The soundfestival in Aberdeen will be host to two first live performances of Tansy Davies works in October.
The first is a work for solo flute, Yoik II, with its world premiere given by Ruth Morley of the Red Note Ensemble. Morley commissioned the work, with the support of Creative Scotland, as a part of the ‘Lost and Found’ project. The recital will take place on 23 October at Fittie Community Hall alongside the premieres of five more new works involved in ‘Lost and Found’. More information here.
Yoik II is the second in a series of focused instrumental solos by Davies. This 7-minute piece alternates between swirling ‘earthy’ material; crisp, high rhythmic grooves with explosive, percussive sounds, and is split in two equal-length sections. The Yoik of the title refers to a traditional song form in Sámi music, Sápmi, which usually represents a person, animal, or place. Listen to Davies’ first Yoik, for horn, in a performance by Christine Chapman on the Ensemble Musikfabrik website.
On 24 October Davies horn trio, Grand Mutation, will also be presented at the same festival by Ensemble Court-circuit at Queen’s Cross Church. Originally premiered in January 2021 as part of Sound’s online festival, and followed by a broadcast by France Music in April, this concert marks the long-anticipated first live performance. The 13-minute work takes its name from the significant astrological event which took place on 21 December 2020: the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in Air signs for the first time in 200 years.
Grand Mutation as commissioned by sound and Ensemble Court-circuit with the support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, the Fondation Francis et Mica Salabert and Diaphonique (Franco-British fund for classical contemporary music).
More information on the Court-circuit concert on the soundfestival website