Still Point
Oram’s visionary 1940s turntablism – a World Premiere at The BBC Proms
Monday 23 July 2018 saw the World Premiere of the final score for Daphne Oram’s 1948 composition Still Point at the BBC Proms in London. Oram’s groundbreaking piece for double orchestra, live electronics and turntables has been realised by Shiva Feshareki and James Bulley alongside the London Contemporary Orchestra.
Still Point formed the centre piece for Prom 13 at the Royal Albert Hall, where Oram was heard in a rich programme of pioneering composers. This concert was the culmination of years of research by Feshareki and Bulley.
Seventy years ago, as a wartime BBC radio ‘music balancer’, Oram devised many of the ideas she’d use in the piece while working for the BBC at the Royal Albert Hall and at Maida Vale – so this Prom is a wonderfully fitting scenario for the first performance for their reconstruction of the piece.
There’s more information here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ebzcd4 and here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-44805745
You can find an article written by the BBC about Oram’s work here: http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170522-daphne-oram-pioneered-electronic-music
The concert was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, and two days later on television on BBC4.
Other artists in the lineup:
PROM 13 • PIONEERS OF SOUND
MONDAY 23 JULY 10.15pm–c11.30pmDelia Derbyshire – The Delian Mode (first performance at the Proms)
CHAINES – Knockturning (world premiere)
Laurie Spiegel – Only Night Thoughts (world premiere)
Suzanne Ciani – Improvisation on Four Sequences from 1975 (live on Buchla 200e)
Daphne Oram – Still Point (world premiere of new realisation by Shiva Feshareki and James Bulley)