The score [of Laila] is based on a mystic Sufi love poem and grew out of the composer’s experience as a patient at the Royal Brompton Hospital, where he met the heart imaging specialists Dr Philip Kilner and Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan.

It’s almost impossible to see Amu without being overwhelmed by Tavener’s ravishing contribution.

Performed live at Sadler’s Wells by 50 musicians (the Southbank Sinfonia conducted by Paul Goodwin) and seven wonderful singers, it’s his first original full-length score for dance and it’s a tour de force.

From its fundamental opening heartbeat (played on an American pow-wow drum) to its heavy closing breath, it follows a majestic journey deep into the soul and out into the cosmos.

For 70 minutes its gripping enchantment builds like a whirling dervish and soars with a transcendant ecstasy that blurs the passions of religion and romance.

It’s extravagantly sensual, as alluring as a muezzin’s call, yet despite its mystical concept it’s grounded in the rapture of earthly desire.
Debra Craine, The Times, 19/09/2005

... of the HEART is a sci-art project funded by

Website & Video created by Braunarts