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BBC Young Composer and UCL presented a new audio-visual installation for 11-18 year olds focusing on science and creativity.
Running from Monday 11th – Saturday 30th November 2024, the Composing for the Climate installation showcased six brand new pieces of music written by BBC Young Composer competition winners, which took inspiration from biodiversity research project - Biome Health Project – as part of UCL's People and Nature Lab.
The installation encouraged young people to reflect on the intersection between climate issues and creativity by experiencing live recordings of the pieces by the BBC Concert Orchestra, presented on a revolutionary IKO 3D audio speaker with the recordings rendered specifically to respond to the audio qualities in the space. The audio experience was accompanied by a short film of the young composers exploring their music and creative process.
The installation coincided with COP29, and was part of the Gaia Public Programme which took inspiration from Luke Jerram’s Gaia, a permanent artwork in the atrium of UCL East Marshgate, which reminds us of our place on this planet and our collective need to protect it.
What is the Biome Health Project?
The Biome Health Project is a collaboration between UCL’s People & Nature Lab, WWF, and local partners to study biodiversity in four unique ecosystems across the world: grasslands, dry forests, coral reefs, and rainforests. Each ecosystem has its own set of plants and animals that makes it unique, and each is also facing a different threat to its survival.
Peggy Bevan, PhD student from People and Nature Lab curated a selection of interesting animal noises and soundscapes from the four ecosystems for the young composers who visited UCL East to discuss and learn about the different pressures facing biodiversity globally.
What is the IKO speaker?
The IKO is a loudspeaker with a 20-sided geometric shape (an icosahedral). Each side houses a loudspeaker driver (drivers are the circular-shaped parts of loudspeakers which vibrate, making the sound). Each driver ‘beams’ the IKO’s sound around a space in focused and directional way, which creates a conversation between the sound, the space and anything in the room.
It is an innovative, portable 360-degree sonic experience which needs to be heard to be believed!
Find out more about BBC Young Composer
BBC Young Composer aims to discover, nurture and showcase the next generation of composers, offering 12- to 18-year-olds the chance to develop their skills, work with professionals and get their music heard.
The young composers whose work you hear today were winners of the 2023 competition. Over the past nine months they have worked alongside the BBC Concert Orchestra to write and develop their pieces, mentored throughout the process by two esteemed British composers: Gavin Higgins and Helen Grime.
The composers’ initial brief was to write a work inspired by Luke Jerram’s artwork Gaia, as well as by soundscapes that evoke the work of academics at UCL East’s People and Nature Lab and the Biome Health Project. The pieces featured in this installation were premiered by the BBC Concert Orchestra as part of the BBC Proms 2024 weekend in Nottingham and broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.
