Alwynne Pritchard

Alwynne Pritchard (born 1968) is a British composer, performer, artist, and curator based in Bergen, Norway. Known for her interdisciplinary approach, Pritchard works with sound, voice, and body, blending music, theatre, and visual elements. She is the co-founder of the music-theatre company Neither Nor and served as Artistic Director of the BIT20 Ensemble in Bergen from 2016 to 2018.

Alwynne Pritchard performing 'DOG/GOD' at the 2015 Festspillene i Bergen (Bergen International Festival). Photograph by Thor Brødreskift.

Pritchard was born in Glasgow and is the daughter of composer Gwyn Pritchard. She earned a Master’s degree in Musicology in 1998 and a Doctorate in Composition in 2003, both from the University of Bristol. From 2001 to 2008, she was a professor of composition at Trinity College of Music in London.

Pritchard also worked for many years as a freelance writer and presenter for BBC Radio 3 including Music in Our Time, Midnight Oil, Music Matters, Hear and Now, and Discovering Music.

In 2008, Pritchard became the artistic director of the Borealis Festival in Bergen, a position she held until March 2014.

Her work often involves experimental and cross-disciplinary projects, combining her skills as a composer, singer, actor, and violinist with elements of text, color, and imagery.

Concert composition premieres

Chamber music

  • Kingdom Come (2014); 20 mins; 3 voc, hrm, electronics
  • March March March (2013); 6 mins; 2fl, ob, 6cl, bsn, alt sax, ten sax, bar sax, 3hn, 3tpt, 3trb, 1euph, 2tba, 3perc
  • In Nomine (2006); 3 mins; fl, ob, bcl, pno, vn, va, vc
  • Decoy (2004); 17 mins; fl, ob, cl, vn, va, vc, perc, live electronics
  • Word Play (2004); 12 mins; picc, fl, cl, sop sax, bar sax, 2hn, tpt, 2tbn, perc, elec bass, vc. pf
  • Geometry of Pain I (2002); 10 mins; voice, vc, gtr, amplification
  • Impossibility (2001); 14 mins; speaker with spoons, cl/bcl, egui, vc
  • Quintet (Barbara Allen) (2000); 10 mins; 2vn, va, vc, pf
  • Der Glücklose Engel (1999); 10 mins; ecl, vn, vc
  • Craw (1997); 7 mins; fl, ob, cl, bn, hn, tpt, trb, pf, 2vn, va, vc
  • What This Night (1997); 10 mins; ob, cl, accordion, perc, harp, 2pf
  • Nocturnal (1995); 8 mins; 2vn, va, vc
  • Glimpsed Most Clearly From The Corner Of Your Eye (1992); 5 mins; 7vc

Solos and duos

  • Irene Electric (2013); 15 mins; amplified violin & tape
  • Graffiti (2007); 13 mins; perc, electronics
  • Zero (2006); 9 mins; fl/picc/bfl, acc
  • To the Ground (2005); 11 mins; violin, computer
  • Matrix (2001); c. 13 mins; vn
  • Nostos Ou Topos II (2000); 7 mins; gtr
  • Kit (1999); c. 10 mins; voice, any instrument
  • Danaides (1996); 6 mins; vc, tape
  • Chiaroscuro (1995); 14 mins; trb, pf
  • From this deposit a transparent bubble comes to the surface at certain times and explodes gently on reaching his lips (1994); 8 mins; bcl
  • Une Mort Héroïque (1993); 9 mins; speaker (tape), va

Piano

  • Heart of Glass (2019)
  • Loser (2014/16); 10 mins
  • Geometry of Pain II (2003); 12mins; Piano and Video
  • The Barnyard Song (2003); 3 mins; (for Elena Riu's Little Book of Salsa)
  • Invisible Cities (1999); 7-15 mins
  • Der Zwerg (1998); 10 mins
  • Mesarch (1997); 5mins
  • So ist mein Jesus nun gefangen (1993); 5 mins; (Transcription after Bach)
  • Spring (1996); 1 min

Vocal

  • Wir kommen und wir gehen (with Christian Jendreiko) (2016); choir
  • Piece for girls’ choir (with Amnon Wolman) (2016); female choir
  • havi ikki pláss fyri fleiri eygum (2014) 4 mins 45 secs; S.S.A.A.T.T.B.B.
  • As in Heaven (2007); 21/2 mins; S.S.A.Bar.T.B
  • Homecoming (2003); 20 mins; 5 amplified sopranos, electronics
  • Le Crépuscule du Soir (1996); 14 mins; sop, pf

Music theatre

  • Vitality Forms 6 (2016); 7-10 mins; vocal/physical performer
  • Vitality Forms 5 (2016); 7-10 mins; vocal/physical performer
  • Homing (2015); 20 mins; 3 vocal performers, electronics + 21 physical performers
  • Vitality Forms 4 (2015); 7-10 mins; vocal/physical performer
  • Vitality Forms 3 (2015); 7-10 mins; vocal/physical performer
  • Vitality Forms 2 (2015); 10 mins; mixed ensemble min 5 players + 3 vocal & 3 facial performers
  • Vitality Forms 1 (2015); 7-10 mins; vocal/physical performer
  • Hospice Lazy (2014); 60 mins; pf, vn, vc, electronics + physical performer
  • Erika married the Eiffel Tower (2013); 20 mins; fl, ob, bass cl, 2 pianists/1 piano, vn, va, vc, video
  • Oh no love, you're not alone (2013); 15 mins; voice, pf, vn, vc, video
  • Objects of Desire (2010); 15 mins; pno, vn, va + 3 additional performers
  • Oslo Emmaus (2010); 18 mins; sop, alt, pf, video
  • Source of Energy, Routes of Power (2010); 15 mins; ob, 2 voices, pf, vn
  • Flutterby (2009); 15 mins; e-gtr, 2 computers
  • Don't touch me, you don't know where I’ve been (2008); Music Drama; 35 mins; fl/picc, cl/bcl, voice, perc, pf, gtr, electronics
  • Frame (2007); Music Drama; 15 mins; picc, ob, cl, bn, hn, tpt, tbn, perc, harp, gtr, vn, va, vc, db, video (2 screens), electronics
  • Heroic Death – Une Mort Héroïque revised (1998); 20 mins; Chamber Opera; 2sop, bar, vc

Theatre

Hamlet Machine (with Thorolf Thuestad) (2016); music and sound design for the Scènes Théâtre Cinéma/Neither Nor production of Heiner Müller's Hamlet Machine[1]

Installations

  • A Cognitive Theory of Metaphor (2009) (with Thorolf Thuestad)
  • Don't touch me, you don't know where I’ve been (2008) (installation version, with Thorolf Thuestad)

Educational and amateur

  • Thor Sleeps (2004); 7 mins; for any 4 instruments and at least one pair of hands
  • Barbara Allen (Fragments of a Lament) (2000); 4 or 8 mins; vn, vn (va), vc, db, pf

Transcriptions

  • Höchster from Cantata BWV51 (2004); 10 mins; Transcription of Bach for soprano, accordion, vn, vc

References

  1. ^ "Home". neithernor.no.