SHORT
Vear works with found sounds, making compositions using computers that allow the individual sounds to be free. His open works are inspired by John Cage, Gavin Bryars and Christophe Charles and use chance elements within performance to determine the final outcome of the composition.
These compositions generally concentrate on a time and location, journeying along channels of memory and imagination expressing the continuity and fluidity of thought. Here the confluence of the vivid see-hearing 'dimension' evoked by sound, the intrinsic creative listening act and the theatre of seeing through other peoples eyes creates an aural landscape; a sense of place that the mind projects back onto sound it hears. The result is each individual see-hears something that only exists in their mind.
In 1997 he co-founded the pop group Cousteau, which made 300,000 sales worldwide and gained a gold disc; as part of the duo ev2 he have been working with improvisation since 1992. During 2003-4 he held the Arts Council England Fellowship with the British Antarctic Survey, which resulted in a large-scale composition created from field recordings. In 2006 Play: Antarctica was commissioned about these experiences.
Singing Ringing Buoy, an installation at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall, was shortlisted for the 2005 PRS New Music Award. During 2007-8 he held a Leverhulme Fellowship as artist in residence with the University of Hull, and is currently on a three year research project funded by the University of Salford, exploring the interrelationship between composition, digital technology and intermedia/ interdisciplinary performance.
PUBLICITY PHOTO (Credit: Steve Pike)
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LONG
Craig Vear (born 1970) is a composer and musician working predominantly in contemporary, improvised and electroacoustic music for the concert hall, installation and theatre. In recent years his practice has moved increasingly into the realm of computer-based composition but continues to draw on his experience as a professional musician.
Vear works with found sounds, making compositions using computers that allow the individual sounds to be free. His open works are inspired by John Cage, Gavin Bryars and Christophe Charles and use chance elements within performance to determine the final outcome of the composition.
These compositions generally concentrate on a time and location, journeying along channels of memory and imagination expressing the continuity and fluidity of thought. Here the confluence of the vivid see-hearing 'dimension' evoked by sound, the intrinsic creative listening act and the theatre of seeing through other peoples eyes creates an aural landscape; a sense of place that the mind projects back onto sound it hears. The result is each individual see-hears something that only exists in their mind.
During 2003-4 he held the Arts Council England Fellowship with the British Antarctic Survey, spending three months in Antarctica creating a library of field recordings which became the source for a large-scale, surround sound composition. This was premiered at the Natural History Museum and was published as a DVD/Book (winner of the DVDA awards in music excellence 2005).
Throughout the 2007-8 academic year he worked alongside the Centre for Environmental and Marine Sciences (CEMS) at the University of Hull (Scarborough), as artist in residence funded by a Leverhulme research Fellowship. The purpose of this research fellowship is two-fold: to explore new technology and field recordings as the sound source for composition; and to interpret the research areas/communities of the CEMS through music and acoustic ecology.
In 1997 he co-founded the pop group Cousteau, which made 300,000 sales worldwide and gained a gold disc. He has also recorded and toured with Tom Jones, Aztec Camera, The Wolfgang Press, Renegade Soundwave.
As part of the duo ev2 he have been working with improvisation since 1992. Created with Dr Jonathan Eato (York University) they explore the musical spaces between jazz, free improvisation, contemporary composition, electro-acoustic composition and mulit-media performance environments. In 2005 they received a commission from the Falkland Islands to produce a 20 minute piece for ev2, computer technologies, a mixed ensemble of student musicians.
He has composed music for dozens of theatre productions including York Theatre Royal, Unicorn Theatre London, David Glass Company, Kendal Brewery, Leicester Haymarket and Theatre Rites. In 2006 Unicorn Theatre commissioned Play: Antarctica, a 70 minute play developing his 'Sound Theatre' work. He has worked on 4 productions with the Cholmondeleys dance company, and with the visual artist Sophia Clist he is co-creator/ composer of ‘Stretch’ a site-specific project bringing together sculpture, dance, music and physical theatre, creating a dynamic artwork that explores questions of real-time interaction and the nature of interdisciplinary performance through improvisation.
He has created sound installation and sound art for the Royal Festival Hall, British Library, Bloomsbury Festival. 'Singing Ringing Buoy', an installation currently at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall, was shortlisted for the £50,000 PRS New Music Award 2005.
He has designed and delivered modules in electroacoustic composition, composition for theatre, sound design for film, recording techniques, real-time interactive environments for music at Exeter University, Nottingham Trent University, London South Bank University and Teesside University. His current research - funded by the University of Salford - explores the interrelationship between composition, digital technology and intermedia/ interdisciplinary performance.