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Speak Percussion: Atlas of the Sky (Sydney Festival)

  • City Recital Hall 2-21 Angel Place Sydney, NSW, 2000 Australia (map)

An innovative percussion work of dramatic and ritualistic power by acclaimed composer Liza Lim, bringing together the virtuosic instrumentalism of Speak Percussion, the incredible voice of soprano Jessica Aszodi, and vocal sounds from a ‘crowd’ of 16 trained and untrained performers.

Inspired by the poetry of Eliot Weinberger and Bei Dao, and reflecting the turbulent rhythms of our world, Atlas of the Sky whips up a maelstrom of driving rhythms, swarming percussion and vocals.

The singers and performers use purpose-built instruments, including string drums, stones, wood blocks and the semantron – a resonant plank of wood used in Greek and Eastern European Christian Orthodox ritual – to tell aural stories about the stars, the power of crowds and changing constellations of memory.

Earlier Event: December 5
Rubiks: Sculptress
Later Event: February 14
Woven Song (Asia TOPA)