David Prior (artist)
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David Prior (born 1972 in
Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...
, United Kingdom) is a British sound artist and
composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...
.


Early work

David Prior was born in the UK and studied Music and Religious Studies at the
University of Wales, Bangor Bangor University ( cy, Prifysgol Bangor) is a Public university, public university in Bangor, Gwynedd, Bangor, Wales. It received its Royal charter, Royal Charter in 1885 and was one of the founding institutions of the federal University of Wales ...
where he studied composition with
Andrew Lewis Andrew Lewis may refer to: Law and politics * Sir Andrew J. W. Lewis (1875-1952), Scottish businessman and politician; Lord Provost of Aberdeen * Andrew L. Lewis Jr. (1931–2016), American railroad executive and US Secretary of Transportation *And ...
. He was awarded the prize for composition in his final year for his piece ''Dense'' which went on to win a Prix de Residence at the 1996
Bourges Bourges () is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre. It is the capital of the department of Cher, and also was the capital city of the former province of Berry. History The name of the commune derives either from the Bituriges, t ...
International Electroacoustic Music Competitio

leading to a residency at Iannis Xenakis, Xenakis'
UPIC UPIC (Unité Polyagogique Informatique CEMAMu) is a computerised musical composition tool, devised by the composer Iannis Xenakis. It was developed at the ''Centre d'Etudes de Mathématique et Automatique Musicales'' (CEMAMu) in Paris, and was c ...
studio in Paris the following year. The piece was short-listed by the
Society for the Promotion of New Music The Society for the Promotion of New Music (SPNM), originally named The Committee for the Promotion of New Music, was founded in January 1943 in London by the émigré composer Francis Chagrin, to promote the creation and performance of new music in ...
(SPNM) and following a performance at the Purcell Room in 1998, it was selected by then SPNM artistic director
Howard Skempton Howard While Skempton (born 31 October 1947) is an English composer, pianist, and accordionist. Since the late 1960s, when he helped to organise the Scratch Orchestra, he has been associated with the English school of experimental music. Skempt ...
for the George Butterworth award. From Bangor, Prior went on to study composition with Jonty Harrison at the
University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...
, graduating with a PhD in 2001. During his time in Birmingham, Prior's work was often concerned with integrating acoustic space as a compositional parameter in his work. This theme stimulated interests which still define the work he is involved in today, whether that be through his installations, sound-walks,
acousmatic Acousmatic sound is sound that is heard without an originating cause being seen. The word ''acousmatic'', from the French ''acousmatique'', is derived from the Greek word ''akousmatikoi'' (ἀκουσματικοί), which referred to probationary p ...
compositions or the sound designs he has made for museums and galleries. Another feature of the work Prior was producing during this period but less evident in more recent projects, was the attempt to assimilate free improvisation into the devising of his ultimately 'fixed' compositions, for example ''Somewhere Submarine'' (1996), for piano and tape (joint winner of the 1997 Cornelius Cardew Composition Competition) and ''Another Poisonous Sunset'' (1998). Prior was awarded a
Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst The German Academic Exchange Service, or DAAD (german: Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst), was founded in 1925 and is the largest German support organisation in the field of international academic co-operation. Organisation ''DAAD'' is a ...
(DAAD) stipendium in 1999, funding a one-year residency at the Technische Universität Berlin, where he completed the work submitted for his PhD. Following the completion of his residency, he stayed living in Berlin, undertaking a commission from the DAAD Kunstlerprogram which led to his twenty-four channel
acousmatic Acousmatic sound is sound that is heard without an originating cause being seen. The word ''acousmatic'', from the French ''acousmatique'', is derived from the Greek word ''akousmatikoi'' (ἀκουσματικοί), which referred to probationary p ...
piece ''Love and Death'', premiered at the
Parochialkirche The Parochialkirche (literally the Reformed parochial church) is a Reformed church in the Klosterviertel neighbourhood of the Mitte borough in Berlin. The church, now a listed building, was built between 1695 and 1703. It is the oldest church ...
, Berlin as part of the Inventionen festival, 2000. In 1997, Prior collaborated with Swiss choreographers Jürg Koch and R. Lucia Baumgartner on the piece ''an die Materie'' and the music from this piece went on to win an honorary mention at the 1998 Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competitio

and first prize in the 1998 EAR (Hungarian Radio) composition prize. When Koch went on to join
CandoCo Candoco Dance Company is a contemporary physically integrated dance company, founded in 1991 by Celeste Dandeker and Adam Benjamin. The company is based at the Aspire National training centre in Stanmore, North London. History Candoco Dance Comp ...
dance company, he worked with Prior again, commissioning him to write the score for ''Amaze in You'' in 2002.


Liminal: sound and architecture

Prior first collaborated with architect Frances Crow in 1997 on ''Triptych'', an installation jointly commissioned by SPNM and the
Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge). It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nat ...
, London. They worked together again on the Arts Council funded ''Good Vibrations'' children's education project in 1999 but it wasn't until 2003 that they formally established Liminal, a design studio with a particular interest in exploring sound and architecture. The partnership has resulted in projects ranging from installations to sound-walks as well as commercial sound design and consultancy and a number of theoretical publications and conference papers. Liminal was formed as a company in order to undertake ''Swash'' (2003), a large-scale, immersive sound installation for Living Coasts in
Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
and in keeping with other recent work, this piece has evolved into a number of different iterations. Two years after the completion of the installation version of ''Swash'', Prior made an eight-channel, acousmatic concert version of the piece which was first performed at the Martin Harris Hall in
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
as part of the Sonic Arts Expo, 2006. In 2007, Prior was commissioned by the SpACE-Net spatial audio research group in
York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
to produce a third, improvised version of the work which has been performed a number of times subsequently. Following the completion of ''Swash'', liminal were made lead sound designers for the Churchill Museum in London designed by celebrated designers Casson Mann. The Churchill Museum has gone on to win a string of awards and was nominated for both the D&AD Award for Outstanding Achievement in Digital Installations and the 2006 Gulbenkian Prize. Since 2006, liminal have been involved as lead artists in the
Warwick Bar The Warwick Bar conservation area is a conservation area in Birmingham, England which was home to many canalside factories during the Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is named after the Warwick Bar and later W ...
development in Birmingham. Their work on this project involved close collaboration with masterplanning architects Kinetic-AIU and has since been cited as an exemplar for artist-architect collaborations by CABE, who part-funded liminal's involvement through their PROJECT fund and features as a case-study in their Artists & Places publication. It was during this project that liminal developed their use of the sound-walk as a research tool, in this instance consolidating the extensive research undertaken into the soundscape of the Warwick Bar site into a binaural walk available to the public. Liminal later contributed to the Cotswold Water Park's twenty-year strategic plan, working with masterplanning consultants Scott Wilson and building on the research techniques they developed for the Warwick Bar project on a series of proposals which address the soundscape of the water park. Liminal's recent work has focussed on the creation of 'listening spaces', whether this takes the form of a site-specific sound-walk, such as ''Black Water Brown Water'' (2008) or architectural interventions such as ''Song Pole'' with poet Larry Lynch (2008), the point of departure for these pieces is to create a reflexive listening experience for the audience; focussing attention back onto the act of listening itself. In 2010 they were awarded £50,000 to create "The Organ of Corti" to 'recycle' and create new sounds.


Other sound and music collaborations

Prior began working with New Zealander Dugal McKinnon in 1998 on a composed radio documentary ''Ways of Hearing'

for Resonance FM as part of
John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...
's Meltdown festival at the
Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge). It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nat ...
, London. The pair went on to form Arcade

in 2000, slowly working towards their album ''Who's Most Lost?'' which was completed in late 2007. Meanwhile, Prior was also asked by UK songwriter John Matthias to produce two tracks on his
Ninja Tune Ninja Tune is an English independent record label based in London. It has a satellite office in Los Angeles. It was founded by Matt Black and Jonathan More (better known as Coldcut) and managed by Peter Quicke and others. Inspired by a visit ...
release ''Stories From the Water Cooler''. Prior and Matthias went on to form Derailer, whose first project was to remix a track by Corker Conboy called ''Radiant Idiot''. The resulting ''Radiant Idiot Remake'', was chosen by American independent film-maker
Harmony Korine Harmony Korine (born January 4, 1973, some sources report September 1, 1974)
" Retrieved on 2009-10-26.
is an Ame ...
for his Thornton's television commercial ''Stuck''. The pair have remixed work by John Richards as well as working towards an album of original material. Prior also remixed John Matthias and Nick Ryan's ''Cortical Songs'', released on the non-classical label. Prior has recorded and/or produced work for artists and ensembles including Icebreaker,
Nicola Hitchcock Nicola Hitchcock is a British singer and songwriter. She is best known for having been one half of the trip hop duo Mandalay (along with Saul Freeman). Following the demise of Mandalay, she has worked with various dance music and avant-garde mu ...
and Michael Bassett as well as contributing sound designs to films by artists Jane Grant and Anya Lewin. In 2007, Prior was invited by improvising vocalist Steve Lewis to join Antti Sakari Saario in providing live electronics for his ''Flocking'' project based around an improvising ensemble. Since 2002, Prior has been working with his brother Andrew Prior on a series of collaborative music projects. Their piece ''Gem Sprinter'' features on the Yacht Club compilation release ''Pallomeri'' under the moniker Orlando Hooks.


Films

Since 2002, Prior has made a series of short films often characterized by their brevity and simplicity. On a number of these films, Prior has collaborated with poet Larry Lynch, who as well as contributing texts often features in the films themselves. Their collaboration ''On What it Might Mean to be Spinning'' features the voice of poet John Hall and was premiered in February 2008 as part of the Voices III festival in
Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...
, UK. Prior's films have been screened across the UK, in Russia, Korea, China, Sweden, Holland and the USA.


Awards

Prior's work has won prizes including a number of awards from the Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition, Cornelius Cardew Prize, E.A.R (the composition prize of Hungarian National Radio), the
George Butterworth George Sainton Kaye Butterworth, MC (12 July 18855 August 1916) was an English composer who was best known for the orchestral idyll ''The Banks of Green Willow'' and his song settings of A. E. Housman's poems from '' A Shropshire Lad''. Early ...
prize and a PRS ATOM award. Prior has received awards from the University of Birmingham Alumni award, M.J. West Foundation, the Arts Council of England, the
Banff Centre for the Arts Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, formerly known as The Banff Centre (and previously The Banff Centre for Continuing Education), located in Banff, Alberta, was established in 1933 as the Banff School of Drama. It was granted full autonomy as ...
, the DAAD and
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
.


Academic work

Prior began teaching in the music department at the University of Birmingham in the late 1990s while a post-graduate student there. Since 2001, Prior has been a lecturer, then senior lecturer in music at
Dartington College of Arts Dartington College of Arts was a specialist arts college located at Dartington Hall in the south-west of England, offering courses at degree and postgraduate level together with an arts research programme. It existed for a period of almost 50 ...
, Devon. Prior has given guest lectures and presentations around the world at institutions including the Icelandic Academy of Arts, Reykjavík, Stadia
Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
Polytechnic and ESMAE School of Music and Performing Arts,
Polytechnic Institute of Porto The Instituto Politécnico do Porto (Polytechnic University of Porto), also referred to as Politécnico do Porto (Porto Polytechnic) and P.PORTO (since 2016, for naming and branding purposes), is a composition of multiple polytechnic schools base ...
.


Personal life

Prior lives with Frances Crow in Totnes, Devon.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prior, David British sound artists British composers Alumni of Bangor University Alumni of the University of Birmingham Academics of Falmouth University 1972 births Living people