Internationally acclaimed artists Maria Rud and Tommy Smith bring spontaneous live art and saxophone music to the Edinburgh Fringe with Luminescence, which runs in St Giles’ Cathedral from Thursday 17th to Saturday 19th August.
Each performance of Luminescence will develop in front of the audience as artist and musician respond to each other’s ideas and interact with the architecture and acoustics of the twelfth century cathedral.
“Images come to me with music,” says Rud, who has previously collaborated with percussion virtuoso Evelyn Glennie and the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra. “It is not a single image or a collection of images, but a live “storyboard” in which music plays the role of a script, and in this case the script unfolds as Tommy and I converse through our respective media.”
Rud sees St Giles’ as the co-creator of the show as her images will be projected onto the East Wall inside the church and she and Smith will respond to their surroundings as well as each other.
“It’s a magnificent setting and it gives us a very special feeling to be working in such an incredible space,” says Rud. “The acoustics are magical and being in this building with such fantastic architecture and such a long history – it celebrates its 900th anniversary in 2024 – you can really feel the atmosphere, and I think the audience will feel it, too.”
Rud and Smith met at a reception in the National Museum of Scotland and after conversing for a few minutes they agreed that they should work together at some point. They first collaborated when Smith, the artistic director of the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, invited Rud to create images in response to the Orchestra’s dedications to saxophone pioneers including Albert Ayler and Ornette Coleman in their Where Rivers Meet concert series in May 2021. They subsequently premiered Luminescence in a single performance in St Giles’ last November.
“Where Rivers Meet involved the Orchestra playing arranged suites with featured soloists improvising, whereas Luminescence is completely improvised,” says Rud. “I’ve also worked with great musicians playing wholly composed music, which was great. This is a very different experience, very stimulating, with even a sense of danger as you are creating the whole show in the moment.”
Because of this, Luminescence can never be the same twice.
“Each show is definitely unique,” says Rud. “There are constants in that Tommy always plays superbly and makes such a wonderful sound and St Giles’ is an attraction in itself. But it’s a show that can only be experienced in a live situation and the audience can be part of that experience. They’ll be blown away by the venue and blown away by Tommy’s creativity and musicianship.”
Luminescence is presented by St.Giles’ Cathedral and supported by Amati Global Investors
Tickets are available here: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/luminescence
Adam Roberts
Radio Summerhall Arts 