RELAUNCH
We're back with a new project pairing composers and ensembles! Our first physical concert since the pandemic.
WITH LOVE, FROM YOUR GHOST’S GHOSTS
Zygmund de Somogyi
Performed by the Lizzie Trio
You know how sometimes you’re lying in bed and suddenly you’re haunted by the phantoms of every single mistake you’ve ever made?
That happens to me a lot.
And you know how sometimes you’ll use everything in your power to distract you from those memories but it’s 3am and you’re tired and your brain doesn’t work and why did I say that and what if I did this differently and now everyone hates me FÛĊ̵̹͜█
But hey, tomorrow’s another day, right? So, while you’re here, we might as well enjoy ourselves…
Do you want to play a game?
OLD SONGS/ NEW SONGS/ TOGETHER SONG(S)
Lucy Havelock
Performed by flxnflx
old songs/ new songs/ together song(s) explores connection and memory through songs, loop pedals and improvisation. For the piece, we have each made mixtapes of songs we like or feel connected to in some way, and whilst these songs aren’t explicitly referenced or shared in the piece, we improvise around the feelings we hold in connection to these songs. We are also using (a) loop pedal(s) to capture moments of our improvisation which we not only enjoy but also feel connect each mixtape to our individual experiences of the piece.
If you wish to listen to the loop captured moments of the piece, this may be possible on the evening of the concert through headphones. Alternatively, they will be recorded and shared after the concert
OUR OWN PARADE
Ralph Lewis
Performed by Lucy Havelock, Desmond Clarke and Gaia Blandina
“our own parade” cat-whiskers through narrow spaces, finds ways against the tight walls around it, and sometimes bawls when it gets too stuck.
Thank you to the Arc Project for this opportunity and to the performers for their time, effort, and artistry.
ACCESS
Lynette Quek
Performed by Anna Palko and Jack McNeil
‘ACCESS’ is a piece for guitar and flute. The performers utilise not only their instruments, but also their accompanying tools and accessories in preparation or during performance.
PROCESSION
Tom Sissons
Performed by Emma Burke, David Valsamidis, Rachel Singer
In November of last year, I attended a performance of Britten’s War Requiem. This was preceded by an exhibition of photographs taken in conflict zones over the past twenty or so years by the photographer David Pratt. I was forcibly struck by one photograph taken last year in Ukraine at the funeral of a young soldier: the soldier’s widow and small child, surrounded on three sides by a crowd, several-dozen strong, look on as the funeral procession moves towards them down the street. We do not see the procession itself, only the mourners awaiting the coffin.
This inspired a piece concerned with people who are changed and left behind by war: civilians left bereaved and soldiers with disabilities. The piece incorporates a number of folk songs and poems, dating from the eighteenth century to the First World War, in which strikingly similar themes emerge. Themes of injury, indignity and futility carry from century to century, from war to war. Poems and songs have been combined to form the text of the piece, which – through a mixture of speech and song – is delivered both live by the performers, and by pre-recorded, invisible voices.
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A LICHEN
Robin Fiedler
Performed by Millie Mazone, Jenny Ralph, Will King
A Day in the Life of a Lichen is a chamber piece that explores the concept of a decentralised organism. A lichen is a symbiotic lifeform consisting of two or more symbiotic partners,
mostly algae, bacteria and species of fungi. These partners need to work together to keep the organism alive, not to mention so sturdy that some species of lichens are amongst the very few organisms to survive space radiation. Since the three instruments I’m writing for are from three different “species", I felt this was a good opportunity to experiment with this apart-but-togetherness that is symbiosis. My aim was to have the different voices work towards each other and still embody a collective that stands together and benefits from each other’s strengths to survive through tough environments as well as periods of thriving.
…AD LUCEM…
Cameron McArthur
Performed by Terra Invisus
‘…Ad Lucem…’ is a piece about shadows, shifting perspectives, and things obscured from view. It is the second in a trio of works: it follows ‘Ex Umbra…’, for solo clarinet, which will be recorded by Dov Goldberg for Psappha ensemble in May 2023, and precedes ‘…et lux in tenebris lucet’, an ensemble piece which will be completed in the summer of this year. All of the works in this set relate to a common musical line; however, the extent to which that line can be heard varies significantly from piece to piece, depending on particularities of shape, form, and desires for musical momentum.