London Symphony Orchestra - Six Degrees of Separation (2021)

Devastation sparks innovation with six new pieces performed by members of the London Symphony Orchestra for NMC's digital release, Six Degrees of Separation.

When the pandemic struck and all musical activity ground to a halt, many composers and musicians were left without any means of creative output. This was true for the six LSO Panufnik Scheme Composers who had hardly begun their year of activity before the March 2020 Lockdown.

As the Composition Director for the scheme, Colin Matthews created a separate project where each composer would write a short ensemble piece to be performed and recorded under lockdown conditions. With the help of members of the London Symphony Orchestra, conductor Darren Bloom, and some well-known video conferencing software, the six composers Christian Drew, Stef Conner, Patrick John Jones, Emma-Kate Matthews, Chris McCormack, and Alex Paxton have all written and recorded new pieces which each in their way explore the effects of lockdown.