Honouring Daphne Oram’s centenary in partnership with the Oram Awards. With new performances by Beatrice Dillon, Dali de Saint Paul, Lia Mazzari, and Kathy Hinde.
The Oram Awards builds on Daphne Oram’s pioneering legacy as a founding member of the original BBC Radiophonic Workshop, and her vital role establishing women at the forefront of electronic music innovation. Since 2017 the annual awards ceremony has celebrated an international array of artists bringing unique and inquisitive practices to electronic sound and music, all under the unified banner of “innovation in sound, music and technology.” From live coding and expressive sound design to tape loop manipulation and electro-acoustic exploration, the artists recognised by the Orams embody the uncompromising, adventurous spirit of the awards’ namesake.
To celebrate what would have been Daphne Oram’s 100th birthday (on December 31 2025, to be exact), the Orams are undertaking a regional tour and extensive programme of projects across the UK. At Arnolfini, we present with them a new Oram/100 commission by Bristol-based artists Dali de Saint Paul, Lia Mazzari and Kathy Hinde which draws on Oram’s writings as well as her wider musical and technological practices (further details below). The evening also features London-based artist and composer Beatrice Dillon presenting a very special listening mix – a slow-unfolding DJ set of quieter, textural electronic and acoustic work, less about rhythm and more about perception and the materiality of sound itself – during which the audience is invited to be seated on cushions or floor mats.
In addition, there will be workshops with by Saffron Music earlier in the day (details here).
*
Dali de Saint Paul, Lia Mazzari and Kathy Hinde – “PanOrama” (Premiere)
Kathy Hinde, Lia Mazzari and Dali de Saint Paul are experimental artists and Oram laureates based in Bristol. They often work through collaborative encounters to create recorded and live events, through processes of amplification, installation, transmission, and intervention. They use voice, field recordings, cello, electronics, film, materials, and objects for their composition and performances.
In the spirit of Daphne Oram, the trio will create a new piece “PanOrama” guided by experimental techniques, blending improvisation, synthesis, and transmission technologies. Aiming to bridge past and present, “PanOrama” follows Daphne’s own words on compositional process, combining archival materials – both samples and test scores – with the artists’ contemporary sound practices.
Beatrice Dillon is a London-based artist and music producer, known for her innovative work in sound, performance, and installation. She’s performed and presented her work at major arts institutions worldwide, and her album ‘Workaround’ (PAN, 2020) was named Album of the Year by The Wire magazine. Recent projects include multi-channel sound works: ‘basho’ (Ina GRM, Paris 2024) and ‘Impossible Ideal Angle’ (Haus der Kunst, Munich 2022). In 2023, she composed the soundtrack for Turner-Prize artist Helen Marten’s film ‘Writing A Play (dark blue orchard)’, at Greene Naftali, NY and was the album producer for saxophonist Bendik Giske (Smalltown Supersound). In 2022, Dillon was commissioned by artist Mark Fell to compose a new acoustic work for contemporary classical group Explore Ensemble for No Bounds Festival, Sheffield. The resulting piece, ’Seven Reorganisations’ (2022) explored acoustic reinterpretations of digital processes. Dillon’s first orchestral work, ‘Sift: Piano, Vibraphone, Other…’… (2024) premiered with the London Symphony Orchestra in late 2024, commissioned by Nonclassical, BBC Radio 3 and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. ‘Seven Reorganisations’ is the inaugural release on Dillon’s record label, HI, (2024).