The Latest Release: Change Ringing
As a conductor, curator and arranger, Robert Ames has been a key exchange agent between the classical tradition and contemporary music. Founding the London Contemporary Orchestra fresh out of the Royal Academy of Music, Robert went on to work like: conducting Jonny Greenwood’s Oscar Nominated score for the film Phantom Thread, strings for Frank Ocean’s Blonde, arranging and conducting shows for Little Simz and Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi, as well as a longstanding relationship with composer Actress, producing and writing on multiple tracks on his 2020 album Karma & Desire.
With the LCO he has worked closely with the minimalist geniuses of the 20th century like Steve Reich, Terry Riley and Philip Glass as the orchestra proselytized their worth to a new generation.
Robert has worked with many of the world’s leading orchestras including the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, L’Orchestre National De Lyon, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Scottish National Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Moscow New Music Ensemble and Aarhus Symphony Orchestra.
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Foto Credit: Ozge Cone
About the Artist
“The majority of the album was written and recorded between April – May 2019 in my small studio in the Peak District” explains Robert (the Peak District is a famed upland area in the North of England known for its wide panoramas of valleys and gorges, cut through a limestone plateau). “I naturally found myself drawing on sounds from my childhood. The echoes of choirs and organs in large spaces, distant church bells, large symphonic gestures crackling through an old car stereo, competing with the low hum and rumble of wheels on the road and the cacophony of orchestras slowly tuning up. I resisted the temptation of using discernible tempos and time signatures to give a feeling of timelessness. I like the idea that each track sounds like it’s going on a journey that is infinite and what is recorded is just a snapshot of something much longer. I started by layering up multiple recordings of myself on the violin and viola as well as recording vocals. I would often slow down these recordings, so they were unrecognisable, notate the recordings as sheet music and re-record the sheet music. I would go through this process several times until I had something that I enjoyed listening to.” – Robert Ames