Based in Manchester
Musician and Composer
Anwen Lewis Background
Anwen Lewis studied cello, piano and voice from an early age, specialising in composition with Dr Anthony Gilbert at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM). After graduation she launched ALMAS (Anwen Lewis Music Animateur Service) in addition to taking on key roles as a member of staff in the composition and opera theatre departments. She was invited to devise and develop the RNCM’s education projects facility in 1999, a programme that continues to form an integral part of the conservatoire’s status as a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning awarded in 2004. Anwen has received commissions for new music, education projects and collaborations from the Park Lane Group, the British Association of Symphonic Wind and Brass Ensembles, Live Music Now!, the RNCM Brass Department, Lancashire Sinfonietta, Manchester Camerata, several Local Education Authorities and solo artists. She joined the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters in 2002 and served on the Concert Executive Committee until 2005.
Recent premières include remembering AGe for mixed quartet and pendulum metronome, and Pageant of the Innocents for unaccompanied choirs. A CD recording of selected chamber works and commissions Making Waves was released in 2004 and is available at selected venues in Manchester and www.almas.org.uk.
Almas has designed and developed a wide variety of projects for venues and organisations around the UK. Each initiative focuses on the introduction of composition as an accessible form of expression and communication for all. Programme designs include Orchestral Workshop residencies with the English Classical Players, Organworks at the Bridgewater Hall and Eton College and Making Waves concerto performances.
Almas was invited to take part in the Culture Finance Initiative supported by Arts Council England in 2006, to expand existing programmes and develop new creative contexts. Since then, Anwen has developed live performance for a number of events including the Apples and Snakes Gimme 5 Tour, Words ’07 LitFest, the Poetry Café and at the Contact Theatre as part of the Rhythm and Words artists’ development programme. Her work is drawn together in the growing collection that form the Affairs of Anomie. Other print publications include the Ugly Tree, Citizen 32, Pipeline, DXN, Quiet Feather and the English Bridge Union magazines. Her work is also available online at www.girlsonfilmnetwork.org.uk, www.writeoutloud.net and www.almas.org.uk.
Almas is developing as a key organisation in the North West that delivers work within the creative disciplines of contemporary music, spoken word and live art. Current projects include the development of LiveAMP (Live Art, Poetry and Music) supported by project funding through Arts Council England and the Ida Carroll Trust.
New collaborations will produce new work to be premièred at the Bridgewater Hall, Sleeping Patterns with saxophonist Sarah Field; and at the Contact Theatre, Doin’ Moon with poet Akil Chinelo.
Anwen also facilitates LAMPlist that has developed from the LiveAMP research. If you would like to receive twice-weekly updates about Live Art, Music and Poetry in Manchester, the North West and Cyberspace, send your request details to info@liveamp.org.uk.
Statement: How I define myself as an artist
My process as an artist is defined through developing 'living languages' that are informed by my classical training as a composer and practical engagement with contemporary music, spoken word and live art. I also deliver extended creative practice in a wide range of educational environments and community based initiatives. As a result of my work within these contexts, I am inspired by the commonalities of idea, structure, intent and dialogue between the life experience and the art forms we choose to express our viewpoint. My work engages with a range of themes from a female perspective blended with an inclusive peripheral vision of the minority experience within urban cultures, natural environments and political constructs. My artistic practice provides a platform for solo commissions, interdisciplinary collaborations and education programme initiatives for a range of music venues, theatres, galleries, libraries and spaces of interest within the UK.
Statement: The essence of my work and aspiration
The essence of my work is to explore and express truth and beauty of life through the perspective of live performance culture. Life is time in space – how we balance them and what we do with the summation of our equation are the guidelines for the future. My aspiration is not to be defined by my art, but the journey I made to create it within the diversity of arts, audiences, practitioners and facilitators of contemporary culture.
Contact Details
59 Heald Place,
Manchester,
M14 4PF.
Phone: +44 (0) 0161 224 7602
Mobile: +44 (0) 07889 16 15 14
Email: anwen@almas.org.uk
Websites: www.myspace.com/liveamp
www.almas.org.uk
