Heart of Light was imagined for the month of February, the last month of winter, a distinctive colour lingering on the horizon giving us the impression something new is coming. Light has a central place in the ideas behind all the music : Finbar Hosie’s new work The Hyacinth Garden invites us on a political and sensuous exploration through waste lands and gardens, in search of togetherness and separation in space and sound. Noriko Baba’s Bonbori is a sound painting of the beauty of Japanese lacquerware glimmering in candlelight in a dark room. Mic Spencer’s new piece, nuthin lik disperr, part of his love letters cycle, is inspired by the poem of the same name by Tom Leonard, an ode to the joy of metaphorical darkness. Santiago Díez Fischer’s love fragments takes Sappho’s Fragments on love and desire as the starting point, which begins “You Burn me” and is part of a new album to be released in the Spring of 2023 documenting his work with lovemusic. Finally in Sasha Blondeau’s Sortir du noir (title "stolen" from Georges Didi-Huberman’s book of the same name) two types of light collide - strong and intentional (roaming searchlights) with fleeting and inadvertent (lamps of lost people).

Finbar Hosie  - The Hyacinth Garden , for clarinet, viola, electric guitar, performer and electronics (2023)

Santiago Díez-Fischer  - love fragments for flute, clarinet, viola, cello, electric guitar and electronics (2022)

Mic Spencer - nuthinlik disperr (Love letter No.5) in Memoriam Hans-Joachim Hespos, for quintet (2023)

Noriko Baba  - Bonbori for quintet with objects (2008) 

Sasha Blondeau - Sortir du noir for cello and electronics (2016) 

Emiliano Gavito - Flute

Adam Starkie - Clarinet

Sophie Wahlmüller - Viola

Lola Malique - Cello

Christian Lozano - Guitar

Finbar Hosie - Electronics and Lights

Please note, this event is free to attend, but seats are limited, so please do sign up to attend, via the 'register now' button above.

« This project was made possible through the generous support of Diaphonique, Franco-British fund for contemporary music, in partnership with the SACEM, the Friends of the French Institute Trust, the British Council, the Institut français, the Institut français du Royaume-Uni, the Centre National de la Musique, Creative Scotland and the Salabert Fondation »

BEFORE THE CONCERT - Here are some sounds to whet your appetite - recordings and other pieces by the composers of the programme :