A Quiet Night In returns on Friday 22 April as part of a week of campaigning, concerts and climate change awareness events taking place at Exeter Phoenix.
It will be the ensemble’s thirteenth exploration of the creative possibilities of quiet contemporary music in quiet spaces, and its first indoor performance since the pandemic began.
In the past it has played at St Nicholas’ Priory, The Mint, St Martin’s Church and Hope Hall, among other venues.
Last July the ensemble facilitated a “collective act of listening and sound-making” at Exwick Mill Field, inviting attendees to follow a simple score responding to the “flow of sound from daylight to dusk”.
A Quiet Night In is curated by Emma Welton and Tony Whitehead with a changing roster of musicians.
On Friday 22 April they will be joined by Kate Honey on trumpet, Roz Harding on saxophone and Hugh Nankivell on keyboards.
The programme will include Deep listening music by celebrated American composer Pauline Oliveros and pieces by Emma, Hugh, and British experimental composer Tim Parkinson.
Adopting its title for the evening, the ensemble will also perform Reaching an acceptable and stable solution by James Saunders, composer and professor at Bath Spa University.
Emma Welton said: “I’m finding great delight in the way audiences are listening to music at the moment.
“Exquisite attention, even bliss, pervades the space. Eyes are closed. There’s a deep understanding of how essential are these simple acts of togetherness.
“As performer it feels more than ever that we’re making it happen, together.”
The concert, which is timed to coincide with Earth Day, is one of several events taking place at Exeter Phoenix as part of Turn Up The Volume, a nationwide initiative orchestrated by Music Declares Emergency, an industry network of organisations and artists focussed on the climate crisis.
On Tuesday 19 April Climate EQ is offering a one day carbon literacy training course specifically designed for the music industry and on Thursday 21 April A Quiet Night In’s Tony Whitehead will hosts an evening of conversation with climate activist and composer Kate Honey.
A Quiet Night In is on Friday 22 April 2022 at 9pm. Pay what you can from £10 down. Tickets via Exeter Phoenix.
