Press Release 26/04/10

Robert Jarvis has once again been short-listed for the New Music Award, this time for a proposed groundbreaking sound-art work to be based in Northern Ireland.

Entitled aroundNorth, the piece will be a musical composition inspired by the movement of the stars around the Celestial North Pole and will take the form of a permanent sound installation based in the grounds of Armagh Observatory.  The composition will make use of astronomical parameters, such as star size, brightness and distance from Earth, to give voice to the stars and our changing perspective of them as the Earth revolves on its axis.

The sounds will be triggered as the stars cross equally spaced lines of longitude emanating from Celestial North.  As each star crosses one of the lines, they will trigger their own unique sound corresponding to their unique properties such as their brightness, distance from Earth and size.  The composition will also introduce its listeners to an orchestra of new and mysterious sounds, as the different stars are given their own voice as musical instruments in their own right.  By translating the stars' individual spectral harmonics into their instrumental equivalents, aroundNorth will be able to call upon a number of new sounding instruments and offer its audience a so far unheard of stellar orchestra.

More than just another new musical composition, aroundNorth will not only be inspired by its subject matter, but will also play in synchronisation with the rotation of the earth and the apparent movement of the stars, thus making a very real connection between its listeners and the wider universe.  As it plays, the work will also provide a first-time experience for many blind and partially sighted people to encounter the beauty and wonder inherent in the stars and their celestial patterns.

Robert Jarvis comments "In terms of my own development as a composer, the composing of aroundNorth will be major challenge, bringing together the disciplines of astronomy, computer programming, musical synthesis, and of course music composition.  I'm excited about the possibility that the piece could also bring new information to the fore: new sounds to its listeners as the stars are used as instruments in their own right; new ways of appreciating astronomical data for the scientific community; new paths for composition for interested musicians; as well as a ground-breaking development for the visually impaired as, for the first time it will be possible to actually listen to the changing perspective of the stars irrespective of one’s eyesight or local light pollution."


Although now living in England, Robert Jarvis grew up in Northern Ireland - in fact, in Co. Armagh.  He works as a sound artist creating compositions aiming to encourage people to rethink their environments and for them to question how they relate to their surroundings.  In recent years compositions have made use of found-sounds from specific areas or scientific data collected from natural processes, and have taken on many forms: as gallery pieces, as interactive games and permanent outside sound installations.  His overarching aim is to create works that pose new questions in order to deepen understandings and entice new appreciations of aspects of the world around us.  He has twice won the British Composer Awards in their New Media Category (in 2005 and 2006) and was previously shortlisted for the New Music Award in 2008 for his Echolocation sound installation.


The New Music Award recognises and celebrates leading innovators in the UK. It provides investment, support and profile for exceptional and pioneering music creators.  Allowing total creative freedom, the Award is open to absolutely anyone working in any genre and artistic context.

The biennial award offers a £50 000 prize to a musical idea that has not yet been realised, and is open to anyone based in the UK.  A panel of 6 judges will select the most exciting idea from a shortlist, which will be awarded the prize in September 2010.

The award encourages creators to push the boundaries of their artistic practice, extending the possibilities of music regardless of which genre they work in.  It also seeks to raise awareness of the UK’s most innovative music creators in the media and to help them secure the public profile they deserve alongside the UK’s better known creators working in visual arts and media.

With this award the PRS for Music Foundation wishes to ignite the imagination of the creative community and dramatically raise the level of debate around new British music.