Trackers Cycle is a series of four works by Yannis Kyriakides, inspired by Sophocles’ incomplete satyr play Ichneutai (The Trackers), which tells the story of the invention of the lyre by the infant god Hermes.
Created for and in collaboration with MAZE, these works —Trackers, Satyr Drama, Testudo, and Waveshaper — have been developed over the past several years. The full cycle will now be presented for the first time, with Waveshaper premiering as the final part.
Trackers is a multichannel audiovisual performance featuring open instrumentation, speaker installation, visual objects (including a dispersed drum kit), lighting, video projection, and smoke. Developed with artist Konrad Smoleński, it immerses the audience in a fractured, spatial narrative.
https://www.kyriakides.com/trackers.html
Satyr Drama is a video score structured as a projected script. Fragments of text and imaginary stage directions appear in sync with rhythmic beats and samples. The musicians improvise in response to the play’s characters, creating a layered, shifting drama.
Testudo, a solo for contrabass and live electronics written for Dario Calderone, draws directly from the Hermes myth. Using sounds synthesized from tortoise recordings, the piece evolves into a virtuosic ritual — where ancient ideas of possession meet sonic transformation.
https://www.kyriakides.com/testudo.html
Waveshaper, consists of five separate audiovisual scores. The musicians follow evolving waveforms, producing a kind of “mountain music” shaped by the visual reading of sound itself.
https://www.kyriakides.com/waveshaper.html
At the heart of the Ichneutai myth is a moment of confusion and wonder: the satyrs hear music for the first time. Hermes has stretched cowhide over a tortoise shell to create the lyre — giving voice to the dead creature, and inventing music as a way to transform and transport emotion.