22 Jun Vocalis Arbores
Despite the Lockdown, Aswarm’s AD Thor McB has been working on a new commission for Lesness Abbey, london.
– Recording a disparate choir* of individual voices recorded online singing a new score he co-wrote with Choral conductor & composer Jeremy Jackman, a Gregorian chant utilising prose & the Latin names of the tree’s of Lesness Abbey Woods. (* working with Bexley Choir and Bexley Music Hub).
– Collecting a 100 voices from people articulating that intangible sense they get from spending time walking and being amongst the trees of Abbey Wood. – Working both solo with a socially distanced boom mic and a Postcard invitation activity, Thor gathered an amazing web of voices describing why spending time amongst tree’s especially in lockdown has been so special to users of the site.
– Covid restrictions meant the installation event is postponed to November ’21, but never one to miss an opportunity, we used the initial date in March to test out and trial the spatial sound and lighting design by Craig West, in a a site -specific re-awakening of the Lessness Abbey Ruins. – Much to the amazement of the sunbathers on that bizaarly baking day in March.
Vocalis Arbores will premier at Light the Way, a major 2021 event produced by Emergency Exit Arts for Lesnes Abbey & Peabody, Covid-postponed from March 2021 to Nov 2021.
