Drake Music commission: Ben Lunn ‘T-4’

Showcase

Artist: Ben Lunn
Title: T-4
Mentor: Kristian Gjerstad
Commission Partner: Brighter Sounds

Musicians:

  • Violin – Margarita GarmutėArlauskienė
  • Cello – Gunda Baranauskaite
  • Alto Trombone – Joseph Lunn

Ben Lunn was the recipient of one of our Emergent commissions for early-career Disabled artists.

Funded by Help Musicians UK, the Emergent programme is designed to support Disabled musicians to build a portfolio career.

Ben’s piece responded to the theme of ‘Disability and the Environment’ by focusing on the political environment.

His work seeks to draw attention to the pressures and prejudice disabled people face in the current political landscape.

Ben commented:

“For me, what has been most beneficial has been the opportunity to be completely shamelessly disabled. As a composer, this is something I have never had the space to be allowed to do in quite the same way. To write a piece that explores personal identity is always a profound experience, but when the industry as a whole blocks a part of you, the chance to explore yourself is even more magnificent.

I have been very fortunate to gain all of this support from Drake Music and Brighter Sound throughout the commission, and ultimately it has helped me understand a bit more about what it means to be a disabled adult in this world”.

Described as “evocative, sophisticated and – most importantly – obsessive”, Ben’s avant-garde compositions have been performed across the globe, from Austria to Bhutan, and now at Band on the Wall in Manchester too.