I began collaborating with Transient Canvas in early 2015, and was immediately drawn to the many deft and detailed rhythms that emerged organically from clarinet slaps and stabs, marimba tones and resonator clangs. I was excited to combine these sounds in complex layers, and thus began a process of electronic sampling and experimentation - Branches is the result. Over the course of the piece, contrasting grooves branch out from a central trunk, interweaving lyrical melodies with dance rhythms in an expanding world of sound.

- David Ibbett

David Ibbett is a British composer based in Boston, USA. His music explores a fascinating conflux between the worlds of the classical, contemporary, acoustic and the electronic. By working to fuse key elements from a host of contrasting styles, David aspires to create a new form of art music that is rich, diverse, direct and dramatically deep.

David’s music increasingly reflects a passion for working with electronics, both as a voice and a tool in composition. This fascination began in 2008, when he undertook a residency at the Aldeburgh Music Festival, studying with Jonathan Harvey, composing Cellosamper for Olly Coates. The work was later selected for performance at the Faster Than Sound Festival at Bentwaters Airbase. From this moment, electronics have been the key to unifying the diverse influences that permeate David’s work – allowing sounds to be shaped, juxtaposed and transformed with seamless precision. His Ph.D. research focuses on sampling as a tool for bridging the difficult gap between live, breathing musicians and the software-controlled speaker cone of electronic music. He addresses these challenges through unique Max and Max for Live patches, often contributing to other composers’ works – including the Ph.Ds of Enrico Bertelli and Zezo Olympio at York University.

David’s electroacoustic compositions aim to combine the depth and expression of a live performer with the power, control and rhythmic energy of electronic music. Projects are often collaborative as, to truly explore the sound of an instrument, who better a guide than the instrumentalist? In 2012, David released For Now, an album of electroacoustic songs-without-words, collaborating with many London based instrumentalists. He regularly performs his electroacoustic works as a live diffusion performer, with BEAST and other international multi-channel systems.

David’s music has been performed at the Aldeburgh Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Barbican Total Immersion, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, UK National Portrait Gallery, Clare College Music Society, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Banff Centre (November 2014), Voiceworks at Wigmore Hall, BEASTiary concert series (2013, 2014, 2015), London Institute of Contemporary Art concert series, Spitalfields Festival, Hendon Festival, Logos Foundation (May 2015), EMM Festival, Klangspuren Festival Austria, Red Sonic Festival, Vortex Jazz Club recital series, The Village Underground concert series, Seven Bridges Project, Leeds University Music Festival, City of London Festival, Bath Festival, Mapmaking at LSO St Luke’s, Faster Than Sound concert series.