A Ritual for Lucilin
Conceived by soprano Juliet Fraser for and with the musicians of United Instruments of Lucilin, A Ritual for Lucilin explores the idea of renewal: leaving certain things behind, allowing new energy to emerge and opening up new possibilities.
Here, the boundaries of the traditional concert begin to dissolve. Instruments are played, of course, but the musicians also sing, whistle, move, improvise and experiment. Music becomes a collective playground, inviting the performers to step outside their usual habits and rediscover a sense of freedom on stage.
Juliet Fraser writes:
“It’s not every day that, as a performer, you are invited to curate a project for other people to perform! It would have been easy simply to programme an hour of interesting contemporary repertoire for Lucilin to play but this felt like a very special opportunity, so I wanted to make the most of it and do something a bit different…
The theme of renewal, around which this ‘ritual’ has been built, came out of conversations with the players, and has proved a wonderfully fertile container for experimentation.
I have been thinking a lot in recent years about how and why we make music, and the limitations that we often place upon ourselves as professional musicians. We are encouraged to specialise and then, sometimes, it becomes difficult to play music outside of that specialism. We are trained in excellence, which can sometimes stop us having fun! For this project, then, I wanted to try and give us all permission to play, to experiment, to roam freely across time and traditions, and perhaps to renew and refresh our sense of possibility on stage.
Huge thanks to Lucilin for coming on this adventure with me.”