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Deep listening: the haunting sonic world of Cassandra Miller
Her intimate compositions take existing melodies that she refracts, rethinks and expands into compelling new pieces. Ahead of the premiere of a new work for guitarist Sean Shibe, Cassandra Millers talks about process, pleasures and sleep chanting
Her works have been performed in concert hall from New York to Warsaw and Oslo to Barcelona; last year’s Aldeburgh festival premiered her “ quietly captivating ” La Donna, and her 2015 Duet for Cello and Orchestra was named one of the Guardian’s Best of the 21st century – “A strange but profoundly haunting piece,” wrote Andrew Clements. The shimmering Daylonging, Slacktide, written for viola player Lawrence Power, is the work of Miller’s that first stopped me in my tracks, its melodic origins in a traditional song about the beauty of Georgia, but the unmooredness of 2020’s lockdown also brings its emotional impact. She also cites fellow Canadians Linda Catlin Smith and Martin Arnold, while US experimental composer Pauline Oliveros and her philosophy of deep listening is very close to her heart – “a massive influence”.
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