22 June 2022 - 22 June 2022
7:00PM - 8:10PM
Department of Music, Durham University
£10 (adult), £5 (student), £1 (under-18)
Widely regarded as one of the greatest works of nature writing in English, Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain distils decades of walking among the Cairngorm mountains into a profound phenomenological exploration of being, minutely attentive to every aspect of the landscape and its weathers and their effect on her senses. James Weeks’ new work Plain Air, for Goddard and Rhys, sets passages from Shepherd’s text, situating the singer within a vast sonic landscape of piano and electronic sound.
Lucy Goddard and Siwan Rhys
Programme:James Weeks: Plain Air (world premiere)
Lucy Goddard (mezzo)Siwan Rhys (piano)
Lucy Goddard and Siwan Rhys first collaborated together on An American Songbook, a programme of avant-garde American song with new commissions by Laura Bowler and Chris Mayo. The duo prepared and recorded the programme during two residencies at Snape Maltings, before touring it across the country, via Musicon at Durham. Further performances together include Siren Song at Clapham’s Omnibus Theatre, and Copland’s Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson at Cambridge University. Both musicians regularly perform at all the major UK venues and festivals, including the BBC Proms, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Aldeburgh Festival and Wigmore Hall, as well as touring extensively internationally. Passionate exponents of new music, they are particularly interested in collaborating with composers and commissioning new works. This world premiere by James Weeks, a case in point, is generously funded by the RVW Trust.
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