The London Contemporary Orchestra (LCO), founded in 2008 by Hugh Brunt and Robert Ames, is an ensemble of young musicians whose stated aim is "to explore and promote new music to an increasingly wide audience". LCO staged its inaugural season at LSO St. Luke's and has since performed at venues and festivals both in the UK and internationally, including the Roundhouse,

Latitude Festival Latitude Festival is an annual music and arts festival set within the grounds of Henham Park, near Southwold, Suffolk, England. The first edition of the festival took place in 2006 and has continued annually (apart from 2020 when it was cancel ...

, The Old Vic Tunnels, Snape Maltings, Southbank Centre, Barbican, Spitalfield's Music,

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

, Yota Space, and Unsound Festival. LCO has since provided its work on films including '' Theeb'', '' Moonlight'', ''

Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...

'', '' Slow West,'' '' The Master'', '' The Two Popes'' and '' American Animals''. In 2010, the LCO was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards (Audience Development category), and in 2015, LCO was the winner of the Ensemble Category at the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards.RPS Music Awards Royal Philharmonic Society
/ref> In January 2022, LCO performed a continuous 24-hour long concert at the Barbican Centre.

Overview

LCO's inaugural 2008 season featured music by Mark-Anthony Turnage, Kaija Saariaho,

Thomas Adès Thomas Joseph Edmund Adès (born 1 March 1971) is a British composer, pianist and conductor. Five compositions by Adès received votes in the 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000: ''The Tempest (opera), The T ...

, Iannis Xenakis, Simon Holt, Roberto Carnevale, Olivier Messiaen,

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...

's Jonny Greenwood, and new works by young composers Emily Hall, Colin Alexander and Jonathan Cole. In May 2009 the LCO collaborated with experimental electronic duo

Matmos Matmos is an experimental electronic music duo formed in San Francisco and based in Baltimore. M. C. (Martin) Schmidt and Drew Daniel are the core members, but they frequently include other artists on their records and in their performances no ...

and composer Anna Meredith for a series of performances at

Shoreditch Shoreditch is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Hackney alongside neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets, which are also perceived as part of the area due to historic ecclesiastical links. Shoreditch lies just north ...

warehouse Village Underground. In January 2010 LCO appeared at the Roundhouse as part of contemporary music festival 'Reverb', performing works by

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer best known as a pioneer of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, and canons. Reich descr ...

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...

Biosphere The biosphere (), also called the ecosphere (), is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also be termed the zone of life on the Earth. The biosphere (which is technically a spherical shell) is virtually a closed system with regard to mat ...

and the world premiere of Shiva Feshareki's turntable concerto "TTKonzert". LCO made its debut at the Spitalfields Music Summer Festival in June 2010 and at Aldeburgh Music's 'Faster Than Sound' in May 2010. In October 2010, the Roundhouse staged three screenings of

Metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural area for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big city b ...

(restored version), with Gottfried Huppertz's original score performed live by the LCO. Later that year, the LCO gave a performance of

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...

's " The Yellow Shark" as part of the Roundhouse's 'Frank Zappa – 70th Birthday Celebration'.Past – London Contemporary Orchestra
/ref> In 2011 LCO returned to the Roundhouse to collaborate with Ron Arad on 'Curtain Call'. LCO staged its first 'LCO Soloists' project at The Old Vic Tunnels in May 2011. In March 2012, the LCO performed works by Xenakis, Gabriel Prokofiev, Jonny Greenwood and Vivier to a capacity audience of 1,200 as part of 'Reverb 2012' at the Roundhouse. LCO made its Southbank Centre debut in 2012 closing Meltdown Festival (curated by Antony Hegarty) with a performance of William Basinski's " The Disintegration Loops". In 2013 LCO performed in the abandoned Aldwych underground station, 350 ft underground, Claude Vivier's Glaubst du an die Unsterblichkeit der Seele ('Do You Believe in the Immortality of the Soul?'). LCO was the winner of the Ensemble category in 2015 at the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards. In 2018 London Contemporary Orchestra featured in Thom Yorke's first feature film score, '' Suspiria''. ''Suspiria'' was nominated for Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards. In 2019 LCO collaborated with composer Jed Kurzel on a number of film projects including '' The Mustang'', '' Seberg'' and in 2020 on '' True History of The Kelly Gang''. In January 2022 performed 24, a continuous 24-hour long concert at the Barbican Centre. This included performances from electronic musicians KMRU,

Actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

, and Powell, plus works by

, Éliane Radigue, Mica Levi, Alvin Lucier, Michael Gordon and James Tenney. Morton Feldman’s String Quartet No 2 was also performed. Visuals were designed by projection mapping artist László Zsolt Bordos.

Organisation

The artistic director role is shared between Robert Ames and Hugh Brunt. They also share the role of principal conductor.

Collaborations

The LCO performed with headliners Belle & Sebastian at

in July 2010 and rejoined the band for their UK tour in December 2010. The concerts reprised many of the arrangements first performed by Belle & Sebastian and the

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic (LA Phil) is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. The orchestra holds a regular concert season from October until June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from ...

at the Hollywood Bowl in 2006. In June 2010, members from the LCO joined

Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual Music award, music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the Music of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom or Music of Ireland, Ireland. It was cre ...

-nominated band Foals at

Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...

for a BBC Radio 6 Music live session. LCO appear on the band's single " Spanish Sahara" (radio edit). LCO has worked with artists, composers and brands including Secret Cinema,

, Vivienne Westwood,

Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury, and Jeremy Gara. The band's touring line-up includes former core ...

, Goldfrapp, Nike, William Basinski,

, Mira Calix, Mara Carlyle, Mike Figgis, Simon Fisher Turner, Foals, Jonny Greenwood, Laurel Halo, Loraine James,

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician and producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the Rock music, rock band Led Zeppelin. Page began his career as a studio session musician in Lo ...

, Jed Kurzel,

Frank Ocean Frank Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987) is an American singer and songwriter. He has been credited by several music journalism, music critics as a pioneer of the alternative R&B genre. Ocean has won two Grammy Awards and a B ...

, Coby Sey,

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...

and United Visual Artists. LCO strings and choir feature prominently on

's 2016 Mercury-nominated album '' A Moon Shaped Pool''. On November 19, 2019, LCO's collaboration with Bastille for the 2019 John Lewis Christmas advert was released.

LCO X Spitfire Audio

In 2017 LCO collaborated with Spitfire Audio to create London Contemporary Orchestra Strings, a string sample library made up of 42,094 samples. The sample set was recorded in a tight room with sections of six

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

s, four

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

s, three

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

s and two

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

es. In 2019 for a second time LCO collaborated with Spitfire Audio to create London Contemporary Orchestra Textures. The

sample library In sound and music, sampling is the reuse of a portion (or sample) of a sound recording in another recording. Samples may comprise elements such as rhythm, melody, speech, or sound effects. A sample might comprise only a fragment of sound, or a l ...

recorded in an aircraft hangar features four grouped instrument ensembles, each comprising 12 individual textures.

Awards

In 2010 the LCO was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards (Audience Development category), and in 2015 LCO was the winner of the Ensemble category at the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards.

Filmography

Discography

Foals: " Spanish Sahara" with London Contemporary Orchestra
Release Date: 12 September 2010
Label: Warner Music UK Limited Jonny Greenwood: ''The Master'' (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)The Master (Soundtrack) Nonesuch Records
/ref>
Release Date: 10 September 2012
Label: Nonesuch Records Inc. Foals: ''Holy Fire'' feat. London Contemporary Orchestra
Release Date: 11 February 2013
Label: Transgressive Jed Kurzel: '' Slow West'' (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Release Date: 12 May 2015
Label: Sony Classical Records Jerry Lane: ''Theeb'' (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) with London Contemporary Orchestra
Release Date: 7 August 2015
Label: Al Dakheel, Inc. Jed Kurzel: ''Macbeth'' (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Release Date: 1 October 2015
Label:

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

: '' A Moon Shaped Pool''
Release Date: 8 May 2016
Label: XL Recordings
Most tracks on this album feature the orchestra and choir performing arrangements by Jonny Greenwood

: ''Endless'' feat. London Contemporary Orchestra
Release Date: 19 August 2016
Label: Def Jam Recordings

: ''Blonde'' feat. London Contemporary Orchestra
Release Date: 20 August 2016
Label: Boys Don't Cry

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

: ''Woman'' feat. London Contemporary Orchestra
Release Date: 18 November 2016
Label: Ed Banger Records Alien: Covenant (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Jed Kurzel
Release Date: 19 May 2017
Label: Milan Records Actress X LCO: Audio Track 5
Release Date: 1 September 2017
Label: Ninja Tune '' Phantom Thread'' (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Jonny Greenwood
Release Date: 12 January 2018
Label: Nonesuch Actress X LCO: Lageos
Release Date: 25 May 2018
Label: Ninja Tune American Animals (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Anne Nikitin
Release Date: 22 June 2018
Label: The Orchard ''Captive State'' (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Rob Simonsen
Release Date: 15 March 2019
Label: Masterworks Thom Yorke: '' Anima''
Release Date: 19 July 2019
Label: XL Recordings Thom Yorke: '' Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film)''
Release Date: 26 October 2019
Label: XL Recordings Dying Light 2: Stay Human
Release Date: 4 February 2022
Composer: Olivier Deriviere The Smile: '' A Light for Attracting Attention'' feat. strings by the London Contemporary Orchestra
Release Date: 13 May 2022
Label: XL Recordings The Smile: '' Wall of Eyes''
Release Date: 26 січня 2024
Label: XL Recordings

New works

* Emily Hall: "Put Flesh On!" (2008) * Colin Alexander: "Potential Fracture Lines" (2008) * Jonathan Cole: "Assassin Hair", revised version (2008) * Howard Quin: "Combination Curves" (2009) * Jonathan Cole: "burburbabbar za" (2009) * Shiva Feshareki: "TTKonzert" (2010) * Tristan Brookes: "Ur" (2010) * Emily Hall and Toby Litt: "Songs" (2010) * Mira Calix and Larry Goves: "pedotin"; "ipo" (2010) * Simon Fisher Turner: "Attitude" (2010) * Jonathan Cole / Colin Alexander: "Forum" (2011) * Martin Suckling: "de sol y grana" (2011) * Gabriel Prokofiev: "Concerto for Bass Drum and Orchestra" (2012) * William Basinski (arr. Maxim Moston) "Disintegration Loop 2.1" (2012) *

: Audio Track 5 (2017)

References

External links

*
Metropolis led by Hugh Brunt at the NIFFF at Neuchatel in Switzerland by Gaël Dupret

Hugh Brunt at the NIFFF at Neuchatel in Switzerland by Gaël Dupret
{{authority control Contemporary Orchestra Musical groups established in 2008 Contemporary classical music ensembles Contemporary Orchestra 2008 establishments in England