Venice awards Golden Lion to … Brian Eno

Lucia Ronchetti’s ever-original Biennale di Venezia will focus this year on micro-sound.

Top gong goes to the English electornic composer Brian Eno, who will present a new orchestral composition.

Here’s the press release:

Brian Eno receives the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Music 2023 for his research into the quality, beauty and diffusion of digital sound and for his conception of the acoustic space as a compositional instrument. The renowned composer, producer, visual artist and activist, tireless innovator in the fields of compositional creativity and applied digital sound technology, will present the world
premiere of his project Ships at the Teatro La Fenice, in a performance featuring the Baltic Sea Philharmonic conducted by Kristjan Järvi, together with actor Peter Serafinowicz, guitarist and long-term collaborator Leo Abrahams, and software designer Peter Chilvers.

Brian Eno himself will also be present on stage, interacting with the orchestral atmospheres diffused and processed for the theatre’s particular acoustic space. Gary Hustwit, the American director and photographer, in collaboration with Brendan Dawes, will present Nothing Can Ever Be The Same, a video installation based on generative technology, which will offer an artistic retrospective of Brian Eno through interviews, video-art projects, conferences, performances and backstage documentation from concerts and artistic events.

photo: Cecily Eno