Blue Touch Paper : London Sinfonietta / Collaborations with Philip Venables

Brilliant to be part of the London Sinfonietta's Blue Touch Paper scheme, working with the composer Philip Venables to create an original work entitled The Revenge of Miguel Cotto. The piece essentially fused contemporary classical music and sound poetry, in what Carol Watts termed a pioneering piece for the latter medium. The poems and music explore boxing culture in the context of Philip's brilliant, radical gift for musical composition aligned with voice. 

Cotto has now been performed at LSO St Lukes, Village Underground, Mata Festival in New York and features on Philip’s CD Below The Belt. It was conducted twice by the extraordinary Richard Baker, who was a great influence on me during the Voiceworks project at Guildhall Music School.

From the London Sinfonietta - The Blue Touch Paper scheme nurtures and promotes the next generation of composers and inter-disciplinary collaborators by providing participants with the context and space to instigate and develop new multi-disciplinary work. The programme also aims to involve UK partners in supporting and presenting the new work. / Also do visit www.philipvenables.com

From the Sinfonietta website - The Blue Touch Paper preview event on 16 May 2012 at Village Underground showcased the culmination of a year-long collaboration between 3 groups of composers and multi-disciplinary artists. Composer Philip Venables and poet Steven J Fowler’s work The Revenge of Miguel Cotto, explores the violence, sanctioned by society, that is boxing.  Steven writes…

Tragedy is a subject best approached indirectly, certainly one runs immense risks in writing tragic poetry in 2012. We opened ourselves up to that contingency when we decided to take on the narrative that we did. When first Philip and I agreed, at my gentle urging, to formulate a piece about the boxer Miguel Cotto, he had yet to rematch the man who beaten him into a state of near death using (discovered posthumously) hand bandages loaded with plaster of paris. It is boxing’s own particular brand of madness that such a rematch with this man, Antonio Margarito, was allowed to happen at all. All to our advantage. The point being our work together was born of possibility, of chance, of contingency and we welcomed that into our process and our collaboration. Poetry and music does not mix easily, nor gently, and that is perhaps what is attractive about the union. And beyond that, when first scores were being drawn, staging arranged, poetry mooted we did not even know whether the piece would be a story of tragedy or of revenge.

As Philip has trusted me into the world of boxing (and poetry) so I have trusted him to shape the narrative beyond the narrative, and therein lies the key to our work being successful, that it might utilise notions apparent in the subject to embody something original, and powerful, perhaps even aggressively so. And as I have suggested, it has always been my experience that music doesn’t synthesis easily with poetry – it requires innovation, intention and a fair measure of sacrifice. So I believe our piece, as it nears its beginning (which can feel like an end, strangely, for the preview show) has become defined by its rough edges and at its core, will retain something of the volatility of both our subject and our method. I have been asked already if our piece might allow those who don’t appreciate boxing to enter into my perception, and thus appreciation of the sport … I can only say I feel it’s not for me to say, nor has it become a concern of ours. Boxing is a repository for a palpable sense of being, of alive-ness, whether it is enjoyed or not. And I would venture the same goes for good music and good poetry. If our piece comes close to achieving the same sensation, we will be exceedingly happy. / Steven J Fowler, poet, The Revenge of Miguel Cotto 

Blue Touch Paper is delivered in partnership with the Jerwood Charitable Foundation with support from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

London Symphony Orchestra is playing my soundpoetry boxingopera on June 30th 2013

http://lsosoundhub.co.uk/blog/2013/05/24/fight-music/ Just thinking about it, on June 30th the London Symphony Orchestra will play my soundpoetry boxing opera, that I wrote / warped for the true author of the piece the composer Phillip Venables, at St Lukes in Old St. I've walked past that building so much. Now this piece will have been played by the London Sinfonietta and the London Symphony Orchestra. Mind blowing for me. Everyone can go for free, just have to email. St Lukes is another amazing space of London I am wrapping my memory tendrils around. 

Philip Venables' Below the Belt

Delighted to have my poetry featured on the debut album from composer Philip Venables. Phil and I worked on a piece for the London Sinfonietta's blue touch paper scheme some years back, it explored boxing and fistic percussion, entitled The Revenge of Miguel Cotto. 

You can listen to five excerpts from our collaboration https://www.nmcrec.co.uk/recording/below-belt

Phil has created some remarkable work since we worked together so it's grand to revisit this project through this CD and I'm really pleased it has a second life forevery on disc http://philipvenables.com/2018/02/06/below-the-belt/