Timothy Cape

Timothy Cape is a composer – performer from Donegal, Ireland. Last year he made his first opera Still Drowsy for the Venice Music Biennale, which was broadcast on BBC radio 3. In 2022 he also was commissioned to make a new piece for Ensemble Garage (Cologne) and had performances at Southbank Centre, London and Gaudeamus Festival, Netherlands. He often performs his own pieces, or works closely with musicians to find a connection between their idiosyncrasies and his, prioritising a direct communication with the audience. He creates musical performances which feature instrumental and electronic sound, text, video and movement, and much of his recent work uses performative processes to destroy ideological uses of language and rearrange them into new, mysterious languages which are then treated musically to summon ghosts of past events and invoke desired futures.

2021 Commissions included hcmf// (UK), Kirkos Ensemble (IE) and percussionist Angela Hui Wai Nok (five performances internationally). Previous commissions include Spitalfields Festival and Britten Pears foundation. Three of his pieces have had live broadcasts on BBC radio 3 since ’16, and international performances include Spor festival DK, Aldeburgh festival UK, hcmf// UK, Perifirein NO, Music Current IE, and Constellations US. He is a member of Bastard Assignments, a group of composer-performers called “one of the most exciting forces in contemporary music” (Financial Times ’20) and “at the forefront of London’s DIY new music scene” (Neue Zeitung fur Musik ’19).

IMAGE | TIMOTHY CAPE