Founded by composer Ed Hughes in 1990, early projects included commissions by Michael Finnissy and Howard Skempton, and, in 1992, the first UK performance of John Cage's Europera 5. The ensemble has played many times at major London venues such as St John’s Smith Square, ICA, South Bank, Place and Warehouse. It has presented concerts in the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the Brighton Festival, Dartington International Summer School, Rainbow Over Bath, Oxford Contemporary Music Festival, BMIC Cutting Edge and many other prestigious concert series. In addition to major UK festivals and venues, the group has toured to universities including Kings College London, Royal Holloway, Southampton, Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, Belfast and Cardiff.
In October 2000 the New Music Players was appointed Ensemble in Residence at the University of York, a major three year residency. In 2000/2001 the group was also a visiting artist at Anglia Polytechnic University in Cambridge. In May 2001 the ensemble appeared in the BBC Music Live festival, in a concert from York broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s Hear and Now. In the same month the ensemble presented a rare live performance of Eisler’s Fourteen Ways of Describing Rain to accompany the film (Rain) for which it was written. This was presented alongside a new score, by Ed Hughes, for the same film at the Bath International Music Festival in June 2001.The ensemble completed a world première recording of five recent New Music Players commissions on the London Independent Records label in 2003, funded by the Foundation for Sport and the Arts. The release was very favourably reviewed in ‘Gramophone’ magazine. A concert to mark the launch of the CD took place in the Purcell Room on Friday 6 June 2003. In October 2003 New Music Players was appointed Ensemble in Residence at the University of Bristol and in November gave a concert in the BMIC’s prestigious ‘Cutting Edge’ series at the Warehouse.
The 2004 season included BMIC Cutting Edge tour concerts if music with film in Cheltenham, Leeds and Brighton including a UK premiere by Sam Hayden; two concerts with lecture recitals at the University of Nottingham; recordings for the BMIC of works by Contemporary Voices composers Philip Cashian, Martyn Harry, Michael Zev Gordon and Ed Hughes; and recordings of works by Michael Finnissy for Metier Records for release in 2006.
2005 started with a horn trios concert at the University of Bristol and included concerts at Bromsgrove as part of the 'Mixing It' series, at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music in Glasgow, and at Kettles Yard, Cambridge. On Saturday 14 May New Music Players gave the world premiere of a new score by Ed Hughes for Eisenstein's classic 1925 film Battleship Potemkin at Hove Engineerium as part of the Brighton Festival. Potemkin then toured to the Cheltenham International Festival of Music in July 2005, and to Bath Film Festival, Southampton Turner Sims Concert Hall and Jack Lyons Concert Hall in York in October / November 2005. NMP gave the world premiere of a new arrangement of Ed Hughes’s score for Ozu’s Japanese 1932 silent film 'I was born but...' at the Pacific Film Festival at the University of Nottingham on Saturday 22 October 2005.
On 2 November 2006 NMP premiered four specially commissioned works as part of the British Music Information Centre’s Cutting Edge series at the Warehouse, Theed Street, London SE1. Works by Ed Hughes, Arlene Sierra, Luke Stoneham and Alison Kay. This concert was repeated at the University of Cardiff on Tuesday 21 November with a student workshop and solo works for piano and flute by Carter and Ligeti.
In August 2007 Tartan Video released a DVD of Ed Hughes’s new scores for Eisenstein’s ‘Battleship Potemkin’ and ‘Strike’. The video was produced in 5.1 surround sound and includes a short documentary about the recording sessions featuring New Music Players.
A 6-venue UK tour of Ed Hughes’s new score for ‘Strike’ funded by Arts Council England began at the Barbican Centre, London in June 2007 with further performances in the Cambridge Film Festival, Turner Sims Concert Hall, Southampton, the British Library in London and De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-sea. 'Strike' was screened with the recorded soundtrack at the Curzon Cinema, Mayfair, on Sunday 7 October 2007 with Battleship Potemkin on Sunday 14 October 2007.
NMP performed works by Edwin Roxburgh, Ed Hughes, Joe Cutler, Dai Fujikura, Alison Kay and Kenneth Hesketh for Edwin Roxburgh's 70th birthday concert at Birmingham Conservatoire on Monday 10 December 2007. The event also featured an afternoon workshop of specially written works by students at Birmingham Conservatoire.
In October 2000 the New Music Players was appointed Ensemble in Residence at the University of York, a major three year residency. In 2000/2001 the group was also a visiting artist at Anglia Polytechnic University in Cambridge. In May 2001 the ensemble appeared in the BBC Music Live festival, in a concert from York broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s Hear and Now. In the same month the ensemble presented a rare live performance of Eisler’s Fourteen Ways of Describing Rain to accompany the film (Rain) for which it was written. This was presented alongside a new score, by Ed Hughes, for the same film at the Bath International Music Festival in June 2001.The ensemble completed a world première recording of five recent New Music Players commissions on the London Independent Records label in 2003, funded by the Foundation for Sport and the Arts. The release was very favourably reviewed in ‘Gramophone’ magazine. A concert to mark the launch of the CD took place in the Purcell Room on Friday 6 June 2003. In October 2003 New Music Players was appointed Ensemble in Residence at the University of Bristol and in November gave a concert in the BMIC’s prestigious ‘Cutting Edge’ series at the Warehouse.
The 2004 season included BMIC Cutting Edge tour concerts if music with film in Cheltenham, Leeds and Brighton including a UK premiere by Sam Hayden; two concerts with lecture recitals at the University of Nottingham; recordings for the BMIC of works by Contemporary Voices composers Philip Cashian, Martyn Harry, Michael Zev Gordon and Ed Hughes; and recordings of works by Michael Finnissy for Metier Records for release in 2006.
2005 started with a horn trios concert at the University of Bristol and included concerts at Bromsgrove as part of the 'Mixing It' series, at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music in Glasgow, and at Kettles Yard, Cambridge. On Saturday 14 May New Music Players gave the world premiere of a new score by Ed Hughes for Eisenstein's classic 1925 film Battleship Potemkin at Hove Engineerium as part of the Brighton Festival. Potemkin then toured to the Cheltenham International Festival of Music in July 2005, and to Bath Film Festival, Southampton Turner Sims Concert Hall and Jack Lyons Concert Hall in York in October / November 2005. NMP gave the world premiere of a new arrangement of Ed Hughes’s score for Ozu’s Japanese 1932 silent film 'I was born but...' at the Pacific Film Festival at the University of Nottingham on Saturday 22 October 2005.
On 2 November 2006 NMP premiered four specially commissioned works as part of the British Music Information Centre’s Cutting Edge series at the Warehouse, Theed Street, London SE1. Works by Ed Hughes, Arlene Sierra, Luke Stoneham and Alison Kay. This concert was repeated at the University of Cardiff on Tuesday 21 November with a student workshop and solo works for piano and flute by Carter and Ligeti.
In August 2007 Tartan Video released a DVD of Ed Hughes’s new scores for Eisenstein’s ‘Battleship Potemkin’ and ‘Strike’. The video was produced in 5.1 surround sound and includes a short documentary about the recording sessions featuring New Music Players.
A 6-venue UK tour of Ed Hughes’s new score for ‘Strike’ funded by Arts Council England began at the Barbican Centre, London in June 2007 with further performances in the Cambridge Film Festival, Turner Sims Concert Hall, Southampton, the British Library in London and De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-sea. 'Strike' was screened with the recorded soundtrack at the Curzon Cinema, Mayfair, on Sunday 7 October 2007 with Battleship Potemkin on Sunday 14 October 2007.
NMP performed works by Edwin Roxburgh, Ed Hughes, Joe Cutler, Dai Fujikura, Alison Kay and Kenneth Hesketh for Edwin Roxburgh's 70th birthday concert at Birmingham Conservatoire on Monday 10 December 2007. The event also featured an afternoon workshop of specially written works by students at Birmingham Conservatoire.
