The Creative Conductor

Bringing the Beat to Life:
Storytelling through Symphonic Repertoire & Orchestral Performance

Blog

The Creative Conductor Blog on Substack is the core of our activity, (alongside actually conducting, learning scores and playing of course!)

The blog is an outlet for creative deep dives into repertoire, approaches to conducting, score study, intentional listening and much more besides.

We aim to build a community of musicians, artists and listeners who believe that this art form, at all levels from beginner to elite professional, has the potential to positively contribute to the lives of everyone on the planet.

The Creative Conductor Blog

Projects & Creative Conducting Resources

As well as designing projects that engage audiences creatively with orchestral music, we also create musical resources for use with ensembles and musicians of all levels.

For conductors, we are continually updating our library of downloadable creative resources, to unlock new perspectives and approaches to your own creative conducting practice.

Visit the PayHip Store to explore our resources - some of which are completely free to download.

Explore Creative Conducting Resources

Recent Projects from the The Creative Conductor...

This 30minute curated concert features 3 pieces by Belfast composers, interwoven with sound pieces featuring the voices and stories of Belfast peacebuilders and community. Designed with flexibility at its core, the concert can be expanded to include additional pieces and sound works.

For this project we are collaborating with Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble. We are creating the sound pieces with two composers from SARC: Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Sound and Music, Belfast

The project was chosen for a showcase concert at Classical:NEXT in Berlin 2024

The Creative Conductor Atelier curated the concert pieces, created the project pitch material, and also led the shaping of the narratives in the sound pieces, carrying out interviews with a diverse range of voices from Belfast.

At the age of 78, US composer and musician Anthony Braxton was featured at Darmstadt 2023. Sinead Hayes sat in on his rehearsals with the very first Darmstadt Creative Orchestra, recording interviews and the music, for a unique insight into a historic few days.

As part of her work as a participant in the Words on Music course at Darmstadt, Sinead created a 15 minute audio documentary, interviewing the young musicians of the Creative Orchestra, Kobe van Cauwenberghe, and Anthony Braxton himself. 

The work would not have been possible without the help of the team at Darmstadt, who gave permission for use of the final performance recordings. The final narrative was crafted with the help of deft guidance from Peter Meanwell, who was the tutor on the Words on Music course.

The audio documentary is just the tiniest of glimpses into the original and mind blowing musical universe that Anthony Braxton has created. Discover his work as a composer, theorist, thinker and everything else at the Tricentric Foundation.

Have a listen to the audio documentary here.

TangleTrad, and the TangleBox were  invented by  Sinead Hayes during the Darmstadt Summer Course 2023, as a pathway to engagement with Irish Traditional Music for classical musicians. 

Performers and composers from outside the world of Irish Traditional music can now feel they have permission to engage with the music and use it as a catalyst for, and component of, their own creative practice.

The TangleBox uses the Irish Traditional session as a starting point, amplifying and specifying the micro musical practices that players of all levels engage in during a ‘normal’ session at some point in their development!

It’s a tricky one to summarise. Probably best to dive in here and read for yourself!

It sounds a bit like….this!

Scroll down to the bottom of the page.

This Arts Council funded project was create to allow musicians and singers aged 14- 101 a chance to try out conducting, and improve their conducting skills.

10 participants per workshop had a 2 hour introduction to conducting with conductor Sinead Hayes, followed by a 2 hour session with a local professional string quartet (10 minutes per participant). Repertoire was eine kleine Nachtmusik (Mozart) and The Capriol Suite (Warlock)

 

Participants all submitted an application form and a short video of themselves either playing their instrument/singing or conducting. They ranged from secondary school students to experienced music teachers aiming to improve their conducting skills.

Places were subsidised by the Irish Arts Council and Galway County Council. Cost to participants was €20 each.

Ivernia Arts devised and delivered all aspects of the project concept, from application materials through to conducting scores and performance materials for the string quartet. Athenry Music School provided administration resources and support on the days of the workshops.

Information Pack (Click for PDF)

Participants Information (Click for PDF) 

We would love to deliver more Sandbox Conducting Sessions all over Ireland. If you are interested in bringing the workshop to your music school or festival, please get in touch for costings, budget and availability.

Click HERE for a sample project page with information on repertoire etc.

Walking in ULysses is a 45 minute locative audio soundwalk piece bringing the listener/walker into the swirling world of James Joyce’s Uysses. 

Influenced by John Cage’s Roaratorio, Walking in Ulysses was created by Galway musician and composer Sinead Hayes (solstrek). The work features an original soundtrack and score composed and performed by Sinead, and features the voices of local Tuam legends Midie Corcoran, Ronan Lardner & Padraig Stevens. Also featured are voices of local Tuam residents and students from St. Jarlath’s College.

Whether you have read the book, or have added it to your bookshelf for..ahem…a rainy day, this piece with bring you to the core of the book, introducing you to the main characters, with fabulous original music…and each episode is only around 2 minutes long!!

Absolutely yes – the walk is hosted on the brilliant SonicMaps platform, and can be experienced online. Visit www.solstrekmusic.com to hear the walk remotely – listen with headphones for all the spatial effects!

We successfully applied for funding, coordinated all insurance, and were on site with our project team on Culture Night 2022 to help and guide our walk participants.

www.solstrekmusic.com

Over 25 young musicians worked on music by Mozart and Katharina Baker with ConTempo Quartet and conductor Sinead Hayes over three days in Galway. All participants also got an individual private lesson with a member of the ConTempo Quartet.

We worked on a Mozart string quartet (1st movement: advanced musicians & 3rd movement: intermediate musicians) in large groups, in sectionals, and then in individual quartets. We also explored contemporary techniques and improvisation, as well as rhythmic development.

As a conductor, the dream is that the ensemble has its own musical autonomy, collective artistic identity, sense of pulse, aesthetic etc. These are best developed by playing chamber music – hence the Ensemble Skills course, where participants learn these by watching and playing alongside ConTempo Quartet. A conductor can then come and really add something musically!

Young musicians have some fantastic ensemble opportunities, but they don’t usually get the chance to work on the original music (NOT arrangements) of the ‘great’ composers. By having a chance to get their hands on this music, a lifelong spark of interest will ignite – inspiring and building our audience for the future…

We worked with Galway Music Residency and ConTempo Quartet to choose the repertoire, create the fairly complicated timetable so that each participant had maximum benefit from the tutors. We were also onsite to help deliver the three days of participation.

This Arts Council funded project created the first video recording of Raymond Deane’s A Baroque Session (with Carolan & Friends) 

The orchestra was Athenry Sinfonietta – 20 young musicians from Athenry Music School, with guest cellists from Coole Music & Arts, as well as 6 invited local professional players.

Violins: Séamus McGuire & Niamh Crowley

Viola: Kenneth Rice

Cello: Adrian Mantu

Conductor: Sinead Hayes

  • Funding Application
  • Creation of production team
  • Project Management
  • Soloists & Production team briefing and liaising
  • Orchestra management on recording day.
  • Creation of GPS music trail in Athenry with audio from the recording.

www.baroquesession.com

Working with over 100 young musicians from Coole Music & Arts, we discovered the life and music of 17th century Irish harper and composer Turlough Carolan.

We worked via Zoom with 7 groups – 4 orchestras, 1 choir, 1 recorder group and 1 group of pianists. Each group learned a tune by Carolan and an Irish traditional tune.

Each group used a tailor made activity book, creating stories, artworks, poetry and new original compositions inspired by Carolan’s extraordinary life.

We worked with Coole Music founder Katharina Baker to choose appropriate music for each group.

  • creation of sheet music and backing tracks
  • collection and collation of all creative responses into 2 eBooks
  • creation of a montage video of all the performances and creative responses
  • creation of a GPS story and music walk in Gort, Co. Galway

www.carolansrambles.com

Working with Galway Music Residency, we created an online version of their annual Apprentice Ensemble Scheme. Over 20 young musicians worked with the players of the ConTempo String Quartet on music by Mozart and Beethoven.

As part of the project, the musicians were encouraged to creatively engage with the lives of Haydn and Mozart, and discover more of their music. They were also coached in ensemble and quartet playing, focussing on musical and technical details.

  • Devising the format and timetable for the two days of workshops.
  • Choosing appropriate music for Junior and Senior musicians.
  • Creation of Activity books
  • Creation of slideshow materials for the opening “Chamber Music Skills” workshop.
  • Facilitation of the opening workshop.

http://galwaymusicresidency.ie/newElements/education.php

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