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On Sunday 14 November, Glasgow marks the 60th birthday of James Dillon, one the city's leading artistic voices and one of Britain's leading composers, with the world première of his most ambitious project, Nine Rivers.

A marathon work lasting four hours, this first ever complete staging of Nine Rivers in its entirety is an ambitious artistic collaboration between the ´óÏó´«Ã½ and Glasgow's Concert Halls.

James Dillon is one of Scotland's most internationally acclaimed composers and one of the world's leading modernists, and Nine Rivers is his most influential piece.

Until now, these nine works for orchestra, percussion group, voices and electronics have never before presented as originally intended.

James Dillon said: "From the acoustic sources of the first part, the ruptured currents of the second to the electro-acoustic tides of part three all surge towards the river of rivers 'Oceanos'. A French critic once remarked that 'Nine Rivers may go down in history as the most cancelled musical project of all time.'

"I am now very excited that the ´óÏó´«Ã½ and Glasgow's Concert Halls have finally brought together such a wonderful group of musicians for this labyrinthine journey."

Conceived as a collection of works with "internal symmetries", Nine Rivers is presented in both the main spaces of Glasgow's City Halls, the Grand Hall and the Old Fruitmarket.

The work features the combined forces of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Singers, renowned American percussionist Steven Schick, the Strasbourg Percussion Ensemble and conductor Rolf Gupta.

This project continues Dillon's long association with the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and it is fitting that the world premiere of this cycle should happen in the city of his birth.

Dillon worked on Nine Rivers throughout the Eighties and Nineties, creating an ambitious group of large-scale pieces scored for various forces, ranging from solo percussion and electronics, through ensemble pieces for 16 solo voices.

The climax of the cycle is Oceanos, Nine Rivers' delta, bringing together all the forces previously deployed throughout the series and including more than 50 musicians and live electronics.

Dillon says that he embarked upon the Nine Rivers project in part to escape the frustratingly "atomistic" nature of a composer's activities.

The intricate references of this massive and complex meditation on time range from environmental concerns to the nature of musical language connected through the metaphor of the river.

Nine Rivers was commissioned by the ´óÏó´«Ã½, IRCAM, Ensemble InterContemporain, the Oslo Sinfonietta and Glasgow 1990 European City of Culture.

Notes to Editors

Sunday 14 November, 1.30-5.40pm
City Halls and Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow

James Dillon Nine Rivers (world première)
´óÏó´«Ã½ Scottish Symphony Orchestra
´óÏó´«Ã½ Singers
Steven Schick, percussion
Les Percussions de Strasbourg
Sound Intermedia
Rolf Gupta, conductor

Tickets are free but limited to two per person and are available from .

SD3