Sarah Davachi premieres Tenerae—a new longform work for electric organ and four trombones, commissioned by Lampo for the Chicago Architecture Biennial.

Here, she plays Hammond B3 and is joined by Chicagoans Riley Leitch, Nick Broste, and Jeb Bishop, as well as her frequent Los Angeles-based collaborator Mattie Barbier.

The title is a portmanteau of sorts, derived from the Latin tenere, meaning "to hold," and Tenebrae, the liturgical observation of darkness as joined by nighttime chants and lamentations. Tenere is also the etymological source of "tenor." In early choral music, a tenor was the slow-moving, constant voice around which harmonized accompaniments would appear.

As with all of Davachi's work, harmony, texture, and duration are at the forefront of Tenerae, offering the listener an opportunity to sit with sound more directly, with reverence. In a manner that mimics the circular structure of the composition, the unique architecture and acoustics of Preston Bradley Hall shape the space of the performance.

Sarah Davachi (b.1987, Calgary, Canada) is a composer and performer whose work is concerned with the close intricacies of timbral and temporal space, using extended durations and considered harmonic structures that emphasize gradual variations in texture, overtone complexity, psychoacoustic phenomena, and tuning and intonation.

Her compositions span solo, chamber ensemble, and acousmatic formats, incorporating a wide range of acoustic and electronic instrumentation. Similarly informed by minimalist and longform tenets, early music concepts of form, affect, and intervallic modal harmony, as well as experimental production practices of the studio environment, in her sound is an intimate and patient experience that lessens perceptions of the familiar and the distant.

In addition to her recorded output, Davachi has toured alongside artists such as Ellen Arkbro, Oren Ambarchi, Grouper, William Basinski, Catherine Lamb, Aaron Dilloway, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, Michael Pisaro, Loren Connors, Tashi Wada, David Rosenboom, Charlemagne Palestine, Arnold Dreyblatt, and filmmaker Dicky Bahto.

Her work has been presented internationally by Southbank Centre; London; Barbican Centre, London; Kontraklang, Berlin; INA GRM, Paris; Issue Project Room, New York; Lampo, Chicago; Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg; Organ Reframed, London; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Getty, Los Angeles; Orgelpark, Amsterdam; The Museum of Jurassic Technology; Los Angeles; Tokyo Festival of Modular; Tokyo; Honen-in Temple, Kyoto; Open Frame, Sydney; among others. In 2020 she founded Late Music, an imprint within the partner labels division of Warp Records. She is based in Los Angeles. 

This performance is Sarah Davachi’s fourth project with Lampo. She made her Chicago debut for Lampo in January 2017 at the Stony Island Arts Bank. She later performed in the Lampo series in April 2018 at the Graham Foundation and in October 2019 at Rockefeller Chapel.

Presented in partnership with the Chicago Architecture Biennial

About Lampo 

Founded in 1997, Lampo supports artists working in new music, experimental sound, and other interdisciplinary practices. We help these artists realize ambitious, risk-taking performances, and offer the public opportunities to actively engage with their work.

Our core activity has been and remains our performance series. Rather than making programming decisions around tour schedules or established repertoires, we invite selected artists to create and perform new work for Lampo, and then we provide the space, resources and curatorial support to help them fulfill their vision.

The Lampo Winter / Spring 2024 season runs from February through June, including programs from Sarah Davachi, Mattie Barbier, Ellen Phan, Zekkereya El-magharbel, Madison Greenstone, and Michelle Lou & Bryan Jacobs.

The Lampo series of performances is a project of Lampo, Inc., a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, nonprofit organization. Current programs are supported in part by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts; the American-Scandinavian Foundation; the John W. and Clara C. Higgins Foundation; the Illinois Creative Recovery Grant program; the Illinois Arts Council Agency; and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support comes from New Music USA’s New Music Inc program and the Walder Foundation. Essential contributions also come from individuals, members and volunteers.

Photo credit: Sarah Davachi by Alex Waber