24/06/2017
MEET THE COMPOSER
Josh Adams is next on our shortlist of composers for the Ralph Morton Composition Competition. Here is a bit about him and his piece, 'Come to Me in My Dreams'
ABOUT JOSH
Joshua Adams is an emerging solo artist, and a young professional in Perth's choral music scene. He is currently in the final year of his undergraduate degree at the University of Western Australia, studying classical voice. Joshua has performed with Perth's leading choral groups, is a member of Voyces, and is a chorister, the acting principle cantor, and the music librarian at St Mary's Cathedral, Perth. Earlier this year, he received the highest accolade from the Royal School of Church Music, the Gold Award. Whilst an accomplished young vocalist, his submission is his first major composition, and he is thrilled to see it received so well. Joshua will also being joining NYCA for the first time as a participant in the 2017 Brisbane season.
ABOUT COME TO ME IN MY DREAMS
My piece is a setting of Matthew Arnold's 'Longing', the fifth and final poem from the sequence 'Faded Leaves'. These poems each explore a different thought and feeling, which a lover contemplates shortly after the breakup of their relationship. 'Longing', as the name suggests, describes a yearning desire for the joy of their partner to return to them in their dreams, and the placement of the poem at the end of the sequence evokes a painfully heartfelt sense of 'what was'. I've attempted to paint a vivid depiction of this emotional concept, with persistent dissonances and swells reflecting the pain and passion experienced by the lover, amidst an often dream-like, hazy-thick texture, with but a few moments of clarity.