Manchester International Festival has announced a very special addition to the 2013 programme, a concert in celebration of the life and music of composer Steve Martland on Sunday 14 July at 9pm, in the Festival's Pavilion Theatre.
 
The tragic death of Steve Martland earlier this year at the age of just 53 robbed the classical music world of one of its most dynamic, provocative and vital composers. Signed by Tony Wilson to Factory Records in the 1980s, Steve spent 30 years at the cutting edge of contemporary British music, writing for everything from large orchestras to string quartets to The Steve Martland Band, his own 11-piece ensemble of virtuoso musicians.
 
MIF had commissioned Steve to write a new work for the 2015 Festival, a work that he had just begun to compose when he died in May. The Festival is honoured to present The Steve Martland Band for a one-off celebration of Steve's life and music. The programme will feature key pieces from Steve's catalogue, including Principia, Kick and Horses of Instruction.
 
THE STEVE MARTLAND BAND
PAVILION THEATRE, FESTIVAL SQUARE,
(ALBERT SQUARE), MANCHESTER M2 5PE
SUNDAY 14 JULY 2013, 9.00pm (DOORS 8.30pm)
FREE – BOOKING ESSENTIAL
 
Tickets are free but must be booked in advance from 10am on Wednesday 4 June via www.mif.co.uk or the box office +44 (0)844 375 2013 (booking fee applies)
 
Programme 
Principia
Kick
Beat the Retreat
Mr Anderson's Pavane
Terminal
Horses of Instruction 
 
The Steve Martland Band
Dave Maric          Piano
Tim Maple            Guitar
Malcolm Moore    Bass
Simon Pearson    Drums
 
Chris Tombling     Violin
Adam Clifford       Marimba
Pete Whyman      Alto/Soprano saxophone
Tim Holmes          Tenor/Soprano saxophone
Chris Caldwell      Baritone saxophone
Mike Kearsey       Trombone
Lee Butler            Trumpet/Flugelhorn 
Pete Orwin           Sound

STEVE MARTLAND PROFILE
"Musicians today are no longer obliged to rely on the received traditions of music college when presenting new work. Rather, they now work in a deregulated aesthetic environment where, say, the deployment of digital samples and the influence of jazz/trip-hop/Balinese gamelan/your non-classical music of choice must be addressed with as much rigour as traditional instrumental virtuosity or the conventions of the sonata form. The Steve Martland Band… was grappling with these issues before most people realised they existed."  (BBC Music Magazine)
 
Steve Martland was born on 10 October 1959 in Liverpool and studied composition in Holland with Louis Andriessen. His preoccupation with the function of the composer in society was reflected in his commitment to music education. He directed many composition projects in schools both at home and abroad and he ran Strike Out, his own annual composition course for school children.
 
Martland rejected academic dogma in favour of a plurality of musical influences, both ancient and modern, ‘serious’ and vernacular. He worked frequently with artists outside classical institutions - Dutch and American groups, freelance musicians and especially his own Steve Martland Band touring his music internationally. In 1998 he collaborated with the band Spiritualized on a project for the Flux Festival in Edinburgh. His music has been adapted frequently for film and TV use, and scores for TV include the multi-media Albion, commissioned by the BBC and Granada TV’s Children’s drama Wilderness Edge. He also wrote and directed 'A Temporary Arrangement with the Sea', a film about Louis Andriessen commissioned by the BBC in co-production with NOS, Holland.
 
Martland’s large orchestral work Babi Yar (1983) was premiered almost simultaneously in the USA by the St. Louis Sympony under Leonard Slatkin and in the UK by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Nicolas Cleobury under the auspices of spnm (Society for the Promotion of New Music), Babi Yar was subsequently recorded for the ledgendary Factory label. Marland re-edited the score and the first performance of the revised version was given in Glasgow by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Jurjen Hempel as part of a complete Martland evening, supported by the BBC /RPS Encore project.
 
Often amplified, muscular and powerfully rhythmic, Martland's music has been extensively choreographed: Drill for the Sydney Opera House, Crossing the Borderfor the National Ballet, Amsterdam. Danceworks, commissioned and premièred by London Contemporary Dance Theatre, has received many new productions around the world, notably by Les Grands Ballets Canadiens and Ballet Tech in New York. Remix was awarded the SACD Prize for Video Dance Choreography Music after choreographed for BBCTV by Aletta Collins. In 2005, Martland was commissioned by the Henri Oguike Dance Company resulting in Tiger Dancingwhich remains in the company's repertory.
 
His widely performed choral music includes Street Songs, originally written for the King’s Singers and Evelyn Glennie and later presented by the Monteverdi Choir and Colin Currie under John Eliot Gardiner with a film by the Quay brothers; and Tyger Tyger for Youth Music’s nationwide Sing Up campaign.
 
Martland was composer in residence at the ETNA Music Festival in Sicily in 2006 and 2007.  Recent commissions include the test piece for the TROMP International Music Festival and Competition, Starry Night for percussion and string quartet, and Sea Songs for the BBC Singers.   
 
Martland died unexpectedly on 6 May, 2013.
 
Manchester International Festival is the world’s first festival of original, new work and special events and takes place biennially, in Manchester, UK. The Festival  launched in 2007 as an artist-led, commissioning festival presenting new works from across the spectrum of performing arts, visual arts and popular culture.
 
MIF leads the way for UK festivals in fundraising from private sponsors, having passed the £2 million mark for MIF13; this in addition to substantial public funding received from Manchester City Council, Salford City Council and Arts Council England. Many sponsors are returning from previous festivals, including The Co-operative Group, PZ Cussons, Manchester Airports, NCP Manchester Ltd, DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester - Piccadilly and Bruntwood. The BBC, The Guardian and Manchester Evening News are MIF’s media partners.
 
Manchester International Festival 2013 will run from Thursday 4 July – Sunday 21 July 2013.