Violent Push of an Unpredictable Strategy:
For Ephémère we presented an extended version of this work, with a more improvisatory approach to the original form. Notes on the original version:
“I started to learn bagpipes from the age of 8 and from this early age I was informed by my tutor that bagpipers would go into battle, to play alongside their army and to intimidate the opposition. The awareness of this has always stayed with me and has now become the inspiration behind the structure of this work. I imagine the bagpiper in slow motion, striking in the drones and beginning to play a piece that encourages his army but tries to push away the opposition. At the same time I think of the army who have encouraged this brave musician and that though everyone has their strategies they are still in an unpredictable situation. This piece is mainly based upon improvisation where the bagpipes encourage the ensemble to follow its tonalities and challenging dynamics. The group however, have their own strategies between them that work and harmonise outside of the bagpiper’s sound.”

The Edge Ensemble challenges the boundaries between notated and improvised music. Featuring singular performers from diverse musical worlds — contemporary, free jazz, rock, early music — they explore the new sonic territory where these traditions meet. Although the stylistic backgrounds of the performers may seem far apart, they are all rooted in performance traditions that have enough in common to allow for fascinating, unexpected points of confluence. The Edge Ensemble reflects and explores this situation with intensity, freedom, and precision.

Musicians of Edge Ensemble:
Christof May (DE) – bass clarinet
James Hewitt (UK) – baroque violin
Vasilis Stefanopoulos (GR) – bass
Brendan Faegre (US) – drums, director

Violent Push of an Unpredictable Strategy

Genevieve, Scotland, studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Glasgow, Junior School followed by Birmingham Conservatoire for Bachelor of Music. She received a Masters in Composition at The Royal Conservatory of The Hague in 2013 and currently lives in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Her compositions have been performed internationally in a variety of concert halls and art galleries, to name a few, Concertgebouw, Muziekgebouw,  W139, Stedelijk (Amsterdam), La Fenice (Venice), Old Fruitmarket (Glasgow), Theatre Spektakel (Zurich) with, Ensemble Offspring (Sydney), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (Glasgow), Camerata Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam) and herself performing her compositions.

Genevieve is known to combine performance art/visual art with contemporary classical music and her concepts are frequently based around psychology, and disability. As well as an independent maker she has collaborated and performed with visual artists, free improvisers, choreographers and producers and has toured internationally with London based visual artist Martin Creed.

The composer’s durational work ‘Walk and Drip for 12 Hours’ (2016) was performed by herself in the gallery W139 for 12 hours continuously. It was a compositional process that formed a score of 25 metres in length. The transcription of the score went on to be performed at the Cello Biennale (Amsterdam) and November Music (’s-Hertogenbosch), commissioned by Slagwerk Den Haag (October 2016).

Genevieve has had her work commissioned by Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Camerata in multiple  performances with neuropsychologist, Professor Erik Scherder.

‘Work 5’ from the suite ‘F.I.N.E.’ was nominated for the International Rostrum of Composers under 30 category, to represent the Netherlands for it’s contemporary classical music (2016).

Her composition ‘Your Blue and My Purple’ was performed in La Fenice Theatre in Venice, 2016, and in January 2017 Genevieve brought her work towards the south of the country in Eindhoven commissioned and performed by Storioni Trio for the Storioni Festival in collaboration with designer Lucas Maassen.

Genevieve has been a member of the Ulysses Network (2016/17) where she developed and performed a solo work in the gallery ESC, Graz (Austria) and composed for International Ensemble Modern Akademie, Frankfurt (Germany). The composer premiered the work, ‘Squeeze Machine’ for IEMA in Gaudeamus Muziekweek, Utrecht (Netherlands) followed by performances in Frankfurt in September 2017.

Murphy was invited to external examine for composition students graduating from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague 2016 and was a guest tutor in 21st Annual Percussion Workshop, TRSTENICE (Czech Republic) in July 2017.

In May 2017, Genevieve received the Nieuwe Makers Subsidie from FPK. This is a two year research and production grant that allows the new maker to be produced and coached by NB Projects/Nicole Beutler. Through this subsidy, Murphy produced a solo work featuring the composer herself. ‘Something In This Universe’ was premiered in SPRING Festival, Utrecht in May 2018.

Genevieve became a member of Standplaats Utrecht (2018), a performance/interdisciplinary platform supported by SPRING Performing Arts Festival, Het Huis Utrecht, Theater Utrecht, Het Filiaal, DOX and SWK030.

The composer performer recently performed her new work “Calm In An Agitated World” with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award piper, Brighde Chaimbeul, in Glasgow, Old Fruitmarket. 

“They Move Differently Here”, commissioned by and premiered in Gaudeamus Muziekweek on September 7th in Utrecht, was performed by Australian group Ensemble Offspring alongside Genevieve. This work will make its way to Sydney in 2021.

June 2019, Genevieve was awarded Honorary Membership of The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire nominated by composer Joe Cutler and received from Julian Lloyd Weber.