Music, Painting, Dance, Theatre: the integration and cross-fertilisation of the major art-forms has always been an exciting field. During the last 50 years film, sound recording and computer-generated music and graphics have added new dimensions to these fields and are still evolving at a fierce pace.

The development of Film has mostly been in the theatre tradition of human narrative. Ever since the earliest cinematic experience, film and music have been interwoven, from cinema organs right through to modern film scores. However until recently, Film was the inflexible partner, constrained to a fixed number of frames per second, and unable to change or alter in response to 'live' performance. Suddenly, however, the tools have become available to alter film and computer graphics in real-time. It has just become possible to imagine a performance of 'live film' in the way live music has always been performed. This evening is a first foray into this new world.

The music for Film scores is mostly written to underline the emotional content of a story that is being told in words and representational pictures. It is nearly always entirely composed after the film has been shot and edited, and usually has no text or storytelling aspect. As a first step to integrating music and visuals more fully, we decided to take the traditional picture and turn it exactly inside out.

Belshazzar's Feast by the English composer. William Walton is an extraordinary piece of music drama, taking its narrative from the Old Testament story of death and revenge. With the sung text and the descriptive music, it tells the story complete in itself. Torn Halves commissioned Tom Heycock to write a 'video score for the music in the way a soundtrack is usually written for a film - to underline and highlight different aspects of the existing piece, without needing to tell the story or directly represent the action.

The resulting piece contains a whole spectrum of visual elements. Abstract film, where visual textures are explored starting from a single point such as 'willows' or 'waters' gives way to computer-generated graphics that can simply pulse or flow in time with the music. In other places it has been possible to share with an audience some of the items captured in researching the project. We are very grateful to Shimrit Elisar for her footage from Israel and a Babylonian museum there, whilst research at the British Museum guided Tom's depictions of actual Babylonian Gods in the Feast scene.

We hope you enjoy the experience; please let us know what you thought, either by email or in the bar after the performance. We would also like to thank 291 Gallery for their support for this project, and for their help in creating such an exceptional performance space.

Tom Heycock has been a Professional Video Artist since 1997. His work in TV, film and internet media has covered a wide variety of fields and subjects. From Inner City education projects to club video jockeying, Tom's combination of artistic flair and technical expertise makes him the ideal collaborator for this project.

Tom's live video mixing for nightclubs, festivals and concerts is based on his own camerawork and editing skills. Clients for his music-driven digital video projects have included: BBC Scotland, ITVI Network, Peace One Day and Greenpeace.

Tom has worked at events such as Glastonbury Festival, Celtic Connections International Music Festival and as A/V co-ordinator at The Enchanted Garden 2000, The 2001 British Interactive Media Awards and The Cybersonica 3 day festival of audiovisual technology at the ICA 2002. He has worked internationally on events such as: Earthtribe's 1999 European tour and The Big Chill's Naxos 2000 festival.

Residencies have been at clubs such as Sitarfunk, Akash and the Sunday Social at Glasgow's 'The Arches. He often collaborates with other Video artists such as: Hexstatic (Ninjatune), Coldcut (Ninjatune), Addictive TV and Cinefeel.

Some of his most prestigious work has been Composing, Shooting and Editing 2x10 minute Audio-Visual pieces for the 2001 & 2002 Mixmasters TV series.

Tom's visual work has also included workshops in Shooting, editing and live visual effects/mixing for Children's Circus, Graffiti and metalwork projects for Glasgow and Southwark Councils.

Marion Wood began conducting as an undergraduate at Keele University. Her joint honours degree in Music and Electronics has enabled her to take a continuing interest in all forms of electronic music and computer generated arts. She continued her musical studies at the Royal College of Music on the postgraduate orchestral conducting course.

Professional conducting engagements have included Assistant Chorusmaster of the London Philharmonic Choir, Principal Guest conductor of the Nottingham Youth chamber Orchestra, Artistic Director of the Keele Bach Choir and Principal Conductor of Keele University Philharmonic, with whom she toured the Czech Republic in 1998.

Marion made her opera debut with a production of 'Dido and Aeneas' at the Shaw Theatre, London in 1993. Pursuing a continuing interest in stage work, in 1995 Marion co-founded the music theatre group 'Torn Halves and directed both their productions in London theatres attracting London Arts Board support and funding. In May 1996 she conducted the first ever British stage performance of Hindemith's Opera 'Sancta Susanna'. In January 1997 she became Musical Director of the Candid Opera Company, touring Verdi's 'La Forza del Destino' for 14 performances in London and around the Southeast during May of that year.

As chorus master of the Belfast Philharmonic Choir Marion has prepared major choral works for a variety of distinguished conductors, as well as directing a variety of choral works

in concert.

Marion also works with the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland. In 2000 this included conducting a complete orchestral readthrough of 'Das Rhinegold' over two days. In 2002 she assisted Alexander Annissimov during the preparation of the orchestra's complete concert performances of the Ring Cycle.

Torn Halves Music Theatre was set up in 1995 specifically to examine the interface between various artforms. Other projects included a Rave opera by Jacques Van Rhin, an electronic re-working of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and a production of Kurt Weill's Seven Deadly Sins, all with a significant contemporary dance component. More recently the company conducted several feasibility studies into mixed-media productions with visuals as well as dice and music. This evening's production marks a turning point, with the technology finally available for these studies to bear fruit.

The Romantic Symphony Orchestra was set up in 1999 to challenge conventional interpretation of Romantic Music and attract new audiences to live orchestral concerts

In performances of Romantic Music a choice is often made between rhythm and melody - 'rhythmic' sections of music tends to be loud and percussive, 'melodic' music tends to be quieter and so smooth it has no sense of direction. TORSO aims to reconcile both elements for a lyrical approach with a strong and exciting sense of pulse.

TORSO is very committed to the experience of live music. Even with CDs and further advances in Hi-Fi, no speaker system can ever actually represent the sound of 50 musicians in a live orchestra. We often record our concerts, but hope that recordings will be a reminder of an exciting live experience, not a substitute for it. More about both these issues can be found at our website www.torso.org.uk. The website is also developing into an Educational Resource. An introduction to the Orchestra for anyone new to Orchestral music, it's designed to show the various instruments, with something about how they work and the people that play them.

We believe it is important to acknowledge the support of the audience, and take seriously its response to what we're doing. We hope you enjoy both watching and listening to us, and any feedback you would like to give would be very welcome

Please fill in the forms, email to info@torso.org.uk or simply talk to us in the bar after the concert!

291 Gallery was established by Edwina Orr and opened to the public in late October 1998 and is one of the East End's most unique contemporary Public Art galleries offering a broad range of multi-disciplinary contemporary art practices, including visual art exhibitions, digital art events, live performances, gallery video/film and music events.

The overall intention for 291 as a venue and public arts organisation is to support a series of contemporary art presentations ranging across art-forms and to become a social nucleus for conceptual engagement within the diverse arts communities.

Since opening to the public in October 1998 the Gallery has been visited by over 100,000 people and has staged major exhibitions and numerous live performance art events plus premiering numerous films and video, web-based projects and book launches.

Torn Halves is very grateful for 291 Gallery's support of this project in all its aspects.

The piece falls into three main sections, with the Bass soloist singing alone between each part.

The opening of the piece sets the text of a prophecy in Isaiah.

We hear a similar phrase later when the prophecy written on the wall is translated.

The first main section describes the plight of the Hebrews captive in Babylon (the site of present-day Bahgdad), following the fall of Jerusalem in 586BC. As was customary at the time, conquering rulers brought the sons of the nobility of captured territories forcibly to court. This was both an insurance against uprising and a source of ready information and translation on matters concerning the governing of newly acquired provinces. These captives were generally given the best possible education, and sometimes promoted to high administrative office, but castration was a common practice.

Daniel was one of these young men brought to Babylon, and the Book of Daniel is the account of his life there.

This part of the work contains the famous lament By the Waters of Babylon... The Bass soloist warns against the consequences of forgetting Jerusalem. The first part ends with a violent description of intended revenge and the haunting promise that Babylon * ...shall be found no more at all'

The second section describes the feast of Belshazzar, King of Babylon, at which various blasphemies are described. Music is used to praise idolatrous gods of wood and precious metals. The sacred vessels originally stolen from the temple of Jerusalem are brought to the feast and desecrated by drinking from them. The final act of sacrilege is the proclamation of Belshazzar as the 'King of Kings', followed by an exhortation that he might live for ever.

Just at this moment the King sees an apparition of a hand writing a prophecy on the wall of the feasting hall. Sitwell paraphrases the story here; in the biblical text it was Daniel who was called upon to translate the unfamiliar script. The Baritone soloist describes the scene and the death of the King.

The third section deals with the fall of Babylon and the rejoicing of the Hebrews. It is one long hymn of praise, interrupted only by a haunting section describing the silence of the ruined city.

A particular feature of the work is Walton's illustration of the various parts of text that refer to music itself. The anguish of those forced to sing when their hearts are full of injustice and sorrow is one of the most familiar texts of the Old Testament, perfectly illustrated by Walton's musical style. Every voice-part contains wonderful individual melodies, but when all the lines are put together there are some agonizing clashes and dissonances. Nothing could more eloquently describe something beautiful displaced forcibly from its natural context.

During the feast itself, the Hebrews are again ordered to make music for the entertainment of the company and in praise of their idolatrous gods. Walton deliberately intends the music to sound forced and empty, illustrating the King's intention to secure his own glorification.

In the third section of the work, after Belshazzar is slain, the first words are

"Then sing aloud to God our strength'. We hear the description of the destruction of Babylon and the song of rejoicing in warm harmony and rich orchestration.

Now the call for trumpets and drums sounds rightful and appropriate. Some of the themes from earlier in the work reappear: now they sound genuine and heartfelt because of their musical context.

In a gesture of compassion not required by the text, Walton sets the final haunting reference to the music of Babylon with a sense of the sorrow we heard in the initial lament of the Hebrews. The dissonances of long soaring lines again describe a sense of loss. The promise of violence and destruction has been fulfilled, and the sorrow of the house of Babylon now echoes the original sorrow of the Hebrews.