concert
All ProgrammeEliane Radigue
'Occam I', 'Occam River I' & 'Occam Delta II' by Julia Eckhardt, Rhodri Davies & Carol Robinson
20:00 – 21:30 OCCAM I / OCCAM RIVER I / OCCAM DELTA II
22:00 – 22:30 Alain Franco in a conversation with Eliane Radigue, Carol Robinson, Julia Eckhardt and Rhodri Davies.
After 8pm access to the venue is no longer allowed in order not to disturb the concert. Make sure you’re on time!
The French composer Eliane Radigue (b. 1932) is a pioneer in the field of electro-acoustic music. This former student of Pierre Henry and Pierre Schaeffer has a modest but extremely exceptional oeuvre. Her muse is the Arp 2500 synthesizer, with which for years she has composed subtle and pure music that asks the utmost concentration of the listener. Inspired by intense experiences with Tibetan Buddhism, Radigue assembles slowly evolving, expansive soundscapes.
“Occam” is one of her newest acoustic compositions written for harpist Rhodri Davies, violist Julia Eckhardt and bass clarinettist Carol Robinson.
The Welsh harpist Rhodri Davies confronts the traditional concepts of harp by the use of preparations, detuned, bowed and e-bowed strings. The influence of live electronics and musique concrète is noticeable in his interest of and quest for noise, silence, texture and abstract sound on his acoustic instrument. Besides solo performances Davies works closely with John Butcher, Evan Parker, Chris Burn, Mark Wastell and Ingar Zach.
The American clarinettist and composer Carol Robinson is a passionate improvisational musician, in both the known classical repertoire as well as contemporary experimental music, and she is always in search of new perspectives. In addition to her work with various composers (Giacinto Scelsi, Nono, Morton Feldman, Phil Niblock, Berio …), she often works with video artists, photographers, choreographers and musicians from other genres.
Julia Eckhardt grew up in Berlin and is a violist in the field of composed and improvised contemporary music. After studying violin in Rotterdam and Brussels she played in various chamber music groups and the National Orchestra of Belgium. Since 1996 she is artistic director at Q-O2, an ensemble for contemporary experimental and improvised music and that since 2006 also functions as a workshop for music and sound art. Eckhardt is part of Incidental Music, an international group for conceptual music (with Manfred Werder and Normisa Pereira da Silva).
Alain Franco was born in Antwerp and lives in Brussels. He studied music at the conservatories of Brussels, Liege and Antwerp, obtained a master’s degree in piano and received several first-place prizes. In addition, he obtained a DEA diploma in musicology of the 20th century (IRCAM-EHESS). He was principal conductor of the ensemble Champ d’Action (1989-1993) and has since collaborated with the Ensemble Modern (Frankfurt), the Ictus ensemble (Brussels), the ensemble Musiques Nouvelles (Brussels), the Philharmonic Orchestra of Liege, the Orchestra of the Opera de Lyon, the Prometheus ensemble (Leuven), the ensemble Oh Ton (Oldenburg), the Beethoven Academy (Antwerp) and the BBC Singers.
“The freedom to be immersed in the ambivalence of continuous modulation with the uncertainty of being and/or not being in this or that mode or tonality. The freedom to let yourself be overwhelmed, submerged in a continuous sound flow where perceptual acuity is heightened through the discovery of a certain slight beating, there in the background, pulsations, breath.”
– OCCAM I –
E. Radigue
“The force of inevitability as the smallest hint of sound gathers and grows. Air turned fluid. A water dance set into motion, vibrating through a keyless wooden tube. The water can only find its way. The sound can only expand, but slowly. There is no choice, only the impulse toward union, flowing onward in a great rotational cycle.”
– OCCAM III –
C. Robinson
“Working on OCCAM IV and playing it, is like being guided through a landscape of water, sometimes actively searching, sometimes letting the attention linger on whatever it is attracted to. It is a path between activity and drifting with the play of water, wind, and light shaping abstract patterns the ear is drawn to, with concentration and ease.”
– OCCAM IV –
J. Eckhardt
08.02.2013 20:00