"Orison" is a work for ondes Martenot and electronics commissioned and performed by Daniel Áñez. It was irresistible for me to associate this early electronic instrument with science fiction and the idea of extra-terrestrial life, and so the work takes on a quasi-narrative, atmospheric character addressing these themes and their relationship with spirituality, the idea of the metaphysical 'other,' and personal feelings of alienation and otherness. Besides being an incredible ondist, Daniel has a virtuosic fluency with synthesizers and effects pedals, and so the work incorporates a significant signal processing component, which Daniel implemented. The work also features a vocoder during a brief sung passage. The work premiered in 2024 at the Electric Eclectics festival in Meaford, ON, and this studio recording was realized by Daniel Áñez and James O'Callaghan in 2025.

Orison - Daniel Áñez

James O’Callaghan is a composer and multimedia artist based in Berlin. His work has been described as “very personal… with its own colour anchored in the unpredictable,” (Goethe-Institut). It spans chamber, orchestral, live electronic and acousmatic idioms, audio installations, video-music, site-specific performances, electronic dance music, and interdisciplinary collaboration — most recently with choreographer Edouard Lock and artist Lois Brown. In 2016 an album of his acousmatic works, Espaces Tautologiques, was released by empreintes DIGITALes, and his extended collaboration with Ensemble Paramirabo resulted in a portrait album of his works in 2019, entitled Alone and unalone.
	His music has received nearly forty prizes and nominations, including the ISCM Young Composer Award (2017), the Salvatore Martirano Award (2016), and the SOCAN Foundation John Weinzweig Grand Prize (2014). Significant nominations include those for the Gaudeamus Award (2016), Prix Métamorphoses (2018), and two JUNO Awards (2014, 2020). In 2021 he received the Prix Opus for “Composer of the Year.” 
	Active as an arts organiser, he co-founded and co-directed the Montréal Contemporary Music Lab. Originally from British Columbia, he lived in Montréal for 11 years and since 2022 has been based out of Berlin.