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Music competition winner inspired by CAPC research

‘In the same breath’, a 2008 artwork by artist and glass-blower Kate Williams (see her website - http://breath-taking.org.uk/makers/info/kate-williams -for a video of the glass trombone being played). ‘In the same breath’ can be seen as part of the upcoming Royal West of England Academy exhibition ‘Air: Visualising the Invisible in British Art 1768-2017‘.

6 April 2017

University of Bristol PhD student Elan Higueras has won the Inspired Composition competition with his piece 'It Felt Like Drowning' for trombone quartet.

The piece was inspired by research on domestic violence carried out by Professor Gene Feder and colleagues at the Centre for Academic Primary Care (CAPC), as presented in 'A Painful Silence' at the Feel It festival in Bristol in last year.

'It Felt Like Drowning' will be premiered at 1.15pm on Friday 28 April in the University of Bristol’s Victoria Rooms, as part of a free lunchtime concert by acclaimed all-female trombone quartet Bones Apart, sponsored by the Life of Breath project.

In a Life of Breath blog post, Elan Higueras said: “It Felt Like Drowning explores the pain and suffering experienced by victims of domestic violence. Breathlessness, anxiety and silent resilience are expressed musically in this trombone quartet.”

Professor Gene Feder said: “Many congratulations to Elan on winning the competition. Domestic violence is difficult to talk about. Exploring different ways of expressing that experience, in this case through musical performance, can be a powerful way of hearing the experience and engaging people in conversation about it.”

About the Inspired Composition competition

Entrants were asked to attend the Feel It festival in November 2016 and take their inspiration from one of the events, exhibitions, talks, films or panel discussions they went to. Feel It was an arts festival on pain, breathlessness and performance. For more information about the competition, see the Life of Breath website.

Further information

Related links

Domestic violence research at the Centre for Academic Primary Care (CAPC)

About Professor Gene Feder

’Why gender can’t be ignored when dealing with domestic violence’ on the CAPC blog

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