James Layton is a British composer, musician, and visual artist currently based in Oslo, Norway.
His work often explores non-climactic forms, which slowly unfold and focus on the juxtaposition of progression and stasis.
His use of patterns, permutations, and repetition aims to draw listeners into the music while exploring ideas of time and memory. This work is often informed by his interest in visual art, particularly the works of Agnes Martin, Sol Lewitt, and Bridget Riley.
James’ compositional output includes works for opera (saudade 2022), orchestra (focal 2019), chamber music (honour thy error as a hidden intention 2023), choir (veering slowly, losing identity 2023), as well as electro-acoustic music (are we on other, less concrete shores? 2021), and collaborations with dance (Rock-A-Bye 2023) and visual media (time spent 2023). This work has been performed around Europe by musicians and ensembles such as Cikada (NO), Orkest de Ereprijs (NE), I Solisti (BE), Ensemble Spectrum (SK), Stephen Upshaw (US/UK), Standard Issue (UK) Ensemble Ernst (NO), Ostravská Banda (CZ) and ONO – Ostrava New Orchestra (CZ), including at festivals such as Bergen Festspillene (2024), Bijloke Wonderland (2023), NODO/New Opera Days Ostrava (2022) and Ostrava New Music Days (2019).
works
in progress
more info coming soon
more info coming soon
completed
first performance: 11.12.24 || Tomas Laukvik Nannestad || Scenehuset, Oslo, NO instrumentation: solo theorbo duration: written for: Tomas Laukvik Nannestad
recording: coming soon
score avaliable on request
first performance: 03.06.24 || Cikada || Universitetsaulaen, Bergen, NO instrumentation: bass flute, bass clarinet and piano duration: ca. 7' written for: Cikada
programme note:
As line overlaps line
waves intersect
and weave
expanding
contracting
an ebb and flow
pushing not on
but to some
distant
point
concealed
only by time
first performance: 01.03.24 || Orkest De Ereprijs || Gigant, Apeldoorn, NL instrumentation: alto flute, bass flute, clarinet in Bb, soprano saxophone, soprano saxophone (db. baritone saxophone), horn in F, trumpet in C,
trombone(2), tuba, electric guitar, electric bass guitar, percussion and piano duration: ca. 4' written for: Orkest de Ereprijs
first performance: 27.08.23 || I Solisti || De Bijloke, Ghent, BE instrumentation: for flute, clarinet, cello, vibraphone and moving image written for: I Solisti created in collaboration with: Lyn De Weijer duration: ca. 13'
recording: coming soon
score avaliable on request
first performance: 31.05.23 || EnsembleSpectrum || Nová Cvernovka, Bratislava, SL instrumentation: flute (db. piccolo), clarinet, violin, viola, cello and piano duration: ca. 12'
score avaliable on request
first performance: 02.05.23 || Visual Music Ensemble || Lindemansalen, NMH, NO
instrumentation: large open ensemble duration: ca. 20'
first performance: 04.03.23 || Kloden Teater, Oslo, NO duration: ca. 45'
In a sensory landscape of textile stones, an abstract universe of strange shapes, crunching sounds, rocking movement and electric guitar tones emerges, all adapted to the exploratory little children who senses and understands the world with their whole being.
"Rock a-bye" examines "Rock" with its various meanings - as material (stone), as musical genre (rock) and as movement (cradling), in a multi-sensory dance performance for the youngest children (6-18 months) and their caregivers . It unfolds as a moving installation where the children are surrounded by scenography and dancers, sounds and lights. The children have complete freedom of movement and are allowed to explore the space in interaction with the dancers.
Choreography and producer: Ida Cathrin Utvik
Costume and scenography: Lærke Bang Barfod
Music and sound design: James Layton
Lighting design and technical responsible: Martin Myrvold
Co-creating dancers:
Anders Engebretsen
Andreas Holme Kjærland
Oda Rognø
Oda Olivia Ø. Lindegård
Clara Victoria Fischer
Amelia Møller
recording: coming soon
first performance: instrumentation: for solo guitar written for: Ondrej Veselý duration: ca. 10'
recording:
score avaliable on request
first performance: 28.06.22 || NODO festival 2022, Antonín Dvořák Theater, Ostrava, CZ instrumentation: for soprano, baritone, dancer and chamber orchestra duration: ca. 25' commissioned by: Petr Kotík libretto by: Jack Burnham written for: NODO Festival 2022
programme note:
'Found at the intersection between desire and expression, two halves, separated by death, now wind through the years enacting a spectral dance. There is a reckoning with the inexorable persistence of memory, and the inability to break a compulsive and damning cycle of inarticulacy. The natural flow of yearning proves vulnerable to disruption. The years have made language thin and brittle. So we scratch our story onto the surface of ice, at the point of departure. A future is possible, but may not be permissible. A negotiation of sorts occurs, one that anxiously balances on the tip of the needle deep within the heart of all crystalline winter dreams.'
performed by:
Markéta Schaffartzik (Soprano)
Vojtěch Šembera (Baritone)
Ostravská banda
Bruno Ferrandis (Conductor)
first performance: 19.01.23 || Levinsalen, NMH, Oslo, No first version by: Elias Nurmi Schomers (cello and voice), Noel Rubli (accordion), Ferdinand Schwarz (trumpet, melodica and voice) and James Layton (piano) instrumentation: for any sustaining instrument(s) duration: ca. 10'
Label: UBU Collection
Catalog number: UBU #6 honour thy error as a hidden intention (2023)
performed by Ensemble Spectrum
Label: Into the Ocean
Catalog number: ITO001 wandering (2018)
performed by Stephen Upshaw
Label: RGMS
Catalog number: RGMS-012 are we on other, less concrete shores? (2022)
Label: RGMS
Catalog number: RGMS-08 these memories are not my own, they're borrowed from my past (2021)
Label: RGMS
Catalog number: RGMS-04 jean, you forgot to pay the electric bill! (2021)
calender
upcoming
11.12.24 | "in nomine" performed by Tomas Laukvik Nannestad @ Scenehuset, Oslo, NO | composer
AUG 25 | "veering slowly, losing identity" @ UNM 2025, Finland | composer
past
2024
28.10.24 | "weav" performed by Cikada @ Auditoriet, NMH, NO | composer
16.10.24 | "tilted form - four different ones" by Orkest De Ereprijs @ Amsterdam, NL | composer
19.09.24 | "breathless" performed by Laura Kumwenda @ Ultima Festivalen, Oslo, NO | composer
05.07.24 | "honour thy error as a hidden intention" performed by Standard Issue @ Music We'd Like to Hear, London, UK | composer
03.04.24 | "weav" [WP] performed by Cikada @ Universitetsaulaen, Bergen, NO | composer
31.05.24 | Games Night with Peter Peschel @ Victoria Nasjonal Jazzscene | performer
21.04.24 | "tilted form - four different ones" performed by Orkest De Ereprijs @ ACEC, Apeldoorn, NL | composer
11.04.24 | "a difference of differences" [WP] performed by Ensemble Lime @ Lindemansalen, NMH, Oslo, NO | composer
20.03.24 | Listening: Resonating @ Levinsalen, NMH, NO | perfomer
01.03.24 | "tilted form - four different ones"[WP] performed by Orkest De Ereprijs @ Gigant, Apeldoorn, NL | composer ...2023
09.12.23 | "vertical seconds" performed by NMH Symphony Orchestra @ Lindemansalen, NMH, Oslo, NO | composer
08.12.23 | "vertical seconds" [WP] performed by NMH Symphony Orchestra @ Lindemansalen, NMH, Oslo, NO | composer
03.12.23 | Nurmi, Schwarz, Rubli and Layton - Samtidsmusikkpub @ Kafé Hærverk, Oslo, NO | composer + performer
14.11.23 | "wandering" performed by Stephen Upshaw @ Cambridge University, UK | composer
11.11.23 | Rock-A-Bye - Ida Cathrin Utvik @ Festiviteten, Haugesund, NO | composer
27.10.23 | "veering slowly, losing identity" [WP] performed NMH Vokalensemble, conducted by Henri Raeck and Victor Cheng @ Majorstua Kirke, Oslo, NO | composer
27.08.23 | "time spent" [WP] performed by I Soliti, conducted by Filip Rathe @ De Bijloke, Ghent, BE | composer
31.05.23 | "honour thy error as a hidden intention"[WP] performed by EnsembleSpectrum @ Nová Cvernovka, Bratislava, SL | composer
05.05.23 | Gradient Ensemble, Music by Ferdinand Schwarz @ Majorstua Kirke, Oslo, NO | performer
02.05.23 | "emerging forms"[WP] + "are we on other, less concrete shores", collaboration with Ferdinand Schwarz @ Lindemansalen, NMH, Oslo, NO | composer + performer + co-curator
12.04.23 | Divided in II, VeleUM, Music by Urban Megušar | performer
10.03.23 | "wandering" performed by Laura M B Kumwenda @ Hotboxkjelleren, Oslo, NO | composer
05.03.23 | "wandering", "slowly getting nowhere", "i needed colour" and "i love the whole world" @ NMH, Levinsalen, Oslo, NO | composer + performer + co-curator
04.03.23 | "Rock-A-Bye - Ida Cathrin Utvik"[WP] @ Kloden, Oslo, NO | composer
09.02.23 | Metal Reeds - The Rhythms of Harmony, Music by Ferdinand Schwarz @ Majorstuen Kirke, Oslo, NO | performer
19.02.23 | "i love the whole world"[WP] performed by Nurmi, Schwarz, Rubli and Layton @ NMH Levinsalen, Oslo, NO | composer + performer 2022
20.10.22 | "these memories are not my own, they're borrowed from my past"[WP] performed by Ferdinand Schwarz and James Layton @ NMH Levinsalen, Oslo, NO | composer + performer + curator
13.10.22 | "wandering", "slowly getting nowhere"[WP] and "i needed colour"[WP] @ NMH Levinsalen, Oslo, NO | composer
28.06.22 | "sauade - chamber opera in seven stills"[WP] performed by Ostravská banda, conducted by Bruno Ferrandis @ NODO Festival 2022, CZ | composer 2020
06.05.20 | "wandering" performed by Stephen Upshaw @ Solem Quartet Online Concert | composer
18.05.20 | "wandering" performed by James Layton @ Themselves Online Concert | composer + performer
18.02.20 | "wandering"[WP] performed by Stephen Upshaw @ Edouard Malingue Gallery, London, UK | composer 2019
25.08.19 | "focal" performed by ONO/Ostrava New Orchestra @ Ostrava Days 2019, CZ | composer
08.02.19 | "focal"[WP] performed by Trinity Laban Shapeshifter Orchestra @ Blackheath Halls, London, UK | composer 2017
08.06.17 | "breathless"[WP] performed by Stephen Upshaw @ St Alfege Church, Greenwich, UK | composer
contact - james [dot] layton [dot] uk [at] outlook [dot] com
