The 2023 Psappha Ensemble premiere of the new composition by Kay Rowan, “keening songs”, performed by Dov Goldberg in Manchester.

Kay Rowan - keening songs (for solo clarinet)

As performed live by The Founders Choir of Royal Holloway on the 17th of March 2018, here is an audio recording of the premiere of 'The Seven Ages', conducted by Claire Clyne.

https://kayrowan.bandcamp.com

The Seven Ages (after W. Shakespeare)

If 'Together / Apart' was the statement of a musical intent, 'Squaring The Circle' (Slow Dancing) is my attempt to refine it. First associated with Anaxagoras, the problem of "squaring the circle" referred to the challenge of constructing a square with the same area as a given circle by only using a finite number of steps. It came to be used as a phrase to represent an impossible problem, an issue with no discoverable solution. 

The full track is available to buy here: https://kayrowan.bandcamp.com

'Squaring The Circle (Slow Dancing)' - Extract

"I wish, I wish, but it's all in vain
I wish I were a maid again
But a maid again I never can be
Till apples grow on an orange tree..."

So goes the first verse of the British folk song 'I wish...', one of the many tunes collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams on his journeys around the British Isles. It goes on to tell the story of an older woman, looking back on her life and reflecting on her lover who abandoned her to destitution.

This piece, composed for nonclassical, attempts to reflect the struggle of finding one's voice after having been silenced. Small, wispy fragments of tunes and ideas pass by as if in a kind of haze, and music phrases are interspersed with silence, as if one is collecting themselves for the next passage. 

Performed by the incredible Soprano Sarah Dacey (https://www.sarahdacey.com) and the wonderful Violist Stephen Upshaw (http://www.stephenupshaw.com).

https://kayrowan.bandcamp.com

'IwishIwish' - For Solo Soprano and Viola (2020)

As performed by the incredible Mimi Doulton. It was an honour to collaborate with Mimi Doulton (http://mimidoulton.com) on this short work for solo soprano and electronics. The text for the work comes adapted from the Russian poet Osip Mandelstam (1891 - 1938):

You took away all the oceans and all the room.
You gave me my shoe-size in earth with bars around it.
Where did it get you? Nowhere.
You left me my lips, and they shape words, even in silence.

Currently we don't live in a time of "silence", but we definitely live in a time of darkness. I hear this piece as almost being a short 'recitative' style moment before a larger aria. A prelude to a song that never was.

You can support my work here: https://kayrowan.bandcamp.com

'Even in darkness...' (For Soprano and Electronics) - After Osip Mandelstam

Kay Rowan (she/her) is a composer, songwriter, actor, music(er) and word(er) based in London, England. She has composed extensively for both stage and screen, working on the soundtrack for Rose Collective’s short film ‘Rain‘, as well as for the physical theatre/dance piece ‘KLAZO‘, by Bold Mellon. She has also performed as a songwriter on many occasions under the pseudonym ghostgirl. You can usually find her having an existential crisis, or writing a poem about one.

Kay Rowan (ghostgirl)