For our first Soundhouse Winter Festival Special Commission we are delighted to welcome Harben Kaywith a dynamic new piece of music. Space for Dreaming pushes back against the modern anxiety of relentless, hyper-visible creative production. Instead, it asks what happens when we take time to share, reflect, and dream. What can we hear when we slow down and take space? Harben will work with both old and new collaborators for this specially constructed band featuring a wealth of vibrant contemporary talent as well as unconventional instrumentation. The ensemble’s elaboration on a traditional jazz trio with the inclusion of tuba, guitar, voice and flute brings exciting challenges to the composition process. Rather than being a limitation, the unusual line up invites playfulness and responsiveness within the ensemble – and in Harben’s writing. The group all come from a broad range of musical backgrounds and upbringings, pushing each player to reflect, adjust and grow with each other to find new spaces of creative urgency and agency. The interplay demonstrated by the group speaks to a process that feels warm, and one that truly centres what is exciting for each player both creatively and spiritually. ‘This is a dream project for me’ says Harben. ‘I’m a great fan of the musicians chosen for this project, and I can’t wait to hear the gorgeousness and invention they inject into the music’. The ensemble is comprised of: Harben Kay: tenor saxophone, flute Pippa Blundell: voice, guitar Danielle Price: tuba Brodie Laird-Jarvie: bass Stephen Henderson: drums

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