Welcome to the Donald Bousted Edition, where we are preserving his immense creative and artistic output. Follow our ‘Tributes to Donald’ YouTube series, on microtonal and non-microtonal flugelhorn, ukulele and percussion, using these three YouTube Handles:
@microtonalprojects
@stephenaltoft
@DonaldBoustedUkulele
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NEW! CD Recording of My Time is Your Time on ISPILU by Lore Amenabar Larrañaga, quarter-tone accordion available now! see BLOG
NEW: BIRTHDAY: To mark the birthday of our late friend Donald Bousted on 21st November, Microtonal Projects are releasing three movements of 19.5, recorded live to video by duo Contour, which were originally one online performance made as part of the ‘Mikrotöne: Small is Beautiful’ Symposium hosted by the Ekmelic Society in 2021. See BLOG!
https://www.loreamenabar.com/discography
PERFORMANCES
8th February 2024, ‘Time Dreaming’ for three 19-division trumpets, 1pm. St. Pauls’ Hall, University of Huddersfield, UK. Stephen Altoft, 19-division trumpet https://www.hud.ac.uk/performance/february/
16th February, 2024, ‘Time Dreaming’ for three 19-division trumpets, 6.15pm. Churchill College, Cambridge University, UK. Stephen Altoft, 19-division trumpet https://www.tickettailor.com/events/churchillcollegemusicsociety/1133835
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RESOURCES
The International Ekmelic Society have released the 4th Journal of the presentations from the 2021 edition of the ‘Mikrotöne: Small is Beautiful’ Symposium, at which Donald gave his last presentation- on 19.5, with duo Contour. Patrick Ozzard-Low provided an article reflecting on this work, together with a Foreword by trumpeter, and long time collaborator of Donald, Stephen Altoft. It can be ordered from here: here
https://www.mackingerverlag.at/produkt/mikrotoene-small-is-beautiful-4/here
Michael Dixon, the composer/hornist with whom Donald worked, has posted not only a multi-track recording of ‘Melancholia’ on Soundcloud but also play-a-longs on YouTube @thebrasswhisperer so horn players can play the piece at home!
WORKS
Some works (download sheet music and recordings) are distributed worldwide by tutti.co.uk in the UK and some recorder music by Orpheus Music in Australia. The rest are available direct from us. Recordings can also be found on Bandcamp, Soundcloud and YouTube.
Recordings of Donald’s music can also be found on Stephen Altoft’s Soundcloud and Stephen Altoft’s Bandcamp site as well as on Apple Music, Spotify and other digital platforms.
Keep in touch via our Facebook page.
contact: donaldbousted.edition(at)gmail.com
Donald Bousted (1957-2021)
Donald Bousted constantly re-invented himself. Firstly he was a classical guitarist, then he devoted himself to being a composer- increasingly, but not exclusively, of microtonal music. He was very interested in other media, and he became a media artist himself, making films, installations, and electronic works. During the last few 5 years of his life he dedicated a lot of his time to the classical ukulele: he recorded many pieces onto his Ukulele Channel on YouTube, commissioning new works, releasing CDs and digital albums, and of course playing concerts.
When he was researching his PhD, there was very little accessible information about microtonal music. He did a lot to change this. He founded Microtonal Projects, ran four UKMicroFests in London (having visited LA MicroFest), nine Wild dog media events in London and then founded the EUROMicroFest with Stephen Altoft in Germany. With Stephen he wrote a book, ‘The Microtonal Trumpet’, and they travelled to South Korea, toured the UK and around Europe presenting the project of 25 years.
He liked humour in music, in his own music too: he said that was one reason why Haydn was a favourite composer of his.
His passing in December of 2021 has left a huge hole. He never wasted time, he just got on with living, composing, making his media pieces, perfecting his Ukulele craft. We will try to continue what he started, always with him in our hearts and mind, remembering his vision, energy and determination, and ‘just getting on with it’.
DONALD BOUSTED Edition 