Where one artform stops and another starts has never been a concern for Meredith Monk as she seamlessly blends elements of music, art and theatre to startling effect. Read more …
Her career blossomed in the avant-garde world of 1960s New York alongside contemporaries including Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed and Andy Warhol.
Part uplifting celebration, part devotional ritual, Songs of Ascension is an ethereal, meditative work that combines music, movement and film. Buddhism and the notion of spiritual enlightenment are the inspiration for this luminous piece of music theatre which has all the hallmarks of Monk's distinctive and evocative vocal style.
Songs of Ascension is a collaboration with American multi-media artist Ann Hamilton.
Its climax was ethereal and rather moving.
You're mesmerised by the sheer sensuality of the sound.
In all it is a delight, which leaves one feeling light and refreshed, but with a sense of something deep behind the play.
There is so much beauty here, but it is achieved delicately, playfully, and almost unobtrusively.
Meredith Monk's tower of music
Meredith Monk, performance artist
Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh from Saturday August 28, 2010, until Monday August 30, 2010. 8.00pm. Tickets: £10-£27. More info: www.lyceum.org.uk
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