STEVE MARTLAND (b. 1959)
"Where art impinges on the realities of life, Steve Martland’s music speaks with a refreshing directness, raising social issues and philosophical questions of burning importance to our age. Most striking is the rhythmic verve of his work, extending into new areas the discoveries of his teacher Louis Andreissen. But Martland is a lyricist as well, whose melodic style can achieve a rapt, almost spiri tual communication. With the exception of his symphonic poem Babi Yar he has chosen to avoid the standard concert-hall forms, perferring to write for smaller groups, including his own Steve Martland Band, taking music to schools, to community centres and out into the street."
Nicholas Williams

Steve Martland (b. 1959, Liverpool) studied composition in Holland with Louis Andriessen. He rejects academic dogma in favour of a plurality of musical influences, both ancient and modern, ‘serious’ and vernacular. He works almost exclusively with artists outside classical institutions - Dutch and American groups, freelance musicians and especially his own Steve Martland Band which tours his music internationally. He has also worked with the King’s Singers and Evelyn Glennie for whom he wrote Street Songs and in August 1998 he collaborated with the band Spiritualized on a project for the Flux Festival in Edinburgh.

Usually amplified, muscular and powerfully rhythmic, his music has been extensively choreographed: Drill for the Sydney Opera House, Crossing the Border for the National Ballet, Amsterdam. Danceworks commissioned and premièred by London Contemporary Dance Theatre has received many new productions around the world, notably by Grand Ballet Canadien and Ballet Tech in New York. Remix was awarded the SACD Prize for Video Dance Choreography Music after choreographed for BBCTV by Aletta Collins. In 2005, Martland was commissioned by the Henri Oguike Dance Company to write Tiger Dancing which they are touring throughout the UK in spring 2006.

Principia was adopted as the theme music for the BBC radio programme The Music Machine and is also the subject of Music Works, a BBC composition pack for schools. Danceworks is also used as the title music for the Dutch TV programme Buitenhof. Scores for TV include the multi-media Albion, commissioned by the BBC and Granada TV’s Children’s drama Wilderness Edge. He also wrote and directed A Temporary Arrangement with the Sea, a film about Louis Andriessen commissioned by the BBC in co-production with NOS, Holland.

Steve Martland’s preoccupation with the function of the composer in society is reflected in his commitment to music education. He has directed many composition projects in schools both at home and abroad and he ran Strike Out, his own annual composition course for school children.
He is currently Artistic Director of the ETNA Music Festival in Sicily and is working on a project with the film maker Greg Hall for 2007.


DAMIAN REES (b.1978)
Damian Rees was born in Swansea in 1978, and is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music where he studied composition with Steve Martland and Dominic Muldowney.
His music has been performed all over the world including: Britain, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Holland, America and Japan, as well as at many major concert halls and music festivals including: the Harrogate Music Festival, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the Lidkoping Music Festival, the Royal Festival Hall and the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan Recital Hall.
Damian was commissioned by and awarded the Swansea Festival’s John Fussell Young artist award in 2005. He was also commissioned to write a fanfare for the opening of Swansea Maritime Museum in October of last year. His Guitar Concerto ‘Shouting at the Sea’, was performed by Janne Mallinen and Aito Chamber Orchestra in Helsinki, and the work will be given its UK premiere in late 2006. 2005 saw the American premiere of his guitar duo Rain Morning by the Pedrick Hudson duo, and the premiere of his chamber concerto ‘To whom it may concern’ for the Welsh Sinfonia.