A double bill of an excerpt of new work featuring Aurelia Thierrée with To Imprison the Wind and a contemporary cello performance from Mike Block.
Bells and Spells
With Aurelia Thierrée
By Victoria Thierrée Chaplin
25 – 27 October, 7.30pm
£20 / £15
“(After world acclaimed Aurelia’s Oratorio and Murmurs)
We are presenting Bells and Spells, 30 minutes of excerpts from new work in progress by director Victoria Thierrée Chaplin with Aurelia Thierrée.
In these never before seen fragments, Aurelia, slightly kleptomaniac, falls under the influence of the objects she “borrows”. Improbable mechanisms, mad musical boxes punctuate her journey.”
Each evening of Bells and Spells will be followed by a unique selection of contemporary live music from The Octandre Ensemble and Mike Block. See below for dates and details.
To Imprison the Wind
25 & 26 October, following Bells and Spells
Performed by The Octandre Ensemble (Audrey Milheres, Sam Cave, Corentin Chassard)
Where do you find inspiration? And how can you capture it? The Octandre Ensemble investigates the real and illusory resonances of folk traditions which glow through the music of contemporary composers (including Murail, Nørgård, Rădulescu and Saariaho), with a glance back to seminal forefather of folk-inspired composition: Bela Bartok.
The Octandre Ensemble is a new music collective based in London, formed by composer Christian Mason and conductor Jon Hargreaves in 2011. Their core repertoire focuses on music written after 1945, with a particular emphasis on timbre and ritual. Sound is an eternally fascinating phenomenon, and music can harness its power in ever more original ways: new music, ancient ideas. The Ensemble has been featured on BBC Radio 3 (Hear and Now, In Tune), and have performed at festivals including Little Missenden (2014, 2016), York Spring Festival of New Music (2012) and Principal Sound (2015).
A Performance of Contemporary Cello Pieces by Mike Block
27 October, following Bells and Spells
Performed by Mike Block
Grammy Award-winner Mike Block, cello and vocals, presents a mixture of contemporary-classical cello pieces, arrangements of folk music, and original songs that draw inspiration from his diverse collaborations with artists including cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Indian tabla player Sandeep Das, Malian balafon player Balla Kouyate, as well as will.i.am, Stevie Wonder and Bon Iver.
Mike Block is a pioneering multi-style cellist, singer, composer, and educator, hailed by Yo-Yo Ma as the “ideal musician of the 21st-Century” and praised by the NY Times for his “vital rich-hued solo playing.”
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