Ships
Brian Eno celebrated with orchestra in Berlin’s Philharmonie
Brian Eno performs with the Baltic Sea Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor Kristjan Järvi at the Berlin Philharmonie. photo
© Christoph Soeder/dpa
For decades, Brian Eno has been one of the most influential artists in electronic and ambient music. For his latest project he brings an entire orchestra onto the stage.
The project premiered on Saturday at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. There, Eno was awarded the Golden Lion for his life’s work at the Music Biennale.
The British artist has been known in the scene as extremely keen to experiment and innovate for decades. With keyboard and synthesizer, he significantly shaped the sound and style of Roxy Music until his departure after two albums. His album “Ambient 1: Music for Airports”, released in 1978, marks the starting point of the ambient wave.
Multimedia artist
Eno is a pioneer of this music with minimalist, predominantly instrumental pieces. As a sound tinkerer, he has worked over the decades on individual songs, albums and projects with the Talking Heads and U2, as well as with Laurie Anderson, Coldplay, David Bowie, John Cale, David Byrne and Grace Jones. His light installations and works of art could be seen at the Venice Biennale, in St. Petersburg, Beijing, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney and in Berlin’s Gropius Bau.
The approximately 90-minute “Ships” project, developed by Eno for Venice, is an orchestral adaptation of his 2016 solo album “The Ship” in ambient style and other compositions. For the concert, in addition to the orchestra, he secured the support of the actor Peter Serafinowicz, the guitarist Leo Abrahams and the multi-instrumentalist and software designer Peter Chilvers.
Cold in the background
While the orchestra is mostly standing at the front of the stage, Eno has positioned himself more in the background for his vocal parts, which are often used instrumentally. During the few announcements he apologizes for having a cold. The changed voice should please be perceived as a new interpretation of the song.
Concerts are still planned in Paris and Utrecht. The musicians of the Baltic Sea Philharmonic come from ten Northern European countries. In addition to performances at the Usedom Music Festival, the orchestra tours and goes into the studio to record.