Last month Tenebrae gave the premiere of Into the Wreck, a new piece for narrator and choir written for their 20th anniversary season, together with the actress Juliet Stevenson, at the Lammermuir Festival in Scotland.
Their performance was wonderful, and I look forward to the next ones: 22 October at the City of Derry International Choir Festival, 2 December at the Wigmore Hall.
"Stephenson’s music, hugely evocative and always beautiful, generates an impression of weightlessness in the listener, like the diver amid the wreck, and it was helped by the regal voice of Juliet Stevenson reading the linking poetry." - The Times
Happy to announce that I will be starting a two-year residency at the Opéra Grand Avignon in september, working on some exciting projects. More details soon.
Damon Albarn - The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows release announcement
23/06/2021
Yesterday Damon Albarn announced the release of a new album, The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The StreamFlows, an offshoot of what was initially a concert project inspired by the landscapes of Iceland, which I've been lucky to be a part of. Some of the recordings we made during the first rehearsal days in 2019 have become part of this new album, on which I feature as backing singer and cellist.
The record will be out on 12th November via Transgressive, and you can listen to the first single below.
s t a r g a z e: Post-Beethoven Fest
10/06/2021
Today + Tomorrow: s t a r g a z e's Post-Beethoven Fest, live from the Berlin Schaubühne
Featuring the first outing of my re-composition of mov. 1 from Beethoven's 2nd symphony
Happy that my 2015 piano piece 'Sestina' features on this new EP release by the pianist George Xiaoyuan Fu.
Out now via Listenpony.
Ex:Re - Misery Is A Butterfly (Blonde Redhead cover)
01/04/2021
Ex:Re's cover of Blonde Redhead's Misery Is A Butterfly for 4AD's 40th anniversary compilation Bills & Aches & Blues is out. You can listen to it below.
Elena Tonra - vocals, production Fabian Prynn - Drums, programming, production Jethro Fox - guitars Josephine Stephenson - cello, backing vocals
Ex:Re with 12 Ensemble - Where The Time Went
16/02/2021
So happy to announce that Ex:Re with 12 Ensemble, my re-imagining of Elena Tonra's solo album performed live at Kings Place with 12 Ensemble in November 2019, is coming out on Friday (19th Feb) via 4AD and Glassnote Records.
You can listen to the first track ‘Where The Time Went’ and watch the video Elena made for it today.
Apartment House: Feldman Marathon @ Wigmore Hall
11/01/2021
I was very happy to be back on stage at the Wigmore Hall on Saturday singing Morton Feldman's 'For Franz Kline' with Apartment House, as part of an epic day of celebrating the American composer's mesmerising music.
"Josephine Stephenson gave a delicate, tender quality to the wordless vocal lines, which fluently intermingled with the instrumentalists of Apartment House - The Arts Desk
