Manchester Collective: SERENITY 2.0

Programme

Bryce Dessner Aheym
Nabihah Iqbal What Psyche Felt (world première)
Sebastian Gainsborough Squint
Ben Nobuto Serenity 2.0
Dobrinka Tabakova Insight
Eric Prydz arr Ben Nobuto Opus

Performers

Rakhi Singh violin
Alex Mitchell viola
Nick Trygstad cello
Beibei Wang percussion

About

Part of RNCM’s new Inspirational Artists series.

A nervous system reset.

One minute, the sound vibrates through you, your hairs pulled on end. The next: a blissful calm descends. There’s furious amplified sound and then mysterious, holy light to slow the pulse back down…

Ever felt overstimulated by your phone screen? Ben Nobuto’s SERENITY 2.0 is a glitched-out collage of frenzied strings, percussion and samples. It cycles restlessly through Japanese pop, news anchors, and vocal-fried YouTubers – but the calm after the doomscrolling is worth the ride.

Musician and DJ Nabihah Iqbal has a similarly eclectic approach to art and music. Her work takes her everywhere, from Boiler Room raves to the Turner Prize. What Psyche Felt, Nabihah’s first classical commission for string quartet and electronics, will be given its world première by the Collective.

The finale? Eric Prydz’s colossal house anthem Opus, reimagined.