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Tectonics The Guardian

190507 Tectonics Review Guardian Tectonics Review The Guardian ****

7th May 2019

…”Downstairs in the Old Fruitmarket, Scottish vocalist Nichola Scrutton breathed deeply into a mic, the sounds mirrored by clarinettist Alex South across the room. In between, the audience were caught in a dexterous layering of breath that felt like the wash and roll of the sea.”…

Read the full Tectonics review online…

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Sonic Bothy Updates April 2019

Sonic Bothy Ensemble Performances

The next performance is at CCA, Glasgow on 26th April 2019. More details at Sonic Bothy’s Facebook page.

Article in The List magazine

Sonic Bothy article The List

Read the article at the link below…

https://www.list.co.uk/article/107892-sonic-bothy-aims-to-explore-glasgows-new-and-experimental-music-scene-as-a-source-of-dialogue-and-inspiration/

Review of SBE Album at Scots Whae Hae

Sonic Bothy album review Scots Whae Hae

Here’s a link to the review online – scroll down the page to find Sonic Bothy’s album write up…

Scots Whae Hae New Musical Success

More Information

For more information on Sonic Bothy Ensemble, and all the charity’s activities, please visit Sonic Bothy’s website.

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Magnetic North Rough Mix Residency

Night Vision – development at Rough Mix 2019

Delighted to be selected for the Magnetic North Rough Mix Residency. The residency took place in Perth Theatre, Scotland for two weeks in January 2019. I explored seed ideas for Night Vision and produced a performance for the public sharing on 18th January 2019.

Many thanks to Nick and all at Magnetic North, and to the artists and performers involved in the residency. Special thanks to Lorna, Neil, Ian and Laurie for the first performance sharing of Night Vision., and Lise for recordings and tech support.

@magnorththeatre
@NicholaScrutton

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Rough Breathing – The Herald

181124 Keith Bruce Rough Breathing

Near the end of our CCA/AC Projects Residency we held an informal event in the Creative Lab. We shared a performance of work-in-progress and had a wonderful Q and A/discussion.

Many thanks indeed to Keith Bruce for including Rough Breathing in this nice piece about CCA Glasgow and the Counterflow Festival 2019.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/17241164.keith-bruce-glasgow-continues-to-host-ground-breaking-music/

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Sonic Bothy Updates 2018

181105 Sonic Bothy Diagonal JoyPerformance

Sonic Bothy Ensemble and Bothy Learning Space joined forces for some intensive rehearsals and a big performance, Diagonal Joy, in the Recital Room at City Halls in November 2018.

NominationSonic Bothy ISME 2016 at RCS photo © SB

Everyone’s excited that Sonic Bothy inclusive new music ensemble has been nominated for a Scottish Award For New Music.

More Information

For more information on Sonic Bothy Ensemble, and all the charity’s activities, please visit Sonic Bothy’s website.

 

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Beton 7 Festival in Athens

Demosthenes

Q+A

Gallery Screening

Festival Opening

We were delighted to be invited to share work for the opening night of  Beton 7 Festival in Athens on 4th June 2018. The event included an introduction by curator Demosthenes Agrafiotis, my solo performance When Night Comes, screening of Wendy Kirkup’s two films Touches Bloquees and film from a score, and a Q + A session in conversation with Simon Murray.

Festival dates: 5th – 17th June 2018. Festival theme: “Visions-V_Ideas, Performances”…

“Visions-V_ideas, Performances” celebrates 5 years since its launch at BETON7. In April 2014, it was stated that the set of actions of the festival aimed at exploring the interface between performance and video in the specific frame of the Votanikos neighbourhood – the site of BETON7, Center for the Arts.

When Night Comes 4

A review may be necessary, not in the sense of a conclusion but an assessment for future adjustments. According to a terminology, performance is at the crossroad of the living arts (arts vivants), which rely on the human body as the main tool, in order to found its artistic idiosyncrasy or specificity (dance for example) and the visual arts, where physical elements allow to shape primarily spatial structures (e.g. sculpture). At this crossroad, the video is entering, which is the field, the opportunity to create a new version of what is happening at the aforementioned crossroad from aesthetic and social point of view.”

Many thanks indeed to Rania and Demosthenes for their invitation, welcome and warm hospitality.

 

 

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When Night Comes

When Night Comes 4When Night Comes 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Night Comes was a solo performance created in dialogue with Wendy Kirkup’s film from a score (2017). In the film I perform Berio’s Sequenza III for solo voice. After Wendy’s films were selected to be screened at the 5th Edition of the Beton 7 Festival in Athens, Greece in 2018, I was invited to perform at the opening as a response to the film prior to the screening on the opening night of the festival. My improvised performance drew inspiration and gestures from both my knowledge of Berio’s score and the compositional and material aesthetic of the film itself. The title is a play on a fragment of text from Berio’s  score – “before night comes”.

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Static Flux at Hidden Door Festival

Zoë Strachan and I performed Static Flux at the Hidden Door Festival in Edinburgh on 29th May 2018.

Programme Note

Static Flux is a sonic seance! In this spoken word/sound piece Zoë and I are exploring narrative and time through chance encounters with remnants, fragments and the ephemera of past lives. The performance was originally created for a live studio broadcast for Radiophrenia in 2017.

@zoestrachan
@NicholaScrutton

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Rough Breathing | Alex South

Through the Rough Breathing project I have been collaborating with clarinettist Alex South to investigate the role and use of breath as an improvising tool in live performance. Our collaborative exploration to date has focused on a) the psychoacoustic and sonic relationships between voice and clarinet, and b) breath and bodily breathing processes as potential material and/or structural devices within free improvisation. One line of inquiry, for example, centres on how the breath might sculpt the dynamic flow of sound-making in performance.

With early exploratory performances at The Glad Cafe and Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre (many thanks John Cavanagh), the work was further supported and developed through a CCA/AC Projects Residency in the Creative Lab at CCA 2018  and Tectonics Festival 2019.

In 2020, Rough Breathing was shortlisted for the Scottish Awards for New Music Ism Prize for Collaboration.

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Sonic Bothy Inclusive New Music

I am delighted to have been working with Sonic Bothy  Ensemble since January 2014. Sonic Bothy was founded by creative director Claire Docherty, and explores, composes and performs experimental and contemporary music.

I post occasional updates – read more in News or click on the Sonic Bothy tag.

For more information on Sonic Bothy Ensemble, and all the charity’s activities, please visit Sonic Bothy’s website

 

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Static Flux with Zoë Strachan

Static Flux – a radio art and performance collaboration

Zoë Strachan and I first produced Static Flux as a live studio broadcast for Radiophrenia in 2017. The work was then selected for a live performance at  Hidden Door Festival  2018.

Programme Note

Static Flux focuses on out-of-time memory states, and how they can be both static and in flux. We are interested in exploring narrative and time through chance encounters with remnants, fragments and the ephemera of past lives. Metaphors for our endeavour include the remnants found in second-hand bags and the pockets of clothing, or in notes scribbled on the back of black and white photographs. There is a melancholy air to these things, but as with any kind of haunting, also the potential for fear, and for deeper connections with our own sense of mortality.

@zoestrachan
@NicholaScrutton

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Sonic Bothy Updates 2017

Sonic Bothy Review

Sonic Bothy Glass-instruments
Photo courtesy of Sonic Bothy.

Sonic Bothy Ensemble’s first gig of 2017 at Mono in Glasgow gets a wonderful review from The Cusp Magazine. Read the full review here

Sonic Bothy recording 1

Sonic Bothy Ensemble have been in residence at Riverside studios recording tracks for a forth coming album.

Paritor Award – Sonic Bothy was one of several Glasgow Life/City Council partnered projects submitted to the National Music Council Awards, and received the Paritor Award for New Music in Education. Read more about the Paritor Award and other winners at the National Music Council website.

Sonic Bothy Ensemble, Sound Festival

Performances include: Recital Rooms, City Halls, Glasgow, Mono, Glasgow, CCA, Glasgow, UNLIMITED, Tramway, Glasgow, ISME conference, RCS, Glasgow, SOUND Festival, Aberdeen, Atelier Public #2, GoMA, Glasgow, Counterflows Festival, The Glad Café, Glasgow

More Information

For more information on Sonic Bothy Ensemble, and all the charity’s activities, please visit Sonic Bothy’s website.

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Sura Medura Moving Out

Moving Out Sura Medura 2016

The final stage of our residency was focused on preparing for our Moving Out event. The other artists involved were Natasha Russell, Sumit Surkar, Samson Ogiamien, and Rose Staff. On the day, we were thrilled to have a big local crowd join us, and delighted that many people came down from the Colombo Biennale and the University Faculty of Visual and Performing Arts to join us for some or all of the time.

Overall, the day at Sunbeach was a wonderful combination of visual art, sound, sculpture, video, performance, people, food, beer, Arrack sour, sea, sand, laughing, chatting, sharing…and cake (what a fabulous day for a birthday!). In our exhibition, which combined some finished elements and work-in-progress, my sound work Sabda saha Pintura was available as a headphone installation.

Listening Post Sabda Saha Pintura

The title Sabda saha Pintura means sound and picture in Sinhalese – through much discussion this seemed to be the most apt translation for the collage idea I was working with in the piece. Exploring  differences in the English/Sinhalese languages was very intriguing – how or in what way  metaphors or concepts translate, for example, sound, soundscape, landscape,  environment.

 

 

Sudu - Tuk Tuk Tour Driver

Tuk Tuk TourDuring the afternoon an audiovisual tuk tuk tour was running – a collaboration between Natasha (Russell) and me. Three people at a time could hop into Sudu’s tuk tukand take a short round trip to visit Natasha’s work in local shops accompanied by my soundtrack.

The soundtrack combined recordings I gathered from those shopkeepers  introducing themselves and their businesses, shop sounds, etc – the general store, jewellers, barbers, a fruit and veg stall. I also recorded an introduction to the tour in Sinhalese, with pronunciation help from folk at Sunbeach. Big thanks to Sudu and Chinthaka for running the tours.

Samson and Nichola Moving Out 1Samson and Nichola Moving Out 2

Early evening, I accompanied Samson Omiagien with some live vocals for his performance piece with sculpture, which we had rehearsed  in the lead up to the event.  The evening finished with a fantastic Sri Lankan curry banquet.

Big thanks to Neil and all at UZ Arts, Chaminda, Chathura, Hasantha, Kari and all at Sunbeach, Maria and Jack, my fellow artists-in-residence, everyone I met.

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Video Jam at Colombo Art Biennale

BANNERColombo Art Biennale - 2

VideoJam

In the final week of the Sura Medura residency we headed up the road for the opening of Colombo Art Biennale in Sri Lanka. I was excited to also have been invited by Shereen Perera to create a live score for the Video Jam event on the opening night. I responded with a solo vocal performance to a beautiful, strange and thoughtful clip of Sri Lankan film-maker Vimukthi Jayasundara’s Light in the Yellow Breathing Space. 

The event took place on 2nd December 2016 at the ZMax Fairway Hotel roof terrace and was part of the Colombo Biennale Performing Arts Programme.

Here’s the Facebook event  and a link to a film clip here Video Jam clip

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Video Jam Colombo Art Biennale Clip

Video Jam at Colombo Art Biennale

Watch Video Jam clip

Here’s a short clip from the Video Jam at the opening night of the Colombo Art Biennale. The link takes you straight through to the Facebook page of Decibel.lk – a Sri Lankan online news, reviews and events site…just click the image to play…

Thanks to Decibel for that. And big thanks to Shereen Perera for inviting me to score for Video Jam.

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BBC Radio 3 Exposure

Exposure GigI was delighted to be performing solo on the first programme of a new BBC Radio 3 series – Exposure. The programme ‘explores the local alternative and underground music scenes’.

The live event is on 23rd September 2016 in Glasgow at the Glad Cafe. The programme will be broadcast on 29th September at 11 pm and available online for a month.

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In Transit with Zoë Strachan

In Transit – a collaborative live-to-air broadcast

Radiophrenia commissioned me and writer Zoë Strachan to collaborate on a Live-to-Air commission. We performed live from the Radiophrenia studio on 5th September 2016 at CCA Glasgow.

Programme Note

In our collaboration we explored the state of being In Transit and how it disrupts the interior monologues of two people on separate but overlapping journeys of a slightly mysterious kind.

Radiophrenia is a temporary art radio station broadcasting from the CCA in Glasgow. In 2016 it produced a two-week exploration into current trends in sound and transmission arts.

@zoestrachan
@NicholaScrutton

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Sura Medura Residency

uzarts logo sura medura residency

I was thrilled to be selected for a six-week Sura Medura residency with UZ Arts  from October to December 2016. The Sura Medura residency on this occasion was being hosted in Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka. My fellow artists were Natasha Russell and Sumit Sarkar, and two other artists arrived later in the residency – Martin Janicek and Samson Ogiamien. Early experience after arrival was a whirlwind of sensations and there was definitely a process of settling into Sunbeach and adjusting – heat, humidity, sounds, smells, surf, swimming, dogs, jungle, mozzies, food, walks, and meeting many warm friendly folk along the way sharing experiences, tips and ideas.

Sura Medura, Storm Brewing

Presentations

As part of the residency we travelled to Colombo and gave presentations to staff and students in the University Faculty of Visual and Performing Arts in week 3. That was a really good day – as well as meeting people, we were fortunate to be shown round all the art departments then had lunch before travelling back.

Sura Medura, Train Nichola ScruttonTrain TimetableFaculty Of Visual And Performing Arts Colombo UniversityFaculty Of Visual And Performing Arts Colombo University2

Thinking about soundscapes

The sound environment is generally very dense and I spent quite a bit of time actively listening and drawing.The area has two main aspect – beach and jungle – and each has its own distinct soundscape. On the beach side the sea roars continuously as the surf thunders in and on the jungle side the air is thick with heat, bird song, massive trees rustling and people going about their daily lives.  A railway line runs between the two through much of the area and regular trains, horns and bells punctuate the air. In the mix are a whole rich array of sounds – the hollering voices of people selling at markets and on the street, the honking and revving of huge buses overtaking other vehicles at breakneck speed (treacherous), thunderstorms and torrential rain, intermittent firework eruptions, the bread, fish and other vans making melodic announcements and so on. I created two soundscape pieces – Sabda saha Pintura and Wave Shift.

Sura Medura, Fish Market

Sura Medura, Lightening Storm

Sura Medura, Jungle

 

 

 

 

 

In week five  we hosted a Moving Out public event at Sunbeach as part of the Colombo Art Biennale, which was a big success. And actually it was on my birthday so an extra cake was involved at the end of the night. Read a bit more info on that at Moving Out. Finally, we had a trip up to Colombo for the opening of the Biennale. I also had been invited to perform/score a film clip at the opening as part of Video Jam. More info on that at Video Jam

Huge thanks to Neil and all at UZ Arts, Chaminda, Chathura, Hasantha, Kari and all at Sunbeach, Maria and Jack, my fellow artists-in-residence, everyone I met.

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Phoenix Dance Theatre | Choreographers and Composers Lab

I was absolutely delighted to be one of four composers selected for the Choreographers and Composers Lab 2015 – a two-week intensive residency with Phoenix Dance Theatre in Leeds. The residency was led by  Sharon Watson and Ken Hesketh, with guest speakers – Robert Cohan, Peter Weigold, Zoé Martlew, Dr Jo Butterworth, Mike Dixon, Didy Veldman.

Choreographers: Adrienne Hart, Mbulelo Ndabeni, Claire Lefèvre and Sandrine Monin.
Composers: Roberto David Rusconi, Nichola Scrutton, Sarah Westwood and Eloise Gynn.
Dancers:  Hannah Bateman, Francesca Caselli, Andreas Grimaldier, Joshua  Harriette, Carmen Marfil, Marie Astrid Mence, Ben Mitchell, Vanessa Pang, Alice Shepherdson, Sam Vaherlehto , Prentice Whitlow.
Musicians: Hara Alonso, Oliver  Dover, Sean  Hamilton, Becky Yen-Huan

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Sonnets/Radiophrenia

RAdiophrenia logo

 



Sonnets was a series of live, interactive, largely improvised sound poems, and was created for a Radiophrenia live-to-air commission in 2015. The work drew on the root meanings of the title word – from  ‘son’ (song) and ‘sonus’ (sound) – rather than the traditional poetic form. I used minimal processing, and focused instead on weaving together a palette of breathy sounds, phonemic fragments and vocal gestures into a series of self-contained but interlinked sound worlds, sometimes with field recordings, to invoke or reference a fictional place or state.

(Please note the sound clips are currently off-air)

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Sound Kitchen Prague

Sound Kitchen
A new solo live work City Song has been selected for performance at the forthcoming Sound Kitchen as part of Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space in June 2015. See the Event page here for more info and links.

City Song explores a shifting dynamic of power, connectedness and fragmentation, and emerged during development time that was supported by a Creative Scotland Artists’ Bursary Award.

Creative Scotland

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Segami Dance Company

From the archive – Segami Dance Company was a collaborative project with New Zealand performer Hugh Major in the early 1990s in Edinburgh, Scotland. We joined forces after our paths crossed while working in the experimental theatre scene.

We created a handful of works including Bruised (solo), My Heart and My LegsThis Glorious Prison, and Shifting Sands, and performed in Edinburgh, London and a few venues in New Zealand’s north island. During our stay in New Zealand we also held workshops and collaborated with performing arts students to create their own contribution to our performance.

Our main influences were Butoh dance, other movement practices like Tai Chi, and indigenous cultures – we were interested in creating intense, contemplative, energetic work. I am currently going through archive materials to see what remains from that time.

Segami

Segami

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Away with the Birds/Hanna Tuulikki/

Vocal performance with  Away with the Birds, Hanna Tuulikki’s site-specific work for 9/10 voices that explores mimesis of birds in Gaelic song.  More info at Hanna’s Away with the Birds on Facebook and Tumblr page.

Away with the Birds Tramway
Tramway

Tectonics

Isle of Canna

Performances

2014
August: Isle of Canna

2013
March: Tramway, Glasgow
June: Tectonics Festival, Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow

 

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Lateral

Nichola Scrutton Lateral

Originally commissioned and created for High-Slack-Low-Slack-High – a suite of audio works relating to the Clyde River curated by Minty Donald for GI Festival of Visual Art – Lateral was made as a live, site-specific installation set in Dixon Street, Glasgow. Subsequent to that event I created a studio version of the work.

Background info

Dixon Street is a main thoroughfare that runs from the river directly up through the city’s main shopping artery. The aims of the work were to highlight a sense of disconnection from the river and to create multiple cross currents by merging the river sounds of Lateral and the sounds of the city environment. The work was projected over large horn speakers mounted in the street between two buildings, creating a view down to the river. Six vocalists added a further layer of human presence with their resonant tones both emerging out of and being subsumed by the undulating sound density of the site.

The starting point for the work was the idea of a ‘Lateral System’ – a system of navigational aids comprising shapes, colours and numbers, used to guide boats up river channels into ports and docks. However, the multiple resonances of the word ‘lateral’ took on greater significance in the work through the associations and digressions that emerge with the notion of a flowing river. Place names, numerical information from tidal charts and signal/radio sounds serve as signposts along the way, rooting the work in a real world place. But the perpetual flow of water and the periodic rhythms of a vocal landscape contribute to a sense of multiple spatial and historical resonances, and to ideas of flowing with and against the current.

Many thanks indeed to Claire Docherty, Kirstie Edgar, Jessica King, Morag Stark and Hanna Tuulikki for their live vocal contributions both on site at Dixon Street and at the closing event in the Clydeport Authority Headquarters.

Performances/events include…

2016
‘Inter-#6’ (Glasgow)
Curated radio show ‘Glasgow Soundscapes’ WebSynRadio (France)
2015
Curated listening hour at Brooklyn Acoustic Ecology Festival (US)
LOLG project Shona Island (Scotland)
2014
(25 Feb – 2 March)
Here. now. where? Saout Radio, 5th Marrakech Biennale
(12 – 18 January)
Framework Radio broadcasts
12th london, uk ::: resonance 104.4fm
13th amsterdam, nl ::: concertzender
13th vancouver, us ::: radio nouspace
14th south devon, uk ::: soundartradio 102.5fm
14th maribor, si ::: radio marš 95.9fm
15th lisbon, pt ::: radio zero
15th vancouver, us ::: radio nouspace
16th coimbra, pt ::: rádio universidade de coimbra 107.9fm
16th lisbon, pt ::: radio zero
17th ljubljana, si ::: radio študent 89.3fm
17th brussels, be ::: radio campus 92.1fm
17th vancouver, us ::: radio nouspace
18th london, uk ::: resonance 104.4fm
18th new york state, us ::: wgxc 90.7fm
18th brasilía, br ::: rádio paisagem
2012
Foldover, WOBC 91.5 fm, Ohio
Time/Zones, Akademie der Kunst, Berlin
AIR/EAR Installation, Radio-System, Argentine

High-Slack-Low-Slack-High, GI Festival, Dixon Street, Glasgow
High-Slack-Low-Slack-High, GI Festival, Clydeport HQ, Glasgow

 

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Teaching Fellow University of Glasgow

After being awarded my PhD from University of Glasgow I worked as a Teaching Fellow in Music there for two years.

Glasgow Unesco City of Music

2009-2011 University of Glasgow (Music)
Teaching Fellow (0.6 fte)

In brief, areas of work included:

Sonic Arts Levels II and III;
Practice-based Composition Workshops;
Contemporary Music Ensemble;
Lectures in Music and Technology;
Advising UG Dissertations and students on the MLitt in Popular Music Studies (Creative Practice);
First GLEAM concert organiser and host;
Music Education Project Organiser;
Course Administration.

2004-2009  University of Glasgow (Music):
Graduate Teaching Assistant