THE OBSERVATORY

An exploration of humankind’s relationship with space and our gradual attempts to understand and explore it with the poetic, the scientific and the musical.

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Weightlessness, distance, the unknown, infinity and astronomical geometry inspired this co-commission from the Norfolk & Norwich Festival. The Voice Project Choir became The Astronony Choir for these performances at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the University of East Angia.

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Composers Jonathan Baker, Orlando Gough and Karen Wimhurst set texts that ranged from the amazing metaphysics of George Herbert to unbroadcast bulletins about Apollo 11, in a piece written for 150 choreographed voices and an ensemble of exceptional instrumentalists including percussionist Stephen Hiscock and pedal steel guitarist  BJ Cole, with lighting design from Tim Tracey.