Tuesday, 31 October 2023
A composer at the University of Nottingham has been shortlisted for arguably the most prestigious classical music award in the country.
Dr Duncan MacLeod is Associate Professor of Music at the university and has been nominated for the ‘Best Sound Art’ category at The Ivors Classical Awards 2023. The awards celebrate the best new works by British, Irish or UK resident composers and recognise outstanding excellence in contemporary classical music and sound art.
MacLeod’s nominated work is called ‘Machair’, a Gaelic word meaning a fertile, low lying, grassy plain that is only found on the west-facing shores of Scotland and Ireland. Generations of low-intensity communal farming have shaped this unique landscape and encouraged wildlife over millennia.
Machair explores the traditions and ecology of agricultural practice on the Western Isles of Scotland through spoken word, song, music, and soundscape composition. Developed in partnership with local communities on the Isles of Uist, this composition is structured around intergenerational narratives that entwine contemporary and archive recordings that span over 70 years of history.
Machair can be streamed online at: https://on.soundcloud.com/grgPW
The Ivor Classical Awards will take place on 14 November 2023 at BFI Southbank in London, where 11 Ivor Novello Awards will be presented to eight category winners and three Gift of the Academy award winners.
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 32 in Europe and 16th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the second most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2022 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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