Cora Venus Lunny is a freelance improvising musician with a strong classical background and extensive experience in contemporary classical, improvised, recorded and folk musics. A violinist since early childhood, who performed around the world as a soloist and chamber musician before specialising in contemporary music, Cora has been exploring improvisation
and composition for many years.
After producing 1943, an EP of covers and originals, Cora’s 2nd album, Terminus Conscientiae, part of Diatribe’s Solo Series, was a spontaneously composed response to Bartok’s sonata for solo violin, “as much an exercise in textures and transposition as it is a display of safety net-free high-wire virtuosity“ (JMI) “ Fans of Bartók, contemporary string adventures and improvised music will find much to appreciate in Lunny's highly personal, soul-searching endeavor” (allaboutjazz.com). Since this time, free improvisation has become a very strong focus for Cora, and their duo with Izumi Kimura is one of their favourite projects of all time. As a member of Yurodny, Cora has also written for them, and with Kate Ellis, was commissioned in 2016 to write a piece for Common Ground, relating to the 1916 commemorations. In 2020 Cora’s piece “Theft”, commissioned by the NSQF as part of their Beethoven Reflected Series, was premiered by the Ficino Quartet.
In 2021, Cora was awarded a Ban Bam Commission Award by IMC, to write Currents, a dramatic improvisation for four musicians which examines power dynamics within the improvising ensemble and the wider culture. They have initiated a series of site-specific filmed performances with Izumi Kimura, Niwel Tsumbu and David Lacey, the premier performance of which was filmed at the disused Pigeon House power station by Inside Voice Productions, and was shown on April 27 at the IFI. The second performance was filmed by SOFFT Productions at the Pump House, Poulaphouca Hydroelectric power Station, and was shown at the Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray, on June 25. Cora also produces under the alias Trancebranches: http://trancebranches.bandcamp...