Faculty of Music alumnus Antony Pitts (New College, 1988) has just released a new disc via Hyperion Records, Known Unknown.
A composer, conductor and producer, Antony Pitts has during lockdown returned to past performances of the two ensembles with which he is associated, Tonus Peregrinus and The Song Company. Both ensembles perform ‘old’ and newly commissioned music, and he saw it as a ‘chance to reassess the nature of music and the value of human music-making’. The disc is an eclectic combination of Steve Reich Clapping music (1972), Bernie Van Tiel Een ongehoorde wereld (2016), John Cage 4'33" (1948–52) and Roland Orzabal Mad world (1980-82), and includes a complete recording of Pitts’s own chamber opera Anna’s Rapid Eye Movement (1990-2017).
Antony, who founded Tonus Peregrinus, now lives in Sydney where he conducts Australia’s premier vocal ensemble, The Song Company. He has been the recipient of the Radio Academy BT Award, the Prix Italia, and a Cannes Classical Award. His commissions have included Cheltenham Festival, King’s College London, Rundfunkchor Berlin, The Swingles, and Westminster Cathedral, with premières of his music in the Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw, Philharmonie Kammermusiksaal, and the Sydney Opera House. His work has appeared on releases from Challenge Records, Delphian, Hyperion, Harmonia Mundi, Naxos, Novum, Signum, and Unknown Public.
Listen to the new album on the Hyperion Records website.