Oscillations & Modulations is a three–day festival of cutting edge live audio visual performance, DIY Eurorack / Synthesiser building workshops, audio visual talks and discussions, open Jam sessions, Gear demos, DJ sets and pop up events, which takes place on September, 29th, 30th and October 1st 2023, across various beautiful locations within the city of Derry.

The festival’s goal is to celebrate and explore an expanding ecosystem of electronic music culture, joining the dots between the music makers and teachers, synthesiser designers and performers, music studios and music spaces that help to shape and inspire the musical landscape of the city and beyond.

This years festival promises to carry the same principles and ethos forward, while cultivating new ideas, technologies and music.

Northern Lights Immersive Showcase Event

1pm - pablo sanz
(Solo immersive ambisonic concert)

4pm - Electric Circus
(New music for live performers and immersive sound)

7pm - Anna Murray & Brian Bridges
(Modular synths)

Part of the Sonic Vigil presents: In Your Own Time and Place 3-day festival of improvised music

Ireland’s unique experimental music group Quiet Music Ensemble performs music by Irish and international composers including Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri, Anna Murray, Irene Murphy and the world premiere of a new work by dancer Inma Pavon.

About ‘Aioi: leaves laden with words’

Aioi: leaves laden with words is based on the Japanese Noh play Takasago, the imagery of the pine and the space between worlds. The pine is a symbol of longevity and for liminality, for the rocking back and forth between the imagined and the real.

The score for Aioi: leaves laden with words is a set of 6 unique paintings, one for each performer - versions of the pine tree found at the back of the Noh stage. The performers improvise in response to their painting, to the story of Takasago, and the sound of wind in the pines.

Following this was Anna Murray’s Aioi: leaves laden with words (2022). The musicians improvised on the basis of a graphic score – a set of suiboku-ga ink wash paintings of Murray’s, each depicting the pine tree at the back of a traditional Noh stage – and were joined by Noh chanter Laura Sampson. The musicians were arrayed around the circumference of the stage like trees around a forest clearing, and created, along with some taped birdsong, an inviting bed of sound into which Sampson, kneeling in the centre, intoned, in Noh style, the encomium to the trees of Ireland in the tale of Buile Suibhne. The affect of the piece – particularly regarding Suibhne’s madness – was delicately ambiguous, and entirely compelling. The Journal of Music

Experience stunning classical music for flutes and voice from two outstanding performers. Lina Andonovska and Michelle O’Rourke perform the world première of a newly commissioned work for the duo, Brightening by celebrated Irish composer Linda Buckley with text by poet Doireann Ní Ghríofa.

Presented by Finding a Voice, Clonmel’s festival of music by female composers. This event also features the premiere of Analu by Maeve Kelly, winner of the 2022 Finding A Voice emerging composer competition, in association with Contemporary Music Centre, and Anna Murray’s ‘my little Force explodes’

About my little Force explodes

my little Force explodes is a ritual of letter-opening, conversation, breath, communication and message, based on the ‘envelope writings’ of Emily Dickinson. Written for Michelle O’Rourke and Lina Andonovska.

Quiet Music Ensemble brings three world premieres to Solstice Arts Centre in July, with music by renowned Sound Artist Kathy Hinde and Irish composers Francis Heery and Anna Murray.

Drawing respectively on the beautiful and subtle sonorities of especially created new instruments, the poetry of Yeats and on Japanese Noh theatre, the pieces were created especially for QME, responding to the ensemble’s unique, meditative, mesmeric music.

This event is part of the learning & engagement programme which accompanies the exhibition ‘I am sitting in a Room’. It is supported by Arts Council Ireland.

Programme:

Heery – Moon Phases 2022
Murray – Aioi: leaves laden with words
Hinde – Acts of Balancing and Unbalancing

About ‘Aioi: leaves laden with words’

Aioi: leaves laden with words is based on the Japanese Noh play Takasago, the imagery of the pine and the space between worlds. The pine is a symbol of longevity and for liminality, for the rocking back and forth between the imagined and the real.

The score for Aioi: leaves laden with words is a set of 6 unique paintings, one for each performer - versions of the pine tree found at the back of the Noh stage. The performers improvise in response to their painting, to the story of Takasago, and the sound of wind in the pines.

This remarkable recital opens with a short Duo for violin and flute by Irish composer Anna Murray. Bram van Sambeek then gives the Irish premiere of Weinberg’s solo bassoon Sonata. This is a full-scale, four movement work demanding extraordinary virtuosity from the performer. Ligeti’s Solo Viola Sonata is another legendary work played for us by Festival favourite Dana Zemtsov. Tongue in cheek Ligeti describes his influences as Bach’s three solo Sonatas and the Hungarian translation of Alice in Wonderland. We are not meant to understand, just to listen.

About Crosstalk

Crosstalk attempts to capture the feeling of trying to communicate across distance, both physical and experiential. As an Irish person living in Japan, my experience of the Covid19 pandemic is one of feeling split and pulled between two worlds: that of my own real lived experience of the reality in Japan, and that of my friends and family in Europe. While staying indoors during the State of Emergency, the online world became sometimes more real, and venturing out led to sensations of extreme cognitive dissonance. Communication between these two worlds was sometimes easy, oiled by the shared stresses and cares of the situation, and sometimes jagged, broken by the different on-the-ground experiences of it in different places. Imagine the now-ubiquitous problems of digital conferencing, with crosstalk, connection difficulties and misunderstanding, but applied to the process of communication itself. The piece takes the form of a kind of conversation, moving between these broken fragments and smooth easy chatting, punctuated by moments of an agonising pull between two places.

An honest, human and emotive response for now and the future.

Tonight Crash Ensemble play a selection of their [REACTIONS] commissions & postcard miniatures for the first time to a live audience, alongside sounds from across the globe… and… the first outing of a brand new piece ‘Standing Water’ by Kevin Terry, winner of the National Concert Hall Jerome Hynes Young Composers’ Award.

About the [REACTIONS] series:
“Amidst the onset of the global pandemic, we commissioned Irish & International composers from a range of musical backgrounds to write new works for duos within the group. Building on existing collaborative partnerships and cultivating and nurturing new relationships, composers were invited to create a musical response to their experiences, the current state and their thoughts for the future.”

About Crosstalk:

Crosstalk attempts to capture the feeling of trying to communicate across distance, both physical and experiential. As an Irish person living in Japan, my experience of the Covid19 pandemic is one of feeling split and pulled between two worlds: that of my own real lived experience of the reality in Japan, and that of my friends and family in Europe. While staying indoors during the State of Emergency, the online world became sometimes more real, and venturing out led to sensations of extreme cognitive dissonance. Communication between these two worlds was sometimes easy, oiled by the shared stresses and cares of the situation, and sometimes jagged, broken by the different on-the-ground experiences of it in different places. Imagine the now-ubiquitous problems of digital conferencing, with crosstalk, connection difficulties and misunderstanding, but applied to the process of communication itself. The piece takes the form of a kind of conversation, moving between these broken fragments and smooth easy chatting, punctuated by moments of an agonising pull between two places.

The world premiere of ‘Metamold’ by the 2019 Barlow Prize Winner, Bekah Simms and the world premiere of ‘Images & Sensations’ by Irish producer and DJ Ellen King (ELLLL), a Crash Ensemble & New Music Dublin co-commission alongside [REACTIONS] - new music from David Fennessy and Anna Murray set to film by videographer Laura Sheeran.

REACTIONS] An honest, human and emotive response for now and the future.
Amidst the onset of the global pandemic, in 2020, Crash Ensemble commissioned 9 Irish composers - established, up and coming and from outside of the contemporary music sphere - to write unique new works for duos within the group. 

Composers were asked to create a musical response - a political or personal response to their experiences, the current state, or their thoughts for the future.

Filmmaker Laura Sheeran was commissioned to make an accompanying film for each work, combining footage from the recording sessions alongside text and imagery. ​

[REACTIONS] Composers:
David Fennessy
Anna Murray

Performers: 
Crash Ensemble

Videographer: 
Laura Sheeran

Watch online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRnWZiPZUiU

Michelle O’Rourke – vocals, Lina Andonovska – flutes

Hildegard von Bingen - O ignee Spiritus
John Corigliano - Three Folk Songs
Liza Lim - Bioluminescence
Anna Murray - My little Force explodes
Garrett Sholdice - Two Whitman Fragments
PJ Harvey (arr. Colm O'Hara) - Silence
Kate Soper - Only The Words Themselves Mean What They Say

Curiosity, fearlessness and versatility carry Lina Andonovska’s artistry around the globe. Andonovska is a rare breed in the flute world; a name that you’ll discover on both the pages of Rolling Stone and the Australian Chamber Orchestra roster, she has not only cultivated partnerships with leading artists including Louis Andriessen, Donnacha Dennehy, Claire Chase and Bryce Dessner, but also deep community ties from Timor Leste to Tokyo’s Wonder Site. She has recently been appointed as flutist of 4-time Grammy Award-winning ensemble ‘eighth blackbird.’ She has collaborated with Ensemble Modern, Bang On A Can All-starts, Crash Ensemble, Deutsches Kammerorchester and stargaze. She is critically acclaimed for her interpretation of new music; Rolling Stone Magazine hailed her performance at Bang On A Can Summer Festival as “superbly played, (ranging) from sustained ‘somebody-please-get-that-tea-kettle’ squeaks to the flit and flutter of its beautifully lilting trills...” Recent credits include solo performances at New Music Dublin, Melbourne International Arts Festival that was noted as “re-defining the act of going solo “ (The Age) and at Musica Nova Helsinki. Lina released her debut solo album with Diatribe Records label in early 2020, which was described as “brimming with energy and bold textures, though marked throughout by nuance. A name to watch out for.” (All About Jazz).

Michelle O’Rourke is a singer based in Dublin, Ireland. Her natural sound, unaffected expressivity, and technical ability make for an interpreter of rare dynamism. Michelle combines her background in Baroque music with an adventurous eclecticism and an interest in interdisciplinary work.
Michelle is passionate about the commissioning and performance of new vocal music. She has worked closely with many composers, including: Ann Cleare, Andrew Hamilton, Simon O’Connor, Karen Power, Benedict Schlepper-Connolly and Garrett Sholdice. Notable releases include Andrew Hamilton: Music for People (NMC) and Left Behind: Songs of the 1916 Widows (Ergodos).
Michelle is ever fascinated by the seemingly endless expressive facility of the human voice; how singers have been centric to ritual performance for centuries, and how we continue as performers to evolve the interpretative and performative role of voice.
michelleorourke.ie

photo by Olesya Zdorovetska

RE:VOICING THE FLUTE

Ireland

EMMA COULTHARD (flutes)

with

DAVID APPLETON (piano)

Flutes/Electronics/Voice

Featuring collaborative piece GlssRndr, premiered in June in Tokyo, plus music by John McLachlan, Fergus Johnston, Martin O’Leary and Benjamin Dwyer.

RE:VOICING THE FLUTE

An Irish Perspective

EMMA COULTHARD

Flutes/Electronics/Voice

Anna Murray – GlssRndr (Japanese premiere)

World Premiere: CHATTERBOX - Paul Hayes

SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 2019 at 16:00
Doors open 15:30

TICKETS 2,000 Yen/Students 1,000 Yen

DUCHESNE ROOM,

THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF THE SACRED HEART

4-3-1 Hiroo, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150 0012

Featuring works by 

John Buckley

Benjamin Dwyer 

Paul Hayes* 

Michael Holohan 

Fergus Johnston 

Jenn Kirby*

John McLachlan 

Grainne Mulvey* 

Anna Murray

 *New Commissions

Morning Rituals brings together performances and new work by seven individual and clear-voiced artists from around the world: cellist Kate Ellis, Australian-Dutch composer Kate Moore, Egyptian musician Nadah El Shazly, Australian flautist Lina Andonovska, vocalist Michelle O’Rourke, composer Anna Murray, and musician-filmmaker Laura Sheeran.

my little Force explodes is a ritual of letter-opening, conversation, breath, communication and message, based on the ‘envelope writings’ of Emily Dickinson. Written for Michelle O’Rourke and Lina Andonovska.

Featuring words.

Kirkos will open 2019 by taking control of the RIAM’s premises on Westland Row to unleash Speaking of Music, a multimedia Happening overlapping an array of works by Irish and international artists at the bleeding edge of experimental music.

Co-curated by Andy Ingamells, the evening centres loosely on the theme of innovative use of text and speech. Presented in three parts across the evening, the audience can roam freely through a performance, installations, and finally a Happening with members of the Kirkos Ensemble. 

Showcasing the truly chaotic, unpredictable, anarchic and sometimes silly character of experimental music, expect an evening of multisensory encounters full of surprise, laughter, lemon juice, a Mexican standoff, the destruction of a piano, the disembodiment of Beethoven, a dating app, and much much more.