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Maria Rud and Tommy Smith – Luminescence

St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh has seen many things over the last 900 years since it was founded in 1124 by King David I. Civil War and the Reformation may have put what was once John Knox’s parish church at the centre of history, but neither Knox or the king could have predicted Luminescence.

 This unique collaboration between internationally renowned Edinburgh born saxophonist Tommy Smith and Russian émigré artist Maria Rud will see Smith and Rud improvise their responses both to each other and the building. As Smith’s solo saxophone absorbs the cathedral’s acoustic, Rud will project her live paintings onto stained glass windows on the cathedral wall. The result should make for an ever-changing fusion of sound and vision that utilises the venue’s atmosphere to make something monumental.

 

‘I love it,’ says Rud.  ‘St Giles’ is very much the third performer in the show. The architecture dictates what I paint, and the acoustics as well are very special. St Giles’ to me is like a different dimension. It’s almost like a portal. It has incredibly powerful energy, especially as we’re projecting directly on to stained glass windows, so light is important as well.’ 

 

For Smith too, Luminescence is a liberating experience.

 

‘It’s amazing,’ he says. ‘It feels like solo saxophone is the perfect instrument for St Giles’. It's just a trip. I’ve played lots of solo concerts where it's just been me, and I've had maybe thirty songs, and I just go from one to the other. But with Luminescence I’m composing in the moment, and I can see that Maria's reacting to me, and I'm reacting to her rhythmically.’

 

Rud’s previous live painting and music collaborations include Shamanic, with Rezillos vocalist Fay Fife, members of Edinburgh band The Filthy Tongues and actor Rula Lenska, which took place at the University of Edinburgh’s Old Quad. More recently, Rud teamed up again with The Filthy Tongues and actor Tam Dean Burn Revelations of Rab McVie, in more conventional theatre spaces.

 

Rud and Smith first collaborated on Where Rivers Meet, a 2021 series of four concerts in St. Giles’ that saw Smith playing with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra across works dedicated respectively to free jazz greats, Ornette Coleman, Dewey Redman, Anthony Braxton and Albert Ayler. Again, Rud projected her live paintings as the band played.

 

Presented during lockdown, these events were filmed without an audience, and broadcast online. As powerful as these films remain, for, it is being there that counts.

 

‘I think the most important thing about Luminescence is that it is a live experience,’ says Rud. ‘It is very different to watching something on YouTube. It’s about the atmosphere we experience. That makes it something else, something unique.’

Luminescence, St Giles’ Cathedral, 15-17 August, 9.30pm. An exhibition of paintings by Rud will run 8-24 August.


The List, August 2024

 

ends

 

 

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