Wednesday 30 January 2019, 7.30pm
The programme will include two sets
Set 1.
- Jaap Blonk - solo ‘Vibrant Islands’ 25m
- Beibei Wang- solo 15m
- Jack Goldstein with ‘Herethere’ film by Blanca Regina & Pierre Bouvier patron - 7m
Set 2.
- John Edwards- solo 15m
- Jaap Blonk & Steve Beresford - duo 15m
- Jaap, John and Beibei - trio 25m
“Vibrant Islands”, an acoustic voice performance by Jaap Blonk -
Vibrant Islands" is a cycle of 9 pieces for acoustic vocal performance, made in 2015. Each movement consists of a number of "islands" containing phonetic signs, many of which were invented by himself. For many years he has been working on a personal extension of the International Phonetic Alphabet: BLIPAX (BLonks IPA eXtended). In the performance the islands can be visited in any order, and repeatedly as well. In every score of the cycle the coastal lines have a different form, for instance angular, crenelated, straight or rounded, according to the prevalent sound character of the movement.
‘herethere’ film by Blanca Regina and Pierre Bouvier Patron live Soundtrack by Jack Goldstein
And in the second half a different combination of performances by Jaap, Bei Bei, John and Steve.
Jaap Blonk (born 1953 in Woerden, Netherlands) is a self-taught composer and poet. His unfinished studies in mathematics and musicology mainly created a penchant for activities in a Dada vein, as did several unsuccessful jobs in offices and other well-organized systems.
In the early 1980s he discovered the power and flexibility of his voice, and set out on a long-term research of phonetics and the possibilities of the human voice. At present, he has developed into a specialist in the creation and performance of sound poetry, supported by a powerful stage presence. He performs and gives workshops worldwide on a regular basis. With the use of live electronics the scope and range of his work has acquired a considerable extension. From his sound poetry scores he developed an independent body of visual work, which has been published and exhibited.
Steve Beresford has been a central figure in the British and international spontaneous music scenes for over forty years, freely improvising on the piano, electronics, and other things with people like Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Han Bennink, John Zorn, and Alterations (with David Toop, Terry Day and Peter Cusack).
He has written songs, written for large and small ensembles, and scored short films, feature films, TV shows, and commercials. He was part of the editorial teams of Musics and Collusion magazines, writes about music in various contexts, and was a senior lecturer in music at the University of Westminster. With Blanca Regina, he is part of Unpredictable Series, which produces events and sound and video recordings of experimental music and art.
Steve has worked with Christian Marclay on numerous Marclay mixed media pieces. He has also worked with The Slits, Najma Akhtar, Stewart Lee, Ivor Cutler, Prince Far-I, Alan Hacker, Tania Chen, Ray Davies, Mandhira De Saram, The Flying Lizards, Zeena Parkins, The Portsmouth Sinfonia, Ilan Volkov, Rachel Musson, Vic Reeves, Lore Lixenberg and many others.
Beresford has an extensive discography as performer, arranger, free-improviser, composer and producer, and was awarded a Paul Hamlyn award for composers in 2012. In 2021, Bloomsbury published a book by Andy Hamilton: ‘Pianos, Toys, Music and Noise: Conversations with Steve Beresford’.
http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/mberes.html
John Edwards is a true virtuoso whose staggering range of techniques and boundless musical imagination have redefined the possibility of the double bass and dramatically expanded its role, whether playing solo or with others. Perpetually in demand, he has played with Evan Parker, Sunny Murray, Derek Bailey, Joe McPhee, Lol Coxhill, Peter Brötzmann, Mulatu Astatke and many others.
"I think John Edwards is absolutely remarkable: there’s never been anything like him before, anywhere in jazz." - Richard Williams, The Blue Moment
“The Young Chinese virtuoso Wang Beibei is nothing if not flamboyant.” – The Times
Genre-defying percussionist Beibei Wang is an acclaimed international virtuoso percussionist with both Chinese and British musical education background. Beibei has enjoyed a meteoric rise in the classical music world, receiving international praise for her performances. She received double Master Degrees from the Central Conservatory of Music (China) and the Royal Academy of Music (UK). In 2014, she was listed in the top 50 Chinese musicians in the “Sound of East” project by the Chinese Ministry of Culture. In 2015, she was endorsed by the Arts Council ,England receiving an Exceptional Talent visa from British Government. Following a successful recital at SOAS ,University of London, Beibei now leads a traditional Chinese percussion workshops to promote and preserve traditional Chinese percussion at SOAS. Most recently, she was featured on the front cover of China Music Life magazine and in iD China Magzinge in 2017.
Since 2008, as a soloist, Beibei has embarked upon a number of hugely successful international tours at many international music festivals including the Edinburgh International Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the Bach Academy Musikfest Stuttgart, Colour Scape Music Festival. She has collaborated with numerous leading Orchestras worldwide, including: the BBC Symphony Orchestra (UK),the Mahler Chamber Orchestra (Germany),Orchestra dell’ Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Italy) the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (Canada), as well as conductors, including: Kent Nagano, Tan Dun, Kristjan Järvi, Muhai Tang, etc.
By exploring new possibilities and challenging assumptions from all fields, she and her collaborators have developed genre-defying projects, pushing boundaries and delighting audiences the world over.
Blanca Regina is an interdisciplinary artist, tutor, and independent curator who works with spontaneous composition systems creating multimedia landscapes using voice, objects, electronics, and visuals. She is also looking at book arts, immersive media, and design. Between London and Madrid together with Steve Beresford, she founded the Unpredictable Series, which focused on spontaneous music and experimentation in visual arts following her first collective Mademotion founded in Madrid. She has produced three albums with Beresford, mixed and mastered by Dave Hunt in London, ‘What Blue’ (2020) Duets with Steve Beresford; ‘Duets with Blanca Regina, Spontaneous Music’ featuring duets with Leafcutter John, Jack Goldstein, John Butcher, Benedict Taylor, Matthias Kispert, Aneek Thapar, Steve Beresford, Sharon Gal, and Hyelim Kim and and ‘Art of Improvisers’ (2017) a collection album with several artists concentrating in women improvisers. With longtime collaborator and artist Leafcutter John capturing their live performances in 2017 they created ‘Miga’ a limited edition Pendrive and digital release. Other collaborations in music and audiovisual performances include duos with Matthias Kispert, Peter Cusack, Matt Black, Sr Arribas, Terry Day Sharon Gal, Adriana Camacho, and David Toop...She has produced exhibitions, performances and workshops internationally with presentations in London - Cafe Oto, Turner Contemporary, Barbican, Tate Modern - in Madrid - PhotoEspaña, La Casa Encendida, Cruce - in Mexico - Fundación Pedro Meyer, Biblioteca Henestrosa, in Berlin - HKW, Sowieso .- She has provided guest lectures and workshops in the UK and internationally including at the University of the Arts London, Goldsmiths University, Guildhall, Ravensbourne University…Her work has been supported by Arts Council England, Sound & Music, BMC, Amexcid, Photo-España, and Garage Cube.
Pierre Bouvier Patron is a visual artist based in London. He is currently working with different media, such as digital video and film, exploring the boundaries between them and creating moving image works, performances and installations. He has developed various practices and skills in experimental film, documentary films, music videos, etc.
He is involved in video screenings and video performances, solo or in collaboration, with musicians such as Syd Kemp, Steve Beresford, Ulrika Spacek and artist Blanca Regina, among others. His work has been shown in France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Germany, etc.
https://www.studiopierre.art
JACK GOLDSTEIN makes Experimental Lo-fi Power Pop/Emo. His latest record, entitled Sandwiches, is a Brian Wilson-esque song-cycle set in an imagined interzone near the Oxford that Goldstein grew up in.
His previous record, Tonic Of Wilderness, was described as “a quiet triumph; a….collage of sound taking in so many moods, emotions and samples that it’s hard to keep track”.
He is also a musicologist and academic at Goldsmiths University, and was awarded the Bob Gilmore Prize for Outstanding Work in Musicology for his dissertation on the influence of politics and brass bands. He has written on pop, experimental and improvised music.
