Musarc have been invited to host a salon as part of the Barbican’s OMA/Progress exhibition. For the event, we have commissioned a new film by sound artist Davide Tidoni which explores sonic impulse responses inside and around the Barbican by popping a balloon.

Recorded during periods of silence, often at night, the results of such a seemingly mundane act are mesmerising. Tidoni adds a humorous dimension to this in the way he later stages the recording in the film. The first work in this series, A balloon for Linz, received an honorary mention at the Prix Ars Electronica 2011 and can be seen above (turn it up! and headphones recommended).

Sounds from the choir, talks, walks and more

In addition to the screening and talks by the artist and guests exploring sound, architecture and perception, the evening will include a performance by Musarc’s choir and more. We are organising a guided balloon-popping walk with Davide the day before or after the event. Stay tuned and save the date.

Barbican Salons

‘For refreshment, society and discussion, join lively-minded individuals at these special Thursday evenings. Each Salon is hosted by creative and influential tastemakers from London’s art and architecture scene. Drinks are available at the bar, stimulation guaranteed.’

On 16 December 2011, Musarc will be returning to St Bartholomew the Great with an ambitious programme of improvisation, instrumental and choral performances, a sound installation, and an exhibition of photographs by Yiannis Katsaris.

Mathew Kneebone and Yuri Suzuki, Large scale Reubens’ tube

[1.] Musarc’s third visit to one of London’s oldest, most beautiful churches and great acoustic spaces will open again with an installation on the theme of sound and light: an ensemble of standing wave flame tubes, or ‘Reubens’ tubes’, created by designers/artists Yuri Suzuki and Mathew Kneebone.

Pierre Boulez, Dialogue de l’ombre double (1982–85)

[2.] The first part of the programme features a rare performance of Piere Boulez’s Dialogue de l’ombre double (1982–85) for solo clarinet and electronics. The pioneering piece, which was composed exploring the technical resources at IRCAM, is inspired by a scene in Paul Claudel’s drama Soulier de satin (1943) and sets a live clarinet in dialogue with its ‘shadow’ using pre-recorded sound, live electronics and spatialisation through loudspeakers that surround the audience. The clarinet will be played by Kazia Smith, one of the ensemble’s altos who is a professional musician and teacher, and a member of Tambourin Trio who performed with Musarc at St Bartholomews in 2009 and 2010. The electronic part of the piece was re-interpreted and developed for Musarc’s concert by composer and sound artist Ev Buckley (electronics).

Jessica Curry, The story goes roughly as follows (world première)

[3.] In 2010, Musarc was paired with composer Jessica Curry as part of Making Music, Sound and Music and the PRS Foundation’s Adopt a composer scheme 2010/11. The result of our collaboration with the composer is a new work for choir and electronics based on dreams Jessica collected from the ensemble and will be premièred at the concert. The performance will be recorded by BBC Radio 3.

Alan Tomlinson, trombone

[4.] Jazz and improv trombonist Alan Tomlinson will be performing Three pieces for alto trombone by Michael Parsons and Solo for sliding trombone by John Cage, as well as improvising on a trombone made of glass by artist and ensemble member Kate Williams. Photographs of Alan with Kate’s glass trombone taken by Yiannis Katsaris earlier in November at the Barbican can be seen in one of our homepage galleries.

Daniel Basford, Low, how a rose (world première)

[5.] The choir will be singing four versions of Es ist ein Ros entsprungen, an ancient carol from the 16th century: the original which was first transcribed by Michael Praetorius (early 17c); a version from Hugo Distler’s Die Weihnachtsgeschichte (1934; Distler is pictured above); a recent arrangement of the song by Swedish composer Jan Sandström (1984); and a brand new arrangement commissioned by Musarc from composer Daniel Basford, Lo, how a rose for double choir, desk-chimes, handbells and electronics.

Sergeij Rachmaninoff and Arvo Pärt, Bogoroditse, djevo

[6.] The theme of variations continues with a performance by the choir of Sergeij Rachmaninoff’s Bogoroditse, djevo (from op. 37, 1915) and a setting by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt from 1990.

Sarah Angliss

[7.] The concert will end with a performance of the ‘Troika’ (sleigh ride) fom Sergei Prokovief, Lieutenant Kije (1934), arranged for the Ealing Feeder, a robotic carillon created by Sarah Angliss

Exhibition and sale of prints by photographer Yiannis Katsaris

Jessica Curry first introduced us to photographer Yiannis Katsaris when we started our collaboration for the Adopt a composer scheme in late 2010. Since then, Yiannis has has become the choir’s resident photographer and regularly documents the ensemble’s work and performances. One of the projects that emerged from this collaboration is a series of captivating portraits taken during rehearsals that explore the facial expression of singers. There is a strong link between these images and the ‘libretto of dreams’ at the heart of Jessica’s new work for the ensemble.

Prints of the portraits will be available for sale during the concert. Proceeds from the sale go towards Musarc’s programme of commissions and teaching projects. A selection of these portraits can be previewed on our homepage.

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The audience will be able to join in singing carols. The concert will end approximately at 9.15pm. After the performance, you will be able to experience more of Mathew Kneebone and Yuri Suzuki’s sound installation and the bar will remain open until doors close at 10.30.

Musarc is a not-for-profit organisation and entirely self-funded. We would like to express our gratitude to the many musicians, artists and composers who make performances like this possible by giving their time to the ensemble, often for free. We are especially indebted to the Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Design, LondonMet, which is Musarc’s home; and the parish of St Bartholomew the Great for their support in hosting our concert.

Field Studies 2011 is a four-day summer-school led by four acclaimed sound artists, architects and composers: Raviv Ganchrow, Liminal and Esther Venrooy. It explores the possibilities of engaging with places through listening, and working with recorded sound as a creative and practical tool in the context of architecture, the city and art practice.

View Field Studies website for full details and tutor/speaker bios →

Field Studies is organised by Musarc, a sound and architecture research platform at the Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Design (ASD), London Metropolitan University, and led by Joseph Kohlmaier.

In recent years, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of galleries that exhibit sound-based art; books that engage with the phenomenon of sound and the listener; radio programmes and blogs; symposia, teaching programmes and festivals around the question of sound. Although this is not a new phenomenon, ‘sound’ still very much occupies a place outside the mainstream. It brings a certain promise: an alternative, new way of looking at culture, and new opportunities to engage with the environment specifically in the context of architecture and the city.

At the same time, and probably as a consequence, the world of sound-culture harbours certain myths and misconceptions, which the workshop aims to examine through a series of talks, discussions and evening lectures. Already the way we use the word ‘sound’ in this context needs to be scrutinised, as Tim Ingold has done convincingly in a seminal short essay with the title ‘Against soundscape’. The same scrutiny should be brought also to other, more generally accepted conceptions about listening and sensory experience.

One of these might be the assumption that the senses operate separately from each other, and dominate over one another, and that this dominion is a product of our own culture. An engagement with sound is often seen as a remedy against the predominance of sight. In reality, however, our senses are probably not only always at work at the same time, but cross over and connect with each other through a form of synaesthesia.

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Dear [FirstName1,fallback=all],

Please join Musarc’s choir and guest performers for an evening of new and old music, performances, readings and a rare screening of Beckett’s Film, a reading by Robert Harbison and music by Moteverdi, Rossi, Holst, Reich, Tormis and a recent piece for Musarc by Neil Luck at the Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Design, London Metropolitan University.

Thursday 7 April 2011
7.30pm

The Forum
Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Design
London Metropolitan University
Spring House
40–44 Holloway Road
London N7 8JL

Click here for map

* Bar opens after concert *

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Chambers 07/04/2011 is a fundraising event.

We are a not-for-profit organisation run by volunteers and rely on the support of the ensemble, the enthusiasm of the artists and composers we work with and the generosity of our friends. Click here to read more about Musarc’s ambition, previous exhibitions and events, past and present projects and the people we have worked with.

When you make your booking, please help us by making a voluntary donation. Your support will help us to develop innovative new research and educational programmes, to continue our work with emerging artists and create new music.

Advance bookings £10.00/£8.00 concessions.
Tickets on the door £12.00/£10.00

Join Musarc’s choir and guest performers for an evening of new and old music, performances, readings and a rare screening of Beckett’s Film, a reading by Robert Harbison and music by Moteverdi, Rossi, Holst, Reich, Tormis and a recent piece for Musarc by Neil Luck at the Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Design, London Metropolitan University.

Thursday 7 April 2011
7.00 for 7.30pm

The Forum
Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Design
London Metropolitan University
Spring House
40–44 Holloway Road
London N7 8JL

Click here for map

* Bar opens after concert *

Share this event on facebook

Musarc would like to thank the producer of Beckett’s Film, Barney Rossett (Evergreen Review) to allow us to screen the movie.

*

Chambers 07/04/2011 is a fundraising event.

We are a not-for-profit organisation run by volunteers and rely on the support of the ensemble, the enthusiasm of the artists and composers we work with and the generosity of our friends. Click here to read more about Musarc’s ambition, previous exhibitions and events, past projects and the people we have worked with.

When you make your booking, please help us by making a voluntary donation. Your support will help us to develop innovative new research and educational programmes, to continue our work with emerging artists and create new music.

Advance bookings £10.00/£8.00 concessions.
Tickets on the door £12.00/£10.00

Seating for this event is limited.
Book a seat in advance to avoid disappointment.
Pre-booked tickets are available for collection at the door from 7.00pm onwards.

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Sound System sponsored by Sound Technology | Sound Craft

We will be returning to one of London’s most beautiful churches and great acoustic spaces for our Christmas concert this year. Join Musarc on Friday 10 December 2010 at St Bartholomew the Great, EC1, for a night of sound and music from the 15th century to the present.

With performances and new work by Musarc’s choir, Kite & Laslett, Tambourin Trio and Benjamin Oliver.

Installation: Candescence
Candescence is an installation by newly formed architectural installation-art collective Kite & Laslett. The work, consisting of an array of acoustically responsive spheres (weather balloons) activated by sound and touch ‘triggering an ascendance of vision, light and sound’, explores the notion of psychoacoustics and acousmatics in architectural space. For Musarc’s Christmas concert, Kite & Laslett will install one sphere in the North Transept of the church. The audience will be able to experiment with the sphere before and after the concert.

Performances by Musarc and Tambourin Trio
Musarc’s choir and Tambourin Trio will perform works by Thomas Morley, King Henry VIII, Josquin des Prez, John Farmer, Johann Sebastian Bach, François Devienne, C.V. Stanford, Veljo Tormis and Eric Whitacre as well as a new work by Benjamin Oliver first premièred at Musarc’s ‘On air’ concert at the London Festival of Architecture in June 2010.

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Friday 10 December 2010, 7.00pm
St Bartholomew the Great
West Smithfield
London EC1

Doors and bar open 7.00pm
Concert 7.30pm
Doors close 10.30pm

Advance bookings
Tickets are available at a reduced price of
£10.00 / £8.00 concessions
when booking in advance.
To make a booking now, please click here:
THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT

Admissions
SOLD OUT

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Artists

Tambourin Trio
Tambourin Trio was formed in March 2009 by three students in their final year at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. It emerged from a close circle of friends who wanted to perform together and shared an interest in challenging repertoire. The group’s performances to date include works by Dubois, Bach, Tomasi and Martinon. The Tambourine Trio is currently part of the Chamber Tots series at the Wigmore Hall and is taking part in workshops at University College Hospital.

Kite & Laslett
Kite & Laslett was established by Sebastian Kite and Will Laslett, both graduates from the Westminster School of Architecture. To date, their cross-disciplinary projects often involving sound, light, music, performance and sculptural elements, explore forgotten and derelict spaces in London as a medium for installations, architectural interventions and public events.

Benjamin Oliver
Benjamin Oliver was born in 1981 and grew up in Chatham, Kent, in the UK. He left home for Yorkshire and in 2005 graduated from the University of Leeds with distinction in his MMus in Composition. Ben has just completed his DPhil in Composition at the University of Sussex under the supervision of Sam Hayden where he is also an associate tutor in composition. He has been awarded grants from the AHRC and a 2006 PRS Foundation Scholarship for this doctorate work. Ben’s music has been performed internationally and in the UK by ensembles including: Orkest de Ereprijs, Netherlands; Ostrava Banda, Czech Republic); Leeds University Union Symphony Orchestra; Black Dyke and Rothwell Temperance Brass Bands; LIMA Orchestra, Dan Stern’s Woodwork at London Jazz Festival; Yorkshire Philharmonic Choir; Labyrinth; Retorica Duo, Odessa, Ukraine; Kosmos; EMFEB Chamber Orchestra; NYX trio and Leeds Sinfonia. Ben has been recently selected to take part in the International Composer Pyramid Scheme set-up by the Sounds New Contemporary Music Festival, UK, with Coups de Vents, France, for which he is composing a new piece for the ICP ensemble.

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Images from Musarc’s Christmas Concert at St Bartholomew the Great, 11 December 2009

Sound System sponsored by Sound Technology | Sound Craft

Field Studies 2010 is a four-day field recording workshop led by acclaimed sound artists and composers Marc Behrens, Justin Bennett and John Levack Drever. It aims to explore recording as a creative and practical tool for artists, architects and urbanists, and the possibilities of working with sound as a means to engage with places and people.

www.field-studies.org

Sound is gaining renewed attention within the context of architecture, the city and the built environment. There are practical reasons, such as the importance for architects and urbanists to be able to create positive, or manage negative soundscapes and noise in the city. As a form of representation and as a means to document places and processes of place-making, sound is still entirely unexplored. Thinking about sound – how places sound – means to engage with ephemeral aspects of places, particularly the changing character of the built environment over time, which traditional visual media cannot represent. We tend to forget that photographs and drawings too require an immense leap of imagination (and visual education) if they are to represent a space. In this respect, sound recordings are more alike our actual experience of places than images will ever be.

Field Studies provides an environment to engage with all the question of sound from a much more practical point of view. How can listening to the city and working with recorded sound become part of the creative process of making architecture? How does working with sound affect the way we engage with places? Can there be such a thing as an ‘aural sketchbook’ and of what value can it be to architects and urbanists? Can sound act as a research tool and a means to represent architectural ideas? What would future urban plans and the built environment look like if they relied on sound as much as on drawings, photographs and models?

Field Studies is for everyone who is interested in learning more about the practical and technical aspects of field recording and the potential of recorded sound as part of a creative and analytical process in architecture and urbanism. The course will be run in the form of masterclasses lead by the three tutors where students will meet different approaches to working with sound, collecting material and recording techniques. Each masterclass will establish a different brief. Students will go out on field-recording trips and learn how to manipulate, edit and present recorded material. A series of talks will complement the programme and the students’ work will be published and documented online.

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The cost of Field Studies is £150.00

Field Studies takes place from Monday 13 to Thursday 16 September 2010 at the Department of Architecture and Spatial Design, London Metropolitan University. The workshop is open to everyone and all ages, and no previous experience is requried. The course will admit maximum number of 25 students.

For further information and to register, visit http://www.field-studies.org

Venue
Department of Architecture and Spatial Design
London Metropolitan University
Spring House
40–44 Holloway Road
London N7 8JL

Jessica Curry

We can now announce that our composer is Jessica Curry. We are looking forward to working with her over the coming year. More information about the scheme can be found on the PRS website and we will be keeping a record of our experiences on the blog.

Join Musarc, the choir of the Department of Architecture and Spatial Design, London Metropolitan University, for an afternoon of choral workshops and a concert with three contemporary composers in one of London’s great acoustic spaces. With Tom Chant, Neil Luck, Benjamin Oliver and Cathy Heller Jones

On air is for anyone interested in singing and making music. It is an opportunity to experiment with new approaches where the audience becomes part of the choir, the rehearsal becomes part of the performance and together those taking part define the resulting work. The workshops are open to all and no previous musical experience or expertise is required.

Workshops

Each of the three composers is given one hour to explain, develop and rehearse a new work with the audience. The given framework will differ from one workshop to the next and will involve elements of traditional choral singing, improvisation, working with speech, timing, real-time sound manipulation, working with graphic scores and an engagement with movement, performance and the effects the sounds create in the space.

The afternoon will start with a brief introduction and each workshop will begin with a short rhythm and singing lesson with Musarc’s conductor Cathy Heller Jones.

Open rehearsal and concert

The last hour of On air will be open to the public. Each of the works will be introduced by its composer, revisited in a short open rehearsal and performed for the audience.

On air
Thursday 1 July 2010

Choral workshops
4.30 – 8.30pm
Tickets: £15.00 (includes concert)

Open rehearsal and concert
8.30 – 9.30pm
Tickets: £5.00

St Stephen Walbrook
39 Walbrook
London EC4N 8BN
www.ststephenwalbrook.net

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Musarc has designed this event to tie in with personal and professional development. Bring your studio or office colleagues and enjoy an alternative team-building exercise and networking event with one of the most cutting-edge creative research and music platforms in London.

Read more about the composers

Tom Chant is from London, was born in 1975, plays soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet and piano and occasionally writes indeterminate music. Tom served his improvised music apprenticeship at Maggie Nicols’ Gathering sessions in London,… read more >

Neil Luck is a composer and performer based in London. His compositional practice focuses on various approaches to non-standard notations, in particular those which implicate either the composer’s own body in construction, or… read more >

Benjamin Oliver was born in 1981 and grew up in Chatham, Kent, in the UK. He left home for Yorkshire and in 2005 graduated from the University of Leeds with distinction in his MMus in Composition. Ben has just completed his DPhil… read more >

About the venue

St Stephen Walbrook marks one of the City’s most ancient sacred sites. In the second century A.D. a temple stood on the West bank of the River Walbrook, a stream running across London from the City Wall near Moorfields to the Thames. A Saxon church was built on the temple’s foundations in the seventh century and re-built in 1439 on the East side of the river which is today culverted beneath. The 15th century church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London and re-built by Sir Christopher Wren in 1672–80.

St Stephen is considered one of Wren’s masterpieces. It is a highly unusual space where classical and baroque ideas collide, crowned by a large dome which floats above a circle formed by arches springing from eight of the twelve columns underneath. In 1987 a round travertine altar by Henry Moore was installed, causing much controversy at the time. It dominates the centre of the church, but has a genuine presence and articulates the space under the dome. The rough exterior, a palimpsest witness to the changes in the fabric of the city, gives away little of the clarity and beauty of the church’s interior.

St Stephen is renown for its outstanding acoustics. Wren intended his churches to be what he called auditories, ‘in which everyone present could see, hear and feel themselves part of the congregation’. (Kerry Downes)

www.ststephenwalbrook.net