Kyan Quartet

Born in Yorkshire, Vic Hoyland's earliest interests were painting, calligraphy and architecture, but after completing an Arts degree at the University of Hull, he decided to concentrate on music. He undertook a doctorate at the University of York, where his tutors were Robert Sherlaw Johnson and Bernard Rands. From 1980-83 he was Haywood Fellow at the University of Birmingham; then after two years at York he returned to the music department at Birmingham as senior lecturer. He was subsequently Professor in Composition at Birmingham until his retirement in 2011.

Commissions have come from many festivals – Aldeburgh, Almeida, Bath, Cheltenham, Huddersfield, South Bank and York – from organisations such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra and groups such as Lontano, the Arditti Quartet, the Lindsays, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Endymion and Vocem. Works include Vixen for large orchestra which, together with In Transit, was recorded by the BBC Symphony Orchestra for NMC Records. Much of Hoyland's music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3. The second work in his orchestral triptych, Qibti, was premiered at the Barbican on 18 December 2003. His piece for flute and piano, Sicilian Vespas was written in 2006 and first performed at Stratford Music Festival. May 2008 saw the premiere of Pierrot, a tribute to Pierre Boulez. On 3 June 2009 Token was premiered by Endymion at King's Place. The third and final part of Hoyland's orchestral triptych, Phoenix, was premiered on 28 January 2009, by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, with a live broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Hey Presto!, for 10 players, was given its world premiere by BCMG, conducted by Diego Masson, on 16 October 2009 at the CBSO Centre in Birmingham.

Part I

…be ’t to fly,
To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride
On the curled cloud…

Come unto these yellow sands,
And there take hands:
Curtsied when you have
The wild waves whist.
Foot it featly here and there;
And, sweet sprites, hear
The burden. Hark, hark!
‘Ow, ‘Ow.
The watchdogs bark,
Hark, hark!
I hear the strain of strutting chanticleer
Cry, Cock-a-diddle-dow.

Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls which were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Hourly sea-nymphs ring his bell:
Hark! now I hear them.
Ding-dong bell.

Part II

While you here do snoring lie
Open-eyed conspiracy
His time doth take.
If of life to keep a care,
Shake off slumber and beware.
Awake, awake!

Where the bee sucks, there suck I
In a cowslip’s bell I lie.
There I couch when owls do cry.
On the bat’s back I do fly
After summer merrily.
Merrily, merrily shall I live now,
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.
Then to the elements. To be free.

William Shakespeare