Jamie Barnes
and Brian Dewan
in
Studio
The Musical
Stones
with the Chinese Orchestra
|
|
Jamie Barnes
and Brian Dewan |
The Musical
Stones |
Keswick Museum and Art Gallery’s famous Musical Stones of Skiddaw have been on tour again, this time to the musical city of Liverpool.
The Musical Stones of Skiddaw are an enormous 14-foot-long stone xylophone made from hornfels rock taken from Skiddaw by Keswick stonemason Joseph Richardson between 1827 and 1840, and are usually housed in the keswick Museum and Art Gallery.
Keswick Museum was invited to bring the Stones to Merseyside by Grizedale Arts, an international art commissioning agency near Coniston. Grizedale Arts had been commissioned by the A Foundation to provide the opening weekend of activities to launch the Liverpool Biennial 2006 at the A Foundation’s brand new Art Centre at Greenland Street on the 15th and 16th of September.
The A Foundation was set up by James Moores in 1998 and it was the vehicle he used to initiate the Liverpool Biennial when it began in 1999. The Liverpool Biennial is now the largest art festival in the UK.
At the beginning of this week of activity, the American musician Brian Dewan worked with Keswick Museum’s Jamie Barnes to compose some new music for the Musical Stones. The pair then went into a recording studio in Liverpool with the instrument and recorded a nine-track CD. This will be available shortly from the Museum.
On the 15th and 16th the Musical Stones were played live as part of four separate concerts. These included two written and performed by up-and-coming percussionist Emma Welsby, a special collaboration with The Chinese Pagoda Youth Orchestra, and an inspiring piece featuring the Stones, the bells of Liverpool Anglican Cathedral and pioneering bass player Doug Wimbish.
Jamie Barnes also gave an illustrated lecture to the audience about the curious history of the Musical Stones.
Regrettably the Museum have to temporarily close for three days during this touring period and the Museum would again like to apologise for the inconvenience this caused.
The Musical Stones foray into Liverpool brought Keswick and its Musuem to a much wider audience and the Museum staff hope that more people will visit as a result.
28th September 2006