An epic light and sound display at the Tower of London…

Beyond the Deepening Shadow: The Tower Remembers

This new artistic tribute will run for eight nights, leading up to and including Armistice Day 2018. Runs from 4th – 11th November TICKETS: THE TOWER OF LONDON

In creating the new sound installation, Calix has worked with several of her past collaborators. Longstanding collaborator  Soundintermedia,
Solomon’s Knot, on a commission for Aldeburgh Festival, and Conductor Esmeralda Conde Ruiz, who she first worked with at Shakespeare’s Globe. For the first time, Calix has also worked with performer and composer Laura Cannell, whose work she has long been a great admirer of.

Commissioned and produced by Historic Royal Palaces, this new light and sound installation brings together a talented creative team, including Designer Tom Piper, Sound Artist Mira Calix, Lighting Designer Phil Supple, fire expert Mike Jones, Movement Director Anna Morrissey and Creative Director Deborah Shaw.”

Immix Ensemble present: INTONE by Laura Cannell and Ella Finer

TATE Liverpool 30th November 2018
Liverpool-based new music ensemble Immix, in partnership with Tate Liverpool are excited to present the world premiere of INTONE, a new work for overbow violin, voice and ensemble composed by the genre-defying violinist Laura Cannell, and acclaimed multidisciplinary artist Ella Finer.

This exciting new work, commissioned by Immix, sees the sound of languages and ancient fragmented music come together and apart in eight cycles. Composed from an instructional text score, translated into eight languages and transcribed for instruments, INTONE takes its starting points from ancient and modern methods of composition: from the 15th century idea of performing vocal music instrumentally to fluxus methods of interpretation and duration.

Extended techniques, ancient sounding melodies and drone intertwine with live and recorded voice in this new composition exploring Cannell and Finer’s shared interest in the sound of languages: through tone and intonation, translation and transposition.The performance will take place in the Wolfson room of the Tate Liverpool, located in the iconic Albert Dock. The programme will also feature world premieres of new works by Immix’s composer-in-residence, Andrew PM Hunt, and artistic director Daniel Thorne.

New Resonances at The Whitechapel Gallery London

Laura performs 3 short new pieces and takes part in a panel on 13th Oct.
Part of the FREE New Resonances Symposium, taking place at Whitechapel Gallery, Thursday 11 – Saturday 13 October.

Longplayer Legacies – New Commission

Longplayer Legacies is a concert series hosting three extraordinary composers each responding to Longplayer over three nights in October 2018: Larry Achiampong, whose work explores the intersection between pop culture and the postcolonial position, Laura Cannell, who explores the spaces between ancient and experimental music and FutureSelf, the new project of Vanessa Brown, evolved from her pop background into a multidisciplinary project considering the social sciences through audio-visual experimentation. These concerts will be held at the Lighthouse in London’s Trinity Buoy Wharf (from which Jem Finer’s 1000-year long composition plays continuously) for an intimate audience onsite and a livestream audience hosted by Sound and Music. 

Curated by Longplayer trustee Ella Finer as a Sound and Music Composer-Curator 2018, these concerts are a response to Longplayer’s ethos of caring for the long term alongside her own work as a producer and curator interested in re-mix, cross-temporal splicing and the politics of doing so.

The idea for these sessions is to ask how sound legacies are produced and who creates them? Who ensures their “preservation” and how? Who knows where to look for these legacies and who feels entitled to creatively and critically attend to these materials?

To book one or more of these evenings and to find out more about the artists, please follow the links below. 

Tuesday 9th October: Larry Achiampong
Wednesday 10th October: Laura Cannell
Thursday 11th October: FutureSelf (Vanessa Brown) 

All events will run from 7-9pm at: 

The Lighthouse
Trinity Buoy Wharf 
64 Orchard Place
London, E14 0YP

The Untuning of The Sky – New Commission at York Mediale – 29th Sept 2018

Image by Laura Spark

Laura Cannell (Double Recorders & Overbow Violin) and visual artist Laura Spark, with support from special guests Rhodri Davies (Harp) and André Bosman (electronics).

The world premiere of a brand new commission for media arts festival York Mediale, is inspired by the ancient astrological idea of the Music of the Spheres ~ that the revolution of the planets generates a celestial harmony of profound and transcendent beauty which mortals cannot hear.

Laura Cannell draws on fragments of medieval and renaissance music, which are then discarded and re-imagined into new works for recorder and violin. Accompanied by oscillating electronics by André Bosman and in collaboration with Laura Spark, music and visuals fall in and out of balance, exploring the spaces between harmony and discord.

The Untuning of the Sky is made possible with financial support from The National Centre for Early Music. 

This event is supported by PRS Foundation’s The Open Fund.

4 star review in MOJO Magazine for Hunter Huntress Hawker

Modern Ritual at Hull FREEDOM FESTIVAL 2nd September 2018

Sunday 2nd September at HULL MINSTER
“Tonight’s MODERN RITUAL features 3 musical performances from The Liverpool based ensemble Ex-Easter Island Head who compose and perform music for solid-body electric guitar, percussion and other instruments.

Laura Cannell who subverts our preconceptions of familiar instruments by playing two recorders simultaneously and deconstructing her violin to create otherworldly soundscapes, and

Hoofus (aka André Bosman) – a musician who produces electronic music of eerie wonder and feral yearnings, where oscillating melodic loops meld with distorted rhythms.”
Book here