Composer, Collaborator: Will Dutta

Is there anything that Will Dutta can't do? As a musician, curator, multi instrumentalist, promoter and now label boss he successfully bridges the gap between experimental and classical music, putting on night's in venues not suited to one or the other and packing them out every time. An event run by another set of people famed for breaking down boundaries between genres, it was fitting that he closed the Southbank's Ether festival last Saturday. We caught up with him to talk cross-genre collaboration, how curating meets collaborating, and learn about something called 'ambisonics'.

So why did you decide to take part in the Ether festival?

It was great to get the opportunity to be involved with Ether. In my mind there are only a few festivals that really put this sort of music on the map and Ether is certainly one of them, so it seemed like a no-brainer not to do it. Plus I get to play a stunning piano, that's always nice!

You deal in cross-genre collaboration with Chimera. What does that mean to you? Do you take an 'anything goes' approach or is it something specific?

I don't really see the cross-genre tag as an exercise in 'fusion' but more building on the tradition of classical music. What is generally considered the 'standard repertoire' would be stripped of so much content had it not been for the long-standing tradition of cross-pollination of sound (Chopin and Polish popular and folkloristic material or Bartok and his in-depth study of folk song for example) so I'm looking at my collaborative work from that angle.

This then leaves things quite open, at the moment I'm passionate about dance music in all its various guises but in the future I'd like to explore folk or cross-cultural collaborations too. The problem is time, the practice of improvisation (I know, a contradiction) is as time consuming as working up a complex score so I have to pace myself!

As a composer, collaboration seems to be very important to you but you're also a 'curator'. Do you see these as two different roles or as the same thing?

They're more or less the same thing to me, as the outcome or music doesn't change but the role in which I go about things might slightly. So for example, if I want to collaborate with a particular musician but it it's not the right time or project to do so, my role as a producer/curator might allow me to get them involved in the project coming at a different angle and I don't mind if I'm not directly involved in the playing or composing, the curatorial role gives me equal artistic satisfaction just via a different medium.

So how is Chimera productions going?

It's been an amazing but hectic year so far, we've been doing shows in some great places, from the BFI to Cafe Oto and Tate Britain and creating music with some amazing musicians. I'm trying to tour a few existing projects to get them out to as many people as possible as so often you work hard trying to get something together and it's too easy to let it be a one-off and move on to the next thing, that's a bad habit I'm trying to break!

You're still running Blank Canvas, yes? What is coming up?

The current season comes to a close on June 10 at Cafe Oto with Scanner, myself and Digitonal performing and then it will become slightly less regular but much larger in ambition. We're currently planning a really exciting show for October with SND and Dai Fujikura which will use ambisonics, basically the use of way too many speakers but it gives phenomenal sound quality, and we'll also be doing more shows with the London Sinfonietta and Heritage Orchestra.

Is the art element of your work still as important to you? Are the spaces you present work in still very important?

As much as I'm trying to tour things, I also really enjoy site-specific works. My Late at Tate last year really played with the effect of the Duveen Galleries and the Turner and the Masters exhibition. I think it's a bit of a wasted opportunity to just plonk musicians in a gallery with no regard to the surrounding artwork, so I try to tailor the music to a specific exhibition or space so that the two artforms hopefully enhance one another.

I've got a forthcoming project with the Drawing Room and Romanian visual artist Matei Bejenaru in the Autumn, it's always a fascinating process working with artists from completely different backgrounds, so yes the art side is important to me.

You're working with the PRS and other agencies but the music you do is quite experimental. Why do you think some experimental musicians shun that kind of endorsement all together?

I'm not too sure if experimental musicians shun that endorsement, some might, but I think the application process can be pretty daunting, it's not just the music you have to justify in these things but also showing that you're actively developing audiences, which is good and bad in that I don't think all musicians feel comfortable doing both but I think it's also important to get people in to hear your stuff.

You've been working on the label to release records [Gabriel Prokofiev’s Concerto for Turntables & Orchestra featuring DJ Yoda & Heritage Orchestra etc]. Do you have anything else coming up?

Yeah it was great getting the release out last year and to win an Independent Music Award was the icing on the cake for an album that was a long-time in the making! I'm now currently working on my own album, which will feature the collaborations I playedEther plus a few new things, that'll be sure to keep me out of sunlight for another few months yet!

Find out more about Will's work at http://www.willdutta.com/