With the approval of Delia Derbyshire estate and a successful funding bid from Arts Council England, we are very pleased to announce the second phase of the Delia Darlings project which builds on the success of Delia Derbyshire Day 2013 which took place in Manchester, UK plus a small tour of Northern cities. We are delighted that we are commissioning a new piece from composer/musician Daniel Weaver and a new digital visual art work from new media artist Andrea Pazos. Both new commissions will be created in response to the Delia Derbyshire archive in Manchester, UK.
In addition, we are developing an Education strand to our work. Pilot now complete and deemed successful, Caro C designed and delivered a 7 week course of workshops in 2 primary schools in Greater Manchester in partnership with One Education and John Rylands library. This included a free visit to John Rylands library and activities around the DD archive held there. Click here for more info and audio outcomes here. Further education plans afoot..
We will present Delia Derbyshire Day 2014 at The International Anthony Burgess Foundation in Manchester on Saturday 12 April 2014. This event will present the new commissions, developed existing commissions and an exciting new audio-visual collage of the DD archive by David Butler and Sarah Hill. Each performance will be introduced by the composer explaining how their piece is informed by the DD archive, increasing the sharing of archive material. The new commissions will expand our current programme of Delia Darlings commissions by Caro C and Ailís Ní Ríain.
In the meantime…DD Day 2013 commissions by Caro C and Ailís Ní Ríain were invited to perform as part of a most enjoyable showcase event at the Bring to Light ‘adventurous music’ festival at New Library Birmingham organised by Capsule. We included an enthused Q&A session with Caro C and a screening of The Delian Mode by Kara Blake.
Further post DD Day 2014 tour dates will include LONDON, BRISTOL and more to be confirmed and updated on On Tour page..
DD DAY 2013
Delia Derbyshire Day 2013 was the first of its kind – a day that celebrated and highlighted the fascinating work of Delia Derbyshire (1937-2001), the pioneering electronic music composer most famous for realising the original Dr Who theme and her work for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. It took place at Manchester’s music venue Band on the Wall. 2013 is the Dr Who 50th Anniversary and therefore of Delia Derbyshire’s realisation and arrangement of the iconic original theme and this event launched the celebrations. Amongst much regional and national press coverage, DD Day 2013 was featured on BBC Radio 4’s The Today Programme..
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/124320196″ params=”color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true”/]
SUMMARY OF DD DAY 2013
Film Screening of ‘The Delia Mode’ by Kara Blake. A special screening of the award-winning documentary The Delian Mode with the Canadian film director Kara Blake present to introduce and discuss the work in person.
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/9010594 w=500&h=281]
A panel discussion with esteemed Delia Derbyshire experts:
- Mark Ayres (Composer and BBC Radiophonic Workshop archivist). Mark represents the Delia Derbyshire’s estate and was bequeathed her archive following her death before donating it to the University of Manchester.
- David Butler (Senior Lecturer in Screen Studies, the University of Manchester). David helped bring the archives to the University of Manchester and is wealth of knowledge on Delia’s work.
- James Percival is studying MA Musicology at University of Manchester and is focusing his dissertation on Delia Derbyshire’s Creative Process
- Kara Blake is director of The Delian Mode and undertook extensive research and interviews about Delia and her life and work.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJWjoQtzWCk&w=560&h=315]
Archive Sharing & Listening Session with David Butler & Delia Darlings
The premiere of three newly commissioned works inspired by the work of Delia Derbyshire by a trio of Manchester based new music artists Caro C, Naomi Kashiwagi and Ailís Ní Ríain who are the producers behind this unique venture as Delia Darlings. Delia Darlings are a female trio of Manchester based artists working in music and sound paying sonic homage to Delia Derbyshire having spent time by special arrangement with her archives at the University of Manchester and John Rylands Library in Manchester.
Caro C performing her new work Audient, My dear
with live visual accompaniment courtesy of Kara Blake
Naomi Kashiwagi performing her new work The Blues (Gramophonica Remix)
Brendan Ball & Heather Bird performing Ailís Ní Ríain’s new work The Consequences of Falling
An abundance of thanks again to our funding supporters: Arts Council England, PRS for Music Foundation and Quebec Arts Council.
