Volans Kevin Volans

Kevin Volans (born 6 July 1949) is a composer associated with the post-minimalist movement in contemporary composition, and a key figure in the Cologne School (Fox 2007, 27–28).

Biography

Kevin Volans was born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, on 6 July 1949, and even though he has spent most of his life outside his native country, is the best known South African composer active today.

In 1972, he graduated from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg with a Bachelor of Music degree, followed by post-graduate education at the University of Aberdeen. From 1973 to 1981 he lived in Cologne, where he studied with Karlheinz Stockhausen at the Musikhochschule. During this period he served as Stockhausen's teaching assistant in 1975–76 (Taylor 2001).

During this period of time, along with his contemporaries Walter Zimmermann, Gerald Barry, and Clarence Barlow, he became associated with the Cologne School, one of several musical movements sometimes also called the "New Simplicity" (Fox 2007, 27–28).

After conducting several field recording trips in 1979, Volans began writing pieces based upon African compositional techniques. This characteristic made him one of the most distinctive composers on the European new music circuit at the time. Some of his works such as Matepe and the first version of White Man Sleeps utilize early music instruments including harpsichord (tuned in African tuning) and viola da gamba.

The first of his compositions to reach a wide audience was a new version of White Man Sleeps, made at the suggestion of the Kronos Quartet in 1985. This version reorders the movements of the original version, and uses conventional western tuning. The Kronos Quartet's album of that name (which however features only two of Volans's five movements, though all five may be found on Pieces of Africa) became a best-seller, and White Man Sleeps has been taken up by many choreographers, notably Siobhan Davies and James Kudelka. Volans followed it up with Hunting: Gathering, his second quartet, written for Kronos in 1987.

Volans was Composer-in Residence at Queen's University Belfast from 1986-89. Thereafter he has made his home in the Republic of Ireland and in 1994 became an Irish citizen. His notable students include Justinian Tamusuza.

The works of the late 1980s and early 1990s show a move away from the direct influence of African music towards a highly personal sort of minimalism. Part of this may have been the influence of the American composer Morton Feldman, who was a close friend; but the language of the compositions this era, including the orchestral work One Hundred Frames (1990), the striking two-piano work Cicada (1994), or the Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments (1995) are identifiably his own. Central among them is an opera, The Man with Footsoles of Wind, premiered in London in 1993, and based on an idea by his friend, the English novelist Bruce Chatwin, with a libretto by Roger Clarke. The work of visual artists such as Philip Guston, Jasper Johns and James Turrell figure among Volans's influences in these years.

A close working relationship with the London-based Duke Quartet led Volans to write more for the string quartet medium, including the fifth quartet, Dancers on a Plane (1994) and the sixth quartet (2000). For much of the late 1990s he concentrated on dance collaborations with such choreographers as Jonathan Burrows and Siobhan Davies. Since 2000, however, he has devoted most of his energy to orchestral works; since his Cello Concerto of 1997 he has written a Concerto for Double Orchestra, a Trio Concerto which received its UK premiere as part of the Soundwaves Festival 2007, a second Piano Concerto, subtitled "Atlantic Crossing", which was premiered by Marc-André Hamelin in November 2006, and a third Piano Concerto, premiered by Barry Douglas at the 2011 Proms in London.

Compositions

Stage Works

• White Man Sleeps (WMS2), with Siobhan [Sue] Davies, for String Quartet (1988)
• The Man with Footsoles of Wind (Opera) (1988-93)
• Wild Air [Desert Steps], Dance piece with Siobhan Davies, for 2 Guitars, 2 Violoncellos

Orchestral Works

• One Hundred Frames for Orchestra (1991)
• Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments (1995)
• Concerto for Double Orchestra (2002)
• Strip-Weave for Orchestra (2002-03)
• Symphony Daar Kom die Alibama for Chamber Orchestra (2010)
• Chakra for 3 Percussionists and Orchestra
• Concerto for Uilleann Pipes and large Orchestra

Chamber Music

• Mbira for 2 re-tuned Harpsichord and Rattles (1980)
• Matepe for 2 re-tuned Harpsichord and Rattles (1980)
• White Man Sleeps (1st version) for 2 Harpsichords, Viola da gamba and Percussion (1982)
• She Who Sleeps with a Small Blanket for Percussion solo (1985)
• String Quartet No. 1 White Man Sleeps for String Quartet (1986)
• Into Darkness (1987, rev 1989)
• String Quartet No. 2 Hunting : Gathering (1987)
• String Quartet No. 5 Dancers on a Plane for String Quartet and Tape (1995)
• String Quartet No. 8 Black Woman Rising (2004)