Hidden Orchestra. Live at Hanzas Perons

On Sunday, December 1, the cultural venue "Hanzas Perons" in Latvia will host the first-ever concert in the country by the instrumental music collective Hidden Orchestra from the UK, led by musician Joe Acheson, as part of their European tour.

Hidden Orchestra is the “imaginary” orchestra of multi-instrumentalist, composer, and music producer Joe Acheson. It was created and continues to exist in his studio and imagination. Over the years, numerous musicians have participated in the orchestra, either in live performances or remotely during recording sessions. Acheson masterfully blends their individual impulses, motifs, and styles into a cohesive whole—whether it’s a recording or a live concert—enriching it with field recordings, bass, and multilayered, intriguing drum parts. It might seem that Hidden Orchestra is the creative playground of a brilliant but eccentric professor in a lab setting. However, from time to time, Joe Acheson brings like-minded musicians together to tour as a real ensemble. The upcoming concert at Hanzas Perons in Riga will mark Hidden Orchestra's first visit to Latvia.

“Their desire to explore the territories of jazz, film, and ambient music makes Hidden Orchestra emotionally compelling—something not always typical for instrumental music,” wrote the media outlet Pop Matters in an album review. This sentiment holds true largely because Acheson and his collaborators’ creations often resemble electronic music performed with acoustic instruments, complemented by various natural sounds. Seemingly predetermined and “preserved,” the music still allows room for playfulness and improvisation, grounded in contrasts. At times it becomes intense, then soothing, leading from light to darkness and back. Sometimes accelerating to an almost untraceable speed, then slowing to a comfortable, safe rhythm—but always with a twist. In other words, Hidden Orchestra is a cinematic experience for both the musicians and the listeners. This music transforms into “a complex system of tools and methods for capturing moving objects on light-sensitive film and projecting the resulting images onto a screen,” where the “film” is each person’s imagination, emotions, and interpretative ability, and the “screen” is how one decides to continue the journey.

Hidden Orchestra's latest studio album, To Dream Is To Forget, was released last year after a six-year hiatus during which the pandemic shaped the passage of time. Joe Acheson used this period to work on other projects, including composing the soundtrack for the acclaimed video game Creaks, collaborating with singer Cerys Matthews and ten prominent contemporary British poets on a project under Decca Records, and creating a sound installation for the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London.

For the upcoming tour, Joe Acheson will be joined by percussionists Jamie Graham and Tim Lane, with specially crafted video scores by Tom Newell enhancing the experience. A guest artist, already familiar to Latvian audiences, will perform as the opening act, with more details to be revealed closer to the event.

Tickets for Hidden Orchestra's concert at Hanzas Perons on December 1 are available through the "Biļešu Paradīze" ticketing network. The first 50 tickets are priced at a special rate of €22.00. Ticket prices will increase as the concert date approaches.