10 Dec Vocalis Arbores – Lights up Lesness Abbey
Nov 17th:
We presented Vocalis Arbores to a brilliant audience of 7000 punters braving the cold for the 1 mile ‘Light The Way’ light walk at Thamesmead, London.
Postponed from March Due to Covid Restrictions the excitement and shear number despite sub zero temperatures was astounding and showed theres a real appetite for outdoor son-et-lumier installations like this right now.
Despite the Lockdowns of 2020/21, Aswarm’s AD Thor McB has been working on a new commission for Lesness Abbey, london.
– Collecting a 100 voices from people during Lockdown, describing what spending time in Lesness Abbey and amongst tree’s means to them, Collating a wide plethora of perspectives, observations and reflections..
– 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 the Latin names of the tree’s of Lesness Abbey Woods with new prose Thor wrote. (* working with Bexley Choir and Bexley Music Hub).
–Thors installation wove these local voices in song and spoken into a multichannel spatial son-et-lumier installation that reverberated around the ruins and welcomed local audiences into a homage to tree’s, working with Lighting Designer Craig West, who lit the Abbey ruins.
* Vocalis Arbores premier’s at Light the Way, produced by Emergency Exit Arts for Lesnes Abbey (Bexley Council) & Peabody, Covid-postponed from March 2021.
