a golden string
an interactive audio-visual experience
“SANSARA managed to dull the maddening roar of London, and enchant the graveside audience of William Blake”
story
On Sunday 12 August 2018, we performed at the unveiling of a new tombstone for the poet and mystic William Blake at Bunhill Fields in central London. We performed a stunning piece by the Australian composer Chris Williams which sets the following text:
I give you the end of a golden string;
Only wind it into a ball,
It will lead you in at Heaven’s gate,
Built in Jerusalem’s wall.
- from Jerusalem, Plate 77 (1815)
Two years later and we have returned to this beautiful music, with its overlapping textures and hypnotic phrases, and joined forces with videographer Alex McEwen to produce an interactive digital performance.
Using audio recorded by our singers during lockdown, we have made four separate audio tracks, each with their own accompanying video. We invite you to create your own rendition of the piece by combining these four layers and exploring the possibilities of their infinite variation.
Click on the orb below to dive in…
demo
feedback
Let us know what you think using the form below:
© Karla Gowlett
Chris Williams
In 2020, Chris’ work for string orchestra Time before and time after was awarded first prize at the Musica Per Archi competition, run by the Lviv Philharmonic Society, Ukraine, he has been commissioned by the Song Company, and also the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra for a cor angles concerto.
In 2019, Chris’ music for the revival of Louis Nowra’s Cosi was heard in Melbourne and at the Sydney Opera House, a co-production between the Sydney and Melbourne Theatre Companies. His music featured in the Song Company’s 35th anniversary tour, where it “floated… ending iridescently” (Sydney Morning Herald). In 2020, Chris has been commissioned by the Song Company, with funding from the Silo Collective, to write a new major song cycle, and is composing a concerto commissioned by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.
“a lovely shade of wistful ”
Chris is a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the University Oxford. He will be taking up a composition PhD fellowship at Duke University in 2021 and has previously been commissioned by Carnegie Hall.
Alex McEwen
After completing a foundation diploma in painting at Central St Martins, Alex went on to study fine art at UCA Farnham (BAHons). He has had a number of joint exhibitions in painting and a solo show in which he produced a range of video installations around the theme of the "Silent Landscape" (an exploration of the numerous communication networks of radio waves that permeate our environment.
During his time as a teacher Alex embarked on a number of commissions to produce video works to accompany live performance and classical concerts. He has worked with: Howard Moody and theSarum Orchestra, (Songs of the Forest, Anvil Basingstoke): Richard Chew, (Starimost, Salisbury Cathedral, Anvil Basingstoke, Adelaide, Ballarat and St Johns Waterloo). He has won various painting competitions including artist of the year BBC Radio 4.
The main focus of his recent work has been video accompaniment for new music projects specifically working with composers to explore rhythm in filmic images.
Special thanks to Niels Hak for web design support.
