Sasha scores art exhibition celebrating the work of Leonardo Da Vinci

Dance music legend Sasha has scored a roaming art exhibition celebrating the work of Renaissance artist Leonardo Da Vinci, 'Da Vinci Genius’.

The score also makes up as a 17-track album, produced in collaboration with Dennis White, Dave Gardner and Barry Jamieson. The record is set to be released via Night Time Stories on November 29, available on vinyl, CD and digital format.

The project marks a continuation of the artist’s 2016 album also released via Night Time Stories, ‘Scene Delete’, in which he created an imaginary movie score. Named after the exhibition, ‘Da Vinci Genius’ combines classical music with electronic production.

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The exhibition itself is in retrospect of Da Vinci’s life and work, providing a glimpse into the inner-workings of his unusual mind. It too combines classical themes with cutting-edge technology, as the paintings are projected using AI.

“We needed the music to support and enhance that,” Sasha says. “I really wanted to take something classical but flip it on its head, make it modern."

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"Although the show focuses on Leonardo’s original art, in most points of the show it’s getting messed with electronically. For instance, the Mona Lisa appears out of thousands of digital fragments, and some of his other famous portraits melt into electronic visual glitches. I wanted to frame the show with a classical mood, but then allow electronics to pulse behind it.”

Sasha and his team had not seen the exhibition when they started creating the score, but worked closely with the design team, Flora and Fauna Visions, drawing from briefs and mood boards to garner an idea of how it would look. “It was a different, challenging way of working,” said Sasha.

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According to a press release, Sasha took influence from both classic films scores and modern composers and directors such as Stanley Kubrick, Nils Frahm, Jon Hopkins, Steve Reich, Vangelis and Jean Michel Jarre.

“We also managed to find some beautiful medieval choral music of LDV’s era from a Renaissance composer Josquin des Pres, which inspired some of the more ambient sections,” notes Sasha.

The exhibition first appeared in Berlin in 2021, moving onto Amsterdam a year later. It's now set to show in Florida and India at the end of this year, with more details to be announced.

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The influential DJ and producer, dubbed ‘Son of God’ by Mixmag in 1994, is set to play this weekend (October 19) at Amsterdam Dance Event.

Following this, he'll play two dates in Colombia - Barranquilla on November 2 and Medellin on November 3 - before stopping off in Brazil's Itajaí on November 15, and Denver on December 28.

Pre-order ‘Da Vinci Genius’ here, and see the tracklist and artwork below.

Tracklist:

‘Mosiac’
‘Elegy’
‘Prelude’
‘Intro - Homo Deus’
‘Hands’
‘Portraits’
‘Equality’
‘Clouds’
‘Machines’
‘Super Hero’ (with Sentre)
‘Descent’
‘Zodiac’
‘Zodiac Pt 2 - Perpetual Dreamer’
‘Landing On The Sun’
‘Last Supper - Oxford Suite Pt 1’ (with Ed Alleyne Johnson)
‘Into The Metaverse - Homo Deus Pt 2’
‘Outro’

Meena Sears is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Instagram