Music not of place, but of time. Blake is not unsure of who he is and where he lives. He is not obsessed with Africa, nor is he chained to ‘the West’. He is perhaps the first South African composer to be unselfconsciously an African composer. His are the blueprints and stratagems of a new cosmopolitan South African sound.
The Musical Times (Winter 2011)

Calendar 2013 – 2014

24 February 2013, 11h00 | Nirox Foundation, Johannesburg
Friedrich Gauwerky (cello)

Following the performance, the publication of Michael Blake’s most recent recording String Quartets 1 & 2 and Piano Quintet will be launched, with a short introduction by Willem Boshoff.

27 February 2013, 20h00 | Kemus Concerts, STIAS Manor, 10 Marais Road, Stellenbosch
13 March 2013, 15h30 | “Infecting the City”, Cape Town station concourse, Cape Town
15 March 2013, 15h30 | “Infecting the City”, Cape Town station concourse, Cape Town
19 April 2013, 20h00 | Forum neuer Musik 2013 - News from the >Colonies<, Deutschlandfunk Kammermusiksaal, Raderberggürtel 40, 50968 Köln
14 May 2013, 13h00 | Fismer Hall, University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town
Michael Blake (piano)

Michael Blake plays Michael Blake - Music from Michael Blake’s Collected Shorter Piano Pieces and the works on which they were modelled.

25 May 2013 | Sasol Museum, Ryneveld Street, Stellenbosch

Concert To Morija Birdscape with Luigi Russolo for two-track tape (2013).

2 June 2013, 18h00 | INNERchamber, Stratford, Ontario
Factory Arts String Quartet; Liesel Deppe (flute)
24 – 26 July 2013 | International Florence Choir Festival
KwaZulu-Natal Youth Choir; Gerard’d du Toit (conductor)
Mantombi Matotiyana (umrhubhe); Christophe Mazzella (sound diffusion)
Ensemble l’Instant Donné
24 November 2013 | Tokyo

Not commissioned by the SAMRO Foundation.

18 January 2014 | Kunstsalon Hürth, Köln
Friedrich Gauwerky (violoncello)
March 2014 | Odeon Theater, Wien
Piano Concerto No 2 (2013) First performance
Ensemble Reconsil; Roland Freisitzer (conductor)

New works 2013

Morija Birdscape with Luigi Russolo (2013) for two-track tape

Piano Concerto No 2 (2013)
Fp: March 2014; Odeon Theater, Wien, Austria; Ensemble Reconsil, Roland Freisitzer conductor

Ukukhalisa Umrhubhe for umrhubhe and tape (2013)
Commissioned by Festival d’Automne d’Paris
Fp: 20h00, Sunday 20 October 2013; Opera National de Paris - Festival d’Automne à Paris, Paris, France; Mantombi Matotiyana umrhubhe, Christophe Mazzella sound diffusion

Standing Stone Circle for harp and peripatetic violinist (2012-2013)
Fp: Sunday 24 November 2013; Tokyo, Japan; tbc

Recently published articles 2011-2012

Approaching the silence of patterns: the music of Michael Blake
by Martin Scherzinger
NewMusicSA, Johannesburg, Issues 9 & 10, published September 2012

Don Maclennan and Music
by Christine Lucia and Michael Blake
in No Other World, ed. Dan Wylie and Craig MacKenzie
Print Matters, Cape Town, August 2012

Des ponts entre Blancs et Noirs
by Denis-Constant Martin
Politis, Paris, 18 January 2012

Miniature blueprints, spider stratagems: a Michael Blake retrospective at 60
by Stephanus Muller
The Musical Times, London, Winter 2011

New CD Release 2012

String Quartets 1 & 2 and Piano Quintet
Michael Blake Edition - MBED002 - Compact disc - 2012
The Fitzwilliam String Quartet
*Michael Blake piano
String Quartets 1 & 2 and Piano Quintet
  • String Quartet No 1 (in Memory of William Burton) (2001) details
  • String Quartet No 2 (2006) details
  • Quintet for Piano and Strings (Homage to Schumann) (2006)* details

Other events 2012-2013

1 January 2012Appointed Professor Extraordinary at Stellenbosch University
6 January – 5 February 2012Composer in Residence, Nirox Foundation
22 January – 5 February 2012Sterkfontein Composers Meeting established
6 August 2012Colloquium at Stellenbosch University: ‘Sterkte’ in Sterkfontein: Towards a Composing Culture in South Africa
4 September 2012John Cage Centenary Concert at Stellenbosch University
15 – 28 October 2012Joint Residence with Willem Boshoff, Nirox Foundation
10 – 25 February 2013Sterkfontein Composers Meeting

Projects

The Bow Project

Nofinishi Dywili at Lumko Institute c. 1981

The Bow Project was launched in 2002 by Michael Blake as a project of NewMusicSA’s annual New Music Indaba at the National Arts Festival, Grahamstown. The original artistic objective of the project was to encourage South African composers to engage with traditional music as a compositional resource.

Sterkfontein Composers Meeting

Sterkfontein Group inside Standing Stone Circle

The Sterkfontein Composers Meeting is a masterclass for young and emerging composers held annually at the Nirox Foundation. The unique setting, within the Cradle of Humankind, provides the ideal environment in which young composers can learn and create.

Film Excerpts

SMS Sugarman (2006)

The first feature film to be shot entirely on cellphone cameras.

A Question of Madness (aka The Furiosus; 1998)

Documentary about Dmitri Tsafendas, who assassinated South African prime minister Dr Verwoerd in 1966.

Bethlehem Reborn (2003)

Bethlehem Reborn (2003)

Music scored for clarinet, celesta and strings.

The Colour Fields (1999)

The Colour Fields (1999)

Music scored for flute, cello and harpsichord.

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