THE RITUALS OF HILDEGARD REIMAGINED is the 10th solo album from the UK based Composer, Performer and Improviser Laura Cannell. Exposed and raw, Laura Cannell’s latest album is an offering of contemporary minimalism to a 12th century composer, a thank you to a lost uncle and a way to process an anxiety disorder. The music feels ancient as she breaks down and reconstructs selected music by the 12th Century Polymath Hildegard von Bingen alongside her own compositions. The 12 track album is performed on bass recorders, a 12 string knee harp, delay pedal and sparse layering, conjuring a bridge to connect the centuries. The Rituals of Hildegard Reimagined was improvised and recorded in single takes. Cannell is standing by a 12th century font where animals carved in stone have been defaced, in her head she is playing alongside a woman living and composing at the time the font was built. Laura improvises on memories, on fragments of notation, stretching time, layering the thoughts and imaginings of universal life experiences. Remembering the impact that small gestures can make to another persons life, never knowing when a shared moment may re-emerge or demand to be somehow activated into sound. “As the spring sunlight flickers through clear glass windows, it streams across vaulted stone ceilings and lights up the battered oak pews. Specks of disturbed dust become plumes of glitter and I imagine Hildegard's sacred music duetting in my head as I make my secular offering. I play her notes and mine, close, but not touching there is room to breath again. I first heard the music of the 12th century Composer, Nun, Mystic and Herbalist, Hildegard von Bingen in about 1997. I had just left rural Norfolk to begin my undergraduate degree at London College of Music. My introduction to Hildegard was through my uncle, a Professor of Microbiology in London with a keen interest in Early Music, he played me the album 'Canticles of Ecstasy’, performed by the incredible Sequentia, (a group whose output has become hugely important to me). I had no idea that I would still be listening 25 years later, and I confess I have been 'borrowing' the CD ever since. Hildegard's music gradually became a significant presence in my life. I revisit her music at times when I feel overwhelmed, or when I need to reset my inner musical dialogue. Sometimes the sparsity is too intense, leaving room for the darkness to make itself at home, other times, it radiates joy and gives me inspiration to create worlds within the spaces between the notes.” Laura Cannell (June 2024) The Rituals of Hildegard Reimagined was written, performed and recorded by Laura, returning to recorders (as in her 2022 album Antiphony of the Trees), it heavily features bass recorder and introduces a 12 string medieval harp tuned in unequal temperament as a counter to the fixed pitches of the recorders. Recorded in spring 2024 in St Andrew’s Church, Raveningham, Norfolk, UK where Cannell recorded her debut solo album Quick Sparrows Over the Black Earth in 2013 (released in 2014). Laura Cannell is an internationally acclaimed composer and performer from East Anglia. Her music straddles the worlds of contemporary and ancient music, it is semi-composed, semi-improvised and draws on the emotional influences of the landscape whilst exploring the spaces between early and experimental music. She has released seven solo albums to critical acclaim, mainly performing on Overbowed Violin and Double Recorders. Recent EPs have also seen her recording on church organs and with vocals. Following a couple of years (from 2020) of collaborative releases, remote projects, and sound installations Laura returns to her solo work and throughout 2024 has embarked on a project under the heading of “A Year of Lore”, writing, recording and producing an EP of new music every month exploring real and imagined Lore such as Sealore, Earthlore, Riverlore and Mountainlore. Alongside this project which includes signed limited edition CDs, Laura was recently co-commissioned by The Marian Consort and The Cheltenham Festival to compose and 8 part vocal composition called Plantlore: For the Plants that Bind Us. In May 2024 Laura was an Artist in Residence at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival which included performing solo in Norwich Cathedral, a New Line-up of her Modern Ritual curated night and more. Laura has released seven solo albums, toured throughout the UK & Europe, and is regularly broadcast on the BBC. Performances include Deep Minimalism at Queen Elizabeth Hall, solo at King’s Place, touring & recording with cellist Lori Goldston (Nirvana, Earth), These Feral Lands Album (with writer/comedian Stewart Lee) and solo at The Barbican. Commissions have included: Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Historic Royal Palaces sound installations both solo and with Mira Calix. She is regularly broadcast on the BBC, including live in concert and making playlists for Late Junction Mixtape, BBC 6Music and the World Service. She has also recorded a Maida Vale Session with harpist Rhodri Davies. Laura’s music has been used for film & television internationally and on the catwalks at Paris and London Fashion Weeks. In 2020 she appeared on the BBC Radio 4 Documentary Life, Death and The Foghorn with Jennifer Lucy Allan, and curated and toured her Modern Ritual Series throughout the UK 2017 - 2018. She has performed solo extensively in Europe and has been featured in The Irish Times with Kate Ellis, The FT, The Guardian, The Quietus, and The Wire Magazine (Aug 2022). Other highlights include performing at Flow Festival (Helsinki), Fano Free Folk Festival in Denmark, Le Guess Who? In Holland, Unsound in Poland and many others. ALBUM TOUR DATES: 22nd September 2024 - Hidden Notes Festival 25th September 2024 - Norwich Arts Centre 4th October 2024 - Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama