Recent events
The presentation of Bach Musical Remedies to a group of Latvian Flower Therapists took place in St Leonard's Church, Yarpole on September 24th. I talked about the philosophy behind the Remedies and about how I came to compose them (basically material you can read on this website). I also performed the first twelve Remedies, the same set that I performed in the Bach to Bach concert last November in Leominster Priory. But this time, just the Musical Remedies. The performance and presentation were very well received.
Events earlier this year
April 28th 2017 Herefordshire Composers' Workshop concert given by Andrew Morris and The Offa String Quartet
Lion Ballroom, Leominster 1930
May 19th 2017
Concert at Yarpole Church given by Nathalie Chalkley (soprano) and The Birchpole Singers with Andrew Morris.
Programme featured compositions by Andrew Morris, Robert Peate and Gary Higginson. Also two solo songs by Andrew Morris and a selection of songs by Schumann and Wolf.
December 2016
Andrew directed the Birchpole SIngers in two concerts of mostly Christmas music. Andrew also performed with Archie Auger (bassoon). The concerts were much enjoyed.
November 2016
Andrew performed Bach to Bach in Leominster Priory. This concert consisted of a complete performance of the Bach Remedies for the Twelve Healers with each piece paired with one of the Preludes and Fugues from J S Bach's Well Tempered Clavier. There was a good sized audience who were visibly moved by the performance which raised nearly £600 for refugees.
June 2016
Andrew performed several times in the Yarpole Pianothon, held for twenty four hours from 0800 Saturday - 0800 Sunday. The aim was to raise funds to pay for the new KAWAI digital piano. The event raised over £1000 and there was sufficient money over for the Birchpole Singers to purchase some new music.
May 2016
Andrew performed a solo piano concert at The Lion Ballroom in Leominster. The programme consisted of Schumann's great Fantaisie in C, Op 17, the Five Bagatelles by the Australian composer Carl Vine, and Mussorgsky's masterpiece Pictures from an Exhibition. The concert was very well received by a good sized audience.
December 2015
Theo Jobst (alto and soprano saxophones) and Andrew Morris (piano) performed Crab Apple, Clematis, Rock Water, Vervain, Cherry Plum and Star of Bethlehem as part of the Birchpole Singers’ Christmas concert at Yarpole Church, North Herefordshire.
September 2015
Andrew Morris performed six Musical Remedies in a concert near Kleve, Germany as part of Thomas Ruffmann’s 60th birthday celebrations...
He performed solo piano versions of Impatiens, Clematis, Chicory, Vervain, Rock Rose and Gorse.
March 2015
Two world premieres!
On February 27th my composition Weavings for oboe clarinet and bassoon was given its first performance by the Zagrebacki Puhacki Trio in Zagreb, Croatia.
And then on March 23rd my new composition Triptych for soprano and alto saxophones was given its first performance by the Duo Pas de Deux in Aarhus, Denmark.
On the Musical Remedy front, I shall be performing three Remedies for...
NEWS
The first UK performance of Bach to Bach will be given at the Assembly Rooms in Presteigne on Saturday January 28th 2012 at 8pm. The programme will consist - as in Romania last May - of the Musical Remedies pieces corresponding to the Twelve Healers, ecah one being paired with a Prelude and Fugue from J S Bach's Well Tempered Clavier. Tickets, price £10, can be reserved by texting 07779 380483 or emailing andrewjmorris@mac.com.
Andrew and Kristine can now confirm plans to hold a two day course in London next May. This will focus on the Remedies that make up the Five Flower or Rescue Remedy. The weekend will also include a Bach to Bach concert. It will be held at the London Buddhist Arts Centre in Bethnal Green beginning at 1030 on Saturday May 5th. The concert will be the same day at 1830. For more details see www.musicalremedies.com On September 5th 2011, Andrew featured as pianist in a BBC TV programme on the Regency. It was broadcast at 9pm on BBC4 if you want to look for it on I Player. In August/September 2011 Andrew and Kristine hosted a four day retreat in Snowdonia where three of the Flower Remedies were experienced in depth through the media of music and drawing. For full details of ongoing Musical Remedies projects please go to www.musicalremedies.com In August 2011 Andrew performed in an improvisation group directed by Peter Wiegold at Dartington International Summer School In July 2011 three new choral compositions were performed in a concert by the Hereford singing group Sine Nomine in a concert in Hereford Cathedral. In May 2011 my new composition Ode to Joy was performed by the Britten Singers under the direction of Pamela White in All Saints Church, Hereford. In April 2011 Kristine Janson and I hosted the first evening of our collaborative project reflecting on the Bach FLower Remedies through music and art. This was held at the Granary in Leominster and was attended by fifteen people. In September 2010 my composition Seasons of Zen Spirit was performed by Roger Langford, Vicky Guise and myself in a concert in Leominster's Lion Ballroom. The concert also included several Musical Remedies. In August 2010 Andrew gave a concert of Musical Remedies in the Ship Studio at Dartington International Summer School In June 2010 hard copies of my new Musical Remedies CD were received in Leominster, and you can order a copy by sending a cheque for £11 to include post and packing made payable to Andrew Morris to 49 Osborne Place Leominster HR6 8BW. The recordings will also soon be available via I Tunes and Amazon. In April 2010 I made some new recordings of Musical Remedies at the Hatch Studio in Worcestershire. Ten solo piano recordings plus Gorse and Heather for violin and piano plus Star of Bethlehem and White Chestnut for clarinet and piano. These are now all available on the musicalremedies website. I am delighted to say that they have all been discovered and downloaded by a homeopathic doctor in Rumania who has done a lot of work on the FLower Remedies and was looking for their music! In March 2010 I was invited to take part in the first stage of an ambitious project to gather together settings of texts by various saints of Hereford. The first of these is St Thomas Cantilupe, and I set two texts as short motets. These were initially rehearsed for the first time in April 2010. In February 2010 I visited the Costa Blanca to give a major concert of Musical Remedies at the Dome in Alcalali. The audience included long term practitioners of the Flower Remedies, and the Musical Remedies were very well received. As a result of this success, I am now planning to make a solo piano CD of Musical Remedies sometime in 2010. Watch this space! I have taken part in the songwriting course at Dartington International Summer School of Music in both 2008 and 2009. The courses were facilitated by Julian Marshall. I have recorded a CD of 'work in progress' - ten new songs created for the most part on these songwriting courses. Do get in touch if you would like to hear these.
The CD album of piano pieces by my adult composition pupil Marie Wicks - entitled Dreamscape - is now available for £10 from Andrew Morris. The sheet music can also be purchased. This collection of twenty-one short hauntingly lyrical pieces are suitable for pianists of all ages. The level of difficulty ranges from grade 2 to around grade 7. More recently I have made a recording of another twelve of Marie Wicks' pieces entitle Fantasia. This has now been produced and copies can be obtained direct from Marie Wicks. Email me if you are interested to have contact details.
The Musical Remedies project continues to move forward, and now there is a dedicated new website at www.musicalremedies.com . You can link to this from the Contacts page. I have recently rehearsed a group of seven of the pieces with trumpet bass and drums, and as a result of this I have re-written some of the pieces. Six of these seven pieces were included in a programme of Musical Remedies presented at the Lion Ballroom in Leominster in December 2009. In February 2010, several of the Musical Remedy pieces along with the Island Journey songs will be performed in a concert in the South of Spain. Mikey Kirkpatrick and Andrew Morris have been invited to perform at the Dome, attached to a Healing Centre on the Costa Blanca. In March 2010 two further Remedies, Gorse and Heather will be performed for the first time in new versions for violin and piano at a concert promoted by the Hereford Elgar Group at Hellens. Tickets for this are obtainable from the Outback record shop in Hereford.
I was delighted recently to read an inspiring article by Tony Harris, senior lecturer in music education at Nottingham Trent University. In the latest edition of Sounding Board,the community music magazine, the article is headed Back to the fore for the avant-garde and explains how community music actually originated in the avant-garde and experimental music of the 1960s. It is important to develop this work in the curent climate when there are only too many people prepared to dismiss the experimental agenda altogether in favour of endless samba and African drumming workshops.
Leominster Supersonics recently won an Awards for All grant from the National Lottery. We gave a concert in June 2008 at Eye Church which included new pieces for bells and voices as well as an improvised piece built on a series of notes generated by throwing dice. The bell piece also included a percussion section on upturned plastic chairs - it certainly made the audience listen to church bells in a new way! In June 2009 we put on an innovative performance at Leominster Swimming Pool, with six of us playing acoustic instruments around the sides of the pool while people enjoyed a meditative swim.