claire m singer: solas

Solas ("Light" in Gaelic) is Claire M Singer's debut album, spanning 14 years of her work in acoustic and electronic composition. In recent years she has focused on writing and performing a mix of organ, cello, and electronics with regular performances at Union Chapel, where, as Music Director, she runs a diverse program of concerts and educational workshops around the chapel's organ, which was built by Henry Willis in 1877. Solas comprises seven works for various combinations of organ, cello, and electronics, including "Eilean," which is an electronic work derived from recordings of cello, piano, and violin. In 2009 Singer was commissioned by the Aberdeenshire Council to write a new work for the Homecoming Scotland referencing "Land of the Standing Stones," composed and performed by Scottish fiddler Paul Anderson. Small extracts of Anderson's work can be heard interweaving throughout "Eilean." "The Molendinar," which takes up the whole of the second disc, is a co-commission between the Glasgow art gallery Civic Room and Union Chapel. The work is part of The Molendinar Burn Project, which is a 12-site series of art projects, each individually situated along the exact route of the Molendinar, a hidden burn upon which the city of Glasgow was founded by Saint Mungo in the sixth century. A work for solo organ written and recorded at Union Chapel in 2015, "The Molendinar" explores the precise control of wind through the pipes and therefore can be played fully on a mechanical drawstop action organ (Union Chapel) or with the addition of electronics (from the Union Chapel Henry Willis organ) when performed on an electro-pneumatic organ (Glasgow Cathedral). All tracks written and performed by Claire M Singer. Mastered by Denis Blackham at Skye Mastering. Photography and design by Jon Wozencroft. "Solas," "Wrangham," and "The Molendinar" were recorded by Iain Berryman at Union Chapel in London, February 26-27, 2016, on the organ built by Henry Willis in 1877. Mixed at Bennachie Studios in Aberdeen and EMS Goldsmiths in London. Singer's previous work includes "4-8-1," a piece for string quartet and eight-channel surround which was performed at the Roundhouse in London by the LCO Soloists, and the audiovisual work a' fàs soilleir, which has been exhibited at the Tate Modern, XMV (New York City), and Ceremony Hall (Austin, Texas). She has also performed as part of Spire at Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ in Amsterdam, Kunst-Station Sankt Peter in Cologne, and many other locations.