Join us at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation for an evening of music from some of Manchester’s most exciting musicians. Trio Atem, the Raise Your Voice Ensemble and Efpi Records’ 265 Quartet present a broad range of music moving from experimental and contemporary classical music to jazz.

Venue

International Anthony Burgess Foundation
Engine House, Chorlton Mill, 3 Cambridge Street, Manchester, M1 5BY (map)

Friday 7 October 2011
Doors: 6:30pm, Music: 7:00pm
Tickets: £3

Line-up

• Clapping Music — Steve Reich
• Durations II — Morton Feldman
• In Freundschaft — Karlheinz Stockhausen
• Ring of Light — Malcolm Hayes
• Small Atlas — Chris Swithinbank

Raise Your Voice Ensemble // Jenny Dyson (flute), Jon Guy (clarinet), Michael Jones (violin), Alice Purton (cello), Rebecca Lea (soprano)

• Seven Face Pictures (selection) — Tom Coult
• only — Morton Feldman
• Moon Phase — Ian Vine
• pneuma.pistis — Martin Iddon
• Duets for Storab — Harrison Birtwistle
• Masque: Continu — Toru Takemitsu
• Récitations (selection) — Georges Aperghis
• Projection I — Morton Feldman
• Vinyl Radical — Michael Mayhew

Trio Atem // Gavin Osborn (flute), Nina Whiteman (voice), Alice Purton (cello)

• Set of jazz-classical improvisation

265 Quartet // Graham South (flugelhorn), Anton Hunter (guitar), Rod Skipp (cello), Ben Cottrell (clarinet)

Tickets

How do we hear? What do we hear? How do we shape our sonic environment? More than half of the world’s population now lives in cities, but do we notice what our new habitats sound like? How does human presence impact on the acoustic reality? Raise Your Voice Collective present an interactive engagement with ideas of the city, living and lived-in systems, the facts of urban life, and the sounds that these produce.

Venue

Kraak Gallery • 11, Stevenson Square, Manchester, M1 1DB (map)
Open daily: 11am – 6pm

Opening Night

Join the Raise Your Voice Ensemble from 6:30pm on 11 May for a special performed introduction to the exhibition, featuring new compositions, improvisations and experimental electronics, plus a laptop and Bugbrand Modular Synthesizer set from special guest Richard Scott reflecting on the sounds of Manchester past and present.

Artworks

Pond Life III — Patrick Sanan & Sam Salem

A collaboration between Californian mathematician Patrick Sanan and Manchester-based composer and artist Sam Salem, Pond Life presents viewers with a tactile interactive experience. Using programming that mimics evolutionary systems, the luminous interface projected onto a tank of water allows visitors to interact with an ecosystem whose behaviour reveals perhaps the paths of humanity’s earliest migrations and the first foundations of settlements as the digital organisms gather around precious natural resources, represented by different coloured light. [http://www.sanansalem.com/]

Hô: a Sonic Expedition to Vietnam — Ricardo Climent

Hô presents the gallery visitor with the opportunity to navigate their way through an imaginary sonic expedition to Vietnam. Using a large steering wheel reminiscent of that of an old sailing ship, the viewer moves their way through a series of audiovisual puzzles uncovering in the process the unique soundworld and culture of Vietnam.
Hô employs open-source software techniques to offer the gallery visitor a computer-game-like experience in which the usual visual parameters are relegated in importance in favour of a focus on acoustic exploration.

A Scrapbook of Metro Sounds — Kaho Cheung

Whether known as le métro or the underground, the subway or rapid transit, the sound of trains rattling through tunnels is a key feature of the soundscapes of many of the world’s biggest cities. From 2007 to 2010, artist and composer Kaho Cheung travelled around the world collecting recordings of these transport systems. The installation A Scrapbook of Metro Sounds allows the gallery visitor to make virtual acoustic journeys between Helsinki, Tokyo, Bangkok, London, Berlin, Stockholm, Hong Kong, New York, Athens, Barcelona, San Francisco and Valencia, revealing in the process a globalised network of similar sounds, but also the subtle cultural variations in the deployment of this most everyday of technologies.

Plus: Field recordings and tape music.

The Raise Your Voice Ensemble perform new works from Manchester’s rich and varied offering of composers, mixing acoustic instruments and electronic sound, as part of the FutureEverything Festival Showcase. Come and experience challenging and original music in the relaxed atmosphere of Centro Bar in the Northern Quarter (next door to Matt & Phred’s). Followed later by chilled DJ sets from Al Sonar (of Hit&Run).

Line-up

• Passacaglie, for cello and electronics — Martin Suckling
• I Don’t Know What To Do With My Life, for clarinet and kick drum — Luke-Matthew Iveson
• The Golden Lion Hotel, for percussion and electronics — Chris Swithinbank
• Avian Riots, for ensemble — Tom Coult
• Richter VS Dragon, for ensemble and backing track — Steve Pycroft
• Aqueleyo-yo, for string quartet — José Guillermo Puello
• Dubsteps, for string quartet — John Davies

Venue

Centro Bar
74, Tib Street, Northern Quarter, Manchester, M4 1LG, UK (View map)

More about the people involved

Tom Coult is a third year student at Manchester University, and will begin a Masters course next year. ‘The Candle’ is being performed on 16th May in York and 8th June at the RNCM. He has composed a score for a 2009 production of Sinbad at the Camden Roundhouse and music used in ‘Is This Love?’, a 2008 short film.

Luke-Matthew Iveson (b.1990, Manchester) currently studies at Birmingham Conservatoire, for a BMus in composition, under the tuition of Joe Cutler and many visiting tutors. His works have been performed by the CHROMA Ensemble, Sarah Leonard & Robin Michael, Rowland Sutherland and the East Midlands CoMA Ensemble. Luke enjoys working with theatre and external arts such as dance, arts and literature. His theatre piece Ophelia:the death of was awarded joint Second Prize and the Audience Prize in the 2009 Philip Bates Prize. The Nutritional Value of Dreams was recently workshopped by Louis Andriessen.

José Guillermo Puello is a Dominican composer currently doing a Masters in Composition at Manchester University under the supervision of Camden Reeves, having done his undergraduate degree in Music at The University of Birmingham. He is currently working on merging Latin-American rhythms with Western contemporary harmonies. On the 21st of May, 2010, Manchester Camerata will perform Cojuelo Spirit at the Bridgewater Hall.

Steve Pycroft is a freelance drummer, percussionist and composer living and working in Manchester. He graduated with a Masters in Composition from the University of Manchester in 2009, studying with Camden Reeves.

Al Sonar is one of the new breed of Manchester-based talent that has surfaced on the DJ scene. As resident for Hit&Run his “Deep” style of set has been instrumental in creating the warm vibe at the night. Originally from London, he moved to Manchester in 1999 and has run a host of different Drum and Bass events. Al has worked as a tour manager and sound engineer for Manchester based Ska-Punk band, Sonic Boom Six. This has seen him touring the majority of mainland Europe and working as a freelance sound engineer in the UK.

Martin Suckling writes music, plays the violin, recently moved to Manchester and consequently spends a lot of time on trains.  He is currently writing some songs for the London Sinfonietta.  These other folks have also played his music: LSO, BBC Scottish SO, DSO Berlin, Grimethorpe Colliery Band, RSC, Britten Sinfonia, Aronowitz Ensemble.

Chris Swithinbank is currently completing a Masters in Composition at the University of Manchester with the generous support of a Harry Clough Bursary. He works with both acoustic instruments and electronic sounds and has recently had works performed at New Music North West, MANTIS Festival and Wrexham Arts Festival. Upcoming premières include Wegen & Waldstille for Psappha and Mikrokonzert: I Swear I Saw the Sun Falling to be performed by Vaganza at York Spring Festival of New Music in May and at the RNCM in June.

Links

• FutureEverything Listing
• Last.fm
• MySpace
• Facebook
• Sound and Music

Raise Your Voice Collective’s very own in-house band perform their very first concert, featuring new works from acoustic and electroacoustic, Manchester-based composers, and an improvisatory collaboration with special guest Richard Scott. All this and more in the cosy confines of Centro Bar in the Northern Quarter (next door to Matt & Phred’s).

Line-up

• Laptop set – Heather Bamforth
• focusinfocusoutfocusinfocusout, for flute, clarinet, drum kit and cello – Hannah Ashman
• Public Bodies, fixed media – Sam Salem
• New work, for ensemble – Steve Pycroft
• Waves on the ebb, for ensemble – Francesca le Lohé
• This is Water!, for ensemble and tape – Chris Swithinbank
• Clinamen clinamen clinamen, for clarinet and string quartet – Mauricio Pauly
• Onomatopoeia, improvisations for ensemble & electronics – Richard Scott

Venue

Centro Bar
74, Tib Street, Northern Quarter, Manchester, M4 1LG, UK (View map)

More about the people involved

Hannah Ashman is 19 years old and currently in her first year of a music degree at the University of Manchester. Her interest in composition resulted in her spending her gap-year at Trinity College of Music, where she studied with Paul Newland and Ollie Leaman. Her musical interests are eclectic, encompassing such diversities as experimental Hip Hop artist Flying Lotus, Debussy, and contemporary Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen.

Heather Bamforth studied Music at the University of Manchester at undergraduate and postgraduate level before going on to complete a PGCE. She now teaches very small people how to write and in her spare time enjoys performing on laptops.

Francesca Le Lohe is a second year music student at the University of Manchester whose major interests are in composition and ethnomusicology. She is especially interested in the relation and crossover between the two fields. Francesca is fascinated with Japanese music and aesthetics, which is a dominant influence in her current compositions.

Born in Costa Rica, composer Mauricio Pauly is currently based in Manchester. He has recently been awarded the prestigious Staubach Honoraria commission for a new work to be premiered at the 45th International Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt, Germany, in 2010 by Oslo-based ensemble Asamisimasa. His new string quartet will be premiered in New York by the JACK Quartet in February 2010.

Steve Pycroft is a freelance drummer, percussionist and composer living and working in Manchester. He graduated with a Masters in Composition from the University of Manchester in 2009, studying with Camden Reeves.

Sam Salem is a multimedia artist and acousmatic composer whose music has most recently been performed/exhibited in Montreal (ICMC09), New York (NYCEMF), Berlin (SMC 08), Valencia (Digital Media 1.0) and around the UK and Scandinavia (as part of the Wet Sounds ’09 tour).

Starting out as a jazz saxophonist, Richard Scott has found his way to using experimental electronics in conjunction with live instrumentalists to perform improvised music. He has lived in Manchester for almost twenty years and has recently worked in Amsterdam as Artist-in-Residence at STEIM.

Chris Swithinbank came to Manchester to study music and is currently completing a Masters in Composition at the University of Manchester with the generous support of a Harry Clough Bursary. He works with both acoustic instruments and electronic sounds and has recently had works performed at New Music North West, MANTIS Festival and Wrexham Arts Festival. Upcoming premieres include …going back to the skies, for Trio Atem, a new work for Psappha and Mikrokonzert: I Swear I Saw the Sun Falling to be performed by Vaganza at the RNCM in June.

As part of the University of Manchester’s MANTIS Festival, Mauricio Pauly and Sam Salem present a collaboration with Italian virtuoso Francesco Dillon in an evening of contemporary music for cello and electronics in the heart of Manchester’s vibrant Northern Quarter.

Programme

• New work for cello and diffused audio — Mauricio Pauly and Sam Salem
• Double Contour, for cello and computer — Kumiko Omura
• Psalm, for cello and electronics — Juste Janulytė
• Oog, for cello and soundtrack — Michel Van der Aa
• Curve with plateaux, solo cello — Jonathan Harvey

Venue

Nexus Art Café
2 Dale Street, Northern Quarter, Manchester, M1 1JW, UK (View map)

More about the people involved

Italian cellist Francesco Dillon (Alter Ego, Quartetto Prometeo) was recently featured in the 4th volume of Giacinto Scelsi works along with Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI. He has recorded for the labels Aulos, Dynamic, Ricordi, Stradivarius and Touch and he recently released the world premiere recording of Variazioni for cello and orchestra by Salvatore Sciarrino on the KAIROS label. You can watch and listen to Francesco playing Britten, Rachmaninoff, Schumann and Zemlinsky with duo partner Emanuele Torquati here.

Born in Costa Rica, composer Mauricio Pauly is currently based in Manchester. He has recently been awarded the prestigious Staubach Honoraria commission for a new work to be premiered by Oslo-based ensemble Asamisimasa at the 45th International Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt, Germany, in 2010. His new string quartet was premiered in New York by the JACK Quartet on 11 February 2010.

Sam Salem is a multimedia artist and acousmatic composer whose music has most recently been performed/exhibited in Montreal (ICMC09), New York (NYCEMF), Berlin (SMC 08), Valencia (Digital Media 1.0) and around the UK and Scandinavia (as part of the Wet Sounds ’09 tour).