Mark Simpson At The Tung Auditorium

On Wednesday 14 January, composer-in-residence with the Liverpool Philharmonic, Mark Simpson, performed his work Geysir at the Tung Auditorium with his ensemble, comprising players from the Phil. In 2006, aged 17, Mark won the BBC Young Musician of the Year award with a brilliant performance on the clarinet. He has since established an international reputation as both a composer and soloist.

A current geological definition of a hot-water geyser is “…a hot spring characterised by intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accompanied by a vapour phase”. I have never had the pleasure of seeing a geysir (the Icelandic word for geyser), but the performance of Mark’s work might well provoke interest in the phenomenon.

It was a marvellous concert that also included music by another Liverpool-based composer, Gary Carpenter—Pantomime for 13 winds—and Amistad for basset clarinet and bassoon by Simon Holt. The evening concluded with Mozart’s Gran Partita, which was an influence on Mark Simpson’s Geysir.

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