Simon Bainbridge, Camden composer and head of composition at the Royal Academy of Music, is fascinated by form and structure in the literary and architectural senses. His latest work, Music Space Reflection, is a musical response to the dramatic architec
Simon Bainbridge, Camden composer and head of composition at the Royal Academy of Music, is fascinated by form and structure in the literary and architectural senses.
His latest work, Music Space Reflection, is a musical response to the dramatic architecture of Daniel Libeskind.
It has been written for the irregular spaces of Imperial War Museum North, in Manchester, and combines four groups of musicians and surround-sound live electronics into an all-encompassing acoustic experience which will have it's premiere on April 26 with the London Sinfonietta under the direction of Diego Masson.
Simon says: "The first time I saw Libeskind's work was in Berlin in the mid 1990s, before the city's Jewish Museum was officially opened. What particularly struck me was that, in an extremely sculptural three-dimensional space, you get a succession of different perspectives on the building or part of the building depending on where you stand."
Music Space Reflection is a musical realisation of this idea achieved through a repeated cycle of material from which different aspects are drawn to attention through subtle use of electronics - as if one is looking at the building from different angles.
Sound designers Sound Intermedia are working closely with Simon to mould the music to the space using advanced electronic sound processing to reflect the planes and angles of the structure.
On April 28 the audience will be invited to move around Imperial War Museum North in two performances which will be separated by a talk by Simon.
On April 30, Music Space Reflection opens a three-part extravaganza at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South bank.
Echoes of Imperial War Museum North will be brought to London and the concert also includes Luciano Berio's dramatic storyless drama Laborintus II, and the world premiere of Anna Meredith's flak .
Tickets are £22-£8 from the box office on 0871 663 2500 or at www. southbankcentre.co.uk
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