News

Inspired by the true story of the former Russian security officer Alexander “Sasha” Litvinenko who was poisoned to death in 2006, ITVX will premier Litvinenko (starring David Tennant, Mark Bonnar, Margarita Levieva & Neil Maskell) in March 2023.

Gabriel was invited to write the music for this drama prior to filming, and this was Gabriel Prokofiev’s first UK TV drama score.

Prokofiev, whose own family were targeted by the KGB under Stalin, his grandmother Lina having been imprisoned for eight years in a gulag between 1948-54; is well-placed to respond to the horror of the Litvinenko story.

Prokofiev’s soundtrack has a Russian, and at times, Soviet feel. Working with Maxim Rysanov (the Ukrainian violist for whom Prokofiev composed his first viola concerto) and violinist Max Baillie, Prokofiev has created a series of humane and emotional scenes that underpin the tragic fate of Litvinenko with a sense of compassion. Minimalist without becoming ineffable, moving without indulging in sentimentality, Prokofiev travels sonically from London to Moscow with assurance.

To listen to the album click here

Here together for the first time, are two releases united by parallel processes. Both "Strange Blooms" and "Howl!" were originally composed for contemporary dance projects – Strange Blooms in collaboration with choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh, and Howl!, written initially as a score for American choreographer, Maurice Causey, and premiered by Luzerner Ballet.

Both works, too, use keyboards, separated by three centuries: A natural recording of a 17th-century baroque harpsichord (performed by Jane Chapman) as the basis for the hybrid explorations of Strange Blooms, which are filtered through digital granular processing techniques (stretching, brassage, warping). Howl! draws on a different “tradition,” subjecting a range of sounds produced by a 1970s Arp Odyssey to cut and paste, multitrack layering, samplers and filtering. Both works celebrate hybridity and explore the synthesis of organic and mechanical, old and new, for the brave new world to come. 

Includes CD booklet with detailed programme notes, and all cardboard packaging, plus unlimited streaming of Strange Blooms + HOWL! via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more..

Listen to the album here.

4 performances, all delivering immersive, original, dynamic ambisonic musical experiences, in the unique space that is IKLECTIK. 

Tuesday, 7 February 2023 | Doors: 7:30pm | First Act: 8pm 
Featuring: Pop-Up Kings / Greg Sams & Georgina Brett / Gareth Whittock / Gabriel Prokofiev

For more information, click here. 

GABRIEL PROKOFIEV PERFORMANCE CANCELLED DUE TO COVID.

On Thursday 02nd February (7:30pm), my Viola Concerto will be performed in Zagreb at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall.  Maxim Rysanov (Viola + Conductor) will lead The Croatian Radiotelevision Symphony Orchestra for the East European Premier, which will be broadcast on TV and radio at a later date.

For tickets and more info click here.

Starting with an interview on Angellica Bell’s Saturday morning show at 10am on Saturday 28th Jan, I’ll be 'Artist of the Week' at digital classical radio station: Scala Radio.

For more info and tickets click here.

A rare London performance from composer Gabriel Prokofiev. At this concert, Gabriel will launch his new electronic album: STRANGE BLOOMS + HOWL! - a deep-listening journey of meticulously composed contemporary electronic music, on a special surround-sound diffusion system in the intimate setting of Dalston Den (15th December). The two main works being presented were created entirely from the sounds of two very contrasting keyboard instruments: - STRANGE BLOOMS is created entirely from super detailed processing of a Baroque Harpsichord from a recording Gabriel made of Jane Chapman performing ‘La Complaignante’ by Louis Couperin. The new album versions were specially reworked as listening-only version. ‘La Complaignante’ by Louis Couperin, will be performed live by Harpsichord virtuoso Jane Chapman to open the concert. For Howl! Gabriel will be joined by Argentinian violinist Herman Ringer. Then… as a contrasting extra, Gabriel & Herman will perform excerpts from the sound-track of the new ITVX drama ‘Litvinenko’, whose international streaming premier coincides with this concert. The evening will close with DJ-sets from Gabriel, and special guests TBA. CDs of the new album will be available at the event, direct from the manufacturer, and also the limited edition lathe-cut 12" vinyl of HOWL!

More info and tickets here.

The final concert of the tour will take place on Sunday 6th November in Kansas. Salina Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Yaniv Segal) will perform the US premier of the orchestral version of Gabriel’s most recent album ‘Breaking Screen’s' at the historic Stiefel Theatre, Salina, KS. It will be preceded by a classic-club-night at a disused warehouse, at 500 North 5th Street, Salina, KS, 8:30pm-late with Gabriel on electronics joined by Yaniv Segal (violin), Mel Rachelm (viola).

On Breaking Screens everything is about angles and proportions, contemporaneity and classic, organic and electronic, swirling energy with thunderous explosions and moments of silky poetry. Techno kicks and dubstep breaks can erupt to make you dizzy, the strings support everything in glissando or pizzicato, offering diversity and power, dreamlike and urbanity, the worlds uniting to share with us the fenesis of the world and its fragmented diversity. Vital. (Roland Torres - Silence and Sound)

For more info and tickets click here.

On Halloween, Composers Concordance and Access Contemporary Music present 'Breaking Halloween'. Gabriel’s first event in NYC in over 7 years...! Alongside the Kahlo String Quartet, Gabriel will be on live electronics performing 'Breaking Screens' as well his other works for electronics and cello.

The evening will also include works by New York composers Seth Boustead, Dan Cooper, Mark Kostabi and Gene Pritsker. Come dressed for the occasion at the intimate Kostabi World in Chelsea.

For more info and tickets click here.

Gabriel will be heading to Boston for the first time for an evening of musical exploration with Manuela Isabel Romero Gonzalez, Etienne Abelin and Maria Finkelmeier. The evening will mark the second concert of the tour on Friday 28th October at The Record Co. Doors at 7:30pm, Music at 8:00pm.

For more info and tickets click here.

Boston’s classical-adjacent community welcomes composer/performer Gabriel Prokofiev and violinists Manuela Isabel Romero Gonzalez and Etienne Abelin with New England based creator Maria Finkelmeier for an evening of explorations. Highlighting the potential and pitfalls of technologies - from the access to offers to the corruption it causes - the program will reflect the density of the human to digital relationship, and celebrate the nuanced expressivity of acoustic instruments. The evening will be divided into three sets, welcoming all to connect and decompress in real life, at one of our favorite spots, The Record Co.

The first concert to kick off this USA mini-tour, is the USA premier of my Beethoven9 Symphonic Remix performed by the Rockford Symphony Orchestra on Saturday 22nd October. Gabriel will be performing sampler live on stage, conducted by Yaniv Segal, who recorded the work for NAXOS 3 years ago.

... An exciting 24- minute rampage by Gabriel Prokofiev, inspired by the Ninth Symphony’s finale. The title is BEETHOVEN 9 Symphonix Remix. The structure of the original remains, but the music is squashed, distended, stitched into electronic loops and grooves, and pushed through different musical styles from 20th-century modernism to Egyptian funk, with Prokofiev providing live electronics. 4 stars (Geoff Brown, The Times - review of the album release)

For more info and tickets click here.

On the 20th & 21st October, Gabriel’s ‘Viola Concerto’ will premier at the Auditorium di Milano Fondazione Cariplo (20:30, 20:00). The wonderful Maxim Rysanov returns as the unprecedented role of soloist and conductor!

For more info and tickets click here.

Together with UNLTD Collective, Gabriel is excited to announce ‘Pastoral 21’s’ London premier performance at Kings Place on Sunday 9th October (19:00pm-20:30pm). He will perform electronics alongside six extremely talented young string players from Germany, Turkey, UK, Switzerland & Spain, all alumni of the Verbier Festival Academy.

The centre piece of the evening is ‘Pastoral Reflections’, a contemporary response to Beethoven’s 250 year old Pastoral Symphony. Each movement is a contemporary response to the movements of Beethoven’s Pastoral, so the ‘merry dance of the villagers’ (movement III) becomes a techno rave at dystopian ‘mega-farm’, and the ‘thankful feelings after the storm’ (V) becomes a bitter-sweet reflection on the fragile beauty of nature. The programme also features music from ‘Breaking Screens’ and two movements from Beethoven’s Symphony No.6 in F major Op. 68 (arr. M.G. Fischer).

More info and tickets here.

Eight years after performing at the opening festival of the stunning Cesis Concert Hall in 2014, Gabriel finally returned on 16th September to present a special program of music for electronics and strings, with a focus on Cello for the Cello Cēsis Festival.

The programme featured music from Gabriels recent album ‘Breaking Screens’ alongside some of his earlier works - ‘Cello Multitracks’, in a version for three Cellos + a virtual cello ensemble of six loudspeakers, as well as a movement from ‘Howl’, Gabriels latest EP release, in a version with cello solo.

It was fantastic to be reunited with the very adventurous & uncompromising Latvian cellist Valters Pūce for the concert, and also to perform alongside string players from the phenomenal Sinfonietta Riga.

Gabriels residency at progressive Italian music festival began with the world premier of his Flute Concerto ‘Dante’, commissioned by the festival, and ended two weeks ago with two performances showcasing his music for electronics and strings, performed by the renowned contemporary string quartet: Quartetto Nous, alongside alumni from the Stauffer Institute (where Gabriel is a visiting professor of composition).

More on the mysterious story of how the ‘lights went out’ during the flute concerto here.

Concerto for Turntables NUMBER 2! French premier tomorrow night in Montpellier at Le Corum Opéra Berlioz. DJ Mr & Gabriel have been rehearsing for weeks & it’s been v exciting & v intense watching it come together with the brilliant Orchestre national Montpellier Occitanie. This concerto is a big step up from Gabriel’s first concerto for turntables and it features many more recent DJ techniques like ‘Euro-scratch’, needle percussion, label-noise, looping, filtering. Big thanks to the orchestra who are sounding so musical & tight & of course Chris Warren Green who completely understands the unusual approach of this work.

More info here.

Commissioned by Massimo Mercelli & The Emilia Romagna Festival for Flute & String Orchestra, Gabriel’s  Flute Concerto will be performed in Italy at the Imola Church of San Domenico (16th July, 21:00).

Nicknamed, ‘Dante’ Concerto, the very contrasting 5 movements are all inspired by Dante’s ‘Inferno’ which Gabriel studied in 2021 during lockdown. The concerto takes us on a journey from Dante’s mid-life existential reflections, through to the gates of hell, wicked dances of the devils, and then to memories of Dante’s muse Beatrice. Massimo Mercelli’s great musician sensitivity and virtuosic skill on both C-flute and bass flute are fully explored, as is the versatile strings of ORCHESTRA de I SOLISTI AQUILANI (conducted by ALDO SISILLO)

I - Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita… (Andante riflessivo)

II - Dante di fronte al verde prato del limbo (Moderato)

III - Visioni Infernali: Porte dell'Inferno, Acheron, Charon… (Lento Infausto - Rabbioso - Animato)

IV - Dansa dei diavoli (Allegro minaccioso)

V - Riveder le stelle, Beatrice (Adagio grazioso)

For tickets and more info click here.

Gabriel is excited to announce the launch of the new label: ‘OSCILLATIONS’, a label that celebrates electronic music with a narrative. On Sunday 3rd July, 4pm-11pm (DJs from 4pm / live from 5pm), we will be hosting a mini-festival at one of London's most exciting new venues: Iklectik (near Waterloo).

Expect striking live electronic music that tells stories; music that reflects on social and personal themes; presented in immersive surround-sound, using Iklectik’s special multi-speaker, ambisonics system. A move away from the minimalist approach that dominates the electronic music scene, a chance to close your eyes and enjoy ‘cinema for your ears’. + Imaginative DJ-sets will alternate with the live performances.

Alongside live performances from Ibukun Sunday, Jonty Harrison, 'Dirty Electronics' (aka John Richards) and DJ-sets from Classical Mechanics, Blanka Stachelek and more… Gabriel will give the world premier performance of his new EP: ‘HOWL!’ as well as performing the recent album: ‘Breaking Screens’ with Nigerian String Ensemble: Dulcis Ensemble - who will also perform their own works.

Tickets: £8.50 Advance / £12 OTD - For more info and to purchase tickets click here

The long-awaited release of 'HOWL!’: An electronic composition that explores the experience and struggles of protesting and rebelling against oppressive states is released today, available on all streaming platforms and online stores (limited vinyl coming soon). ‘HOWL!' EP is the first release on the new label Oscillations and it can be streamed via the links here:
Spotify Apple Music Bandcamp

'HOWL!', initially inspired by the 'Arab Spring', explores the explosion of recent technologies as a conduit for protest and opposition movements of all kinds, but also their ambivalence and tendency towards corruption and confusion. Composed at first as a score for American choreographer, Maurice Causey, and premiered by Luzerner Ballet, the piece then evolved over multiple live performances, including its Hong Kong premiere in 2019, which took place just a few hundred metres from the independence protests, and featured local clarinettist Linus YS Fung who here appears on the EP version of HOWL! II.

With guest appearances from classical musicians, Fung Yat Shan (Clarinet) and Yury Revich (violin), Prokofiev conjures a digital-age orchestra for the internet age, channelling the passions running through the wires that seek to turn blood into information. In 2022, with the war in Ukraine and protesting in Russia forbidden, HOWL! feels as relevant as ever.

We have a promo video for 'HOWL! ||' - Separation which can be watched here more videos coming on instagram soon.
* Please support independent music and our new label: Oscillations by downloading on Bandcamp.

'Separation' (violin edit) ft.Yury Revich is a haunting combination of ominous electronic clicks, with a lonely violin & synthesiser duet.

HOWL!, initially inspired by the 'Arab Spring', explores the explosion of recent technologies as a conduit for protest and opposition movements of all kinds, but also their ambivalence and tendency towards corruption and confusion. Composed at first as a score for American choreographer, Maurice Causey, and premiered by Luzerner Ballet, the piece then evolved over multiple live performances, including its Hong Kong premiere in 2019, which took place just a few hundred metres from the independence protests, and featured local clarinettist Linus YS Fung who here appears on the EP version of HOWL! II.

The single is available to stream here:

Spotify (click here) Apple Music (click here) Bandcamp (click here)

Yury and Gabriel (who both have Russian roots, but stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine) are dedicating this single release to the resistance in Ukraine, and everyone protesting against the Russian invasion.

Check Gabriel’s instagram in the next few days to see the promotional video current being finished.

Gabriel is heading to the Classical:NEXT conference in Hanover (HCC, Future Meeting Space B) between 17th-20th May for meetings and his annual DJing at the late night 'nonclassical' style after hours club at Cumberlandsche Bühne, Schauspielhaus, Hanover from 22:15-2:00.

It will be great to reconnect with classical industry colleagues after two years of COVID-19... Please get in touch with Gabriel if you're going to be there.

For more information about Classical:NEXT click here.
For more information about the DJ event click here.

Nonclassical and The African Concert Series are partnering for a two-day festival of live music and discussions, celebrating the diversity of musical styles from the African continent.

Gabriel has a long-standing interest in African music and is thrilled to be co-producing some events that focus on African Classical music.

The curated programme will reflect on how we define ‘classical music’, challenging the Eurocentric narrative of the genre. Contrary to the catch-all term of ‘world music’, these events are an opportunity to discover the breadth of artistic approaches and styles in African classical music. 

The first event on the 4th May (Iklectik) will feature a series of collaborative and solo sets from Rebecca Omordia (piano), Tunde Jegede (Kora & Cello), Ibukun Sunday (Electronics & Viola), and myself (field recordings & DJing).

For the second event on the 8th May (The Africa Centre) Gabriel will lead a panel discussion on the subject: (Re)defining African Classical Music. Then there will be performances from Bex Burch & Alfa Sackey (on Ghanaian Gyil), then the KRAR Collective (Ethiopian lyre, fiddle, vocals) and a DJ set from Blasio Kavuma. 

For tickets and more info click here.

Gabriel has been digging through his old vinyl collection for a 5-hour, vinyl only DJ set at the audiophile music & sushi bar: Brilliant Corners in Dalston on Wednesday 27th April.

Here are some of the vinyl’s I’ll be spinning:

-Vintage vinyls of music from the soviet era - remembering the struggles that Gabriel’s ancestors & many others went through and praying that a new iron curtain is not going to be pulled across Europe again. Dedicating the first hour of DJing to the resistance in Ukraine.

-Vintage Electronics from Varese Poème Electronique, to Tom Dissevelt to Wendy Carlos…

-Gabriel’s collection of Pfunk albums.

And more…

Starts 7pm until 12am, free entry but booking is essential.

Click here for booking.

‘Pastoral 21’ is back for ‘Earth Day’, with a three day tour in Switzerland. ‘Pastoral 21’ is a one hour musical discourse on the question ‘what does the concept of pastoral mean to us in this time of climate crisis?’ Gabriel will be performing electronics alongside the UNLTD Collective ensemble powered by the Verbier Festival Academy.

Performances: April 21st at Maison des Moines Romainmôtier (7:30pm)
April 22nd (Earth Day), the Mascotte Club (8:00pm).
Then an open air gig at Place Centrale in Verbier, April 23rd (4:00pm) where Gabriel will DJ & perform other works.

Iklectik has to be one of the most musically adventurous & inspiring venues in London. On 2nd April 2022, Gabriel was invited to play the closing DJ-set at their launch party for the opening of their outside yard & ‘kiosk’. As ever his set included an unconventional mix of left-field classical, electronic, and contemporary-classical remixes.

The event started at 5pm and featured sets from Dragos, Airali, Kman the Phantom and Ava.

Ten years after he first performed it with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, Dj Mr Switch is coming back to the Birmingham Symphony Hall this Saturday to perform Gabriel’s 'Concerto for Turntables No.1' with the brilliant City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ben Gernon.

Gabriel will be coming back to his University town of Birmingham for the day. The night has been very creatively programmed by the CBSO Youth Ambassadors.

The concept is Three Rooms, each with a different mood: 'From the loud to the light, dark to the bright, there’s room for everyone'.

7pm, Saturday 12th March, 2022, Birmingham Symphony Hall, UK.

For more information and tickets click here.

On Sunday 20th February, Nonclassical took over The Barbican foyer and main hall to celebrate a host of artists who use field recording and exploration of their environment at the centre of their music. Before the curated evening event, there were panel discussions, DJ sets and performances from Chihiro Ono, Langham Research Centre, Ligeti Quartet and Cedrik Fermont in the foyer. Afterwards we moved to the main hall for the evening event to listen to performances from Langham Research Centre x Photolanguage, Rebeca Ormodia, Kate Carr, Ligeti Quartet, Cedrik Fermont, Li Yilei.

Composers featured in the performances include:
Lili Boulanger, Kaikhosru Sorabji, John Luther Adams, Christian Onyeji, Cassandra Miller, Luc Ferrari, John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Anna Meredith, Cedrik Fermont & more.

Gabriel finished his Omicron isolation period just in time for the premier of his ‘Viola Concerto’ at the Bonn Opera House on the 14th January 2022. The wonderful violist Maxim Rysanov both performed and conducted the concerto alongside the Beethoven Bonn Orchester.

Since the performance, there have been many excellent newspaper and magazine reviews, the latest from the General Anzeiger:

“The music has the power to stand for itself. How the solo instrument emerges from the orchestral fog of sound in the first movement, how it has to assert itself against heavy accents or a sharp trumpet signal, is exciting to follow. Just like the dialogue between solo and tutti in this rhythmically extremely gripping work is very imaginative and always has surprises in store”.

“In Bonn there was great applause for the soloist, the orchestra and the composer, who had travelled all the way from London”.

To read the review in Papageno Magazine click here.

Between the 12th-16th of February 2022, Gabriel will be leading a masterclass at the Stauffer Center for Strings in Cremona, the birthplace of the violin (home of Amati, Rugeri, & Stradivarios). During the course, Gabriel will explore the question: How do we compose music in the 21st Century? The students will be challenged to re-evaluate their roles as composers and reconsider the potential of contemporary classical in the context of modern 21st century life. The lab will explore the role of electronics alongside the importance of acoustic performance and also discuss performance practice, exploring ideas about how to bring contemporary works to new audiences.

Please share this with any young composers you know, particularly those who have an interest in working with electronics and acoustic ensembles. For more details about the course, visit the website here. The deadline is January 17th 2022andplease note thatthe program is entirely free, except accommodation which must be organised by each individual.

We’re very excited to announce that Gabriel’s new album is now available on CD, in limited edition from the historic Firma Melodiya label - who’s iconic logo is embossed on the vinyl-style disc. The album is now available from all main retailers (Naxos, Amazon Music, WHSmith, Presto Music, etc…). If you get your hands on a copy, you will receive a CD embossed with the original Melodiya vinyl label, inside high-quality cardboard Digi-pack packaging, with a 20 page colour booklet. 

NOTE: This is an ideal gift for electronic music fans who are curious about classical music, and classical music fans who are curious about electronic music...!

And I recommend checking out Melodiya’s catalogue. They have been reissuing most of their classic releases from the 50s & 60s, as well as several high-quality new classical releases.

The album has been getting a lot of radio support on various independent classical and electronic radio shows in Europe. And several blog & press reviews, the latest from Roland Torres at Silence And Sound - "Techno kicks and dubstep breaks can erupt to make you dizzy, the strings support everything in glissando or pizzicato, offering diversity and power, dreamlike and urban, the worlds uniting to share with us the genesis of the world and its fragmented diversity. Vital.” 

Thank you to everyone who played a part in the making of 'Breaking Screens'...

The Moscow premiere of Gabriel’s Cello Concerto was performed at the Tchaikovsky Hall for the final night of Viva Cello Festival on the 20th November. In 2013, it was performed by Sasha Ivashkin (who commissioned the piece) at the St Petersburg Philharmonic Hall. The recent recording of the Concerto featuring Boris Andrianov and Ural Philharmonic (2018) can be found via this link here. The second movement of the Concerto was written in memory of the struggles that Gabriel’s father, uncle and grandparents faced when living in Moscow during the Soviet era, bringing extra significance to this first performance in Moscow.

What is British identity? And what is that in music? Together with Fretwork, the UK’s leading viol consort, composer Orlando Gough and Gabriel have co-curated & commissioned a new project in which a host of British composers tell the story through their arrangements of music by British musical icons such as Edward Elgar, Kate Bush, the Sugababes, William Lawes, Napalm Death, Annie Lennox, MJ Cole, The Clash, Delia Derbyshire and Radiohead.

The event will be taking place at Kings Place, London this Friday 12th November at 8:00 PM. Click here for tickets and more information.

The new project ‘Pastoral 21’ explores how the concept of Pastoral has changed in this time of Climate Crisis and that “while nature brought unalloyed joy for Beethoven’s contemporaries, the pastoral brings a sense of fear for us, considering how mankind has damaged it” (Prokofiev, The Times).

Commissioned by the Verbier Festival, Gabriel joins forces with the UNLTD Collective (Verbier Academy Festival alumni musicians) to present a music and sound experience for string sextet, live electronics and field recordings. The performance took place at Stereo in Glasgow during COP26. Whilst Gabriel was in Glasgow, he took part in the ‘Global Day of Action for Climate 2021’ march just before his rehearsal.

“The blend of electronic music and acoustic strings is managed effectively so that one sounds like an extension of the other, the electronic sounds gradually encroaching on the strings to suggest damage infecting the natural”. (The Times)

“That’s also true in Pastoral Reflections, Prokofiev’s specific reaction to Beethoven’s symphony, where open textures and clean lines, expertly played by the Verbier musicians, balance field recordings from the Swiss Alps and the Viennese surroundings that inspired Beethoven”. (The Times)

Gabriel will be performing the Austrian premier of his new album ‘Breaking Screens’ in Vienna this Saturday (18-09-2021) at a brand new event called ‘Climate Nights’ at the legendary Pratersauna club. The event focuses on climate crisis awareness - so ‘Breaking Screens’ is ideally themed to open the night. Star violinist Yury Revich will be performing alongside musicians from the Music & Arts University (MUK).

Following the ‘Climate Nights’ event, Gabriel will also be giving a lecture, masterclass and concert at the Music & Arts University (MUK) as part of the ‘Sharing New Impulses’ festival.

More information about the lecture and masterclass can be found here.

Gabriel is proud to announce a new live project: 'Pastoral 21’ - a one hour musical discourse on the question ‘what does the concept of pastoral mean to us in this time of climate crisis?’. The world premier took place at Espace Saint Marc for the Verbier Festival on 29.07.21 and it is available to stream on both on Medici Tv and Idagio.

Composed for string sextet, live electronics & field recordings, this project started as a response to Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony. It opens with the 1st movement of the Beethoven (arranged for sextet), which reminds us of our less troubled relationship with nature 250 years ago. Today of course, the concept of 'Pastoral' is bitter-sweet; we can still experience the beauty of nature, but the traces of humanity and industry are always present, and the spectre of the ever increasing climate crisis is looming...

The concert includes eight pieces from Gabriel’s new album ‘Breaking Screens’ which introduces topics of consumerism, digital life, and impending crisis, and it climaxes with ‘Pastoral Reflections’ a brand new composition which responds to Beethoven’s Pastoral model, using the same themes for each movement but from a very contemporary perspective: pastoral beauty is enjoyed but sadness and uncertainty are also present.

WATCH

STREAM

The new single ‘SEVEN STEPS’ from Gabriel’s forthcoming album with the OpenSoundOrchestra is out now on all digital platforms. In this track, Gabriel went back to his grime and electro production roots, but with a contemporary classical twist: incorporating string orchestra, and transforming the usual four beats into seven beats per bar.

The dance footage in the promo video for the track comes from ‘Spring’ by the Alexander Whitley Dance Company and Gandini Juggling for which the music from ‘BREAKING SCREENS’ was originally assembled. It was filmed in the Sadler’s Wells Theatre for the UK premiere, and it also toured Europe in 2018-2019.

The full album ‘BREAKING SCREENS’ will be released on 15/07/21.

STREAM on SPOTIFY

From June 2021 composer Gabriel Prokofiev will be managed by the London-based company Only Stage Ltd.

“Music is our language.
Taking care of our artists is a religion.
To support them to realise their visions is a must.
To create solutions for orchestras, organizations, promoters is our duty.
All what is around music and its significance is our mission”
(Susanna Stefani Caetani)

Worldwide Management Susanna Stefani Caetani
susanna@onlystage.co.uk
T: +44 7950 427967

On the 17th of April, Gabriel performed the sampled choral electronics in his Beethoven9 Symphonic Remix live alongside Beethoven Orchester Bonn in the final concert of their special online streaming ‘Beethoven Pur’ series.

The livestream included a pre-concert talk with live musical excerpts from the orchestra showing the connections between the Beethoven9 Remix and Beethoven’s original symphony.

Streamed on MagentaMusik and conducted by Etienne Abelin.

Back in March, Gabriel composed the soundtrack for new Indian sci-fi series ‘Ok Computer’ which can be streamed on Disney Hotstar.

The directors Pooja Shetty, Neil Pagedar and Anand Gandhi have created something really remarkable and unique with this series. As a longtime sci-fi fan, Gabriel is often critical of new sci-fi films but their knowledge of the genre, brilliant imaginations, out-of-the-box maximal approach has created something so original and engaging.

From a musical perspective, Gabriel thoroughly enjoyed composing a broad mixture of orchestral score (performed on virtual instruments); a synth-driven electronic titles-theme; naïve Robot themes, and quirky prepared-piano. The production is backed up by some of the best talent in the film world: Sound design/mixing: Resul Pookutty, Production Designers: Prasun Basu, Gauri Tiwari, Cinematographer: Diego Guijarro, Editor: Charu Takkar.

STREAM on SPOTIFY

DIRECT from BIS RECORDS

‘Five Impressions of Self-Isolation’ was released on Hiyali Togawa’s stunning new album ‘Songs of Solitude’ on Bis Records.

Back in March 2020, when the world was just entering the first lockdown, conductor/composer Jose Serebrier contacted Gabriel about Hiyoli’s solo viola album: a project that would reflect on the new normal of solitude and no concerts that we were all experiencing. Gabriel was struggling to get the creative juices flowing in the restricted new life but writing the five impressions really helped him break out of a composer’s block.

The music is available to stream on Spotify and directly from Bis Records.

WATCH on YOUTUBE

On the 12th of February, Gabriel performed a thirty minute online streaming concert as part of the “All about Bach! Festival” - Only Stage digital season.

The first program of the digital project involved a series of chamber music concerts in which artists performed using technology and social media to share music all over the world. Gabriel’s performance presented Bach’s ‘The Musical Offering BWV 1079’ on analogue synths and samplers, joined by Viola player Hiyoli Togawa for the ‘Sarabande in D minor’.

“All about Bach! Festival” - Only Stage Digital Season

LISTEN ONLINE @ BBC Radio 3 website

One hundred years since the earliest electronic instruments began to appear, composer Gabriel Prokofiev explores how the advent of electronically generated sound has influenced how we make and listen to music. Over three episodes, Gabriel charts a personal journey through the key works that influenced his own composing style, and the impact electronics have had on contemporary classical music.

Aired in three episodes: i) Evolution of Electronically Generated Sound ii) Musique Concrete, Sampling & Found Sound. iii) The ubiquity of electronics, where next?

Produced by Alannah Chance. A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3

The series premieres on Sunday 10 January 2021 at 11PM GMT - on BBC Radio 3. With following episodes on 17th & 24th January.

It will be available as a Podcast on BBCSounds after broadcast.

DOWNLOAD & STREAM on BANDCAMP

STREAM on SPOTIFY

His first electronic-classical single in more than 5 years, SIX HESIT HEIST is a collision of orchestra and electronic clicks, synths, kicks, and field recording. It conjures images of inner-city-scapes, a sense of adventure, and a moment of escape above the city which uses a field recording Gabriel made in Seoul, South Korea - which is where the above photo was taken.

In need of some energised, beat-driven music to lift his spirits during lockdown, Gabriel came across an unused sketch from his recent, Ivors Award nominated ballet score, Sense of Time. It had a syncopated orchestral beat that fired up his inspiration, and within a few days it was a finished composition. While impossible to record an orchestra during lockdown, he had spent much of the year working with orchestral samples and decided to go against classical norms to use whatever was available to realise the track.

The end result is a 'post-covid orchestral' beat (in six) married with scattering electronic gestures, doubled analogue synth arpeggios, and evocative found sounds.