Derwen | S. Patsula and Jared Epp

New Music Edmonton opens our 2026-27 season with Derwen, featuring Caitlin Siân Richards and Bill Richards, along with special guests S. Patsula and Jared Epp.

S. Patsula and Jared Epp: A two-person drone improvisation unfolding through the pipe organ at St. Mary’s and an expanded field of electronic and acoustic sound. Jared activates the organ, moving air through its pipes and into the architecture of the church, while Steph introduces additional sonic textures through electronics, cassette, and amplified objects. The performance develops through sustained tones, resonance, accumulation, and subtle shifts in density. Rather than treating the organ as a fixed centre, the two performers listen into the room, allowing sounds to overlap, interfere, recede, and gather within the acoustics of the space.

Derwen is a durational work of improvised electro-acoustic music for amplified strings and keys. The title is the Welsh word for oak tree, a metaphor for sacredness, family, sustainability, strength, resilience, and creation. Sonic materials and inspirations come from many sources, including modern/post-modern, contemporary, Urban, electro-acoustic, folkloric, and narrative. Ideas undergo sustained development; as phrases unfold, organic forms emerge.