Concert | Brìghde Chaimbeul
A few times a year, we offer musical events that highlight certain aspects of our regular programming. These events can also be an opportunity to embrace the moment, as is the case here: Brìghde Chaimbeul, a leading figure in the Celtic music revival and winner of two prestigious BBC awards (Young Folk and Horizons), is touring North America. She will be performing solo, with her music accompanied by moving images. The evening will open with a performance by Sophie Trudeau, a multi-instrumentalist, joined by her collaborator Michaela Grill, an experimental filmmaker and performer.
Presented in collaboration with
Brìghde Chaimbeul
Brìghde Chaimbeul is a leading purveyor of celtic experimentalism and a master of the Scottish smallpipes – the bellows-blown, mellower and more emotive cousin to the famous Highland bagpipes – and she’s taken them to the global stage. A native Gaelic speaker from the Isle of Skye, Brìghde roots her music in her language and culture. She rose to prominence as a prodigy of traditional music, but has since begun a journey to take the smallpipes into uncharted territory. She has devised a completely unique way of arranging for pipe music that emphasises the rich textural drones of the instrument; the constancy of sound that creates a trance-like atmosphere, played with enticing virtuosic liquidity. She draws inspiration from the world of interconnected piping traditions, and her most recent album brings in influence from ambient, avant garde and electronic music. One can talk about Brìghde’s awards and her wide array of collaborators (Caroline Polachek, Colin Stetson, Gruff Rhys, Aidan O'Rourke) but after it all, her music speaks for itself. Haunting, entrancing, breathtaking, beautiful – this open-eared, understatedly virtuosic performer is transforming and creating new definitions for Scottish folk in the 21st century.
Photo: Steve Bliss
Sophie Trudeau & Michaela Grill
Sophie Trudeau & Michaela Grill started collaborating in 2015 and are known for the high emotionality of their live performances. The audiovisual duo from Montreal, also presents installation work that focuses on the intimate relationship between image and sound. They make audiovisual explorations of worlds filled with fragile structures of melody, shadows, and memories not yet experienced. A longing for coalescence, maybe some beauty.
Soon after completing her classical training in violin, Sophie Trudeau joined the genre-breaking instrumental rock group, Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Winner of the 2013 Polaris Music Prize, the group is internationally acclaimed for the intensity of its live performances and the cinematic quality of its music. Sophie balances her international touring schedule with more experimental projects. Working with visual artists and film has always been an important influence on her music. Her work was featured on numerous feature and experimental film scores.
Michaela Grill studied in Vienna, Glasgow and London (Goldsmith College). Since 1999, she made various film and video works and installations, as well as live visuals. Her work as been seen in five continents, notably at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Pompidou Centre in Paris, and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, and in many cinematheques. She received the Outstanding Artist Award by the Austrian Ministry of Art & Culture in 2010.
