Blending skateboarding, choral singing and the unique acoustic of skateparks, Tête à Tête and composer Samuel Bordoli teamed up with skaters and community choirs to make a real noise in Aberdeen, London and Glasgow, as part of PRS for Music Foundation’s first ever New Music Biennial, and Culture 2014 – the Glasgow Commonwealth Games Cultural Programme.
An artistic first this project brought together local skaters with community choirs to create an innovative new performance that responded to the distinctive sounds of skateboarding. Each project took place in local skateparks, with Samuel creating a piece that combined the percussive elements of skateboarding with the softer, more lyrical sounds of the choir.
The project culminated in 10 minute site specific performances for an unticketed audience, directed by Tête à Tête Artistic Director Bill Bankes-Jones and conducted by Osnat Schmool.
For the premiere in Aberdeen, co-produced by the sound Festival of New Music, a new community choir was put together especially for the project by the University of Aberdeen and Sound Festival, which, under the direction of Bill Bankes-Jones from Tête à Tête, collaborated with skaters from Transition Extreme Skatepark, and film students from Robert Gordon University. The project was supported by Vibrant Aberdeen.
Following a performance at the Southbank Centre with the Roundhouse Choir on 5 July 2014, the project returned to Scotland on 26 July for a performance at the UK’s largest indoor skatepark, Unit 23 in Dumbarton perform with with The Sirens of Titan Choir.
The Grind performances were free unticketed events.
Artists in Aberdeen:
sound Festival community choir
Osnat Schmool, conductor
Transition Extreme skaters
Words & Director: Bill Bankes-Jones
To read more about the project, please visit Tête à Tête website
See below for the video about the inaugural performance in Aberdeen:
