Neal Farwell
Senior Lecturer in Music
Director of the Composition and Recording Studios
Contact details
- Telephone: (0117) 331 4061
- Email: neal.farwell@bristol.ac.uk
Background
After a first degree in mathematics and information sciences, Neal gained his MMus and PhD in composition from the University of East Anglia, studying with Simon Waters. In 1998 he moved to the USA as a Knox Fellow at Harvard University. He studied with Bernard Rands and Mario Davidovsky at Harvard, with David Rakowski at Brandeis University, and was himself a professor at Longy School of Music, serving as Director of the Computer Music Studio. Neal has taught at the University of Bristol since January 2002.
Neal's compositional output includes work for acoustic ensemble, tape alone, live electronics and installation. His music has been performed in Europe, the USA, Australia and New Zealand. His recent work includes a cycle of commissioned pieces for instrumental soloist and live electronics, and acoustic works for small ensemble and for chamber orchestra. He has collaborated on theatre, dance and film projects, and his earlier work includes research in new performance interfaces - notably the "funny fiddle", a violin-like electronic instrument designed to put the performer at the focus of the electronic sound-world. Neal also has interests in theoretical models for the interrelation of acoustic and electroacoustic modes of compositional thought, in techniques and conceptions of interactivity, and in issues relating to the semiotics of Charles Sanders Peirce.
Neal leads teaching and research in the broad spectrum of electroacoustic music, as well as teaching acoustic composition at all levels. He is Director of the Composition and Recording Studios; of BULO, the Bristol University Loudspeaker Orchestra; and Programme Director of the MA in Composition of Music for Film and Television. Outside the University, Neal has developed strong links with Bristol Ensemble, the city's professional chamber orchestra, and is former music director of CoMA SW.
Active also as a conductor, Neal Farwell is a passionate advocate for the music of our time and for the great works of our musical past. His repertoire includes composers as varied as Beethoven, Berio, Birtwistle, Brahms, Britten, Harvey, Lutoslawski, MacMillan, Mahler, Martland, Mozart, Nyman, Poole, Rands, Stravinsky, Takemitsu, Vaughan Williams, Weir, and many more. Neal's work as a conductor builds on his life as a professional composer, animateur, and former violinist. His conducting teachers include Colin Metters (RAM), Benjamin Zander (Boston Philharmonic), Robert Gutter (UNC), Ovidiu Balan (Bacau Philharmonic) and Paul Sarcich (Morley College, London). Neal is Director of the University New Music Ensemble, and conductor of the University Symphony Orchestra.