Bigger Sky

Bigger Sky, Norwich Cathedral

What a night! First, there was the setting: the cathedral flickering with warm, low lights and full to the brim.

Then there was the performance: at first Andy Sheppard sax and John Parricelli guitar sketching in a two hander, the instruments singing out in the medieval setting like a pair of troubadours.

Kuljit Bhamra, tabla player and percussionist, was there in the shadows waiting his moment to come bubbling into the conversation with a musical joke or two, shared and lifted sky high as the melody blended into bird song.

Voice and language was the theme of the night, with part two inspired by the Tower of Babel. Local grand scale community choir Bigger Sky took centre stage under the baton of Sian Croose, in Glossolalia (meaning speaking in tongues) - a new piece commissioned by the festival. All Sheppard's hallmarks flared through collages of sound, exploration of texture and colour.