A night with Luke Deane/Lisa feat. Valentina Vella
ADE in Splendor:
This year, Splendor is part of Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE). In no fewer than seven concerts, eight Splendor musicians present their vision of dance. A surprising mix of electronic and acoustic sounds. Let yourself be carried away and inspired by the sound of Splendor.
Composer–vocalist Luke Deane hosts an intimate double bill: first, a joint set with artist–performer Valentina Vella from their album-in-progress There Was Always Water; after the interval, Deane premieres a playful new Sock-Puppet TV performance.
Set 1 — There Was Always Water (first listen)
A first taste of the improvisational album-in-progress by Luke Deane and Valentina Vella. Voice, electronics and piano slip between song, sonic prose and soft beats, circling infrastructures of water and feeling: Dutch flood defenses, Roman romances, the Rotterdam Zoo, and two mattresses that become Europe and America’s tectonic plates in Iceland. ’70s prog meets incantatory prose and intimate art-pop. Vella’s contribution to the album and performance is part of A Poetics of Infrastructure: Expanding School of Love and Chaos, Supported by CBK Rotterdam (Centre for Visual Arts Rotterdam).
Interval
Set 2 — Sock-Puppet TV (Luke Deane)
Performed live, as the launch of a new online TV channel, Sock puppets sing with uncanny precision, squeezed and lo-fi pop, a bit of baroque harmony and a lot of oddball theatre, blurring the line between music video, live concert, and tiny TV studio. The set features the voices of many talented artists who have participated in bringing this performance to life.
BIOS
Luke Deane (also known on-stage as ‘Lisa’) is a composer, vocalist and educator with a passion for co-composing and interdisciplinary working methods. Luke’s composition lineage can be traced back to Cornelius Cardew, teacher of Luke’s own mentor Howard Skempton. Luke is intrinsically collaborative, moving between projects and disciplines with a focus on cutting-edge ideas. Luke brings his formal composition background and knowledge to these ideas, in an endless search for their deeper musical qualities. Lisa (Luke’s alter-ego) is released her second album under the new name NÆT at ReWire 2025. Luke composed the original score for NITE, Asko Schonberg Ensemble, HIIT & NKK Next: NACHTWACHT, which was arranged for stage in collaboration with composer David Dramm and received widespread rave reviews including critics choice in Theatrekrant and nomination for best director at NTF.
Valentina Vella is an Italian interdisciplinary artist based in Rotterdam. Working across voice, text, performance, and film, she investigates how infrastructures organize emotion, attention, and relational life. Fieldwork, improvisation, and Zen-grounded practices guide her process. Vella’s work has been presented internationally, including at Links Hall (Chicago), Kunstinstituut Melly and WORM (Rotterdam), and La Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna (Rome). Her current trajectory, A Poetics of Infrastructure: Expanding School of Love and Chaos, is supported by CBK Rotterdam.
Luke Deane (Lisa): Voice, Electronics, Sock-Puppets, AV
Valentina Vella: Voice, Text
Instagram:
@valentinahahahavella
[@lukeinthesky @socksontv](http://@lukeinthesky @socksontv)
