019-2023) – an opera in two acts
- Squaring the Circle (2021) – a microballet for ensemble
Orchestral work
[edit]- Colour Concerto (2017, rev. 2024) – for clarinet and orchestra
- Load & Shed (2024) – for orchestra
- Beyond the Atom (2020) – for orchestra
- Drinking Song (2020) – for baritone and orchestra
- Xiǎo Hé Tǎng Shuǐ [小河淌水 ; English: The Flowing River] (2019) – for erhu, sheng and orchestra
- Shuāng Miàn Xiù [双面绣 ; English: Two-faced Tapestry] (2018) – for orchestra
- Igniting Kites & Flying Fireworks (2015, rev. 2017) – for orchestra
Chamber works
[edit]- Shongololo (2022) – for ensemble
- Half-inch (2021) – for clarinet, cello and piano
- Time Flex (2021) – for string quartet
- Buoyant (2021) – for guitar duo
- Recamán's Recursion (2019-20) – for detuned strings, horn, percussion and piano. Based on the Recamán's sequence.
- Ligature (2019) – for marimba duo
- Sense Twitch Sprint (2017) – for flute, cello and piano
Solo works
[edit]- Sea Swimming (2024) – for solo alto flute
- Bells in Perpetuity (2020) – for music box, with music reel half-turned into a Möbius strip.
Choral works
[edit]- My Eyes Are Always Hungry (2017) – for unaccompanied choir (SSAATTBB, with three soprano soli)
- On a Night (2015) – for alto solo and unaccompanied choir
- Evening (2015) – for twelve unaccompanied solo voices
References
[edit]- ^ "Conrad Asman | British Music Collection". britishmusiccollection.org.uk. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
- ^ "Emerging Composers Competition - The Metropolitan Youth Orchestra". The Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
- ^ "UCT composers win prized overseas scholarships". www.news.uct.ac.za. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
- ^ "The Musicians' Company | Priaulx Rainier Composition Prize (Royal Academy of Music / University of Cape Town)". wcom.org.uk. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
- ^ 张行健. "Orchestra growth leads to Suzhou competition". global.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
- ^ Joseph, Chris (2021-09-29). "Works Chosen for the 2021 ISCM WNMD". Sound and Music. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
- ^ "iSING! and the Philadelphians premiere Mason Bates's 'Spring River Flowers by Moonlight' in Beijing – Seen and Heard International". seenandheard-international.com. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
- ^ "Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
- ^ London Philharmonic Orchestra (2022-08-17). Conrad Asman introduces his concerto – LPO Debut Sounds: Solo. Tutti. Retrieved 2025-04-10 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Open call: Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra composers' competition". Music In Africa. 2023-08-16. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
- ^ Mayne, Jane (2024-10-01). "CPO Review: Soloist Maria du Toit". WeekendSpecial. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
- ^ "Events". Cape Town Opera. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
- ^ asmcon001 (2024-04-27). "Trial by Media - Conrad Asman". Retrieved 2025-04-10.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Eyaaz (2024-04-04). "Trial by Media a short but full-fat opera". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
- ^ Cohen, Robyn (2024-04-18). "Review: Stunning opera showcase, SHORTS: A Festival of Pocket Operas, presented by Cape Town Opera, April 2024". The Cape Robyn. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
External links
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