Nick Roth (born 27 April 1982) is an Irish / British saxophonist, composer, producer and educator.

Nick Roth
Born (1982-04-27) 27 April 1982 (age 42)
London, England
Occupation(s)saxophonist, composer
Websitewww.nickrothmusic.com

Work

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Roth's work explores the liberation of improvisation from composition, the poetic syntax of philosophical enquiry, and the function of music as translative epistemology (MaTE).[1][2]

He has developed projects in collaboration with scientists Thomas E. Lovejoy, Margaret D. Lowman, Iain Couzin and Henry S. Horn and his work has been commissioned and performed by the European Saxophone Ensemble, T. S. Eliot Foundation, RTÉ ConTempo Quartet, Happy Days International Beckett Festival, Trio InVento, The Ark Cultural Centre for Children, Dublin Dance Festival, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Yurodny Ensemble, Emma Martin Dance, National Concert Hall Dublin, Temenos and Rough Magic Theatre Company, with performances at international festivals including the Irish representation at the ISCM World Music Days 2016 in Tongyeong, South Korea.[3]

As a performer, his collaborations include work with Jennifer Walshe,[4][5] Savina Yannatou,[6] John Taylor, Iarla Ó Lionáird,[7] M.C. Schmidt,[8] Gavin Bryars, Bobby McFerrin,[9] Tom Arthurs, Lucas Niggli, Kate Ellis, Mihály Borbély, Matthew Jacobson,[10] Miklós Lukács, Francesco Turrisi, Cora Venus Lunny, Crash Ensemble, Alex Bonney, Petar Ralchev, Zohar Fresco, Alkinoos Ioannidis, Theodosii Spassov, and world premières of new works by composers Mamoru Fujieda, Alla Zagaykevych, Dan Trueman, Ian Wilson, Benjamin Dwyer, Panos Ghikas, Kamran Ince, Roger Doyle, Dan Trueman, Judith Ring, Mel Mercier, Linda Buckley, Ed Bennett, Onur Türkmen,[11] Christian Mason, Francis Heery, Piaras Hoban and Elaine Agnew.

As an educator, he has lectured and given workshops at the California Academy of Sciences, Trinity College Dublin (TCD), European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), University College Cork (UCC), Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC), University College Dublin (UCD), Institute for Biodiversity, Science and Sustainability, San Francisco (IBSS), Cork School of Music (CSM), University of Limerick (UL), University of Aalborg, Copenhagen, National University of Ireland (NUI), Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM) and the Norwegian Center for Technology in Music and the Arts (NOTAM).

He is the artistic director of the Yurodny Ensemble,[12][13] a founding member of The Water Project, and a partner at Diatribe Records.[14]

In 2015 he was composer-in-residence at the California Academy of Sciences and the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) and in 2017 was artist-in-residence at the European Space Agency (ESTEC).

Biography

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Roth was born into a musical family in London;[15] brothers Alex Roth and Simon Roth are also musicians, and mother Joy Mendelsohn is a music teacher (whose past students included Alastair King, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley). He is married to Ukrainian vocalist Olesya Zdorovetska and since 2001 has been based in Dublin, Ireland.

He studied saxophone in London with Gilad Atzmon and composition in Dublin under Ronan Guilfoyle and Elaine Agnew, undertaking further studies of improvisation in New York City under Steve Coleman, Ravi Coltrane, and Vijay Iyer, of pedagogy in Kecskemét at the Zoltán Kodály Institute under Katalin Kiss, and of Makam theory and composition in Crete under Sokratis Sinopoulos and Ross Daly.

Selected works

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Orchestra

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  • Woodland Heights (2014) for string orchestra [16][17]
  • Flocking III (2013) for saxophone orchestra
  • Stille Nacht (2012) for jazz orchestra
  • Flocking I–II (2012) for string orchestra

Solo / Ensemble

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  • Seed I–II (2016) for percussion and tape
  • Peregrinus (2016) for cathedral bells and electronics
  • Little Woodland Heights (2015) for children's ensemble [18][19]
  • A Way A Lone A Last (2015) for recorder trio
  • Temenos (2015) for bass clarinet and tenor recorder
  • LakeCycle (2013) for piano and percussion
  • StopStart (2012) for variable ensemble
  • Water Project I–II (2011) for open ensemble and water
  • Quintet (2010) for bass clarinet and string quartet [20]
  • Maoz Tsur (2010) for choir SSAA
  • Jamilia (2009) for piano
  • Griffmadár (2009) for large ensemble
  • I am the Sea (2009) for voice and piano
  • pliARS (2009) for large ensemble
  • Evenset (2008) for large ensemble
  • Parah (2008) for clarinet quartet
  • Innehølder (2006) for large ensemble

Theatre

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  • The Waste Land (2015) for four voices, jazz quintet and film [21][22]
  • CAOS (2015) for dancer and improvising ensemble
  • Tundra (2014) for ensemble and tape [23]
  • Vartn af Godot (2014) for ensemble
  • Peer Gynt (2013) for ensemble
  • Don Giovanni (2011) for voices, ensemble and electronics

Discography

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Artist Album title Year of release
Yurodny Haivka 2016
Jennifer Walshe Historical Documents of the Irish Avant-Garde 2016
Cork Gamelan Ensemble The Three Forges 2015
Eine Jüdische Zeitreise Sefarad Hören 2014
Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh Music for an Elliptical Orbit 2014
Kate Ellis Jump 2014
Adrian Hart Cuisle 2014
Cora Venus Lunny Terminus 2014
Matthew Schellhorn Ian Wilson: Stations 2014
OKO I Love You Computer Mountain 2014
Benjamin Dwyer Scenes from Crow 2014
European Saxophone Ensemble Intimate in Public 2013
Roger Doyle The Thousand-Year Old Boy 2013
Francesco Turrisi Grigio 2013
ReDiviDeR meets I Dig Monk, Tuned 2013
Paul Roe and Contempo Quartet Dreams and Prayers 2013
Thought-Fox My Guess 2013
Various Tronix One 2012
Hidden Orchestra Archipelago 2012
Paul Dunlea Group Bi-polar 2012
Sefiroth Ensemble Arboles Lloran por Lluvia 2012
ReDiviDeR Never odd or eveN 2011
Elena Leonova That Crazed Girl 2011
Francesco Turrisi Fotografia 2011
Yurodny Evenset 2010
Tarab Tarab 2010
Hidden Orchestra Night Walks 2010
Simon Jermyn Hymni 2010
Izumi Kimura Asymmetry 2010
Paul Roe Between 2010
Isabelle O'Connell Reservoir 2010
Ian Wilson Double Trio 2009
Fuzzy Logic Ensemble Mouthpiece 2009
Francesco Turrisi Si Dolce è il Tormento 2009
Yurodny Odd Set 2008
The Blizzards Domino Effect 2008
Republic of Loose Vol.IV Johnny Pyro and the Dance of Evil 2008
Kai Big Band Projections 2006
Fuzzy Logic Ensemble New Hat 2005
CFour Cementex 2003

References

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  1. ^ "Benjamin Dwyer, Different Voices: Irish Music and Music in Ireland". Wolke-verlag.de. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  2. ^ "There is No Such Thing as Genre, Colony Literary Magazine, November 2014" (PDF). Nickrothmusic.com. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  3. ^ "The Wizards of New Music: Reflections on the 2016 ISCM World Music Days". NewMusicusa.org. 20 May 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  4. ^ "Preserving the history of Ireland's Avant-Garde". Aisteach.org. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  5. ^ Experimental Music Since 1970, Jennie Gottschalk, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, August 2016
  6. ^ "The Blue of the Night with Carl Corcoran Tuesday 15 July 2014". The Blue of the Night. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  7. ^ "Cork Gamelan Ensemble - The Three Forges | Album Review". GoldenPlec.com. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  8. ^ "Diatribe Live: M.C. Schmidt/Jennifer Walshe/Nick Roth". The Journal of Music. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  9. ^ "What's on Thursday: Michael Feinstein, The Flowers of Hell and Francesco Turrisi". The Irish Times. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  10. ^ "ReDiviDer: ReDiviDer Meets I Dig Monk, Tuned – review". The Guardian. 11 October 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  11. ^ "On the Premiere of Onur Türkmen's Sailing to Byzantium". Janeharrison.me. 28 April 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  12. ^ "Yurodny - Haivka: hi-tech, avant-garde Balkan folk grooves". The Irish Times. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  13. ^ "Roth Music | Error Page". 104.217.253.193. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  14. ^ "Diatribe Records: Heart and Soul of the Music article @ All About Jazz". All About Jazz. 16 January 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  15. ^ "Tomorrow is the Question: Who to look out for in 2014, Jazzwise Magazine UK, November 2013" (PDF). Nickrothmusic.com. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  16. ^ The Wood from the Trees, The Journal of Music, May 2014. Journalofmusic.com
  17. ^ Tales from the Woodland, Groove Korea, May 2016. Groovekorea.com
  18. ^ "The role of the Arts in Environmental Education". Youth.ie. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  19. ^ "New Music Digest: 19–25 October". Cmc.ie. 20 October 2015. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  20. ^ ""Contemporary Quintets Anchored by Roe's Clarinet" by Sion, Pwyll ap - Gramophone, Vol. 91, July 2013". Archived from the original on 9 January 2017.
  21. ^ "T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land With Nick Roth Quintet at Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival 2015 article @ All About Jazz". All About Jazz. 21 August 2015. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  22. ^ "Events » T S Eliot Society". Eliotsociety.org.uk. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  23. ^ Emma Martin (1 May 2014). "Tundra Review" (PDF). The Irish Times. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
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