Hosted by the Arts Lab at the Cambridge School of Visual & Performing Arts (CSVPA), please join us at West Road Concert Hall for an evening of music, conversation, discovery, dance performance and projection installation, all developed in response to Professor Richard Causton’s (King's College, University of Cambridge) contemporary classical composition, 'Phoenix' (2006), winner of a Royal Philharmonic Society Award.
The evening will begin with an introductory talk by Dr Simone Kuegeler-Race, Medievalist and Cultural Historian (German Section, University of Cambridge), on the history and representation of the Phoenix in Art, Literature and Culture.
Then, accompanied by NEXT ensemble (Birmingham Contemporary Music Group), Richard will initially ‘talk-through’ the piece, providing unique insights into the compositional process involved in the generation and development of this short but intense and moving work, from initial inspirations to the complex interplay between the featured instruments.
Following this, NEXT will play the work for a second time, in its entirety, on a bare stage.
The third, and final, performance of the evening will take place amidst a bespoke screen and original projections, created by CSVPA students, as well as original dance choreography by CSVPA and the Cambridge University Ballet Club. Exploring intermedial relationships between music and images, stillness and movement, and themes of demise and re-birth, this final performance of Phoenix will attempt a Gesamtkunswerk, a ‘total work of all the Arts’.
An exhibition of further creative outcomes that have arisen from the project will be held in the entrance to the concert hall. Featuring contributions from across all disciplines and academic levels at CSVPA and CSVPA’s sister school in Shanghai, China, you can experience a diverse range of digitally rendered assets, performative drawing, collaborative painting, illustration, animations and sculpture.
The evening promises to be a unique and ambitious experiment in collective creative endeavour.
Please note that we strongly encourage the wearing of face masks, given that the venue is enclosed.
