Topographies Mini Festival: 24 - 25 May at PAS Berlin

Thu 9 May 2024

Topographies Mini-Festival (24 - 25 May) brings together leading exponents of improvised and experimental music from Ireland and Germany for a weekend of adventurous New Music at PAS Berlin, one of the city's best-known venues for contemporary music.

Balancing improvised and composed works, the programme showcases three festival commissions by Irish artists Francis Heery, Ellen King and Elliot Murphy, each drawing on geographical and psychological landscapes.

The festival roster comprises Berlin-based composer - performers Francis Heery (Electronics/composer), Brad Henkel (Trumpet), Jung-Jae Kim (Saxophone), Malwina Kołodziejczyk (Saxophone), Vincent Laju (Cello), Elo Masing (Violin), Elliot Murphy (Cello/composer), Ernst Surberg (Synth), welcoming Irish-based improvisers Izumi Kimura (piano), Shane Latimer (e-guitar), John Godfrey (e-guitar) and Daniel Bodwell (double bass) to share the stage. Complementing the live performance sessions is a free panel discussion, 'Uncharted' - amplify LIVE @ Topographies, featuring festival artists in conversation with CMC's Jonathan Grimes.

Friday, Saturday or two-day tickets are available online at Eventbrite, or on the door at PAS Berlin.

www.topographies.org

Presented by the Contemporary Music Centre Ireland, in partnership with Artistic Director Francis Heery and PAS Berlin as part of Zeitgeist Irland 24, an initiative of Culture Ireland and the Embassy of Ireland in Germany.

Composer-performer Ellen King, performer Shane Latimer.

Friday 24 May

18:00 | Topographies Festival Opening

All welcome to celebrate the beginning of the festival before the first performance at 8pm. Reception kindly supported by the Embassy of Ireland in Germany.

20:00 | Francis Heery - MoonPhases (2017/2022)

MoonPhases is a long-form spectral work written as a homage to W.B. Yeats’ occult work A Vision. This book was derived from notes he took during daily seance-like sessions with his wife Georgie, who would channel messages from the beyond, either through speech or automatic writing. MoonPhases features a ‘hermetically charged’ drone and sets of performance instructions on 28 cards.

MoonPhases was commissioned by Quiet Music Ensemble.

Saturday 25 May

Composer-performers Elliot Murphy and Francis Heery.

13:00 | Elliot Murphy - Inferno (2021)

Inferno is a work for solo cello and interactive pre-recorded strings written in celebration of the septuacentennial of Dante’s Divine Comedy. It follows Dante’s journey as he descends into the underworld marking each new location with a sonic landscape. Its modular composition allows the pre-recorded aleatoric parts to be flexibly recomposed during performance while the live cello part is improvised simultaneously. Supported by The Arts Council of Ireland.

15:00 | ‘… and if these were islands …’

A long form improvisation featuring various constellations and clusters of improvising musicians from Ireland and Berlin.

19:00 | Uncharted - amplify @ Topographies

Panel discussion with artists and composers featured in Topographies, in conversation with the Contemporary Music Centre’s Jonathan Grimes. The conversation will be recorded for CMC Ireland’s dedicated New Music podcast, amplify. *This is a free event, no booking needed.

20:00 | Topographies Triptych

Three premieres written especially for the Topographies festival, for piano, electric guitar, cello and electronics by Francis Heery, Ellen King and Elliot Murphy.