Waterford New Music Week: Meet Sue Rynhart

Waterford New Music Week is coming up all next week. I attended the launch and my preview piece is in the print version of the Irish Examiner today. More details on WNMW facebook page here

One of the emerging artists to feature is Sue Rynhart.  I enjoyed hearing Sue at a Kaleidoscope gig recently and she sent me this e interview ahead of her Waterford appearance. In 2014 she released a much admired debut album, Crossings with bassist Dan Bodwell which explored an intersection between jazz and contemporary music . Sue Rynhart will conduct a improvisation workshop as well as a daytime recital with bassist Andrew Csibi in Waterford City Library on Wednesday 25th March.

 New Music is a major feature of your work with many contemporary composers featuring in your repertoire. At what point did creating your own material become  significant ?.

About three years ago creating my own material became a significant part of my work. I had taken abreak from performing and focused on creating 

Who has influenced you most in arriving at your own individual style?
I think the music I have created is probably influenced on one hand by the music that I have performed; choral works from medieval to the present day, solo vocal repertoire including early music songs, Aria Antiquae, Lieder, atonal music, folk songs,  jazz standards & popular song and on the other hand music that I have listened to. I improvise regularly with vocalists Dorothy Murphy, and Tuula Voutilainen and this experience has certainly allowed me to become more confident and creative with my voice and musical ideas. 

In my music I can hear idioms of modes, scales and rhythm patterns that I have really internalized through practicing and I can certainly hear some odd meters that I am comfortable with through singing with Dylan Rynhart's Fuzzy Logic . So to name some major influences , I would say Byrd, Weelks, Tallis, Purcell, Dowland, Alban Berg, Tori Amos, Stina Nordenstam, Sinead O Connor, Gillian Welch, Public Image Limited, Orbital, Prince, Bobby McFerrin, Norma Winstone, Gentle Giant... I could go on and on.

What area was your post grad in?

I studied an MA in Historical Studies at NUI Maynooth under the direction of Dr, Patrick Devine and Dr Barra Boydell. Highlights were surveying information on music and entertainment in Irish newspapers from 1800's and transcribing Lute Tablature into modern staff notation. My thesis was on the secular songs of Sir Andrew Stevenson best known for his piano accompaniments for Thomas Moore's Melodies. Stevenson was a Lay Vicar Choral at Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin, a post I also enjoyed when I completed my MA

Any future projects you'd like to flag?

Abigail Smith, a brilliant songwriter and composer recently released her album 'Fall into Silence' . I had the pleasure of singing backing vocals for her.

I sing on a regular basis with Dylan Rynhart's Fuzzy Logic Ensemble at Listen at the Wellington

I will be singing in an opera based on Finnegan's Wake by Sean MacErlaine 21st -14th May 

I am looking forward to being interviewed by Bernard Clarke forhis radio programme Nova on RTE Lyric FM in April to talk about my  album.