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BEASTdome: Headlong...

BEAST welcomed virtuoso clarinettist and new music star Heather Roche for a concert which mixed immersive electronic sound with ferocious live performance.

University of Birmingham Aston Webb building

On Friday 1 March 2019, BEAST welcomed virtuoso clarinettist and new music star Heather Roche for a concert which mixed immersive electronic sound with ferocious live performance.

Heather Roche with clarinet

The programme includes Vinko Globokar’s mad Voix Instrumentaisée, James Opstad’s beautiful Eluvium for clarinet and resonating tam-tams, Ray Gibson’s evocative And If We Break Before The Dawn, and Christopher Fox’s mechanistic ’science experiment' Headlong, alongside a new piece by Scott Wilson and works by other BEAST composers.

In 2012 BEAST began holding concerts in its new home, the bespoke designed Elgar Concert Hall at the Bramall Music Building, arguably one of the best venues of its size for the presentation of electronic music in UK and elsewhere. One of the largest systems of its type in the world, BEAST can mount setups of as many as 100 loudspeakers distributed around the concert space. This approach goes far beyond the capabilities of commodity and cinema ‘surround sound’ systems, allowing artists to create vivid and unique sound worlds, which immerse the listener in a new and engaging sonic experience. 

Speaker system in the Dome Room
BEASTdome
Mark Ferguson
Heather Roche performing

Heather Roche clarinet

Blue Scott Wilson

Ramas relatan ruidos, ríos rumores, rocas rugen Ana María Romano

Eluvium James Opstad

Deadwood Mark Ferguson

If We Break Before The Dawn Ray Gibson

Móvil Natalia Valencia Zuluaga

Voix Instrumentalisée Vinko Globokar

Limpopo Nikki Sheth

Headlong Christopher Fox