Spectrum XXI Festival 2008

[Andy Wilson]

Iancu Dumitrescu, Ana-Maria Avram and the Hyperion Ensemble this year take their Spectrum Festival to Brussells, Mons, London, Paris... and East Grinstead. Guest artists appearing at the festival, or whose works will be performed, include Tim Hodgkinson, Gustavo Aguilar, Robert Reigle, Quatuor IO, Mario Diaz de Leon, Douglas Geers, Ronny Waernes, Schuyler Tsuda, Gerard Pape, Petru Teodorescu, Ulpiu Vlad and Costin Cazaban. Details of all the events can be found on the Spectrum XXI Festival Site.

[Andy Wilson]

RESONANCE FM PRESENTS A FREE FESTIVAL OF EXTRAORDINARY NEW MUSIC

Spectrum XXI: International Festival of Spectral Music

Friday, November 21th at 7.30pm Conway Hall ,25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL
Hyperion Ensemble performs new works by Hodgkinson, Dumitrescu, Cazaban, Teodorescu and Avram.

Saturday, November 22th at 7.30pm, Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL
IO Quartet and Hyperion Ensemble perform new works by Dumitrescu and Avram. Soloists: Tim Hodgkinson (UK), Gustavo Aguilar (USA).

Romania's Hyperion Ensemble was founded in 1976 by the composer Iancu Dumitrescu. As a starting point, Hyperion explored possible connections between the most archaic Romanian music - Byzantine music, folk music collected by Bartok, etc. - and today's avant-garde music. It follows a tradition of performance, of interpreting each new score as a provocation of the spirit, and a quest for new domains of sound.

"Dumitrescu's music has a visceral, untidy force rare in classical music - the textures of Xenakis pared of the later's Beethovenian ambition, made more focused and linear. Seems like these Romanians are engaged in a similar kind of sonic research to that which resulted on the masterpieces of Giacinto Scelsi and Ennio Morricone: collective endeavor, genuine "deep listening". The results are similarly overpowering, a million miles from the tooting inconsequence or most of what passes for New Music in the classical world." Ben Watson, The Wire


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RESONANCE FM PRESENTS AN EVENING WITH OTOMO YOSHIHIDE

Monday 24 November, 8pm at Cafe Oto, 18-22 Ashwin Street, London, E8 3DL. Tickets: £10, £5 concessions.

Japan's foremost avant-gardist Otomo makes a rare London appearance, playing in three groups with Benedict Drew, Tomas Korber & Louisa Martin; DJ Sniff & Xentos Fray Bentos; and Steve Beresford, John Edwards & Eddie Prevost. Noise; quiet stuff; free jazz. Record stall.

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