21 July 2020

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Steinberg Sponsor NYCGB New Music

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Steinberg are today announced as ‘Principal New Music Sponsor’ for the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain (NYCGB). Well-known for their innovative, leading Dorico music notation software, Steinberg became ‘Innovation Grant Sponsor (Technology Partner)’ earlier this year. In this exciting new development of their partnership with NYCGB, they have now also come on board as ‘Principal New Music Sponsor’.

Each year, NYCGB commission between 2-3 established composers to create a new work for its choirs; one for its flagship National Youth Choir and the other commission rotates between the National Youth Girls’, Boys’ and Training Choirs.

Steinberg’s sponsorship will support two new pieces by Shruthi Rajasekar and Ben Parry. Shruthi is an emerging American composer who in 2019, whilst residing in London, took part in NYCGB’s inaugural Young Composers Scheme. Ben Parry is Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of NYCGB and a highly sought-after composer. His music is published by OUP and Peters Edition and he has many years’ experience in writing for a variety of media, including the concert platform, sacred and secular choral music, film, TV and contemporary a cappella.

NYCGB has commissioned Shruthi to write a new piece celebrating twenty-five years of the National Youth Training Choir, comprising 140 members aged between 15-18. Ben has been commissioned to write for the National Youth Boys’ and National Youth Girls’ Choirs, which collectively have over 250 members aged 9-13. Both works will be written for the choirs to learn and record at home whilst in lock down. Both will explore the topic of cultural identity, and the lyrics for Ben’s piece are the words of the members themselves, who were asked what cultural identity means to them.

In the autumn of 2020, both new digital audio recordings will be released online via NYCGB’s digital record label. NYCGB are also releasing a video of the National Youth Boys’ Choir and National Youth Girls’ Choir piece, which will include an element of body percussion. In 2021, following easing of the lockdown, they will receive their world premieres in front of a live paying audience at one of NYCGB’s public concerts.

Daniel Spreadbury, Product Marketing Manager, Dorico, said:

We’re delighted to be able to support NYCGB’s new music programme for 2020, and we can’t wait to hear the works that Shruthi and Ben will create. We designed Dorico not only to be used by publishers to produce beautiful sheet music for existing works, but also for composers to use it as part of their writing process. We hope that Shruthi and Ben will find Dorico to be a valuable and creative partner, just as we at Steinberg are proud to be partnering with NYCGB and supporting its vital work with young musicians.

 Composer Shruthi Rajasekar said:

I’m thrilled about the opportunity to work with Conductor Greg Beardsell and the National Youth Training Choir, whose brilliant musicianship I observed first-hand as an inaugural participant of the Young Composers Scheme. It gives me great pleasure to be reunited with the NYCGB family, and I’m honoured to be a part of Training Choir’s twenty-fifth anniversary. As I know first-hand, NYCGB is a strong advocate of contemporary choral music and I’m excited to explore intersecting identities with the choir and how these coexist in each of us; I believe our end result will be something quite novel. In this spirit of innovation, we are fortunate to be collaborating with Steinberg Media and Dorico.

Ben Parry, Composer, Artistic Director & Principal Conductor, NYCGB said:

It’s always a great pleasure to write for any of the NYCGB choirs and writing for the younger singers is always great fun as they’re so receptive to new ideas. My inspiration for this piece has come from lyrics actually written by members of the junior choirs themselves on the subject of cultural identity - their words are brilliant! - thought-provoking, insightful, moving and funny. The music, I hope, simply gives added colour to their thoughts and feelings.

Principal New Music Sponsor