Quatuor Bozzini and Aberdeen's community ensemble Any Enemy perform James Tenney's spatial work 'In a Large Open Space', turning the cathedral into an instrument.
Quatuor Bozzini and Any Enemy play St Andrew's Cathedral on Saturday 24 October, part of the sound_festival_ running across the city from 22 to 31 October. The Canadian string quartet — Clemens Merkel, Alissa Cheung, Stéphanie Bozzini and Isabelle Bozzini — is teaming up with Aberdeen's own community ensemble, Any Enemy, for a rare performance of James Tenney's In a Large Open Space.
Tenney wrote the piece in 1994 for twelve or more sustaining instruments, and it's an open, spatially conceived work rather than a fixed score. The idea is to let sustained tones drift and interact across the room, turning the cathedral itself into an instrument. It's the kind of thing that works best when you're actually in the space, listening to the sounds move around you.
If you're around that afternoon, there's a second thing to catch. The cathedral also hosts a free Spotlight gig by Any Enemy, featuring new works by emerging Scottish-based composers David Ford, Meg Curlew and Fraser Sharp. So you could make a proper afternoon of it: the new Scottish writing first, then the Tenney piece later on.
Every week we pick 🏆 the 5 best 🏆 things to do in Aberdeen and send them to your inbox. Just one weekly email, no spam.
By submitting your email, you accept our Privacy Policy
Tickets are £14, with concessions for over 60s (£10), registered disabled, registered unemployed and students (£6), and under 18s free. There's also a Pay What You Can option: £0, £3, £5, £10 or £20. The concert starts at 5:00pm at St Andrew's Cathedral, 28 King Street, Aberdeen AB24 5AX.
