DARK MATTER is dedicated to Iannis Xenakis - a tribute to the living composer.
Barrett performs regularly with vocalist Ute Wassermann, saxophonist Evan Parker, cellist Arne Deforce and numerous ensembles from both compositional and improvisational areas.
Recent projects by Barrett include CONSTRUCTION, a two-hour work for twenty-three performers and three dimensional sound system, premiered by ELISION in November 2011 at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.
Barrett’s work encompasses both composition and improvisation, ranging from chamber music to innovative uses of live electronics and collaborations with visual artists. Much of his work arises from close long-term collaborations, such as the electronic duo FURT which he formed with Paul Obermayer in 1986 (and its more recent octet version fORCH) and his association, since 1990, with ELISION.
DARK MATTER, scored for an ensemble of 19 performers (including soprano, electric guitar and a vast array of percussion) plus live and pre-recorded electronics, sets secret Egyptian texts carved on the walls of sarcophagi in the pyramids of 2400BC - possibly the oldest known religious texts in the world - alongside fragments from Lucretius and other Greek writers on the nature of matter, the stars and other worlds and ending with Samuel Beckett's 'Sounds'.
For the first performance of the work Barrett collaborated with Norwegian artist Per Inge Bjørlo; the site was transformed into multiple architectural/acoustical spaces. Viewers/listeners were invited to form their own imaginary narrative and to create a pathway through a labyrinth of installations and sound-sources.
