On 11 October the Arditti Quartet will premiere a new work by Tansy Davies as part of the Berlin Philharmonie’s Wochenende Neue Musik. Entitled Nightingales: Ultra-Deep Field, the 17-minute work is Davies’ most substantial chamber work to date. Commissioned by the Stiftung Berliner Philharmoniker, Southbank Centre and Arditti Quartet, with funds from the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, the five-movement work is scheduled to receive its UK premiere on 27 February 2021.
October will also see the German premiere of Davies’ song cycle The rule is love at the Donaueschingen Musiktage, with Elaine Mitchener and Manufaktur für aktuelle Musik. Scored for contralto, soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, percussion, violin and double bass, the 10-minute work sets texts by John Berger and Sylvia Wynter and has been described by Davies as a collection of ‘weird pop songs, a little bit inspired by the David Lynch aesthetic’.