Emily Burridge and Felix Gibbons of Incandescendo have worked alongside a host of musical luminaries in Jazz, Classical and Popular music including George Michael, Roger Daltry, Jools Holland, The Specials, Olodum, Peter Gabriel, Gilberto Gil, Milton Nascimento, and many more..
Emily with her 'cello and looping pedals and Felix with his array of percussion instruments and guitar create a unique and dynamic sound. Their music is very much inspired by their love of people, nature, the English countryside and a special affection for Brazil where they both spent many years. When they are not playing their own compositions, they very much enjoy playing arrangements of Brazilian music with it's richness of melody and dynamism of rhythm. With the duo inspired by the heart and hospitality of friends and family, and the natural beauty they found there. As well as countless concerts and shows both were deeply involved in community work - Emily with Amerindian communities and Felix on the outskirts of Sao Paulo.
This duo of British musicians who have worked extensively in many genres travelling far and wide with their music, deeply enriched by the process, none the less maintain their origins, bringing to their work a kaleidoscope of fresh musical influences which break new ground between Classical, World, Folk and free jazz idioms.
Felix is an internationally acclaimed percussionist specialising in the multiplicity of instruments that characterise the distinct rhythms of Brazil and Latin-America. These dance around and enhance the melodic sounds of Emily, the classically trained virtuoso 'cellist, who, energised by the rhythms, finds them a limitless source of inspiration for composing and improvising melodies. As they are both comfortable on a number of instruments and share a fascination for the rhythmic, melodic and harmonic aspects of the music, this becomes a truly collaborative process.
In performance using modern sampling technology they expand their compositions vertically as well as horizontally creating exciting multi-tracked pieces which spin out a web of intricate harmonies with memorable melodies and embellished by some dazzling displays of improvisation.
The music of an Incandescendo score is as much about the visual and sensory nature of these vertical harmonic blocks as the horizontal, melodic narratives that are produced. Emotional memory has a primacy in this process, but there is also a ludic element. The Brazilian approach to popular percussion, like East Indian, Cuban, African, American, Arabic or Asian percussion systems, has been hugely influential in recent years and many of these new dimensions are incorporated into their music.
As well as performing their original compositions the Incandescendo catalogue of instrumental music is available by prior permission for syncing to film.
Their concert program includes an array of completely new works for ‘cello, percussion and guitar and their arrangements of Brazilian Classical and Popular music. The warmth and vitality of the performance reflects that the duo greatly enjoy their creative process. As much in the composition and production of the music as in it's presentation to the audience it is an enriching and entertaining shared experience. Incandescendo take a new direction and share all the fun that a new journey entails. Worlds are integrated and superimposed as they combine their many influences creating beautiful, exotic and surprisingly visual soundscapes. As one journalist wrote after one of their London shows, "I was transported on an imaginary train journey through a warm, dazzling, sunlit green and lush, remarkable country thousands of miles away by the sublime sounds.."
With their cabaret approach they promise to make you smile and maybe you’ll be driven to dance as they transport you with seductive melodies and toe tapping beats and their own mellow and melodic take on joyful Brazilian music.
Since Incandescendo commenced in 2013 performance locations have included: St Ives Festival, Truro Cathedral, The Bolivar Hall London,The Pump House Aldeburgh Festival, Blaze Festival Newbury, Carn to Cove rural tour, Millenium Hall Llandogo Welsh nights out scheme as well as many churches and clubs.
The duo started working together as the result of a chance meeting in the Summer of 2012 under the aegis of a mutual friend, the Brazilian
designer Cristina Carneiro Mendonca. A subsequent invitation to give a concert at her Festival of Arts, Fashion & Music at the Bolivar Hall in
London's West End and perform at The British Red Cross Brazilian Gala Ball in the Connaught Rooms Covent Garden in November 2012
initiated, focused and inspired work and the duo realised a concert program in a short space of time.
Review at first Incandescendo performance
Brazilian Post London 06/11/2012
"Thursday evening I was transported on an imaginary train journey through a warm, dazzling, sunlit green, lush and
remarkable country, thousands of miles away, by the sublime sounds of Emily Burridge, cellist, composer, performer
and producer, with percussionist Felix Gibbons at the Bolivar Hall in London’s Fitzrovia, as part of the Festival of the
Arts for Brazil and Ecuador".
INCANDESCENDO
"A blend of hypnotic and intriguing cello played to concert standard with highly imaginative stellar Latin percussion playing"
To make your bookings or enquiries... contact@incandescendo.com
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