An evening of contemporary chamber music around the themes of protection, entrapment, physicality and autonomy, curated by Rufus Isabel Elliot.

​

The abstraction of chamber music opens up difficult and co-existent points of view and emotional states. Entering the room, Coastal Inversions by Swedish-Finnish sound artist Marja Ahti immediately takes us to another place, a sonic scene vibrating all around us, widening our sense of what’s inside and what’s out.

​

Liza Lim’s Amulet provides music for protection, keeping us safe for the journey into our imagination that is about to follow. Old stories are retold – ancient rituals are beaten out with modern rhythms in Tansy Davies’ Dark Ground, Ferneyhough makes Cassandra stammer again through her story. Kurt Cobain sings us a dark folk story, torn apart and reformed by Cassandra Miller – performed by violinist Mira Benjamin, the piece’s dedicatee.

​

Quiet and reflective, James Weeks’ winterærc is a gentle duet between violin and viola, holding together the instruments’ co-operation and freedom. The evening finishes with a new work by Rufus Isabel Elliot; returning to Greek mythology, it explores the image of Daphne running through the forest.

​

Liza Lim Amulet
Tansy Davies Dark Ground
Brian Ferneyhough Cassandra’s Dream Song
Cassandra Miller for mira

James Weeks winterærc (world premiere)
Rufus Isabel Elliot I knapped the stone til it was gone / I laid it on the forest floor (world premiere)​

​

Photos by Kevin Leighton