A unique performance exploring renaissance and 21st century sound worlds by three leading musicians from different genres and backgrounds, generating a compelling journey for performers and audience alike.
A sound world where old meets new, early meets contemporary, ancient meets electroacoustic.
Liam Byrne (viola da gamba) Tom Rogerson (keyboards) Clare O’Connell (cello)
This performance draws much of its inspiration from the 15th century, when a rich tradition of instrumental improvisatory practises bled into some very experimental compositional techniques.
Using methods familiar to renaissance composers such as Alexander Agricola, Josquin des Prez and Johannes Ockeghem, we explore different ways of finding variety of sound, texture and storytelling in our music making, which sits between free improvisation and structured composition.
The combination of classical cello, viola da gamba and piano, clavichord and synthesisers has rich potential for creating sounds worlds both ancient and futuristic with drones and ambience, the synthesiser acting as a complimentary chamber instrument in it’s own right, adding an extra sonic dimension which blends and contrasts in equal measure.
This performance is an opportunity for us to experiment with and share with you an unusual aesthetic and feel and sound world. We have a basic framework, but once we get started we have literally no idea where we will take you or where we will end up. This is pure abstract sonic creativity in a genuine and constructive sense - art born out of curiosity for its own sake involving deep listening and response and the possibilities are endless and profound.
Tom Rogerson is a pianist, keyboardist, and composer based in the UK and works as a soloist and as a collaborator. He is the founder, and keyboardist, of the electronic rock band Three Trapped Tigers. His collaboration with Brian Eno 'Finding Shore' was released on Dead Oceans in 2017, and his debut solo album 'Retreat To Bliss' in March 2022. He regularly collaborates with musicians including Talvin Singh, Aidan O’Rourke, Anna Meredith, Matthew Bourne, Leo Abrahams, Stale Storlokken, Karl Hyde (Underworld), Sam Slater, and the BBC Singers.
Liam Byrne “has done more than perhaps any living performer to drag the viol out of the musty early-music attic.” (The New York Times)
An obsession with the instrument’s most obscure 16th and 17th century repertoire is a recurring theme in his work, whether in devising baroque performance installations for the Victoria & Albert museum, or in collaboration with the Appalachian fiddler Cleek Schrey, or creating new electronic works with Icelandic composer Valgeir Sigurðsson.
He has had many new works written for him by composers such as David Lang, Nico Muhly, and Edmund Finnis, and has worked closely with a wide variety of musicians, from Damon Albarn to Emma Kirkby, and is a frequent guest of new music ensembles Stargaze, the London Contemporary Orchestra, and Crash Ensemble. He has played and recorded with many of Europe’s leading Early Music ensembles, including the Huelgas Ensemble, Dunedin Consort, The Sixteen, i Fagiolini, and the viol consorts Phantasm, Concordia, and Fretwork.