Zorya is a duo of two women, Maria Sappho and Katie Oswell. As artists, activists, researchers, and makers of sounds, the duo looks to incorporate the real aspects of our existence with magic and the surreal. Zorya bring elements of ritual, the Divine Feminine and intuition to creative works that range from sonic, sculptural, and the absurd. Taking inspiration from folklore, astrology, and marginalised histories, the duo works to create new forms of metanarrative that reflect the real global enmeshment of human, nature, ecology and time. Passing comment and reflecting societal fractures, Zorya portends to a world with deeper connection to its nature, its uncanny, its unbelievable, and its feminine glory.
Brice Catherin is a multi-instrumental cellist, improviser, composer and art performer who organizes multidisciplinary shows and improvised concerts. Most of his recent projects explore the idea of democracy in art: the artists’ individual responsibilities and their place in the social group, as well as those of the members of the audience, are challenged and questioned.
Katie Oswell and Maria Sappho came to Huddersfield to premiere their Mushroom Opera at the monthly Noisebringers improvisation series. The day after, on December 17, 2019, they met with Brice Catherin to record some sounds. On ALGIZ they sing, play zither, gong, celeste, piano, flutes, a christmas tree, organ, and tubular bells.