On 30 October Red Note Ensemble premiere Tansy Davies’ Lost Science at Sound Scotland. The 23-minute work for chamber ensemble and electronics was commissioned by Red Note Ensemble, sound, Crash Ensemble and Ensemble Offspring. The latter give the Australian premiere of the work on 3 June 2026, as part of the ACO on the Pier recital series in Sydney Harbour.
It figures amongst several exciting appearances of Davies’ music in the 2025/26 season. On 24 March The Passion of Mary Magdalene, a radical reimagining of the Easter story, premieres at the Barbican with Dunedin Consort, John Butt, and soprano Anna Dennis. On 13 March London Sinfonietta perform Soul Canoe, created as part of a residency at the Concertgebouw in 2019, at the Queen Elizabeth Hall; on 11 October they gave the Mexican premiere of inside out 2 at the Cervantino Festival. In summer 2026, Colin Currie will premiere Davies’ new percussion concerto.
Following their premiere of Canopies of Liquid Light – a partner work to Steve Reich’s City Life – in 2024, on 6 November Asko|Schönberg give the Dutch debut of grind show (electric) – a 6-minute work for chamber ensemble and electronics inspired by Goya – at the Muziekgebouw. Ensemble 10:10, who have previously performed Davies’ glider and inside out 2, present Dune of Footprints for string orchestra with Clark Rundell on 25 February.
Lost Science is an imaginary journey into the Earth’s interior, dwelling in a space between the Earth’s surface as we know it and older geophysical layers. These interior spaces speak to us in moans, groans, echoes and whispers; the voice of Earth: secrets of her ‘deep time’ structure, and of the pains of the transformation she is undertaking now. Davies calls the electronics “an ancient landscape”, explored by the live instrumentalists. The work proceeds through eleven cycles – visions of the “Divine Feminine” manifested in a host of figures: Joan of Arc, Green Tara, Mary Magdalene, Hathor, Isis, and Quan Yin. They act as guides through this geological interior. Delving into the earth’s interior has been a longstanding source of creative fascination in Davies’ work, providing the framework her 2018 chamber opera created for Mark Padmore, Elaine Mitchener, and the London Sinfonietta.
Red Note Ensemble gave the UK premiere of Davies’ Soul Canoe – created as part of a residency at the Concertgebouw – in 2019 at the festival, returning to the piece in 2021 at the Lammermuir Festival. The group first performed Davies’ music in 2018, presenting neon at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.