So What is ACMG
The Adelphi Contemporary Music Group is currently ran by Professor Alan Williams at the University of Salford, which allows for the exploration of sound by encouraging its members to compose new pieces for the group. The group is made up of lecturers, current students and alumni of the University of Salford, bringing a unique blend of new compositions to be performed for audiences.
Current Members
Professor Alan Williams
Dr Philip Brissenden
Joustine Loubser
Accordion
Reverse Action Piano Harp
Cello & Vocal
Flute
Ashley McAulay
David Crawley
Guitar
Vocal & Piano
Elena Adams
Cai Ferrei
Mandolin
Trumpet & Trombone
James Dawes
Sean Vincent Alexander
Synthesiser
Vocals
Yuna Kaye
Dylan Riley
Percussion & Pitched Percussion
Synthesiser
Jacob Allen
AJ Berriman
Soprano Saxophone/Bass
Synthesiser
Fraser Browne
Theremin
Dr Adam Hart
The Origins of ACMG
The Adelphi Contemporary Music Group (ACMG) is a ‘New Music’ ensemble known for its innovative performances of new and modern music. It was formed in 2008 under the auspices of Joe Duddell and Craig Vear. During this time(2008-2012) the group mainly performed works by composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen and John Cage - including Cage’s Imaginary Landscape No. 4 for 12 radio receivers (1951).
Since 2012 the group has been under the leadership of Prof. Alan Williams and completely changed direction. No longer tied to composers of days gone by, Alan insists that all compositions come directly from the ensemble members -challenging composers to work with an unusual combination of instruments, including the RAPH, the Berimbau, the glass harmonica and, sometimes, “found objects”.
Notable performances and commissions include Metanast and Blank Page, Manchester Museum’s insect collection, the Square Kilometre Array (SKAO) at Jodrell Bank, the dance company Emergence and improvisatory dance pieces for Company Chameleon.ACMG welcomes commissions and frequently works with other artists, groups and other sensory contributions including fine artists (still or moving), surround sound artists, poets, contemporary dance companies and scientific projects.
What is Contemporary New Music?!
We hear and listen to elements of “Contemporary New Music” every day. An almost nameless genre, it forms part of the Western Classical music corpus and is sometimes considered to be a series of squeaks, squawks and noises, with sets of sonic data that stand at odds with what is regarded as “Music” in the Western canon. This “noise”, however, was gradually introduced, and became more prominent from the late 1800s onwards, through the creative innovations by composers such as Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Schaefer, John Cage and more.
Today, apart from the changes that these composers enabled, and as the result of almost unimaginable noise-making innovations - starting from Edison’s phonograph in 1877, through the first electronic instruments - to the latest D.A.W. (Digital Audio Workstation), these sounds appear in almost every single piece of music we hear today, especially in its incorporation into pop. This could include the build-up of an electronic dance track, the multi-layered reverb we hear in a piece shoe-gaze folk, the noises that accompany the Games App we use or the excitement that ensues in a nail-biting scene of our favourite visualised drama. Thus, even though we might not always be aware of this - we listen to this every day in some form or the other. If we performed this music to an audience 100 years ago, riots may well have ensued - as happened to Schoenberg in 1913 and Stravinsky in 1917.
Thus, when we think of “New Music” today, not only do we incorporate all the various technologies and techniques available to us, but also those that we are currently developing. Additionally, because of the noises we need to make, the music is sometimes presented in the use of occasionally implausible ensembles and odd instruments. Additionally, and following in the footsteps of composers such as Schoenberg, we actively consider the political, emotional and spiritual realms of our current lived experience - and place these, somehow, in our compositions. This includes everything: from everyday experiences to ground-breaking innovations, from the divine, through the benign and the politically devastating to the emotionally exhilarating.
Thus, even though the music, stripped from its popular canon, will not always capture listeners on the first hearing - as this noise sometimes needs some contextualisation - we hope that our offerings to the world will inspire our listeners to think, to hope, to dream and to create.
Joy!
Signed,
All members of the ACMG Group - past and present