Three Scenes At The Edge Of...

This piece is a rather personal musical account of experiences from the year 2020. The Three Scenes are a reaction to each great occurrence of that year, from the first experiences of lockdown, through the experience of quarantines, the hope of the never arriving light at the end of the tunnel and all the losses. They should be approached as scenes even if not necessarily performed theatrically or cinematically (though those two options are encouraged) but the intention is that the sounds conceptualise these experiences.

Scene 1: alone with myself...
reflects on the unexpected time of isolation and the weight of that on one’s psychology, both a meditative, though almost psychotic struggle to not lose one's mind as the world reduced itself to basically a room.

Scene 2: ...fragile stability...
using the most fragile yet stable sounds of both flute and guitar, the instruments swap traditional roles as our sense of normality and stability prove so fragile, yet our desire/need for the sense of stability and normality (finding a new normal) prove sturdy with the relentless passage of time.

Scene 3: deception of hope.
the hope of the new year, of the new discoveries, new leaders, social movements, the feeling that the light at the end of the tunnel is ever so near, but the tunnel proves to be ever so long, there is the danger that small victories makes us stop before actually reaching the end of the tunnel, but hope keeps us going, unless it deceives that we are already there.


Three Scenes At The Edge Of... were commissioned by TANGRAM and Chinese Arts Now and premiered online in April 2020 in a performance by Yi-Hsuan Chen, flute and Fabricio Mattos, guitar. Recorded at the Clock Tower in St. Pancras, London, UK and it was filmed, mixed and edited by Bernardo Simões.

A recording done at Abbey Road Institute at the Custom 75 in Abbey Road Studios, London will be released on all digital platforms soon.