Standing In Silence: Rhian Sheehan and guests

LOOP and Radio Active 89 FM present
Standing In Silence: Rhian Sheehan and guests.

One show only in 2010

Saturday 19 June 2010
The Opera House, Wellington

Following his sold out and critically acclaimed debut performance in 2009, Rhian Sheehan presents this special, thought-provoking and emotionally charged masterpiece for the second and only time this year, in its full multifaceted glory at the Opera House in Wellington.

Standing In Silence sees 15 talented contemporary, classical and electronic musicians perform live alongside a filmic backdrop of moving images shot all over the world and specifically created for the Standing In Silence show.

The show is a stunning audio & visual performance with a strong filmic narrative filmed and animated by Gareth Moon & Matt Pitt. The combined effect is one of surreal beauty, isolation & innocence. This is a performance not to be missed.

The debut performance of Standing In Silence was described by the Dominion Post as “Amazing, people were stunned to silence, moved by the depth of emotion in the music - and the fact that something world class was being presented to a lucky few”.

Rhian Sheehan’s live band includes key collaborator Jeff Boyle (Jakob), along with Tom Pierard (Strike), Steve Bremner (NZSO, Strike), Raashi Malik (Rhombus), Jess Chambers, Andy Hummel, Pete Hill, Brett Skinner, Al Fraser (all Woolshed Sessions), plus a string section (NZSO/Wellington Vector).

“The show is purely about contemplation. I would describe Standing in Silence as drifting through some future megatropolis city through the eyes and innocence of a child. It’s about taking a moment to breath it all in, to be drawn into a state of reflection, to be taken away to a beautiful place.” – Rhian Sheehan

This idea also extends visually into emotive photographic and moving images which are interwoven throughout the live performance, portraying the lives and environments of individual people living in megacities throughout Asia, via state of the art projection techniques by Nektar films.

The music encapsulates Rhian Sheehan’s beautiful original instrumental compositions incorporating sonic experiments with the sounds of found objects not usually heard in music, like wine glasses, bowed & plucked piano strings, tailor made musicbox’s, tongue drums, body percussion, and the sound of bustling crowds and children at play. He will also present some newly written music that is yet to be heard by any audience.

Standing In Silence, Rhian Sheehan’s fourth album was released in 2009 as a growing project which challenges the form of electronic music by taking a more filmic and ethereally esoteric approach with an emphasis on communicating current global and cultural issues through music and imagery. Inspired by the photo he took of a lone man standing on a hill amongst pollution in India, Rhian Sheehan based Standing In Silence around the question “Is it possible to be surrounded by a mass of humanity, a bustling sea of lives, and still stand alone in silence?”

Standing In Silence the album is available to purchase through stores, on iTunes and through http://www.loop.co.nz.

Tickets are $45 (+bf) and are on sale now from Ticketek and Real Groovy.

http://premier.ticketekco.nz/shows/show.aspx?sh=RHIANSHE10&searchId=cc16a48f-9bc3-4eaf-a159-9056f10ec503

See http://www.loop.co.nz for more details.

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Album Reviews: Standing In Silence

Accomplished, evocative and sustained... One of the finest masterpieces of sound this year... there seems to be a never-ending dosage of mind-blowing splendor and self-reflection within this sonic gem - The Silent Ballet, USA

Spine tingling... a tsunami of sound. Sheehan, take a bow, you’ve nailed it - The Dominion Post

A stunningly static, beautifully textured, listening experience... it devours and envelopes you. For fans of Sigur Ros or Boards of Canada - NZ Herald

A masterpiece of textural sound – Stuff.co.nz

Rhian Sheehan: Biography

Sheehan’s music has gained a substantial following here in New Zealand and overseas, reaching out to a diverse audience. Standing in Silence, his first full-length release in four years, represents a new musical bearing for Rhian Sheehan. His previous albums, 2001's Paradigm Shift (regarded as a landmark in New Zealand electronica) and 2004's Tiny Blue Biosphere (both released by LOOP Recordings), were acclaimed for their visionary blend of cerebral beats with sci-fi storylines and cosmic sensibilities. Yet these albums were conventional in comparison to Standing in Silence as Sheehan's latest work pushes into a new direction of organic, ambient and abstract sound. The sounds of cascading glockenspiels, plucked piano strings, wine glasses, playgrounds and airports are the substance of Standing in Silence.

Sheehan's work has featured on variety of international CD compilations, most notably the multi-platinum selling Cafe’ del Mar series. His music has also appeared regularly on BBC television programming, including Top Gear, and has been used for a variety of TV commercials and movie trailers and short films worldwide. Sheehan recently composed the soundtrack for We are Astronomers, a full space dome film narrated by Dr Who’s David Tennant, and commissioned by the UK's National Space Centre which is currently screening at Planetariums throughout the world. He also recently completed the score to The Cult, a 13 part prime-time TV drama series, and the TV2 series Reservoir Hill (which recently received an Emmy Award Nomination for Best Digital Program), and the score to the short film Day Trip, which has just been accepted for the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

http://www.rhiansheehan.com

Photography by Andrei Jewell.

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