The ±«Óãtv Concert Orchestra’s appearance at the EFG London Jazz Festival explores new intersections between free improvisation, electronic music, and minimalism, alongside iconic orchestral arrangements in jazz.
The programme is centered around Dialogue, the world premiere of a new commission by turntable artist Shiva Feshareki, which she describes as a ‘sonic sculpture between electronic and acoustic sound’. Audiences can expect live sampling of the orchestra through hyperphysical electronic improvisations that perceptually bend time and space, in duet with resonant orchestral soundscapes. Shiva Feshareki’s work exists at the intersection of many artistic scenes, experimenting with electronic and club music, concert and orchestral, fine art and free improvisation. Her new composition demonstrates all the diverse elements of her craft intricately woven into one.
It is complemented by the UK premiere of James Tenney’s Chorales, which has proved influential on Feshareki’s compositions. At the forefront of 20th-century computer music and algorithmic composition, James Tenney invented one of the most commonly used sonic effects in electronic dance music, the Shephard Tone.
The remainder of the programme explores the marvels that are composer/performers and the influence of New York City on jazz. Principal Conductor Bramwell Tovey is the pianist for Pictures in the Smoke, his work inspired by a line from New York-based poet Dorothy Parker. Gordon Hamilton’s piece pays homage to one of New York’s greatest jazz composer/performers, John Coltrane, and Coltrane played with Miles Davis whose album Nefertiti has been arranged for orchestra by Guy Barker. The Frontier by Dave Heath explores a range of musical images based upon feelings on returning from a visit to New York City in 1989.
