NATIONAL SAWDUST

For the premiere of my album Dark Therapy, I created a bespoke, fully immersive performance at National Sawdust on World Mental Health Day. The work integrated spatial audio, audio-reactive visuals, and spoken narrative. Through original music and storytelling, the performance traced my evolution from classical cellist to electronic producer and composer, alongside my experience of being diagnosed with complex PTSD and subsequent healing journey.

The performance was conceived and developed in close collaboration with architect and designer Kyter Steffes. We began by building a detailed VR model of the venue, allowing us to design every scene, transition, and spatial relationship in advance. Lighting design and visual pre-visualizations were developed alongside the music, enabling the entire performance to be composed as a cohesive, immersive environment.

To create a fully immersive listening experience, I collaborated with Shane Myrbeck, Head of Arup SoundLab and designer of National Sawdust’s acoustic architecture, to mix the music in spatial audio tuned precisely to the venue. By working inside the SoundLab at Arup’s HQ, we were able to recreate the exact acoustic signature of National Sawdust, allowing us to spatialize, simulate, and refine the entire listening experience in advance and map the sonic environment before ever entering the hall.

The performance culminated in the premiere of a new work, Dark Star, created using Memory of a Star, a custom virtual instrument developed by Kyter and Shane that transcribes gravitational waves and cosmic events into sound. The piece was accompanied by audio-reactive visuals generated in real time in response to the cello’s sound waves. Together, these elements allowed the cello to function as both a sonic and visual generator, dissolving the boundaries between performance, technology, and environment.