Kathryn Williams

Brian Ferneyhough - Unity Capsule for solo flute

Pieces from the Coming Up for Air collection (pieces limited to a single breath) including: Chaya Czernowin, Larry Goves, Sarah Hennies, Newton Armstrong, CHAINES, Laurie Tompkins, Scott McLaughlin, Angela Elizabeth Slater, Patrick Ellis, Joanna Ward, and many more. Including world premieres by Leeds University student composers.

An intoxicating frenzy of virtuosity opens this concert with Unity Capsule by Brian Ferneyhough. What follows is another showcase of virtuosity, but on a much smaller scale: a collection of pieces limited to the performance of a single breath - that is simply one inhale and exhale, no circular breathing allowed. The project, Coming Up for Air, invites composers to consider the possibilities that emerge within this restriction, and so far has over 100 works in the collection.

Coming Up for Air started in 2017 as Kathryn's personal response to recovering from chronic respiratory conditions which required surgical intervention. It has been released as an album on Huddersfield Contemporary Records, featured on BBC Radio 3 The Listening Service, profiled in Breathe Magazine, and performed around the world. Each performance is unique in that new pieces are constantly being added and the length of some pieces depends on how Kathryn's lungs are behaving on the day.

Kathryn Williams is a "strangely fascinating" (BBC Music Magazine) solo and orchestral flautist with recent releases on All That Dust (Aldo Clementi) and Another Timbre (Georgia Rodgers). She completed her PhD at the University of Huddersfield in 2021 where her focus was on the visibility of breath in composition and flute performance practice.

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