
The Canadian cellist and composer Julia Kent came
from New York to meet the Athenian audience at the Anglican Church of St. Paul, for two
concerts Friday 25/11 and Saturday 26/11
both sold out weeks ago.
Perhaps best known for her work with Antony and
the Johnsons with whom she won the Mercury Prize in 2005, Julia Kent has also played with Rasputina and Swans,
and cineastes will be familiar with her contribution to Paulo Sorrentini's 2011
film This Must Be The Place. But her solo work consisting of 4 albums( ‘Delay’
, ‘Green And Grey’ , ‘Character’ , ‘Asperities’) is also worth listening.

The concert took place in the special
place of the Anglican Church of St. Paul ,a place with exceptional acoustics that create a unique
connection between performers and public. Julia Kent with the emotional sound of
the cello accompanied with electronically varied loops , sound layers and
harmonies gave an artistic leap of her magnitude and her ability to merge
electronic with classical sounds. Kent built texture and mood producing a
haunting, powerful combination of low
string tones, subtle electronics, and scratchy field recordings .Hypnotic
minimalism , sometimes dramatic , sometimes romantic but always very touching. During
the show Julia was very gentle contacting with the audience sometimes
,expressing her opinion for the politics in USA always with humour .



In conclusion, Julia Kent managed to create such powerful images without adding words to her music, expressing herself
imaginatively and apparently effortlessly, as if all she needed was to
communicate with her cello. She played about 70 min. choosing a setlist with her
best songs ,most of them from her last –and my favourite album- Asperities’ and
no one can complain.


I would like to thank Julia for this magical
night and Iooking forward to a new album or another live performace in the future.

Categories:
LIVE REVIEWS
Post a comment