11 Jul 2023 - 16 Jul 2023
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A genre-defying musical mash-up of epic proportions
A major new project produced by Artichoke as part of Kirklees Year of Music 2023
A life-affirming musical exhibition as part of Kirklees Year of Music
HERD is a musical and sculptural odyssey of epic proportions. Devised by composer Orlando Gough and produced by Artichoke, HERD will take place around Kirklees during July 2023 as part of Kirklees Year of Music. This KYOM23 flagship project is a ground-breaking collaboration between artists, musicians and hundreds of schoolchildren and community members.
HERD is a major new project that involves a community of makers, hundreds of local schoolchildren and many hundreds more members of music groups including brass bands, bleatboxing, folk, choral and gospel choirs, boliyaan music, a Ney-anbān player, Carnatic singing and many other musicians.
Over six magical days from 11 – 16 July 2023, 23 larger-than-life sheep, unlike any you’ve ever seen or heard, will appear in surprising places across the beautiful Kirklees countryside. The sheep have been designed by Huddersfield-based artist Dave Young, working with heritage craft practitioners, each having its own unique identity. Wired for sound, these musical sheep sculptures will sing original compositions into the landscape, moving from the rural boundaries of Kirklees as they are herded towards town and city.
The free-to-attend finale event takes place in St George’s Square, Huddersfield on Sunday 16 July. You do not need a ticket to attend.
Interested in participating? Read more about the opportunities to take part.
Artists
Orlando Gough
Orlando Gough is a composer (and sometimes lyricist, librettist, music director, MC, recording engineer, cookery writer), who writes operas, choral music, music-theatre, music for dance and theatre, and creates large-scale site-specific work.
Dave Young
Dave is an artist, maker, bodger, artificer, and apprentice rogue alchemist. Since 1995 he has worked as a sculptor, animator and film-maker, blacksmith, metalworker, pyro-technician, set-builder, puppeteer and workshop leader.
He works closely and collaboratively with many other artists, dreamers, makers, musicians, performers and technicians, designing & making giant puppets, mechanical beasts, installations and machineries of joy for outdoor arts events, festivals & processions.
He started his working life with the pioneering celebratory arts company Welfare State International and has worked closely with companies such as Macnas, Pa-Boom and Walk the Plank.
His work is collaborative, wistful, and humorous, filled with joy, created for the love of it, and made with genuine blood, sweat and tears. He is based in West Yorkshire, UK, although he mostly lives in a country of his own imagining.
Sebastian Frost
Sebastian has designed sound for plays, musicals and opera in London’s West End and on Broadway, and from Cape Town to Sydney.
In 2008 he received the first ever ‘Best Sound Design for a Musical’ Tony Award nomination for Sunday In The Park With George. Immersive soundscape design is often a focus for his work. Sebastian has created the sounds for a unique range of exhibitions, visitor experiences and art installations.
Charlie Morrissey
Charlie has worked in live performance since 1988. He has collaborated on, devised and directed large and small scale pieces in different landscapes: on the shoreline, in the sea, on cliffs, in the street, in parks, theatres, galleries and buildings ranging from a castle to a glass house. He’s also worked as a performer, teacher and director in many different countries around the world.
Charlie organises and produces Wainsgate Dances, a programme of dance at Wainsgate Chapel in Yorkshire, with his partner Rob Hopper, which aims to make dance happen in a non-institutionalised space.
John Del’Nero
John began his career in London’s West End on productions such as Jesus Christ Superstar, Billy Liar and Jeeves.
He designed the sound for the original Rocky Horror Show and has been Sound Designer for the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo for the past 20 years. He has worked for Royal Families in the UK and abroad including Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
John has worked with Artichoke on Ready to Drop in collaboration with Orlando Gough, Hilary Westlake’s Dining with Alice and Deborah Warner and Fiona Shaw’s Peace Camp.
Turn your sound on to hear an excerpt of the soundscape...
Contact us
General enquiries
HERD@artichoke.uk.com
Support
To find out more about joining HERD’s growing network of supporters, please contact: Development@artichoke.uk.com | 020 7650 7611
Media
For all media enquiries regarding HERD: kirklees@kallaway.com