Paraorchestra, who bring extraordinary live music experiences to audiences in concert halls and public spaces around the world, are performing another diverse repertoire throughout 2024 with Friday January 26 fixed for the Southbank centre.
There will be newly commissioned music and work by some of the most influential composers and songwriters.
This year’s boundary pushing programme includes world premieres, star-studded collaborations and immersive performances, driven by the powerful playing of the musicians, a unique ensemble of professional disabled and non-disabled players.
This performance re-casts the orchestra as a living, breathing installation: 34 musicians are arrayed throughout the space as they play.
The audience is invited to walk or sit among them, to get close to the performers and sink into a deep sonic realm as enveloping drones mix with heady lighting design to conjure a hazy, transcendental atmosphere.
Across approximately 50 minutes, audiences experience a new piece by ascendant composer and Paraorchestra affiliate Rylan Gleave, drawing inspiration from minimalist precursor-prophet John Cage and his seminal work Seventy-Four.
A new configuration of the legendary Pauline Oliveros’ The Last Time/Ultima Vez by Charlotte Harding featuring the sublime vocals of Victoria Oruwari follows, and the evening ends with a performance of Fratres by that most holy of minimalists, Estonian visionary Arvo Pärt.
Part-sound bath, part-ritual, part-installation, Drone Refractions compels audience members to inhabit new musical worlds, to experience the meditative magic of drone music and witness these transportive sounds up close as never before.
Clore Ballroom, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX from Fri 26 Jan 2024, 7pm & 9pm
Approximate run time: 50 mins. £15
Booking: www.southbankcentre.co.uk
