Gabriel Prokofiev

Gabriel Prokofiev (b.1975, London, UK) is a London-based composer, producer, and founder of the NONCLASSICAL record label and club night.

Gabriel Prokofiev was born in 1975 to an English mother and Russian father Oleg Prokofiev, and is the grandson of the 20th-century composer Sergei Prokofiev. He studied composition at both Birmingham and York universities, but eschewed classical music for electronica, and became a composer of garage music. and producer of Dance, Electro & Hip-hop music under a variety of different guises. He was one of the producers of Lady Sovereign's album Public Warning, under the name Medasyn.

He founded the independent record label Nonclassical in 2003 and returned to his classical roots, composing String Quartet No. 1 for the Elysian Quartet[1], which he released on NONCLASSICAL, complete with remixes of the original quartet. His other compositions include 2nd and 3rd String Quartets, a collection of piano pieces, Piano Book, for Russian virtuoso GéNIA, and Concerto for Turntables & Orchestra (2006) which was premiered by DJ Yoda at the 2011 BBC Proms, with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain under Vladimir Jurowski and toured by the BBC Concert Orchestra as part of its educational programme. His Concerto for Trumpet, Percussion, Turntables and Orchestra (2014), was premiered by Marie Bédat (trumpet), Chantal Aguer (percussion), DJ Switch (turntables) and the fr:Orchestre de Pau Pays de Béarn: under Faycal Karoui at the fr:Palais Beaumont Centre de Congrès, Pau, France.

Other recent works include Concerto for Cello No. 1 (2013), commissioned by Alexander Ivashkin and premiered in St. Petersburg by Ivashkin and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic under Sabrie Bekirova[2], Concerto for Bass Drum and Orchestra (2012), premiered in the US by percussionist, Joby Burgess [3] and the Princeton Symphony Orchestra under Rossen Milanov, (IMPORT/EXPORT) (2008), for Joby Burgess's group PowerPlant, using Global Junk objects, and Sleeveless Scherzo (2007), a piece for solo violin and solo dancer for Rambert Dance Company (choreographer Patricia Okenwa[4]). Prokofiev made his conducting debut with his concerto for 'dancing' viola, string orchestra, trombones & percussion, in the Paradiso, Amsterdam in 2008. In March 2009, his NONCLASSICAL club made its debut in New York at the cutting-edge Wordless Music series[5] in New York, and at the Rock festival SXSW to favourable critical response.

Prokofiev has also composed for ballet. His first full-length ballet work, Ein Winternachtstraum, was written in 2011 and is in 2 acts, including Concerto for Turntables & Orchestra, and extracts from Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The ballet was commissioned by Bern Ballett and was premiered in Stadttheater, Bern, Switzerland by Bern Ballett with choreography by Cathy Marston[6]. In 2013 Karole Armitage choreographed extracts and remixes from his Concerto for Turntables and Orchestra, in her production 'Mechanics of the Dance Machine'[7]. More recent works for dance include two ballets for electronics; Howl (2013), which premiered in Lucerne, Switzerland by Tanz Luzerner Theater[8] and choreographer Maurice Causey[9], and Strange Blooms (2013), which premiered at the Northcott Theatre, Exeter, UK by Shobana Jeyasingh Dance with choreography by Shobana Jeyasingh. Strange Blooms received its capital premiere at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank, London.

Selected works

Ballet

• Ein Winternachtstraum, 2011
• Howl, 2013
• Strange Blooms, 2013

Orchestral

• Concerto for Turntables & Orchestra, 2007
• Dance Suite for Viola, String Orchestra, Trombones & Percussion, 2008
• Beethoven 9 Remix, 2011
• Concerto for Bass Drum & Orchestra, 2012
• Spheres for violin and string orchestra, 2013
• Cello Concerto No 1 for cello and orchestra, 2013
• Ruthven's Last Dance two dances for orchestra, 2013
• Concerto for Trumpet, Percussion, Turntables and Orchestra, 2014

Chamber

• String Quartet No 1, 2003
• Three Dances for String Trio, Bass Clarinet, Piano & Scratch DJ, 2004
• String Quartet No 2, 2006
• Stolen Guitars suite for electric guitar and 2 laptops, 2008
• Bogle Move for string quartet, 2009
• Cello Multitracks suite for solo cello and multitracked cellos, or cello nonet, 2010
• String Quartet No 3, 2010
• The Ghost of Gunby Hall, a golden fable for 2 actors, chamber ensemble, laptop & optional SATB choir, 2012

Instrumental

• Sleeveless Scherzo for solo violin and solo dancer, 2008
• Three Dances for String Trio, Bass Clarinet, Piano & Scratch DJ, 2004
• String Quartet No 2, 2006
• IMPORT/EXPORT large-scale percussion piece for global objects, 2008
• Pianobook No 1 for solo piano, 2006

Vocal

• Simple Songs for Modern Life, 6 songs for female a capella vocal trio, 2009
• The Lonely Giant mini opera for baritone and bass clarinet, 2009

Film

• Pig Alley, soundtrack to US silent film, for bass clarinet, trumpet, percussion and cello, 2008