Ure Discovery Progress: Discovering Ancient Music

Not long now until the launch of the Ure Discovery project, featuring eight new vase animations framed within a museum trail. Building on the successful use of Stefan Hagel’s cithara music for the Ure View animations http://www.oeaw.ac.at/kal/agm/, Steve’s been sourcing more ancient music to match each animation.

Some of the tracks that will be used are by musician and music archaeologist Conrad Steinmann. Conrad collaborates with instrument maker Paul J. Reichlinn to reconstruct ancient Greek musical instruments. They base their reconstructions on ancient instruments that have survived over the centuries, and on vase images of instruments in use. Surviving Greek lyrics give indications of the rhythms used in ancient music; Conrad is guided by these rhythms in his musical compositions for the ancient-style instruments. You can find out more about his work at: www.melpomen.ch

Also appearing in the animations is music by Lyravlos, The Centre of Greek Musical Tradition http://www.lyravlos.gr, and by the London-based Thiasos Theatre Company www.thiasos.co.uk. Thiasos are a group of academics and theatre professionals whose mission is ‘to put music, dance, colour and spectacle back at the centre of Greek tragedy and comedy.’ The new animations can be followed without the music, but we hope you’ll enjoy the combination.

The Ure Discovery trail will be launched at the University of Reading’s Ure Museum on the 17th June 2013, complete with an exhibition of related artworks by the teenagers involved in the project. In case you can’t make it, Panoply will be displaying the animations along with further details on each piece in the resource pages.