Composer-in-Focus: Nico Muhly
Feature
A series celebrating one of today’s most distinctive musical voices, tracing the artistic friendships and influences that continue to inspire his music and extraordinary collaborations.
I’m delighted to be the Kings Place Composer-in-Focus for 2027. Many of the concerts are designed to use my music as a springboard into music of the past: Purcell, Taverner and Bach haunt the programmes, alongside Palestrina, Sheppard, Byrd and Dowland.
‘I’ve always been interested in the ways new music can reveal unexpected things about the past.’
The most important thread, though, is the spirit of collaboration which has always informed my work. Musicians I’ve worked with for decades feature prominently here: Iestyn Davies, Fretwork, The Tallis Scholars, Pekka Kuusisto and the Britten Sinfonia among them. Having these long-term relationships is a gift to a composer. I feel as if I grew up inside the Tallis Scholars’ world of Palestrina and Sheppard, and Fretwork’s recordings of Byrd and Dowland, and I hope my own music can serve as a two-way bridge between the sixteenth century and today.
I started writing for Iestyn and Pekka around 2010, and it feels as if we’ve all come of age together through the confusingly joyful thicket of music-making in today’s world. Over time, pieces begin to grow out of those friendships rather than simply being written for them. The same is true of more than fifteen years of work with the buoyant precision of the Britten Sinfonia.
It’s quite moving to know that we’re still creating work together, and I hope that spirit of collaboration, curiosity and friendship shines through the programmes across the 2027 season.