A unique partnership with son et lumière launches

A new partnership between St Andrews Voices Festival and the award-winning light projection artists, Luxmuralis will be launched later this month.

The launch will take place on Tuesday, 26 March, at 8pm in Holy Trinity Church, St Andrews, where a preview of the work which will be at the heart of the 2019 St Andrews Voices Festival in October will be shown.

Luxmuralis’artistic director, Peter Walker and Composer, David Harper will bring the interior of the church to life with projections and pre-recorded music sung by Gesualdo Six, intertwined with Harper’s own sound design. Guests can wander round and experience the visual artwork and music, before a reception hosted by Artistic Director of St Andrews Voices, Sonia Stevenson who will share the festival’s plans for the future.

In the first year of this major three-year partnership, principally supported by Event Scotland and the St Andrews Community Trust, St Andrews Voices and Luxmuralis will create a unique, immersive voice and light event which will take over the whole town of St Andrews. The immersive experiences will be themed around The Universe and take audiences on a journey through time covering the 50^th anniversary of the Moon-Landings, the discovery of black holes and the planets.

Sonia Stevenson, artistic director of St Andrews Voices, said: ‘This thrilling collaboration marks an important new chapter for St Andrews Voices Festival. There is nothing more exciting than bringing together artists from different backgrounds and disciplines. We’re going to create something completely new, something unmissable, and something completely rooted in the town with St Andrews’ heritage and communities at the forefront.’

Sonia Stevenson, artistic director of St Andrews Voices (Photo: Eik Caffery Creative)

Running over two nights at the festival in October, Holy Trinity Church in the centre of St Andrews will be home to large-scale indoor projections featuring live music sung by conductor and composer Owain Park’s group, Gesualdo Six who will be in residence at the festival. Community venues such as community halls, golfing venues, shops, bars and cafes will host smaller installations created in conjunction with community groups as part of the festival’s annual learning and participation programme.

St Andrews Voices Festival which this year runs from 17 – 20 October, features a programme with nationally renowned performers, new commissions, new venues, and a large-scale community element woven into the fabric of the festival. The full programme will be announced later in the spring.

St Andrews Voices is Scotland’s only festival of vocal and choral music. It takes place each October in the magnificent setting of St Andrews on the Fife coast.

Launched in 2012 by Artistic Director Sonia Stevenson, ‘Voices’ has established its place in the Scottish musical calendar and is admired for its diverse programming, presenting some of the finest singers from the UK and beyond. Since 2012, the festival has welcomed Ian Bostridge, Voces8, Roderick Williams, King Creosote, I Fagolini, Tenebrae Choir, John Mark Ainsley, Scottish Opera, Patricia Hodge and Twelfth Day among others.

St Andrews is a uniquely beautiful, historic university town with a vibrant musical culture, unrivalled scenery and an international reputation as the home of golf. It continues to inspire the festival to use its unique spaces and draw on its history to programme and present the festival.

Luxmuralis is a collaborative team combining artists from different backgrounds – creating works across multiple media and presentation formats. Luxmuralis work with a variety of different organisations across England and Internationally, most notably and to critical acclaim at Lichfield Cathedral. Core to their work is the opportunity to explore the development of fine art tradition through new media and place the medium in an art historical context.

The primary purpose of Luxmuralis is to take art onto the streets and provide access to visual artwork in public as well as unexpected places.