SPATIAL EXPLORATIONS
When you imagine a string quartet in concert, you typically see four musicians on stage, facing the audience in a small arc formation. Having performed and worked together for many years now, we’ve continually asked ourselves: what new ways can we find to connect with the audience and bring the music to them in a fresh, experimental way?
Thus, our concept of Spatial Explorations was born.
Supported generously by the City Music Foundation, we have curated a number of concerts and programmes in which we explore elements of participatory music-making, specifically how to use the performance space creatively. The following serves multiple innovative audio-visual functions:
Breaking down the invisible barrier between audience and performers
Exploring the individual versus the collective in quartet music-making
Creating a ‘surround-sound’ / immersive experience for the audience
We want to bring a diverse range of repertoire to a diverse range of venues, offering a unique audio-visual experience that bonds audience and performer together. We will tailor the spatial approach to the repertoire; some pieces are more suited to a conventional set-up, whereas others can be enhanced by spatially unusual configurations. Our aim is to reevaluate the relationship between music and space, us and the audience.
We treat movement as an extension of the music itself - just like dynamics, phrasing, or harmony. Every shift in position is designed to reveal something new in the sound, whether it’s a distant echo, a sudden closeness, or a change in perspective. We rehearse with space as a core element, ensuring that movement amplifies the music’s natural flow rather than interrupting it. The goal is for the audience to feel the music breathing through the room, not as a visual distraction, but as an immersive experience where space and sound become inseparable
More than anything, we hope to discover how sound can shape the space - and how space, in turn, can shape the way we hear and feel music
This exploration of space and sound could evolve into an even more immersive experience - perhaps in a vast cathedral, an open landscape, or even a setting where the audience moves freely among the musicians. The idea of spatial exploration naturally leads to larger, more fluid performances, where music isn’t just heard but physically experienced from multiple perspectives. In a way, we’re only at the beginning of discovering how far this can go.
If you would like to see it in live concert, get in touch, or check out our upcoming concerts here!
© Kyan Quartet 2024
All artist photos by Ray Palo and Jessica Hu.