Dates

• 13 Aug 2025, 11:05 a.m., thespace Triplex (venue 38), Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, Website and tickets

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Repertoire Aud the Deep Minded, by Joanna Nicholson

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Description

What? Why?

Scored for soprano (Cliona Cassidy), clarinet (Joanna Nicholson), horn (Andy Saunders), electronic soundscape (Alistair MacDonald) and sound responsive projection art by Kirsty Anderson, Aud the Deep Minded is reframing the language of modern opera.  With influences from the likes of Sinead O’Brien and Yard Act blended with 9th century church music and Norwegian folk, it’s about as far away from Mozart as you can imagine - except it isn’t, the structures of aria and recitative are very much in there, just transformed for the 21st century.  “I wanted to write the concert that I would want to go to,” says composer and performer in the piece, Joanna Nicholson, a shortlister in the recent Scottish New Music Awards.  “I want the musicians to be like magic beings, pushing the edges of their skill and strength every performance, taking risks, daring to expand their own creativity.” 

 

The story

Aud the Deep Minded was a real historical figure, a Viking who lived in Ireland and Scotland and was regarded as a great leader.  Says Nicholson, “Aud is usually presented as strong and authoritative, but I wondered, what if she wasn’t like that, what if she was a more vulnerable, reluctant leader.  How might she have felt about the circumstances in which she found herself?”  The show uses improvised word play on the changing pronunciations of Aud’s name in different languages to reflect on her status as an immigrant, and musical source material from church and folk backgrounds blends Aud's affinities with both Christianity and paganism.

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Performers Alistair MacDonald, Andy Saunders, Joanna Nicholson

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Promoter Made In Scotland

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Submitted by Andy Saunders