ADÈS DECONSTRUCTED: IN SEVEN DAYS

Thomas Adès In Seven Days
(version without video projections) 

From Chaos to Contemplation, we deconstruct Adès’ 2008 masterwork In Seven Days, shedding new light on the workings of one of the UK’s most inquisitive musical voices. His take on the story of the Creation is typically idiosyncratic. “It’s not a sort of chaos”, he says, “but like a meteorite. The story is as much scientific as it is religious.” Originally conceived as a concerto for piano and moving image, with projections from video artist Tal Rosner, In Seven Days takes the complexity of the world as its starting point, pulling apart its intricate details before piecing it back together. And so, in the first half of this concert, we pull apart the intricacies of the work itself, guided through the score’s structure by Samuel West and Zoë Martlew, with the orchestra and Rolf Hind playing short extracts to explore how Adès created the work.  In the second half of the concert we perform In Seven Days in full.

Discover more of this distinctive and eloquent work, and join us as the worlds of science, religion, and music collide. 

Sian Edwards conductor
Rolf Hind piano 
Samuel West presenter
Zoë Martlew presenter
Royal Academy of Music Manson Ensemble side-by-side with London Sinfonietta

Part of Southbank Centre’s Belief and Beyond Belief festival