University of Birmingham present Squares - Circles - Labyrinths

Labyrinths

University of Birmingham presents

Squares – Circles – Labyrinths
Spatial music in a central space

Thursday 18 & Friday 19 March, 7 pm
 

Directed  by Jonty Harrison, Vic Hoyland, Lee Differ, Scott Wilson and Mary O'Neill

COMPASS (Centre for Composition and Associated Studies) and CEMPR (the Centre for Early Music Performance and Research) from the Department of Music at the University of Birmingham bring together the Birmingham University Singers, the New Music Ensemble, BEAST and the Music Theatre group in a two-night spectacular in the Q Club (Methodist Central Hall) in the City Centre, featuring pieces, both old and new, that exploit the spatial deployment of performers.

In Carré (1959-60, so celebrating its 50th anniversary), Stockhausen (1928-2007) transfers to live musicians some of the spatial experiments he was then concurrently exploring in the studio. The audience surrounded by four groups of instrumentalists and singers who explore subtle timbral changes, reportedly inspired by Stockhausen's observation of clouds through a plane window over North America.

The performance of Laborintus II (1965) by Luciano Berio (1925-2003) is staged, making explicit in the arena the implicit groupings of narrator, singers and instrumental ensemble, not to mention an unruly chorus of actors. Linking the two twentieth-century works are two 40-part Renaissance choral masterpieces in which the singers are placed to dramatic effect and exploit the flexibility of the venue.

Q Club, Methodist Central Hall, 212 Corporation Street, Birmingham B4 6QB (opposite Law Courts)
Tickets: £14, £9 concessions, £5 students, available from the Barber Institute of Fine Arts. 0121 414 7333.

With support from The Tippett Foundation, BCMG and Birmingham Opera Company.