8.00pm Wednesday June 8, 2022
University of Glasgow Concert Hall
Free but ticked event
Glasgow Electronic and Audiovisual Media Festival returns to the University of Glasgow for three days in June.
Sound Thought is delighted to present an evening concert featuring performances from percussionist Darren Gallacher and experimental duo Failed System Test (Sonia Killmann & Aidan Lochrin).
Javier Alvarez – Temazcal
Thierry De May – Silence Must Be!
Christoper Cerrone – Memory Palace (UK Premiere)
Darren Gallacher is a percussionist and multi-disciplinary performer. He has received a Master of Music in Performance with distinction from the Royal Northern College of Music and a First Class Bachelor of Music at Edinburgh Napier University. Darren’s musical interests lie in musical performance that features physical and theatrical elements, a theme that he has explored through performance and aims to continue to research through PhD study.
Darren has enjoyed a varied career as a musician, working in a wide range of settings within the industry. Freelance orchestral work includes The Hallé, Scottish Opera, Northern Film Orchestra and Sinfonia Cymru. As a chamber musician, Darren frequently works with Scottish Opera’s Education department on their chamber operas as well as Delia Steven’s ConunDrums and Liz Dilnot-Johnstone’s multi-disciplinary project Scintilla. He completed two consecutive tours of China with his percussion sextet while at the RNCM, travelling the country and playing in major concert halls such as Beijing’s Forbidden City Concert Hall, Tianjin’s Grand Theatre and Wuhan’s Qintai Concert Hall. As a soloist, Darren enjoys performing a variety of repertoire. However, his interest is focused towards the contemporary and experimental, with a particular admiration for theatrical and electronic works.
Darren was chosen as a winner of the RNCM’s prestigious Gold Medal competition in 2019. While in China, he and his ensemble competed at the National China Percussion Competition in Shanghai, where the ensemble placed first in the Professional Ensemble category and Darren claimed third prize in the Professional Marimba Solo Category. During his studies he was recipient of The Ann Driver Trust Scholarship, Help Musicians UK Postgrad Scholarship and won the Major Prize in the Harriet Cohen Memorial Music Awards.
He enjoys working with composers and commissioning new works for the percussion repertoire. Notable collaborations include Kaija Saariaho, Annea Lockwood, Oscar Escudero, Thierry de Mey, Mauricio Pauly, Katrina Burton, Ellen Sargen, Robin Richards, Adam Gorb, Gary Carpenter, Michael Brailey and Steven Bradshaw.
Failed System Test
Using Saxophone, Bass and Electronics, Sonia Killmann and Aidan Lochrin create live ambient soundscapes. Most of the tunes are co-written and performed using improvisation. They have performed at various Glasgow venues, such as the Old Hairdressers, Tramway and the Glad Cafe, supporting artists such as Jason Sharp. Following the release of their first album “System_Test.exe”, Sonia and Aidan also released a second EP {unshift} with the independent label Dead Hound Records. Since then, they created an audiovisual set for Cryptic‘s Sonica festival in 2022 and have more shows planned this coming year. The performance can be found on YouTube, Bandcamp and Spotify. Failed System Test also features on independent Scottish radio stations, such as Clydebuilt Radio.
Sonia Killmann is a Glasgow based international composer and multi-media artist from Belgium. As both a saxophone player and audiovisual artist she has performed across the UK and Europe, in cities such as Dnipro (UE), Edinburgh (UK) and Berlin (DE). Her works are largely inspired by composers such as Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Alvin Lucier and explore the relationship between sound and environment through immersive audiovisual soundscapes. Sonia has been collaborating with other artists, such as dancers and visual artists from France, Germany and Belgium and is working on creating music for Crossing the Rubicon Dance company for Jamiel Laurance’s “Read Only Memory”. Sonia is currently working closely with Cryptic Glasgow as a Cryptic Artist and regularly performs ambient audiovisual sets with Aidan Lochrin under Failed System Test.
Aidan Lochrin is a sound artist, composer, and experimental musician based in and around Glasgow, Scotland. Their work is heavily steeped in improvisation and the drone – ranging from the instrumental, field recordings, electronic sounds, and performance art with a tinge of the absurd.
They have also had works performed at festivals such as Sonica, Sound Festival, and the US-based zFestival, to name a few. In their work, Aidan attempts to push further the boundaries of contemporary harmony by exploring xenharmonic structures and scales, as well as utilising experimental noise & field recordings. Aidan has produced five electronic albums under the pseudonym gaia complex, as well as several works for classical ensembles using microtonal frameworks. Their work is often a medium to express themes of environmental issues, being a huge advocate of climate activism, and has had work featured in compilations such as one to raise awareness of Remembrance Species’ Day. Aidan’s latest upcoming body of work, titled “the death of arcadia” takes these themes to the extreme, and draws from field recordings, harsh noise, recorded instruments & processed synths.
Aidan also produces experimental film and audiovisual art – with a focus on green issues and themes of identity and liminality – and was recently shortlisted for Little Pictures 2021.Aidan is also one half of the electroacoustic duo Failed System Test.