“Unmissable cutting-edge composure.”
In the hushed auditorium of Aviva Studios, Manchester Collective unveiled Patterns in Repeat. What lay in store was a compelling programme of rhythmic, contemporary classical works by four leading women composers: Meredith Monk, Clarice Assad, Cassie Kinoshi and Cassandra Miller.
From the moment the musicians assembled on the misty, minimalist stage, Monk’s brisk amuse-bouche opening piece seized the room’s attention. Such a compact ensemble of strings and piano generated a thrilling force, like a train gathering speed, before vanishing through a dark tunnel in a burst of steam.
As each work unfolded, more players joined, along with a conductor, and the programme’s title began to reveal itself. Patterns emerged through surging repetitions, spirals, rises and falls; simple musical shapes seemed to swell, overlap and transform into intricate designs. The effect was immersive, almost as though the audience had slipped beneath the surface of the music into life’s matrix and glimpsed its hidden coding and quantum in tandem.
After the interval, the evening ignited with its clear centrepiece: the world premiere of Cassie Kinoshi’s ARTEFACT/AUTOMATON, introduced by the composer herself. Kinoshi framed the work’s influences around Black existence, racism and depersonalisation, giving the performance a charged personal and political resonance.
Kinoshi’s background in jazz and electronic music brought a startling new energy to the theatre. Classical instrumentation fused with contemporary samples and electronic effects; the grinding of abrasive metallic textures against softer strings and piano, expanding with restless, electric force. The experience was akin to witnessing alchemy in action.
The evening then took an unexpected turn. The shifting, blinding stage lights and haunting, alarm-like metallic scratches seemed to explode into the real world like an alarm, until we realised it was a real alarm, and the audience was suddenly instructed to leave the building immediately.
That the evacuation was first mistaken for part of the work says much about the piece’s theatrical power. Kinoshi later confirmed that it was, in fact, not performance art!
The evacuation meant I was unable to experience the grand finale of Manchester Collective’s Patterns in Repeat, which felt like a genuine loss. Live music is always fleeting, but here its impermanence seemed especially acute. I wanted to keep a firm grip on the sounds, textures and emotions of the evening. What remained was a heightened awareness of performance as something vivid, fragile and unrepeatable.
Patterns in Repeat was show-stopping, even in its interruption. An unmissable, unmistakeable, and unforgettable experience.