As part of Canberra Symphony Orchestra’s Australian Miniseries, curated by Jessica Cottis and Matthew Hindson, Alex Voorhoeve premieres SpaceWarp for electric cello this coming Friday, 4 December! It’s an online event, beginning with a brief interview between Jessica Cottis and myself. Tune in for some five-string electric cello fun!

Upcoming premiere

SPACEWARP
6.45pm AEDT, Friday 4 December 2020 on YouTube / Facebook
Holly Harrison Composer
Alex Voorhoeve Cello

Program note:

Written for 5-string electric cello and effects, SpaceWarp conjures up space-inspired and intergalactic imagery. The sound of the cello is quite literally ‘warped’ by effects, particularly delay, creating a kind of wrinkle in time and space.

The cello is rhythmically frenetic, yet is continuously interrupted by lyrical fragments that burst through, giving way to a more melodic middle section. These moments see the cello sounding more natural or familiar. It’s no accident that SpaceWarp sounds rather like spacewalk, with the delay effect in the slower section suggesting a sense of slow-motion or weightlessness experienced by astronauts in zero gravity.