Corpus Sonus
Turner Contemporary, Margate
Friday 20 April 2012
6.00–10.00pm

Corpus Sonus is a new piece for choir and dictaphones developed by Musarc specifically for Late Night Live: Landmark at Turner Contemporary, Margate.

Based on an original idea by sound artist and ensemble member Sam Belinfante, Corpus Sonus begins with a live performance of William Byrd’s Ave Verum Corpus followed by variations of the early 17c motet using dictaphone recordings made by each individual singer during the performance itself.

Musarc will perform the piece four times throughout the evening, each time using the recording devices as a tool to produce a new variation, involving different ways of playback and changing configurations of the choir in the gallery.

The four variations have been developed from responses by other ensemble members to the original score, and touch on ideas such as the choir as a body of sound, recording and the ‘disembodied’ voice, the notion of space in musical performance, or the building as an instrument.