Composer Chats - Clare Loveday

Hi Clare! Thanks so much for taking the time to chat to us ahead of us performing your piece, Untitled, at the Concerts for Craswall music society on 15th October 2022. Firstly, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Hello! Thanks for having me on your programme. I'm very flattered.

I'm based in Johannesburg, South Africa, where I've lived all my life. I love my city, I also love escaping it. I love composing, and I especially love working with musicians.

We are so excited to be performing your piece! You’ve written a lot for saxophones across your career, including the focus for your doctorate being writing for saxophone, what drew you to writing for the saxophone in the first place? 

Many years ago I was commissioned to write for a choreographer and, being young and unconnected, wrote for saxophone because I knew a saxophonist. I was completely blown away (pun unintended) by this magnificent, versatile, breathtakingly beautiful instrument. It was love at first sound, and the love affair has never faded. 

Your work is entitled Untitled which doesn’t give away many clues about the piece, could you tell us about the inspiration behind the work please?

When I was working on my doctorate, I also had a full-time job at Wits University so would get up at 4am to compose. That beautiful quiet time before the city wakes was the inspiration behind the piece. After the premiere, a friend said she heard the voices of her ancestors in the piece, so I decided to leave the title open so listeners can hear their own worlds in the performance. 

In this work the audience will experience the saxophone quartet playing in a way they have probably never heard before. I don’t want to give too much away but why did you choose to write in this way?

It was a phase of my composition life where I was trying to break away from the tried and tested to find new sound worlds, to push myself into new ways of thinking about music. I banned notes for most of the piece to force myself to think in new ways. 

Who or what would you say has been the biggest influence on you as a composer?

Two things: the chaotic, dangerous, invigorating, contradictory city I live in; and Kevin Volans. 

Your website says you are “Striving to convey through music the complications of life in a post-colonial society”, how much do you feel a composer's situation impacts their work?

Enormously, whether or not the composer acknowledges it. Some composers deny their situation, as though composition is beyond the mess of everyday life. Nonsense - the denial is an impact too. Every note we write is an accumulation of a lifetime of music, learning, experience and living. 

We’re really thrilled to announce that you’re currently writing a piece for the Laefer Quartet, could you give us an insight on this work please?

That would be giving too much away and I'm still figuring out what this work is about. But I can tell you that it is a very wonderful thing to be writing for an established quartet, to be able to listen to some of your performances and get a sense of your sound and the players. 

Obviously the last few years have had a massive impact on the Arts industry however here at the Laefer Quartet we are trying to keep a positive outlook; is there anything positive (experiences, new activities etc.) from the last few years you’d like to share with us?

Collaboration is king. Thanks to the wonderful artists I got to work with, those long years expanded my horizons rather than shrank them. 

If you could only take one piece of music to a desert island what would you take?

Kevin Volans Piano Concerto no 4.

Some quick fire questions now

- Cats or Dogs? Dogs

- Popcorn; sweet or salty? Salty

- Beer or wine? Wine

- Rugby or football (or neither!)? Rugby (what is this football? here we call it soccer)

- Tea or coffee? Both

- Big night out or quiet night in? Depends. If Naomi Sullivan is around, big night out. Otherwise quiet night in. 

- Will and Kate or Harry and Meghan? Who?

- Are these questions too British?!? Please refer to the previous question.

Finally, have you got any upcoming projects you would like to tell us about/what’s next for you

In the very long term, I'm curating a Women's Opera Making Project, aiming to create a women's opera by women, about women, that tells South African women's stories. It's being done through the Royal Opera House's Engender programme and the Centre for the Less Good Idea in South Africa. Lots and lots of collaborating. It is all terrifying and fabulous.

In the shorter term, there's my quartet with you, which still has lots of work to be done. Goodee. More saxophones. 

The Laefer Quartet will be performing Clare Loveday’s Untitled at Concerts for Craswall on October 15th at 5pm.

Tickets and more information can be found at: https://www.concertsforcraswall.org/

For more information on Clare Loveday please visit: https://www.clareloveday.co.za/