Surpassing Solitude was written at the beginning of the UK lockdown for the Bandwidth Ensemble, focussing on looking forward past the enforced solitude that many of us have experienced. The piece explores the technicalities of working with an online ensemble by presenting the work in 2 sections. The first is very texturally focused, much darker, with many overlapping layers. This allows more freedom when working with an online ensemble. The second section is much more playful and quickly settles into a rhythm between the bass clarinet and double bass, allowing the trumpet to have a more virtuosic melody, representing an increase of freedom as time passes.

Trumpet: Lucy Humphris 
Bass Clarinet: Craig McLaren 
Double Bass: Richard English

Surpassing Solitude - Bandwidth Ensemble Premiere

Go Outside was written during the pandemic and recorded/collaborated on entirely remotely. Exploring the idea of being trapped within your own mind. The text is self written and this was premiered at the Martin Read Festival 2021.

Voice - Ellen Drewe
Violin 1 - Jack Robinson
Violin 2 - Catherine Upfold

Go Outside - Martin Read Festival Premiere

A solo clarinet piece with electronics, focusing on the manipulation and perception of time. The sine waves in the electronics merge with the clarinet, disguising the joins between the two and expanding the solo instrument into what sounds like a clarinet choir.

Clarinet/Bass Clarinet - James Gilbert

Chronokinesis - Royal Academy of Music Bicentenary 200 pieces

Performed by the Luna Collective.

22° Halo is inspired by the optical light phenomenon. The light circle is created by ice-crystals that form a ring with the radius of 22° around the sun or moon. When direct sunlight or moonlight is refracted on the ice-crystals, it creates a striking light halo.

I was struck by the natural beauty of this phenomenon and its halo effect. To the human eye this looks like a static ring of light, however the millions of ice-crystals creating it, mean that it’s continually changing and far more complex than it might seem.

Following this, I thought of this piece in cycles, presenting what is in essence the same musical material throughout, however developed or presented in a different way in each cycle.

22° Halo - Luna Collective Premiere

Initial workshop recording of a miniature for treble and descant recorder.

Descant Recorder: Ines Rasbach
Treble Recorder: Tomma Wessel

In the Mist

Taming The Shepard - Mvt. 2

Performed live at the Warehouse Waterloo.

Piano - Nicola Meecham

Night Scurry - Warehouse Waterloo Premiere

Exploring the funny and dark side of clowns, this frantic and crazed piece explores how a children's entertainer can be manipulated into something more sinister and unpredictable. The text is self-written for the piece, expanding on a children's fable gone wrong.

Megan Linnell - Soprano
Esme Lees - Alto
Alex White - Tenor
Felix Wareing - Bass

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TuJqFsPjLk

Auguste - Trinity Laban Premiere

Drink Me - Brunel Museum Premiere

Performed by the Eumelia Trio.

Violin - Auguste Janonyte
Cello - Abby Lorimier
Piano - Mikaela Livadiotis

The philosopher Joseph Delboeuf once recalled a dream where he saw the garden of his house covered in snow and found two tiny lizards half frozen and buried beneath the snow. He warmed up these lizards and fed them the leaves from a fern that grew up a wall nearby, which he recalled to be named Asplenium ruta muralis. In Delboeuf’s waking state, he couldn’t recall ever having known of a plant of this name, however soon realised that a plant named Asplenium ruta muraria did in fact exist. Sixteen years after the dream, Delboeuf visited a friend and spotted a small album of dried flowers. In it was the exact fern he had dreamt with the Latin name inscribed in his own handwriting. He then recalled that 2 years before his dream, he had assisted a friend with inscribing the latin names of these dried flowers in the album. His brain had therefore subconsciously retained the latin name for the fern, revealing the subconscious power of the human memory.

Asplenium Ruta Muralis - V&A Premiere

Cello - Kristyna Žáková

Divergence closely explores the unique and varied abilities of the cello, combining a mixture of traditional sounds with techniques experimented on in collaboration with Kristyna.

The piece is in 3 sections, each exploring a different technique used within the instrument. The first section explores the use of overpressure, combined with double stops. The second explores the virtuosity of the instrument more, with flurries combined again with double stops. The final section focusses on the use of pizzicato and ricochet.

Divergence - Royal Academy of Music Premiere

Composer studying  at the Royal Academy of Music

Ellen Drewe

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