Classical works
Chadburn has written a number of works for classical music groups. These include Unison: Things Are Getting Worse for a large ensemble of pianists, [15] [16] X Chairman Maos, written for the ensemble Apartment House and performed at the De La Warr Pavilion to coincide with their Andy Warhol exhibition in 2011, [15] [17] and Five Loops for the Bathyscaphe (2018), commissioned by the Britten Sinfonia. [18]
His string quartet, The Indistinguishables was written for the Canadian quartet Quatuor Bozzini and performed at the 2014 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. [19] A performance by the quartet at Milton Court (Guildhall School of Music) in March 2019 with Gemma Saunders as narrator was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in September 2019. [20] His piece for chamber ensemble, Freezywater, commissioned by the Wigmore Hall, won a 2016 British Composer Award. [21] Chadburn was nominated for a second British Composer Award the following year, for his choral piece Affix Stamp Here, [22] written for the vocal ensemble EXAUDI. [23]
Chadburn is currently an associate composer of the London Symphony Orchestra, [24] who performed his piece Brown Leather Sofa in 2013. [25]
Chadburn received an Ivor Novello Award nomination at The Ivors Classical Awards 2024. English Dancing Master, for pre-recorded voices and string quartet, was nominated for Best Small Chamber Composition. [26]
Collaborations
Chadburn has collaborated on a number of projects with visual artists. [15] In 2009, he wrote the score for Richard Grayson's video installation The Golden Space City of God (exhibited at Matt's Gallery, London and Artpace, San Antonio), which featured a choir shot on location in Texas singing cult religious texts. [29] [30]
In 2012, he collaborated with the artist Tanya Axford on a piece entitled The Path Made by a Boat in Sound (Three Down) for the Whitstable Biennale, [31] and with video artist Jennet Thomas, on her work School of Change, a "sci-fi musical film", again exhibited at Matt's Gallery. [32]
He went on to work with the conceptual artist Cerith Wyn Evans on a choral work for performance at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in 2013, based on Samuel Beckett's prose text Imagination Dead Imagine. [33]
Chadburn has also written music for the theatre, working with the Royal National Theatre on a new musical score for their 2007 production of The Caucasian Chalk Circle , in which he also played the part of "The Singer". [34]
As a performer, he has contributed to the albums of Leafcutter John, Max de Wardener, Patrick Wolf, Serafina Steer and Saint Etienne, credited with recorders, bass clarinet and vocals. [35] He is also credited as a producer on classical percussionist Joby Burgess' album 24 Lies Per Second (2013). [36]
He has occasionally performed works by other experimental composers, including John Cage, [37] Gavin Bryars, [38] Christopher Fox, [39] Frederic Rzewski (whose piece Coming Together he presented at the first London Contemporary Music Festival in 2013) [40] and Jennifer Walshe (whose work he performed at the 2017 London Contemporary Music Festival). [41] Alongside actor Gemma Saunders, Chadburn recorded a spoken word version of artist On Kawara's twenty volume book, One Million Years[Past and Future], which was released as a limited edition four CD set. [42]
