Laurie Dunkin Wedd
Laurie's work is being performed by choir during its two concerts in March 2003.
Laurie Dunkin Wedd was born in 1955 at Chiddingstone Castle, near Edenbridge, Kent in the south east of England and showed an early interest in music. As a boy, he was put forward to attend choir school, but his parents vetoed the idea. Instead he studied piano and cello at school and sang in the choir. Although his first classical piece was written at age nine, he did not settle down to serious composing until the 1980s, when he studied with Peter Aviss and Barry Seaman.
As a teenager, he taught himself the guitar and worked in folk and jazz bands - all the while, writing his own material was the top priority. As an adult, he took up the viola so as to get a better insight into string writing, playing in local orchestras and a series of chamber music groups. He sings with a local choir in Tonbridge, Kent.
His work has been performed by:
- Jane Manning (soprano)
- Dilys Benson (soprano)
- Lisa Smith (piano)
- The Bingham String Quartet (string quartet)
- Antoinette & Claire Cann (piano duo)
- The Cremone Trio (woodwind trio)
- The Bebeto String Quartet (string quartet)
- Rena Rzaeva (piano)
- Kingston Brass (brass quintet)
- Tonbridge Philharmonic Society (symphony orchestra and large choir) - Robin Morrish (conductor)
- Clifford Benson (piano)
- Emily Benson (soprano)
- Penelope Howard (violin)
- Elizabeth Moore (cello)
- Sarah Benson (flute)
- The Sporgersi Singers (chamber choir) - Robin Morrish (conductor)
What kind of music?
Dunkin Wedd believes in making classical music accessible to the maximum number of discerning people. His music is not minimalist in style, but he follows the work of Terry Riley, John Adams, Philip Glass, Steve Reich and others in bringing classical music to a wider audience.
The classical/rock fusion bands of the 1970s such as Emerson Lake and Palmer, Yes and Procol Harum performed classical music in a rock context. Laurie Dunkin Wedd approaches from the opposite angle, writing music for classical ensembles that owes much to popular musics including jazz, folk, rock and pop.
His interrupted training gave him an approach to classical music that is more instinctive than academic. Although his music is accessible, tonal and conventionally diatonic, he rejects the "rules" of classical harmony.
"Musical notation is just a code, and has no more meaning on its own than the alignment of magnetic particles on a cassette tape. A score is just paper - it's only in performance that it gains meaning. So consecutive fifths don't bother me; if it sounds good then it is good."
Laurie Dunkin Wedd is a member of the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters, and the Society for the Promotion of New Music. His works are lodged at the British Music Information Centre.
For further biographical and discography information visit Laurie's personal website.