Australia’s largest contemporary multi-arts precinct, Carriageworks in Sydney, will present Time as Revelator, by contemporary instrumental group Ensemble Offspring, featuring a celebration of the 100-year anniversary of the birth of legendary Greek Fench composer Iannis Xenakis.
The one-night-only performance will take place on 16 July 2022 and will be led by acclaimed percussionist and Artistic Director, Claire Edwardes OAM.
Time as Revelator showcases the power of the beat whilst exploring the passage of time. Not shying away from a steady pulse, and with the occasional futuristic glitch thrown in, the program features original works for instrumental chamber combinations.Â
As a centennial celebration of the birth of acclaimed architect and composer Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001), audiences will be treated to a special performance of his work Plekto. In Plekto, meaning ‘braids,’ instruments intertwine and overlap to create a dense melodic plait.
Xenakis is considered a leading figure of modernism in music, known for his experimental composition techniques derived from mathematics, architectural principles and game theory that soon entered the basic vocabulary of the twentieth-century avant-garde.
However, he never embraced total serialism and he also avoided more traditional devices of harmony and counterpoint. Instead, Xenakis developed other ways of organising the dense masses of sound that are characteristic of his first compositions.
These stochastic, or random, procedures were based on mathematical principles and were later entrusted to computers for their realisation.
For all the formal control in their composition, Xenakis’ scores retain an elemental energy, a life-force that gives the music visceral impact.
Tickets, in-person and streaming can be purchased here.
