About the show

Distant Forces is a 60-minute-long performance that combines a set of live music with multi-surface visual projections.
The sonic programme revolves around Alfred Schnittke’s Piano Quintet, a work that deals with the composer’s grief over his late mother. Molly Joyce’s ‘Rave’ for piano solo, Peteris Vasks’s ‘Pianissimo’ for cello solo, and Simon Knighton’s ‘Pendula’ for piano quintet followed by Toshio Hosakawa's string quartet 'Floral Fairy completing the musical score
Distant Forces is ostensibly a rumination about the loss of a parent, or of one’s own child, about grief of the most personal kind. The narrative trajectory is simple - a child is born, a child is taken away from its mother, a chorus grieves the loss of the child. Each musical piece symbolically drives a single section of the narrative.
Mesopotamian incantations are used throughout the performance as a textual bridge between the musical notes and the overarching theme, echoing the conflict between a lost past and an ongoing present.


Creative Team

Creative Producer: Eldad Diamant

Performers: Ugnius Pauliukonis - Pianist
Will Chadwick & Jody Smith - Violins
Rosamund Hawkins - Viola
Gunda Baranauskaite - Cello

Music by: Molly Joyce
Peteris Vasks
Simon Knighton
Toshio Hosokawa
Alfred Schnittke