Biography

Emily Peasgood (born in 1981 in Grimsby, Lincolnshire) is a composer, sound artist, musical director and researcher who is undertaking a PhD in composing experimental music for community choirs at Canterbury Christ Church University. She trained at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama and City University.

Her practice originally focused on creating choral responses to artworks and exhibitions at Turner Contemporary to explore how the unity of visual art and sound can influence public perceptions of art. Her practice currently focuses on creating connections between people and their environments through curating musical experiences in non-traditional performance settings. Her most recent work, LIFTED (2016), for live performance in public lifts by a choir and beat boxer, explores connections between lift passengers and the lift environment through the inner-dialogue of lift passengers who stand alone, together, and the lift "Muzak" that accompanies them on their journey.

Emily is best known for creating public art that is performed by community choirs, musicians and sign language interpreters. She has created commissioned works for POW Thanet International Women’s Week/Pie Factory Music (BIRDS, 2016), Turner Contemporary/Jeremy Deller (Three pop arrangements for 'English Magic' featuring steel band and choir, 2014) and Lone Twin ‘Artists Taking The Lead’ for London 2012 Cultural Olympiad/Parabola (Collective Spirit, The Boat Project for brass band and choir, 2012). Additionally, she has received support from Arts Council England and Turner Contemporary to create experimental works LIFTED (2016), and ‘Landscapes’ a song cycle for choir, flute, piano and poet, inspired by the works of JMW Turner and Helen Frankenthaler (2014). 

Emily’s PhD research is supported by Canterbury Christ Church University’s doctoral research scholarship award and The Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health. In 2016 she will deliver presentations exploring composing music for community choirs at the ISME Community Music Activity Conference (Edinburgh) and Choir in Focus International Symposium on the Histories and Practices of Choral Singing (Sweden). She recently co-published an article on the effects of singing on health and wellbeing in the Public Health journal. 

 

 

Photography: Anton French

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Emily Peasgood