"Torn"

Performers:
Adam Woodward, violin
Arsalan Abedian, sound direction

Programme:
Bahar Royaee: a hair on the skin of the water on the lake (2020)
Carola Bauckholt: Doppelbelichtung (2016)
Farzia Fallah: ...und dann befreit...? (2009/10)
Stuart Wheeler: Letters to Edward to the Scientific Community thru the Mount Wilson Observatory (2021)
Peter Ablinger: Violinstück für Adam (2022)
Jack Sheen: Television Continuity Solos (2016/21)

City soundscapes meet radio silence, birdsong doubles back on itself, and handwritten letters carry feverish ideas about the universe. The violin becomes a vehicle for meditation on nature, stillness, and the release of tension.

"Torn" pursues personal solitude through various forms of repetition - a musical stasis that shifts between silence and noise depending on how closely you listen. The violin appears by turns bare and alone, amplified, or in dialogue with electronic audio material. The works of Bahar Royaee, Carola Bauckholt, Farzia Fallah, Stuart Wheeler, Peter Ablinger, and Jack Sheen read at times like dismantled poems translated into sound - some vocal, some visual, some mimicking animal voices.

Throughout the evening the violin is tuned and retuned; Adam Woodward acts as narrator, messenger, and mediator all at once. The programme raises the question of whether a piece of music is ever truly intended for public consumption.