Proximity & Distance
RCH/006, Ron Cooke Hub, Campus East, University of York (Map)
Event details
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Proximity & Distance
I have always been drawn to music which engages with pre-existing material and practices, especially those of medieval and renaissance music. As a result, my music has always drawn on techniques and quotations from 15th–17th century polyphony in ways which move between proximity and distance.
In this talk, I will explore ways in which fluctuations between proximity and distance within a moving spectrum are fundamental to my compositional methodologies. I will also introduce how these methodologies work within several different parameters and dimensions within my compositional practice through lenses of re-contextualisation, obscuration and quotation in my recent works.
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About the speaker
Niki Zohdi (b. 1997) is a composer, tenor and conductor. His music explores obscuration, re-contextualisation, and the use of pre-existing materials. He is interested in the presence of renaissance compositional technique in contemporary music, as well as how multiple dimensions and parameters can be used to obscure or distort pre-existing materials in his music. Niki's music has been performed and workshopped across the UK and Europe by Achrome Ensemble, Carlos Cordeiro and Rolf Hind amongst others. He has received several commissions across Europe including a 2024 commission by DYCE and upcoming premieres by Contemporary Insights and Trio Aether in 2026/27. He has received tuition in composition from Roger Redgate, Michael Finnissy, Chaya Czernowin and Pierluigi Billone, and was recently awarded a PhD in composition from the University of Leeds where he was supervised by Martin Iddon and Michael Spencer.
Niki has conducted various choral and orchestral ensembles in workshops, rehearsals, and performances. He recently set up Tahdig, a brand new contemporary music ensemble In Leeds with the hope of bringing more contemporary music to the north of England, especially by composers who are typically underperformed in the UK. He currently conducts ensembles at the Bled Contemporary Music Festival with Inštitut .abeceda in Slovenia alongside being a mentor and coordinator on the same programme. As a tenor, Niki sings in several professional choirs in addition to being a soloist across the country, singing in several large-scale works. In 2022, he gave the premiere of Alastair White's opera, Hareflight alongside flautist Jenni Hogan. He also co-founded the vocal sextet, Vivify, in 2024 – a group who mainly specialise in singing Italian madrigals.