All events Small-ensemble performance

Music of Today: How Forests Think

Free, ticket required
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Booking for Friends of the Philharmonia opens at 10am on Thursday, 4 November. General booking opens Thursday, 11 November.

Wu Wei playing the sheng.

Artists

Manoj Kamps – conductor
Wu Wei – sheng

Programme

Anna Thorvaldsdottir Entropic Arrows

Liza Lim How Forests Think

Wu Wei is an innovative and world-renowned master of the sheng, a Chinese mouth organ. He joins members of the Philharmonia Orchestra in a piece for sheng and ensemble by leading Australian composer Liza Lim. How Forests Think explores how forest organisms such as trees and fungi create communication networks and influence each other. The members of the ensemble must become just as connected, responding to each other’s sound and to each other’s breathing. From the delicate sound of raindrops, created by dropping dried peas onto a drum, experimental instrumental effects build up into what Lim describes as ‘a tsunami of sound’.

Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s music is full of instrumental colour, combining intricate detail with a sense of expansiveness. Shining through the complex textures of Entropic Arrows are long sustained notes that the composer asks players to think of as ‘a fragile flower that you need to carry in your hands and walk the distance on a thin rope without dropping it or falling.’

This free Music of Today performance is part of Southbank Centre’s acclaimed SoundState Festival.

Free, ticket required.

Need to know

Prices & Discounts

FREE, ticket required

Running time

45 minutes, no interval

Recommended age

7+

Drinks

You can take drinks from the bar into this performance

Box office

Philharmonia Box Office: 0800 652 6717
Monday to Friday 10am – 5pm

After the event

Venue

The lobby of the Purcell Room at Southbank Centre, audience queuing at hall entrance

Purcell Room

Southbank Centre
Belvedere Road
London
SE1 8XX

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