JG Thirlwell performs SILVER MANTIS at PhilaMOCA

Name: JG Thirlwell performs SILVER MANTIS at PhilaMOCA
Start: 2026-06-13T20:00:00-04:00
Location: PhilaMOCA

Schedule

Sat, 13 Jun, 2026 at 08:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

PhilaMOCA | Philadelphia, PA

Silver Mantis is a 50 minute instrumental electro-acoustic presentation, performed with software and sampling, theremin and audio objects. It is an immersive multi channel composition which allows for an elastic performance. The inspiration behind Silver Mantis was to create a work incorporating live re-composition and improvisation into its structure, one which could expand and contract fluidly with flow and spontanaeity from pre-ordained building blocks of sound. Incorporating musique concrète and electronic sound along with live instrumentation, the composition is dynamic, cinematic and diverse with stylistic left-turns, creating a tension between time and anxiety. It is performed with a projection created exclusively for the project by acclaimed Swedish visual artist Sten Backman.
Silver Mantis has been performed at Roulette Intermedia in NYC, Cafe Oto in London, 2220 in Los Angeles, Big Ears festival in Tennessee, Timacua Arts Foundation in Orlando, Melbourne Recital Center, Audio Foundation in Auckland, Center for New Music in SF, and Elastic Arts in Chicago.
NOTE: This is a seated show.
JG Thirlwell is a composer/producer/performer based in Brooklyn, NY. Born in Melbourne, he moved to London in 1978, then relocated to NYC in 1983, where he has been based ever since. As well as his own name, he works under many pseudonyms including Manorexia, Foetus, Xordox, Steroid Maximus, Baby Zizanie, Hydroze Plus, Clint Ruin and Wiseblood.
JG created the musical score for the Emmy-winning FX show Archer, and for Adult Swim / Cartoon Network show The Venture Bros, for which he was nominated for an Annie Award. He has also scored several features and short films, as well as the first season of Dicktown.
He has released over forty albums. If there is a common thread to his varied musical styles, it is a dramatic intensity and an evocative, cinematic quality. Thirlwell has also featured as producer, remixer, collaborator or arranger for a wide variety of artists including Karen O, Noveller, Zola Jesus, Helm, Mivos Quartet, Melvins, Swans, Nine Inch Nails, Lydia Lunch, Coil, Z’s, The The, Simon Hanes, Tony Oursler, Nick Cave and many more.
JG has completed commissions for Kronos Quartet, Bang On A Can, Alarm Will Sound, String Orchestra of Brooklyn, Experiments in Opera, Zephyr Quartet, Great Learning Orchestra, Dither, Jeffrey Zeigler, William Basinski and more. He is also an acclaimed graphic artist. In 2010, he received a fellowship from New York Foundation of the Arts in sound / composition. He has created sound installations which have exhibited in Santarcangelo, Kaliningrad, Vienna and Gotland, and is a member of the freq_out sound art collective.
www.foetus.org
Doors 7:30 PM / $25 admission / All ages