The Anatomy of the Orchestra: Drone Refractions

Het Concertgebouw, Amsterdam: Friday 13 June 2025

A conductor stands in the centre of a large circle of musicians with his arms outstretched in front of him. He has short hair and a moustache and is wearing all white. The musicians are also all wearing white, and they are playing a variety of instruments including violins and violas. A large audience are interspersed amongst the performers. The room is dark and the performers are illuminated in hues of pink, with beams of white light spotlighting the conductor.

About The Anatomy of the Orchestra: Drone Refractions

This performance is presented as part of Holland Festival 2025.

In Drone Refractions, Charles Hazlewood and Paraorchestra turn the orchestra inside-out, charting an immersive drone odyssey via some of Minimalism’s forebears and its greatest composers.

This unique performance re-casts the orchestra as a living, breathing installation: the Paraorchestra ensemble is arrayed throughout the space as they play. The audience is invited to walk or wheel amongst them, to get close to the performers and sink into a deep sonic realm as enveloping drones mix with heady lighting design to conjure a hazy, transcendental atmosphere. 

The repertoire of Drone Refractions is arranged  in three parts. Across approximately fifty minutes, audiences will experience Straylight, a specially-commissioned piece by composer and Paraorchestra affiliate Rylan Gleave drawing inspiration from John Cage’s seminal Seventy Four, a new configuration of the legendary Pauline Oliveros’ The Last Time/Ultima Vez by Charlotte Harding featuring the sublime vocals of Victoria Oruwari, and a performance of Fratres by Estonian visionary Arvo Pärt.

Part-sound bath, part-ritual, part-installation, Drone Refractions compels audience members to inhabit new musical worlds, to experience the meditative magic of drone and witness these transportive sounds up close as never before. A unique opportunity to be on the inside looking out, rather than the outside looking in.

 

Photo credit: Chris Cooper

Credits

Creative team
  • Charles Hazlewood, a man with light skin and short hair wearing a black jumper and light blue jeans, is standing in the centre of a rehearsal space conducting four musicians who are surrounding him. He is focused and his right arm is raised in the air, motioning to the musicians. The rehearsal space is brightly lit.

    Charles Hazlewood

    Artistic Director
  • Victoria Oruwari, a woman wearing a white dress with long golden braids and medium ark skin tone, reads braille music as she sings.

    Victoria Oruwari

    Soprano

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