Tectonics

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Tectonics, the BBC SSO's festival of new and experimental music, returns to City Halls and Old Fruitmarket on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th May!

About Tectonics

Listed Under Music Events / Days Out Events / Nights Out Events

Why "Tectonics"? For over a decade, artists from around the world have gathered in Glasgow with a shared goal – to push the boundaries of their art form, often challenging its basic ground rules. An earthquake, while destructive, also brings renewal and change. Despite being a beautiful, old-fashioned musical structure, I know that the orchestra still has much to offer. This year’s festival focuses on the profound act of listening and the potential of collaboration. Embrace the music with openness. Trust the composers, performers… and yourself! It often leads to exciting and transformative experiences.

THE ACT OF LISTENING
With his intricately constructed Listening Devices, Baudouin Oosterlynck transforms the Recital Room into a sanctuary for deep listening, inviting us to experience the subtle ‘variations of silence’. He sets the tone of the festival, asking us to rethink the role of the listener. Two meditative works that Oosterlynck produced in the 1970s are also performed by vocalist Bénédicte Davin.

AN INTERNATIONAL & LOCAL LINE-UP
As well as welcoming many international artists, this year’s lineup has a distinctly Scottish flavour. Using analogue-digital live electronics, the euphoric sets of Lauren Sarah Hayes are rooted in her early trips to Glasgow’s local goth nights and techno scene. Fellow Glaswegian and flautist Richard Craig plays works spanning five decades, using music to reflect on our surroundings. He collaborates with percussionist Jennifer Torrence, who also presents her own defiant solo set. And some of Scotland’s most radical strings players come together as the New String Collective, performing alongside experimental vocalist Clíona Cassidy.

NEW COLLABORATIONS
On Saturday, I’ll be joined by drummer Mark Sanders and saxophonist Rachel Musson for a new collaboration involving players of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, preceded by a new work for orchestra by Beatrice Dillon. Collaboration at Tectonics doesn’t only involve those onstage… In Symphony, Øyvind Torvund invites the audience to move freely through various spaces, experiencing a ‘festival within a festival’ where different forms of expression and energy coexist. Two soloists who feature in that work - electronic artist Jørgen Træen and jazz musician Kjetil Møster – present their own electroacoustic set on Sunday.

WORLD & UK PREMIERES
Of course, there’s a host of World and UK premieres by the BBC SSO. On Saturday, composer Timothy McCormack and singer Ty Bouque share a profoundly moving articulation of grief in the gay community, which is paired with an poetic exploration of loss by Clara Iannotta. And on Sunday evening, the world premiere by Sylvia Lim offers a meditation on healing and renewal, drawing inspiration from the resilience of moss and the art of Kintsugi (mending broken pottery with gold). Eleanor Cully Boehringer’s world premiere weaves poetic text with fragments of song, and Barbara Monk Feldman reflects on the landscapes of her home country Canada. Across the festival, there’s plenty of opportunities to discover the music of prolific and pioneering composers, including UK Premieres by Gloria Coates, Hilda Dianda and Micheline Coulombe Saint Marcoux.

Bring a thirst for discovery and surprises. Thank you for continuing to support Tectonics Glasgow and the BBC SSO. We’re excited to share this experience with you.

Ilan Volkov, Tectonics Glasgow curator

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