In this Platoon Presents at Kings Place event taking place on Earth Day, renowned composers Stewart Copeland and Arash Safaian discuss their recent compositional projects, brought together by their love of Nature.

After rising to international stardom as the drummer of The Police, Stewart Copeland largely rejected his pop music past to pursue a career as a composer, authoring a prolific series of film scores, operas, and ballets. Arash Safaian’s compositional output has graced the stages of Munich Opera Biennale, Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York, Tonhalle Zurich, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Philharmonie Berlin with recordings in the German classical Charts and the US Billboards, while topping the iTunes charts in several countries, as well as being named an ‘Album we loved in 2020’ by Apple Music. Safaian’s Birdsongs project, which he will discuss, will be released later in 2025.

Stewart Copeland’s Wild Concerto combines sounds from the natural world – captured as field recordings by Martyn Stewart – with their more traditional orchestral counterparts to create an engaging and distinctive sound world where Nature is the soloist. Rather than musically evoke the characteristics of the wildlife, Copeland allows their own songs and sounds to speak for themselves; none of the recordings are altered. Allowing nature to sing is becoming increasingly important – Martyn Stewart has been cataloguing species for 60 years and has seen first-hand the sharp decline in diversity and abundance.

Arash Safaian’s Birdsongs arose from the realisation that birdsong might represent the primordial route of music. The work refers to Attar’s 12th-century tale “The Bird Talks” or “The Conference of the Birds” as a source of inspiration for an exploration of the ultimate language of Nature – the song of birds. The composition is based on original songs of birds from all over the world, which Safaian has transcribed and formed into a violin concerto, merging the musicality of birdsong with the human musical language. The project arose from the impulse to create an evocative narrative about our relationship with nature in the face of climate change and debate. Safaian’s forthcoming album for Platoon will include his new concerto for violinist Karen Gomyo and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen – a musical commentary on the language of birds.

Stewart Copeland’s Wild Concerto will be released on Platoon on 22 April.

This event will last approximately 75 minutes, without an interval.