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Twittering
Machine
Event Information
The Edinburgh International Festival joins forces with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in a celebration of the 100th anniversary of composer Olivier Messiaen's birth and of the work of visual artist Paul Klee.
In Paul Klee's Twittering Machine a complex array of small mechanical birds sing into infinity and this is the starting point for local primary school children to explore the light and environs of the gardens. This work will be displayed in the Lower Temperate Walkway foyer.
Young musicians are working with established composer Alasdair Nicolson to create their own musical responses to nature. The music will be played for short periods daily during the Festival in the Temperate Palmhouse in addition to two special live performances.
Reviews
Last night's audience filed into the magnificent Palmhouse at the Botanic Gardens not altogether sure what they were going to see or hear. In the event we had a memorable, multi-sensory experience on the general theme of birdsong in music.
Paul Klee's painting Twittering Machine and Messiaen's music had been selected as creative starting points for a project carried out by the Festival's Education Department, and dozens of tiny, multi-coloured wire sculptures of birds, bees, flowers etc created by local schoolchildren were dotted around the palmhouse. We sat on balustrades, flowerpots and the ground, the scent of lush green foliage filling our nostrils, to listen to five young musicians perform a short programme of work by young composers, some of them still at school.
The final piece, The Twittering Machine by Alasdair Nicolson (slightly older than the others but not by much) showed why his music has won so much critical acclaim. I have no idea how the Festival organised it but, while this last piece was being played, a real, live Edinburgh robin flew in, perched on the rim of a flowerpot, sat quietly until the applause broke out, and then took off again. A magical moment to round off a magical half hour.
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Performance Details
EducationBooking Information
Performance Dates:
- Fri 15 Aug - 6:00 pm
- Thu 21 Aug - 6:00 pm
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- £6Tickets:
- To be advisedDuration:
- Temperate Palmhouse, Royal Botanic GardenVenue:
