Mira Calix - New Warp album, My Secret Heart project.. and more!

November 18, 2008

Mira Calix released her latest album 'The Elephant in The Room' on October 27th, drawing together her work on the opera 'Elephant And Castle' (commissioned by Aldeburgh Music), 'memoryofamoment' - an installation piece for cello, originally presented in June this year, and 'Dead Wedding' which saw its premiere at the Manchester International Festival. Its a fascinating hybrid of orchestral textures and experimental electronics, and further supports her position as a key figure in the new avant-garde.

Mira Calix has a handful of projects on the go, and more in the pipeline, but here's a short summary of her current available shows:

Mira Calix feat. Oliver Coates

Sinfonietta cellist Oliver Coates joins forces with Mira Calix, electronically manipulating and layering his strings into vast and thrilling explorations of texture and form. The project premiered at the Bath Festival in May 2008, and with great success.

My Secret Heart

My Secret Heart is a new music and film installation commissioned by Streetwise Opera (www.streetwiseopera.org) and created by Mira Calix, video artists Flat-e and sound designer Dave Sheppard. It's performed by 80-100 Streetwise performers, and takes its insiration from Allegri’s 17th-century choral work Miserere Mei, a piece so protected by the Vatican that they put an embargo on it. Mira Calix and Flat-e have used the theme of secrecy to explore movements and singing with Streetwise’s participants to create this new century-leaping work.

The installation will be previewed in Lucerne in October, premiered at the Royal Festival Hall (Clore Ballroom) on 3rd December (now sold out!) and tour to galleries and festivals across the world through 2009.

Check the website here, and be sure to watch the incredible taster video's here.

The piece exists in three scaled forms:

* A live version of the installation with Streetwise performers and a professional choir performing (for the previews and premiere only).

* A stand-alone installation of 48 minutes shown in galleries, festivals and other venues.

* A 7-minute DVD of the film and soundtrack that can be played on a flat screen suitable for small venues and film festivals (available in SD or Blu Ray).

Alexander's Annexe

This project involves the skills of Sinfonietta principle David Sheppard as sound engineer, Sarah Nicholls on Grand Piano (extracting every sonorous noise possible from the instrument), and Mira Calix manipulating these diverse sounds electronically. The trio debuted at the 2005 Aldeburgh Festival, and since enchanted audiences at Sonar, Elektron, and many more high profile appearences. Their first release 'Push Door To Exit' was released on Warp in November 2006.

Links:
Mira Calix Website
Mira Calix Myspace
My Secret heart website
Alexander's Annexe Website
Oliver Coates website

Permalink | November 18, 2008

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