In a compositional process I experience an interplay between myself and 'the will
of the piece itself'. I have the experience of an entity that wishes to express
itself and yet does not dictate. It is at one and the same time a riddle and a
guide. In turn, my task is to discern its nature and reveal this to the audience.
As a result of my study into the basic elements of music and my appreciation of
all genres of music, my tonal language is a synthesis of various genres. In addition,
my inspiration is stimulated by my passion for drama. As well as being an aspiring
painter in my teens, I was a keen actor. Before devoting myself to composition
at age 20 I appeared in a number of Shakespeare plays (including appearing in
Macbeth at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) leading to a life-long love of Shakespeare's
works. Playing the part of Peer in Ibsen's Peer Gynt in 2011 has given me a new
boost in that direction. My native Denmark, with its coastline of long beaches
and rolling sand dunes that were the joy of my childhood, provides me with a feeling
for a wide natural landscape. It was here I developed a lifelong love of birds
and nature. These elements find their way into the music, I suppose, but I don't
consciously attempt to portray them. Upon completing an intensive period of auto-didactic
training for a couple years from the age of 20 with the help of Cecil Cope and
Louis Alvanis, I entered the Musikseminar in Hamburg, Germany to study composition
with Elmar Lampson. Here I graduated with diplomas in composition and piano in
1992 and went on to teach in adult Education both in Hamburg and at Emerson College,
Sussex, England. During this time I continued to devote more time to developing
my compositional direction. In 2001 I gave up my secure post there in order to
pursue composing more fully, and my compositional output has increased from this
time onwards. |
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