Don’t miss the premiere of composer Ben Lunn’s new work, a powerful piece dedicated to the disabled victims of the Nazi operation Aktion T-4 and Tory Austerity.
Ben will be performing his new composition live at Band on the Wall in Manchester on 8th April 2018.
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This commission is in partnership with Brighter Sound in Manchester and is part of our Emergent: A music legacy programme, funded by Help Musicians UK.
Emergent offers training and commissions for emerging Disabled musicians, to develop the skills and experience needed for a portfolio career in music.
Ben’s response to the commission is a new piece of music which expresses his response to the profoundly sobering reality of the treatment of Disabled people historically and today:
Ben says: “The commission I gained was asked to contemplate the environment from a ‘disabled perspective’. I could not use this opportunity in any other way than highlighting the growing reality of what it means to be disabled when Fascism becomes a prevalent voice again.
In short it means death. Even though the acts of Fascists are historically small and end rather quickly, the greater problem is the normalcy of other issues that occur while Fascists have a voice. The fact parents are using bleach to ‘cure’ their Autistic children, the fact America is attempting to pass a law allowing businesses to be inaccessible to disabled peoples, or the fact the British government has been directly and wholly responsible for 120,000 deaths.
My frustration and indignation at this reality is manifested in this piece, which I have dedicated to the victims of Aktion T-4 and Tory Austerity. The electronics is primarily made up of names of victims so the injustice that was committed against them can be bought to a wider public. Ultimately this work is an expression of the profound sadness of having to fight these basic problems, frustration that all I can do in response is doodle notes, and anger that disabled people are merely having to fight to exist let alone be treated equal.”
At the gig Ben will be live conducting three musicians playing trumpet, cello and violin, and he will also be creating sounds using movement sensors & other music technology to create a powerful and politically charged piece of music.
More about Ben
Composer and musicologist Ben Lunn is increasingly pushed by religious beliefs, philosophy, and political activism.
Described as “evocative, sophisticated and – most importantly – obsessive”, Ben’s avant-garde compositions have been performed across the globe, from Austria to Bhutan.
His work is featured in the British Music Collection and he has worked with renowned ensembles and musicians like Rolf Hind, Francoise-Green Duo, Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Music Theatre Wales and Martynas Levickis.
Ben is currently Trainee Artistic Director of the Hebrides Ensemble and is working on a piano concerto for the Kazakh pianist Assel Abilseitova and City of Rochester Symphony Orchestra.
