NF01 November/December 2023

INTERVIEW • INTERVIEW • INTERVIEW • INTERVIEW •
42 Bristol Beacon
SWITCHED ON
Paraorchestra conductor Charles Hazlewood and Bristol techno
operator Surgeons Girl pull back the curtain on their Bristol
Beacon-opening performance with light artists Limbic Cinema
WORDS CHRIS PARKIN
What does Bristol Beacon’s reopening mean to you?
Charles: This is Bristol – and there couldn’t be a more
musical city, right? For its cultural hub to have been
missing all this time is a bit like a body operating
without a heart. And for its heart to be reinstated, and
for it to be world class, is so important.
Photo: Plaster
rom Goldie conducting the
BBC Concert Orchestra to
old-school ravers welling up to
Haçienda Classical’s stringsladen
reworks, the boundaries
between classical and dance
music aren’t always rigid. Even
so, the coming together of
Bristol’s ensemble of disabled
and non-disabled musicians
Paraorchestra with techno artist Sinead
McMillan, AKA Surgeons Girl, and light
artists Limbic Cinema, promises to defy
all categorisation. Here we chat to
Sinead and Paraorchestra’s artistic
director Charles Hazlewood about
rebooting Bristol Beacon’s rep for
boundary pushing sounds with their
Trip the Light Fantastic performance.
How do the old and new halls compare?
Charles: We loved the old one for lots of reasons,
not least for big, banging amplified music. The
sound had a thuggish kind of weight to it which was
exciting. Although I have to say, if you were playing
acoustically with an orchestra, it was less satisfying.
But for big, banging amplified music, which Sinead’s
piece absolutely is, it’ll be straight between the eyes
in the new hall.
Sinead: I’ve seen so many amazing concerts here,
from piano concertos to people like Flying Lotus, but
I’ve never played anywhere this big. I’m used to clubs
and their sound, which is much flatter.
What can people expect from the show?
Charles: It’s going to be earth elemental, powerful,
intricate, surprising, euphoric, bangingly good. It’s
about that (hopefully) sublime interface between the
worlds of techno and orchestras. I think the first myth
to debunk is the idea that an orchestra is only one
thing, that it’s just about violas and oboes. Of course
“For its cultural hub to have been
missing all this time is a bit like
a body operating without a heart”
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