Robert Ames on collaboration & the beauty of an orchestra

Committed to flexing the boundaries of classical and orchestral music, Ames has collaborated with a broad swathe of musical artists that include Frank Ocean, Jonny Greenwood, Belle and Sebastian, DJ Shadow and Foals. And earlier this year he conducted the first ever video game prom as part of the 2022 BBC Proms.

Here at the Southbank Centre we’ve channelled this spirit of experimentation and collaboration through our Purcell Sessions series which have thus far seen the LCO work with electronic artists including cktrl, Teebs, Loraine James and Charles Hayward. The series continues this autumn with partnerships with the Iran-based artist Ata ‘Sote’ Ebtekar, and Joseph Kamaru, aka KMRU.

Ahead of these gigs we caught up with Ames to find out a little more about his own musical journey, about collaboration, and the pull of the orchestra.

Let’s start with a little bit about your formative years, what is your earliest musical memory?

Learning to play the recorder with my mum, and listening to music with my dad on long car trips. We would jump from Vivaldi to Pink Floyd, Palestrina to Bjork, and everything in between. I listened to all of that music with a sense of wonder, not really thinking about genre. That’s definitely stuck with me.

Did you always want to have a career in music? And if so did you envisage it going where your career has taken you?

Pretty early on I felt that music was something I wanted to do, but I had no idea I would end up doing what I am now. I love having a varied diet of conducting and arranging for different types of music, as well as collaborating across genres and art forms. Producing electronic music is fairly new for me, it gives me even more respect for composers and producers working at a high level. 

This summer you conducted the BBC Proms’ first ever ‘gaming prom’; how did that come about? And are you much of a gamer yourself?

I love gaming and wish I had more time for it. The worlds being built within modern gaming now are epic in scope, and the music has followed suit. The gaming melodies from my childhood have really stuck with me; so many good tunes. I really enjoy the work I do with the Proms, shining a light on music that hasn’t been previously featured. The gaming prom was a long time coming and I think we did a really good job at covering a vast amount of music and styles in one evening. The audience was awesome; people from every walk of life, young and old. 

‘Orchestras are a wonderful thing – many people on stage working together towards a shared musical goal, it’s beautiful and really powerful.’

Taking new approaches like the gaming prom, and taking performances into new spaces as you have done with the LCO; how effective do you think these ideas are in encouraging new audiences to classical music?

I don’t really see it as bringing new audiences to classical music, just bringing audiences to orchestral music. Orchestras are a wonderful thing, many many people on stage working together towards a shared musical goal, it’s beautiful and really powerful.

Collaborations is of course another way of changing the boundaries of classical music, and you’ve brought a number of LCO collaborations to the Southbank Centre; what can audiences expect from these concerts?

Explorations in sound, giving our collaborators an opportunity to work with acoustic musicians in a very open and encouraging environment. The shows always offer something new for the audience, for example it’s really interesting having musicians work with an electronic producer who might typically be working or performing behind a laptop. It physicalises the music for the audience in a way that you wouldn’t get at a typical DJ or Producer show. We also learn a lot from the artists we work with, it’s really a positive two-way process. 

Is there a tried and tested approach you take with LCO collaborations now, or does each one differ in how it comes together, dependent on the artist?

No, it’s always different and very much tailored to the artists’ needs. The one constant is a very open-minded, and talented group of musicians.  

‘I feel incredibly lucky already with the quality and breadth of artists I have been able to work with.’

How do you choose who to collaborate with?

Sometimes we reach out to artists and vice versa. At the Southbank Centre the musical programmers Bengi Unsal and now Lexy Morvaridi have always had great ideas also. But I listen to as much music as possible and try to keep my ear to the ground for new upcoming artists.

And lastly, if you could collaborate with any performer, composer or conductor in the world, who would that be?

Ahhh, that’s a tough one. I feel incredibly lucky already with the quality and breadth of artists I have been able to work with. There are a few dream collaborations coming next year, although I can’t mention them now.