Prof Michael Blake

Honorary Professor of Experimental Composition

michaelblake@sun.ac.za

www.michaelblake.co.za

michaelblake@sun.ac.za

Michael Blake (born Cape Town, 1951) studied in Johannesburg (BMus) and London (MMus) and received his doctorate from Rhodes University, Grahamstown. Dodging the draft into ‘apartheid’ South Africa’s border war in 1977, he moved to London where he was worked as composer, pianist, teacher, and writer. He founded and directed the ensemble London New Music from 1986-1997, before returning to South Africa in 1998. There he taught composition at Rhodes University, established the New Music Indaba at the National Arts Festival, and negotiated South Africaʼs re-entry into the International Society of Contemporary Music after an absence of nearly four decades. In 2000 he set up “Growing Composers”, a project to empower young black composers, and in 2012 its successor, the annual Sterkfontein Composers Meeting which he directs annually at the Nirox Foundation. From 2002-2010 he devised and curated the “Bow Project” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bow_Project) commissioning string quartet responses to traditional uhadi bow music, resulting in a CD production. In 2022 he curated a sequel of electronic pieces, “Bowscapes”, in memory of Jürgen Bräuninger.  

His musical language is partly the result of an immersion in the materials and playing techniques of African music, but also drawing on virtually any found material, and is influenced by both experimental film and African weaving. Michael Blake’s works (including orchestral music, 6 string quartets and other chamber works, more than 100 piano pieces, and elecroacoustic works) have been widely played, in Toronto, New York, Havana, Buenos Aires, Mexico, Australia, India, Japan, and throughout Europe and Africa, and now appears on some 20 CDs and DVDs. He has collaborated with South African artists including Willem Boshoff and Emma Willemse, and made his first artist book Five Pieces for Piccolo and Tuba in the Book Workshop at Stellenbosch University. His most recent CD release is Afrikosmos, a triple set of CDs on the Divine Art label. In December 2024 his Symphony was premiered in Kassel by the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra. He currently lives in rural France, but spends part of each year in South Africa, where he is honorary professor in the Africa Open Institute at Stellenbosch University. 

  • “Collaborating with Willem Boshoff” in forthcoming book on the artist, ed. Helene Smuts 
  •  “Composing in the Field” in Piano Professional December 2023, EPTA UK, 38-40 
  • “Kissing the joy as it flies: A memoir of June Schneider (1939-2020)” in SAMUS 41-42 February 2023 
  • Sterkfontein Composers Meeting

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  • Purpur Festival

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  • The Bow Project

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Recent Compositions and Premiere Performances 

  • Sixth String Quartet (2023)
  • Symphony (2022). Commissioned by Internationales Chor und Orchester Musikfestival Kassel – First performance: Kassel, Germany, 8 December 2023, Kyiv Symphony Orchestra, Arjen Tien (conductor) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zpR2M8Ub1A  
  • Richmond Loop (2023). Multimedia collaboration with Emma Willemse, using materials collected during a two-week residency at MAPSA, Richmond. https://youtu.be/Uw6bbcPeROottps://youtu.be/Uw6bbcPeROo 
  • Six Africosms for brass quintet (2022). First performance: Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival, 30 June 2023, Brahsse (selection) 
  • Suite for Small Orchestra (2021) 
  • Ixilongo for horn in F and off-stage or pre-recorded horn ensemble (2021). SAMRO commission – World premiere: 9 October 2021, Purpur Festival, Riebeek Kasteel, Sören Hermansson (horn), Miles Warrington (sound diffusion) https://soundcloud.com/user-132424808/ixilongo-2021 
  • Mémorial for large orchestra (2020) 
  • Afrikosmos (2015-2020) – World premiere: 21 August 2021, Le Genesteix, France; SA premiere: South African College of Music Cape Town, 24 September 2022; UK premiere: Goldsmiths College University of London, 21 June 2023 (CD launch), Antony Gray (piano)  https://youtu.be/n4JwEZyA48Q 
  • Nattliga Toner (Night Music) (2020), music for the 1918 silent film by Georg af Klercker, for violin and harp – World premiere (Acts 1 & 2): 24 January 2020, Purpur Festival, Youngblood Gallery, Cape Town, X[iksa]: Yasutaka Hemmi (violin) and Takayo Matsumura (harp)  
  • Cello Sonata (Hours with the Masters) – World premiere: Cologne, Germany, 12 May 2024, Friedrich Gauwerky (cello), Daan Vandewalle (piano) 
  • Fantasy Sonata for Violin and Piano (Driving Slowly in the Middle Lane). Commissioned by SAMRO – World premiere: 8 November 2023, London College of Music, University of West London; second performance: 9 November 2023, Royal Holloway College, University of London, Darragh Morgan (violin), Mary Dullea (piano) https://soundcloud.com/ichaellake/fantasy-sonata-for-violin-and-piano-driving-slowly-in-the-middle-lane  
  • Kora for harp – World premiere: 19 June 2020, Matsue Japan, Takayo Matsumura (harp); European premiere: Utrecht, Netherlands, May 2022, Héloïse Carlean-Jones (harp). https://youtu.be/Z6qhs-4RIYo 

Other Selected Performances and Broadcasts 

  • Ways to put in the salt (Original version) – European premiere: Konstanz, Germany, 15 September 2024, Silvia Belfiore (piano)  
  • Kwela for string orchestra – Asian premiere: Osaka, Japan, 13 July 2024, Izumi Sinfonietta Osaka, Norichika Iimori (conductor) 
  • Ways to put in the salt (Original version) – Broadcast premiere: 23 February 2024, Yle Radio 1 Finland; subsequent broadcast Radio Vatican, 13 March 2023, Silvia Belfiore (piano)   
  • Ukukhalisa Umrhubhe for umrhubhe and fixed media – South African premiere: ISCM World New Music Days, Johannesburg, 28 November 2023, Cara Stacey (umrhubhe), Cameron Harris (sound diffusion) https://soundcloud.com/user-132424808/ukukhalisa_umrhubhe-johannesburg-version-2023 
  • Gary and Elbé’s Love Song for organ – Fairfield Halls Croydon, 9 November 2023, Herman Jordaan (organ) 
  • French Suite –Siena, Italy, 12 June 2023, Silvia Belfiore (piano) 
  • Ways to put in the salt (Havana version) – European premiere: 25 February 2023, Karlsruhe, Germany, Florian Steininger (piano) 
  • Displaced: 101 Ways to Long for a Home for keyboard soloist and foundsoundtrack – Western Cape Tour: September-October 2021 (Spier Art Museum Cape Town/Hoofstraat Conceptual Riebeek Kasteel/MAPSA Richmond) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQRt-f_sLiE 
  • Standing Stone Circle for harp and peripatetic violinist – South African Tour: January 2020 (Nirox Sculture Park Gauteng/Youngblood Gallery Cape Town/Hoofstraat Conceptual Riebeek Kasteel)