Following Research and Development supported by Arts Council England last year, Joseph Young's sonic peace memorial project that I am producing, Sounding Peace, has been given further funding for a new iteration with Aldershot Military Museum in 2025.
My site specific co-production of Natasha Langridge's new play, All Our Rules (None of Yours), a politically and socially engaged performance piece opens Saturday 21st September at Venture Centre, North Kensington, UK's Oldest Surviving Adventure Playground. Funded by Arts Council of England.
I have been invited to produce the launch of former British Army Surgeon General, Maj Gen Tim Hodgetts' first collection of Poems, Frontlines and Lifelines as the final event of the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
I have been invited to be the panel chair for the Arts Day of Scotland's First International Conference on Armed Forces and Society at Edinburgh Napier University on 23rd August 2024.
My new play, North to Nowhere, with music by Dai Fujikura will be premiered on 28th November 2023. You can watch a recording of the performance at the link below.
Very pleased to welcome Secretary of State for Scotland, the Rt Hon Alister Jack, Military Secretary and General Officer Scotland Maj Gen Bill Wright CBE, and Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society CEO Shona McCarthy to my award winning production of Everything Under the Sun at Army at the Fringe.
My production of Everything Under the Sun, that I commissioned from emerging playwright Jack MacGregor has won a Scotsman Fringe First and the Leading Light Award for best new Scottish Play at the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
I have just been awarded a Visual Artist and Craft Maker Award from Aberdeen City Council to facilitate further research into my Gaelic Performance Artworks.
I have just been invited to join Glasgow's Gaelic Arts incubator programme GUIR!, which was started in 2018, incorporates a collaborative and learning model to develop new Gaelic work across all disciplines. I will be working on a new Gaelic performance work about my Great Grandfather.
My last opera, A Dream of Armageddon, is being streamed by the New National Theatre Tokyo until February 28th 2021.
A new performance work, Scottish Manufactures, will be performed at the Society of Scottish Artists' 123rd Annual Exhibition, at the Royal Scottish Academy on November 20th 2021.
I have curated a new exhibition, Covenant, a collaboration between Moray Art Centre, Moray School of Art and The British Army. It is open from 9th November until 5th December 2021.
My artistic research, I Highland Warrior, Identity Nuances is part of the Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities Doctoral Research Showcase 2021.
I will be presenting my current artistic research to the Scottish Archaeological Forum at their annual conference:
REFLECTING ON RELEVANCE Exploring Scotland's Archaeological Journey in the Present
on 24th and 25th October.
You can see Neue Oper Wien's new production of Solaris, by Dai Fujikura, with his and my English libretto, from 24th May until 27th July
I'll be presenting my current artistic research at University College Durham's annual interdisciplinary conference, showcasing exciting postgraduate research from across the North of England and Scotland. This year's theme is Power, Privilege and Possible Futures. The conference will be on 4th and 5th June 2021.
I'm happy to announce that Creative Scotland have funded me to work on my next opera libretto that I am writing for Dai Fujikura. I'm very grateful for the support, which will help me work much more closely with Dai over the next few years.
Around 20 years ago I played the Trumpet in a band called Astronauts on Vacation. We really were on vacation because we did no promotion and played no concerts.
We did however produce one album, which was released on 13th February 2021.
NEW TALK FOR BRITISH COUNCIL
To celebrate the world premiere of the opera A Dream of Armageddon at the New National Theatre, Tokyo (NNTT) between 15 - 23 November 2020, Kazushi Ono (Conductor and Artistic Director of Opera, NNTT), Dai Fujikura (Composer) and I joined the British Council for a special online talk on 5 November 2020.
NEW MUSIC SETTING
Midday Silence, a new work by Dai Fujikura for four mixed voices, clarinet flute and string quartet, to a poem written by me receives its world première on Dutch TV programme Podium Witteman, NPO2 on Sunday 13th September with Members of the Nederlands Radio Filharmonisch Orkest under the baton of Karina Callenakis. Click below to watch live or catch up.
NEW POEM
I have a new "lockdown" poem published in the Summer Edition of Poetry Lab Shanghai, you can read the whole edition by clicking below
NEW OPERA
A Dream of Armageddon, a new opera by Dai Fujikura to my libretto after H.G. Well's short story will be premièred by the New National Theatre Tokyo, under Kazushi ONO in a production directed by Lydia Steier from 15th - 23rd November 2020. for more information and to book tickets click on the button below.