Identity & Aesthetic: Five British-Caribbean Composers
British Music Collection Guest Curator Clifton Harrison explores the relationship between identity and aesthetic with five incredible and distinctive composers.
Clifton Harrison: Identity and Aesthetic
Clifton Harrison: Identity and Aesthetic
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Identity & Aesthetic: Five British-Caribbean Composers
My name is Clifton Harrison. I am a classical musician and researcher. I am the viola player in the London-based Kreutzer Quartet, and I also spend a lot of time researching all manner of things musical. The notions of identity and aesthetic often come up in various forms in my work so the relationship between the two intrigues me. This project looks at this relationship with five incredible and distinctive composers.
Eleanor Alberga, Hannah Catherine Jones, Hannah Kendall, Dr. Shirley J. Thompson OBE, and Errollyn Wallen MBE.
They are British, all have Caribbean roots, and are women. Is this identity? What, if anything, does it have to do with their musical aesthetic? I sat down with each composer to discuss this along with their lives (past and present), style, creative process, commissions, favourite works, social issues, and obstacles. I started this journey wanting to find out how much of a composer’s musical aesthetic is informed by their identity. Perhaps this was presumptuous from the start. Watch this five-part series to find out what each of these amazing human beings had to say.
