Southbank Centre's Ether festival presents UK premiere of Decasia

Work combines Michael Gordon's symphonic score and Bill Morrison's film

Ether 2012 runs at the Southbank Centre from October 5 to 20, celebrating 'innovation, technology and experimentation' in cross-genre and cross-artform events. Now in its 11th season, the festival presents UK and London premieres, a mix of electronics, classical music, visual arts, dance and a celebration of John Cage’s centenary. Artists include Tyondai Braxton and the London Sinfonietta, Rolf Hind, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Edward Gardner with narrator Samuel West.

On October 14 New York’s Bang on a Can artistic director Michael Gordon brought his symphonic score to Southbank Centre for the UK premiere of Bill Morrison’s film Decasia, screened with live accompaniment by the Aurora Orchestra and conductor Nicholas Collon.

Comprised of a collection of decaying archive sequences from silent movies, Decasia was created by Gordon and Morrison in collaboration with director Bob McGrath and visual designer Laurie Olinder. Gordon’s score features a 'de-tuned' orchestra, four 'de-tuned' pianos and sliding pitches to match the decayed celluloid of the images.

See pictures from the performance below. Click the first image to launch the gallery:

All performance photos © Ben Larpent