BIRMINGHAM Contemporary Music Group are heading for Hereford and Ledbury as part of the Field Notes tour, in partnership with Arts Alive and Craftspace.

Using old maps of rural Shropshire and graphic musical scores as inspiration, composer Howard Skempton and artist Matthew Harris have each created brand new works which will be presented together in what is a unique collaboration.

Skempton, whose joyous and enigmatic music has featured at the BBC Proms and been widely performed by many of the UK’s top orchestras, has scored a new musical piece, entitled Field Notes, which will be performed by members of Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.

Also on show will be new textile art works by Harris, inspired by ancient maps showing field systems and landscape and made by patching, dyeing, cutting, and hand-stitching cloth and paper.

The programme will also feature by music by leading composers Oliver Knussen, Judith Weir and Betsy Jolas, and a rare performance of extracts from Cornelius Cardew’s graphic score Treatise.

The evenings will also feature a commissioned ‘behind-the-scenes’ film of the collaboration by filmmaker Chris Smart, and introductions from the artists.

Field Notes will be at the Folly Arts Theatre in Hereford on Wednesday at 7.30pm; The Market Theatre, Ledbury on Saturday, October 25 and at The Sidney Nolan Trust near Presteigne on Sunday, October 26.

For more information and to book, visit bcmg.org.uk