Stone Drawn Circles In Formation Tour
Debut tour by new Irish contemporary music collective

Fearless interpreters of new music, Stone Drawn Circles brings together 6 trailblazing artists who hold exploratory music at the heart of their practice. Artist-led, the ensemble features players from groups including Eighth Blackbird, stargaze, Crash Ensemble, and Ergodos. Equally at ease with complexity as they are in graphic scoring and improvisation, Stone Drawn Circles are a collective of risk-takers and sonic explorers - Lina Andonovska - flutes, Nathan Sherman - viola, Michelle O’Rourke - voice, Alex Petcu - percussion, Caimin Gilmore - double bass, and Úna Monaghan - harp/sound design.

Described as an Irish New Music ‘supergroup’ at their début performance at the international Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Stone Drawn Circles embark on the In Formation tour in May: Glór (Ennis), Triskel Arts Centre (Cork), and The Hugh Lane (Dublin). Bringing new works by composers by 4 composers who are making waves within the global new music scene: Canadian composer Nicole Lizée, Northern Irish composers Úna Monaghan and Brian Irvine, and Australian composer Cat Hope.

‘In Formation’ by Úna Monaghan investigates three things: how a musician comes to be, what we carry with us and band dynamics in a humorous way. Part concert work/ part melodrama, the fourth wall is dropped in this interactive exploration of relationships within the creation of art.

‘Landay Sequenzas’ by Cat Hope consists of five English translations of Afghan Landays set to music. The Landay is an Afghan form of poetry consisting of a single couplet in Pashto, one of two national languages of Afghanistan. Commonly shared orally amongst Pashtan women, they are sung aloud, sometimes with the beat of a hand drum and address themes of love, grief, homeland, war, and separation. This work is a tribute to the plight of Afghan women.

‘A Call to Arms’ by Brian Irvine is one of a series of works that explores aspects of contemporary greed. At the height of the Covid Pandemic UK Conservative peer Michelle Mone together with her financial investor husband Doug Barrowman set up a company called PPE MEDPRO in order to claim £202 million worth of contracts to supply the government with masks and gowns. Corruption ensued, with this work taking a transcript from a television interview and setting it to an abstract cabaret of sorts. ‘A Call To Arms’ by Brian Irvine was commissioned by the Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland for Stone Drawn Circles, supported by PRS Foundation Beyond Borders funding.

‘Brilliant musical scientist’ and the 2024 recipient of a JUNO award for Best Classical Composition, Nicole Lizée offers a slice of her unique compositional language in ‘Peril Earrings’, bringing together glitch and pop music styles in a kind of musical harmony.

Tickets are on sale now. For more information, visit stonedrawncircles.com

TOUR DATES:
Thursday 9 May, 8pm | GLÓR, Ennis, Co. Clare
Saturday 11 May, 1pm | Triskel Arts Centre, Cork
Sunday 12 May, 12pm | The Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin

Programme:
Úna Monaghan (Northern Ireland, 1983) In Formation (2023) 10’ [Irish Premiere]
Cat Hope (Australia, 1966) Landay Sequenzas (2022) 14’ [Irish Premiere]
Brian Irvine (Northern Ireland, 1965), A Call To Arms (2024) [World Premiere]
Nicole Lizée (Canada, 1973) Peril Earrings (2023) 8’ [Irish Premiere]