John Young's 'Red Sky' Premieres 12 April 2015

John Young, composer and professor within the Department of Music, Technology & Innovation, will be premiering 'Red Sky' – a new work on a World War One theme – at 7pm on 12 April 2015. The event will take place at Leicester's New Walk Museum.

Red Sky is for alto flute, clarinets, piano and electroacoustic sounds. It was written for Carla Rees, Heather Roche and Xenia Pestova, musicians well known for their support for contemporary music generally and widely admired in the EA community.

The piece incorporates oral history recordings of 20 WWI veterans, men and women, most recorded in the '70s and '80s within a mixed EA/instrumental 'cinema for the ear', offering something of a journey through aspects of their wartime experience. Their stories are both disturbing and uplifting.

The performance marks the closing of the first of Leicester City Council's series of World War One exhibitions and is supported by the Arts Council England, Leicester City Council, The Imperial War Museum and De Montfort University.

De Montfort University have posted a news piece containing a brief interview with John, which can be found by visiting:  http://www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/news/2015/march/world-premiere-of-dmu-composers-tribute-to-war-dead-will-be-cinema-for-the-ears.aspx