In 1862, the perfumer George William Septimus Piesse suggested in his treatise, The Art of Perfumery, that the notes of a perfume can be expressed as musical notes. Piesse coined much of the language of perfumery, a language which borrows heavily from music – base, middle, and top notes blending to create accords, a pun on musical chords and the french for agreement. Piesse went further to not only suggest that each perfume ingredient corresponded to a specific musical note, his odaphonic scale, but that we can hear with our nose: "Scents, like sounds, appear to influence the olfactory nerve in certain definite degrees." What's wilder is that this may be a little bit true.

Come smell some Ravel and waft in the aroma of 7 new works of smound (smell + sound) which use smells to alter your perception, to remember, to bathe you in florals, to guess who dealt it, to reimagine the nude, and to pardon your sins.

Programme:

Maurice Ravel - Introduction et Allegro

Zygmund de Somogyi - an itch in the shape of a memory

Owen Ho - pli selon pli (from Waldszenen)

Chris Brooke – Catching Mist

Charlotte Glyn-Woods - New Work

Amber Priestley - New Work

Jo Fraser - Fruit Salad

Carla Ng - Long long 牙膏 (Forgive me father for I have sinned)

Performers

Helena Thomas, Evan Lawrence - Violins

Emily Clark - Viola

Josh Lucas - Cello

Laoise Corrigan - Flute

Kosuke Shirai - Clarinet

Chris Clarke - Harp

Chris Brooke, Charlotte Glyn-Woods - Teachers

Jo Fraser - Chef

Carla Ng - Violin/Priest

Jon Mayse - Host

Curator/Scentmaker: Jon Paul Mayse

With help from Andre Serra

This concert is part of Jon Paul Mayse's PhD research.

If you have any allergies or issues with fragrances, please contact us before you book as these will be unavoidable in the concert.