BBC Symphony Orchestra
Michel van der Aa’s song cycle Spaces of Blank is to receive its British premiere on 18 June 2011. Internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Stephanie Marshall will be supported by the BBC Symphony Orchestra as part of London’s renowned Spitalfields Summer Festival.
In addition, the Disquiet recording of Spaces of Blank, Mask and Imprint has received a four-star review from The Guardian. “Van der Aa persistently questions musical conventions and the accepted boundaries of the artform,” writes Andrew Clements. Bas van Putten has described Spaces of Blank as “everything that a ‘normal’ song cycle is not,” and Clements agrees: “an electronic soundtrack adds an extra layer, and the vocal writing remains utterly detached … worlds away from traditional word setting.”
