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Music We'd Like To Hear 2019
Presenting a sonorous collection of premieres and revivals of rarely heard treasures, performed by artists uniquely attuned to these particular sound worlds.
Advance tickets and season tickets are available here.
I
Friday 5 July
Georgia Denham - New Work** (2019)
Thomas Stiegler - Inferner Park* (2018)
Nomi Epstein - Violin and Piano* (2004)
Tim Parkinson - violin and piano** (2017)
Marc Sabat & Matteo Fargion - You May Not Want To Be Here (after Bruce Nauman)* (2000)
Mira Benjamin, violin
Philip Thomas, piano
We welcome back the violin and piano duo of Mira Benjamin and Philip Thomas, who delivered a fascinating concert for our 2015 series. This event will include two world premieres: a work written especially for the programme by Georgia Denham, and a recent work by Tim Parkinson. Also in the programme are three UK premieres; a recent large work by German neuroscientist Thomas Stiegler, an early piece from Nomi Epstein, and a work composed jointly by Marc Sabat and Matteo Fargion, which begins a theme of collaborative works which threads through our series this year.
doors 19.00, music 19.30
£11 advance/£15 door
II
Friday 12 July
Phil Harmonic - Timing* (1980)
Alvin Lucier - Chambers (1968)
Eliane Radigue - Occam Ocean - Occan XXVI* (2018)
Francesca Fargion and Tim Parkinson, keyboards and voices
Rie Nakajima & Lee Patterson, objects
Enrico Malatesta, cymbals & frame drum
Collaboration is at the heart of the programme on 12 July with the UK premiere of the latest flowering of Eliane Radigue's Occam series, made with percussionist Enrico Malatesta. We present the combined practices of sound artists Rie Nakajima and Lee Patterson in a fresh investigation of Alvin Lucier's fundamental sound art work from 1968, Chambers. We also bring to life a curious, gentle work from 1980 made by Phil Harmonic with 'Blue' Gene Tyranny.
doors 19.00, music 19.30
£11 advance/£15 door
III
Friday 19 July
Severine Ballon - Cloches fendues 1 & 2** (2018)
Michael Parsons - Tenebrio (1995)
Newton Armstrong - A line alongside itself** (2019)
John McGuire - A Cappella* (1995-97)
Severine Ballon, cello
John Lely, 2 x CX5M
Newton Armstrong, audio
Beth Griffith, voice
For the final concert, we present the world premiere of a new work for multitracked cello from Newton Armstrong working closely with cellist and composer Severine Ballon, who will also realise two of her own pieces. Also on the programme is an FM synthesis work by Michael Parsons, composed on a Yamaha music computer from the early 1980s. Finally, we are thrilled to welcome singer Beth Griffith to present a rarely performed work for multitracked voice written for her by John McGuire. This sparkling music will end the series as the sun sets in the tranquil, light-filled acoustic of St Mary at Hill.
doors 19.00, music 19.30
£11 advance/£15 door
** World Premiere
* UK Premiere
This edition is supported by the Hinrichsen Foundation and the Richard Thomas Foundation.
All concerts at St Mary-at-Hill, Lovat Lane (off Eastcheap), London EC3R 8EE (2-minute walk from Monument tube).
Curated by John Lely and Tim Parkinson.
Corpse Boy with John Lely and Paul Newland
facebook event
Longplayer Day 20 June 2019
John Lely playing the EMS VCS4, May 2019. Photograph by James Bulley.
20 June 2019 | midday-midnight
JOHN LELY plays at 4.15pm
Site-specific performance
A solo set on the EMS VCS4, a unique & very characterful synthesiser prototype which never went into production. This will be its first public airing in more than 20 years. Thanks to Simon Desorgher, Goldsmiths EMS and the Goldsmiths Alumni and Development Fund.
from the Longplayer 2019 website:
On Thursday 20 June 2019, from noon until midnight the Longplayer Trust and Goldsmiths, University of London will host the second of the biennial festival Longplayer Day. The day is peripatetic: the audience move from one location to another, choosing their agenda for the day from the time-specific events, free to join proceedings when they choose. Performances happen in parks, abandoned police stations, churches and on the Thames shoreline, mapping the route to the end destination of Trinity Buoy Wharf (Poplar) at sunset.
Longplayer Day is inspired by Longplayer, a one thousand year-long composition by the artist Jem Finer. Its curated programme of new commissions, performances, talks, publications and collective activities explore time and duration, and seek to inspire audiences into new consideration of long-term behaviours, environmental awareness and durational thinking. In keeping with the festival's themes, Longplayer Day takes place biennially on or around the summer solstice (the longest day of the year).
The confirmed programme of artists, writers, curators and speakers includes Ryoko Akama, Ele Carpenter, Oliver Coates, Rhodri Davies, Tess Denman-Cleaver, Max Eastley, Shiva Feshareki, Jem Finer, Clare Gasson, Hither Green Drone Orchestra, Debbie Kent, Aleks Kolkowski, Graham Lambkin, John Lely, 'The Making of Americans' Reading, Phil Minton, Aine O'Dwyer, Lee Patterson, Marcus du Sautoy, Lindsay Seers, Blanc Sceol, Gavin Starks, David Toop and Jennifer Walshe.
All events are free to access.
Merce Cunningham: Night of 100 Solos
19:45 Tuesday 16 April 2019, Barbican Theatre
From the event website:
On the night Merce Cunningham would have turned 100, the Barbican participates in a one-off global event to celebrate the most influential American-born choreographer of the 20th century.
Drawn from around the world, 75 dancers grace three stages to commemorate an artist (1919-2009) whose constant innovation and pioneering collaborations yielded an unparalleled body of dance, music and visual art. In programmes tailor-made for Los Angeles, London and New York, they perform 100 Cunningham solos in each venue, with bespoke sets and live music devised especially for the centennial.
Dancers taking part in London include: Harry Alexander, Matthew Ball, Elly Braund, Siobhan Davies, Ines Depauw, Daphne Fernberger, Jonathan Goddard, Asha Gracia, Thomasin Gulgec, Francesca Hayward, Hannah Kidd, Catherine LeGrand, Sophie Martin, Estela Merlos, Mbulelo Ndabeni, Michael Nunn, Rowan Parker, Elsa Raymond, Joseph Sissens, Beatriz Stix-Brunell, Toke Strandby, Asha Thomas, Billy Trevitt, Luc Verbitzky, and Ben Warbis.
Christian Wolff will work with musicians Mira Benjamin, John Lely, Anton Lukoszevieze, and Christian Marclay to provide the score.
event link
Experimental Music Workshops @ Camden Arts Centre
Laurence Crane with students the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Tuesday 5 February - Friday 8 February, 3.00-6.00 pm daily
Saturday 9 February, 2.00-5.00 pm
On Wednesday 6 February, two of my pieces, The Harmonics of Real Strings and Second Symphony, will be performed as part of this series of events around a new exhibition of the work of Beatrice Gibson.
From the event website:
Over the duration of a week, the composer Laurence Crane will lead experimental music workshops, with students from Guildhall School of Music and Drama, rehearsing scores by composers whose music has influenced Beatrice Gibson's work and share affinities with the two new films.
Composers will include John Cage, Cornelius Cardew, Mary Jane Leach, Amber Priestley, John Lely, Christian Wolff and Pauline Oliveros. Gallery visitors are welcome to observe rehearsals and on Wednesday 6 February, the cellist Anton Lukoszevieze will participate in the workshop.
An informal performance will take place in the gallery at the end of each day.
Part of a programme of events curated by composer Laurence Crane.
event link
Meander Section
A live recording of my recent piece, Meander Section, which I completed on the last day of 2018. The piece is dedicated to my friend and mentor Michael Parsons in celebration of his 80th birthday. Performed by Apartment House at Cafe Oto, London, 18 January 2019.
Music We'd Like to Hear in December
A special edition of Music We'd Like to Hear at 7.30pm on Friday 7 December 2018 to celebrate the launch of the new Viola Torres release on Another Timbre.
Viola Torros - arrangement for two violas (Johnny Chang & Catherine Lamb) 20 mins
Johnny Chang - 'Citaric Melodies' 20 mins (Johnny Chang & Catherine Lamb violas, Lucy Railton cello, Yoni Silver bass clarinet, Heather Roche clarinet)
Catherine Lamb - 'Prisma Interius VI' 40 mins (Johnny Chang solo viola, Catherine Lamb synthesiser/viola, Lucy Railton cello)
Catherine Lamb and Johnny Chang have worked together on fragments by the enigmatic composer Viola Torros since Cat moved to Berlin in 2012. They are both exceptionally talented violists, and many of their explorations of Torros' music have been presented as viola duos at numerous concerts in Europe. This is the first time that her music will be performed in the UK. Cat and Johnny will also present recent compositions of their own, both of which reference Viola Torros and build on their ongoing interest in tunings, harmonic space and 'the interaction of tone'. The concert also launches a double CD 'Viola Torros', which is being released on the Another Timbre label.
You can read an interview with Johnny Chang and Catherine Lamb here.
Friday 7 December 2018
doors 7pm, music 7.30pm
£12 advance, £15 on the door
Venue: St Mary at Hill, Lovat Lane, London, EC3R 8EE
Nearest Tube: Monument (Fish Street Hill exit) Bank (exit 5)
Music We'd Like to Hear 2018
Music We'd Like to Hear 2018
a concert series curated by composers
I
19:30 Friday 6 July
Catherine Lamb - nodes, various* (2010)
Hermann Meier - Klavierstuck 1968*
Hermann Meier - Flecken* (1980)
Robert Ashley - Superior Seven* (1988)
The Mark Knoop Supergroup:
Mark Knoop (piano and director), Ilze Ikse (flute), Chloe Abbott (trumpet), Alice Purton (cello), Newton Armstrong (electronics)
doors 19:00, music 19:30
£12 advance, £15 on the door
advance tickets available here
II
19:30 Friday 13 July
Laura Steenberge - Byzantine Rites** (2018)
Kevin Volans - Matepe (1980)
Michael Parsons - Variations (1971)
Gyrid Nordal Kaldestad - Music for Boxes* (2018)
Mira Benjamin, Francesca Fargion,
Gyrid Nordal Kaldestad, Tim Parkinson and Laura Steenberge
doors 19:00, music 19:30
£12 advance, £15 on the door
advance tickets available here
III
19:30 Friday 20 July
Johanna Beyer - String Quartet No.2 (1936)
Georgia Rodgers - Three pieces for string quartet (2015)
Maya Verlaak - New Work*** (2018)
Martin Arnold - Contact; Vault (1997)
Apartment House:
Gordon MacKay, Mira Benjamin, Bridget Carey and Anton Lukoszevieze
doors 19:00, music 19:30
£12 advance, £15 on the door
advance tickets available here
*** Music We'd Like to Hear Commission
** World Premiere
* UK Premiere
All concerts at St Mary-at-Hill, Lovat Lane (off Eastcheap), London EC3R 8EE (2-minute walk from Monument tube).
Curated by John Lely and Tim Parkinson
Our 2018 season is supported by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, the Hinrichsen Foundation and the RVW Trust.
Minor Conspiracy
posted 12 May 2018
Thursday 17 May 6pm to 7pm
A sound performance by Rob Mullender and John Lely
http://intoabettershape.com/projects/minor-conspiracy/
Minor Conspiracy takes the form of a reed organ adapted to be powered by the breath of eight participants, with all of the reeds able to be locked open to enable extended duration drones. As such, the altered form of the instrument is intended to produce a collaborative equilibrium between breath, pitch and time; 'con-spire's' original meaning is literally 'to breathe with'.
Rob Mullender developed this work in collaboration with John Lely, after becoming interested in the altered states of consciousness and changes in listening that could be brought about by hyperventilation. The sound is characterised by slow changes in pitch and timbre, resulting in something resolving around texture rather than around harmony. This seance-like piece places considerable demands on the performers, who at times find themselves close to fainting to maintain the organ's air supply - producing sound in a communal, hallucinatory state.
ticketsHarris Museum & Art Gallery
Market Square
Preston
PR1 2PP
Music We'd Like to Hear in March
posted 10 March 2018
A special one-off concert on Friday 23 March 2018, featuring recent works by Magnus Granberg and Jürg Frey. This concert celebrates the release of the new Ensemble Grizzana CD, Early to Late, on Another Timbre. The composers will be performing as members of the ensemble.
Both works were premiered at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival last year. The concert received a 5-star review in the Financial Times and was described as 'a magical place to be' in The Spectator.
Music We'd Like to Hear in March
7.30pm Friday 23 March
'Early to Late' CD Launch Concert
Magnus Granberg – How Vain Are All Our Frail Delights? (2017)
Jürg Frey –Late Silence (2017)
Ensemble Grizzana:
Jürg Frey (clarinet)
Magnus Granberg (celesta, harmonica & stones)
Angharad Davies (violin)
Mira Benjamin (violin)
Anton Lukoszevieze (cello)
Dominic Lash (double bass)
John Lely (electronics, harmonica & stones)
Richard Craig (flute & electronics)
Philip Thomas (piano)
Simon Allen (dulcimer & glass harp)
Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga (zither & electronics)
Two world premieres, both loosely based on two pieces of early music: Ockeghem's 'Deploration sur la mort de Binchois' and Byrd's 'Oh Lord How Vain'. From this common starting point, composers Jürg Frey and Magnus Granberg worked separately, producing fascinatingly different results, both haunted by distant echoes of the source material.
Magnus: ''How Vain Are All Our Frail Delights?'' consists of: a temporal framework; sets of musical materials from which the performers choose what to play; and some suggestions as to how to treat the materials. The resulting piece can be described as an environment in which the properties of the environment itself, as well as the different choices, interests and natures of its inhabitants, regulate the final outcome of the music. Whether the outcome is to be considered vain, frail or delightful is, as in life itself, up to each one of us, listeners and performers alike.'
Jürg: 'The material is raw but delicate. The language is non-rhetorical and precise. The form has a clear architecture; sounds and sections become present and disappear but don't dissolve. The work of the composer is elemental – as is its absence when the composer lets the music go on without any interference. Tonality is vaguely touched on, a soft, slightly wavering light in the music. Silence, memory, presence – this triad shimmers in the background and keeps the piece in a balance of clear decisions and wide horizons.'
£12 advance, £15 on the door
This event is supported by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.
Venue: St Mary at Hill, Lovat Lane, London, EC3R 8EE
Nearest Tube:
Monument (Fish Street Hill exit)
Bank (exit 5)
London Bridge
Music We'd Like to Hear in October
posted 23 September 2017
windfell
by James Weeks
a new hour-long work for solo violin
realised by Mira Benjamin
windfell, an hour-long work for solo violinist, arose from the image of a violin played by the wind, the bow and strings set in motion without human mediation. windfell is a high, remote place, a wind-hill: the setting both for a gradual sounding-out of the instrument and a contemplation of the relationship between instrument and player, between sound, space and time, and between humanity and our environment.
£8 advance, £10 on the door
Venue: St Mary at Hill, Lovat Lane, London, EC3R 8
windfell was commissioned by and written for Mira Benjamin. The writing and workshop process was facilitated by a generous grant from The Composers' Fund, supported by the PRS for Music Foundation and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
Part Music
posted 10 June 2017
Sunday 2 July 2017
Hundred Years Gallery, 13 Pearson Street, London E2 8JD
John Lely: Part Music for Violin and Double Bass performed by Mira Benjamin (violin) and Michael Francis Duch (double bass)
Doors 7:30 | performance 8pm | entry £5
Since 2014 John Lely has been working with string soloists to develop a set of pieces that may be performed simultaneously in any combination. These pieces focus on sustained string harmonics in combination with quiet tuned noise sources.
The solo version with Mira Benjamin, Part Music for Violin, was completed in 2014 and given its first performances in London & Sheffield, UK and Victoria, Canada. The solo version with Michael Duch, Part Music for Double Bass, was completed earlier this year, and given its first outing at the Borealis Festival in Bergen, Norway, with subsequent performances in Svalbard, Tønsberg, Cape Town, Trondheim and Reykjavik.
For this concert Michael is joined by Mira for the first simultaneous realisation of the violin and double bass versions of Part Music.
more information: http://hundredyearsgallery.co.uk/john-lely/
Music We'd Like to Hear 2017
posted 10 June 2017
Music We'd Like to Hear 2017
three concerts on three fridays curated by three composers
I MANY & ONE
7.30pm Friday 30 June
Nomi Epstein – for Cage99 (2011) *
Kara Feely – I DIDN'T PREPARE FOR THIS BUT PROBABLY THAT IS BEST (2015) *
Hauke Harder – 88BB (8 strings - 8 primes - bowl-back) (2011) *
Sarah Hughes – Fires and Conifers (2012)
Martin Iddon – Aigeiros (2016) *
Jo Kondo – Calamintha (2000)
Christian Wolff – Banjo Player (2015) **
Seth Josel (guitar, mandolin and banjo)
Ensemble We'd Like to Hear:
Mira Benjamin, Mark Bowler, Marjolaine Charbin, Angharad Davies, Francesca Fargion, Louis d'Heudieres, Ilze Ikse, Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga, Adam Morris, Laurie Tompkins & Suze Whaites
For the first programme we are fortunate to present a rare British appearance by Berlin-based guitarist Seth Josel, in a programme pairing focussed, intimate solo compositions for guitar, banjo and mandolin, with interdisciplinary works for large group performance.
This programme features exciting new ensemble pieces from: New York-based composer Kara Feely, a co-founder of experimental theatre group Object Collection; Chicago-based Nomi Epstein, founder of the a•pe•ri•od•ic ensemble; UK artist and composer Sarah Hughes, co-founder of curatorial platform Compost & Height.
Solo works for guitar include a new piece by Martin Iddon and a recent work (fast becoming a classic) by Japanese composer Jo Kondo. The mandolin makes an appearance in music by German composer Hauke Harder, and an instrument rarely heard in new music, the banjo, in a work from the inexhaustible American experimentalist Christian Wolff.
£10 advance, £12 on the door
II (UN)PREDICTABLE
7.30pm Friday 7 July
Tom Johnson – Predictables (1984)
Paul Newland – things that happen again (again) (2016) ***
Makiko Nishikaze – trio-stella (2008/12) *
Alvin Lucier – Twonings (2006) *
Apartment House:
Mira Benjamin (violin)
Anton Lukoszevieze (cello)
Philip Thomas (piano)
The central concert of our 2017 series plays on expectations, confirmed and confounded.
Works for piano trio and duo are programmed around a new commission from Paul Newland (supported by RVW Trust), a unique British voice and former student of Jo Kondo.
The pared-down transparency of Newland's music is contrasted with the work of Japanese composer Makiko Nishikaze, whose mysterious and fragile music holds us gently in a suspended present. At the opposite extreme, a piano trio by Paris-based elder statesman of American experimentalism Tom Johnson, who considers music of complete predictability in a classic work from 1984 which he describes as sounding "a little like Beethoven". Finally, an exquisite recent work from the ceaseless inquisition of pioneering American sound artist Alvin Lucier.
£10 advance, £12 on the door
III WAVES
7.30pm Friday 14 July
Walter Zimmermann – Die Sorge geht über den Fluss (1989-91/2001) *
John McGuire – 48 Variations for Two Pianos (1976-80) *
Aisha Orazbayeva (violin)
Mark Knoop (piano)
Roderick Chadwick (piano)
The third concert presents UK premieres of two substantial works from rarely heard thinkers in contemporary music. In the first half of the concert, exceptional violinist Aisha Orazbayeva performs Die Sorge geht über den Fluss by Walter Zimmermann, a profound contemplation on a symphonic scale for solo violinist, ideally suited to the spacious acoustic of St Mary at Hill.
In the second half we present 48 Variations for Two Pianos by John McGuire, composed in Cologne between 1976 and 1980, and here given its UK premiere after a wait of almost 40 years. Performed by Mark Knoop and Roderick Chadwick, this breathtakingly beautiful and expansive work of shifting waves and intricate patterns will play as the evening light fades from outside the church, bringing our series to a gentle and serene close.
£10 advance, £12 on the door
*** Music We'd Like to Hear Commission
** World Premiere
* UK Premiere
All concerts at St Mary at Hill, Lovat Lane (off Eastcheap), London EC3R 8EE (2-minute walk from Monument tube).
Open... and perhaps not yet fully formed
posted 22 September 2016
A rare London visit from Laura Steenberge (composer, performer and researcher based in LA) and Michael Winter (composer, musicologist and founder of LA's seminal experimental music venue the wulf.). Steenberge will be performing selections from her recent work entitled The Chant Etudes, which are studies of the deep past when the idea of a musical instrument was not yet fully formed. Then the ensemble will be realising works by Winter, alongside other music that embraces simple processes and open forms.
Mira Benjamin, violin
Angharad Davies, violin
Dominic Lash, double bass
John Lely, objects & electronics
Anton Lukoszevieze, cello & objects
Tim Parkinson, objects
Laura Steenberge, objects & voice
Michael Winter, guitalele, objects & electronics
Part I
7.30pm Friday 7 October 2016 @ IKLECTIK
Laura Steenberge – The Chant Etudes
Michael Winter – for Sol LeWitt
John Lely – All About the Piano
Tim Parkinson – No. 3, No. 4, No. 5
Michael Winter – room and seams
Jürg Frey – Circular Music No. 6
Tickets £7/£5
Old Paradise Yard
20 Carlisle Lane (Royal Street corner) next to Archbishop's Park
London SE1 7LG
facebook event
Part II
Sunday 9 October 2016 @ Hundred Years Gallery
door 3.30pm, music 4pm
Laura Steenberge – The Chant Etudes
Michael Winter – tergiversate
John Lely – The Harmonics of Real Strings
Michael Winter – for Sol LeWitt
Michael Winter – necklaces
Christian Wolff – Another
hundred years gallery
facebook event
Tickets £5
13 Pearson Street
London E2 8JD
curated by John Lely and Michael Winter
Canada in June
posted 10 June 2016
Mira Benjamin, photograph by Anton Lukoszevieze 2016
Tuesday 21 June 2016
7.30pm Concert
to include Second Symphony (2006), performed by John Lely, Mira Benjamin, Scott Mc Laughlin and Blue Moss Ensemble
ArtSpring Centre, Salt Spring Island, Canada
Wednesday 22 June 2016
8.00pm Concert
to include Part Music for Violin (2016), performed by Mira Benjamin
A Place to Listen, James Bay Church, Victoria, Canada
Friday 24 June 2016
7.30pm Concert
to include Part Music for Violin (2016), performed by Mira Benjamin
David Pay's studio, 3804 West 30th Avenue, Vancouver, Canada
Saturday 25 June 2016
6.00pm John Lely Pre-concert talk
7.30pm Concert
to include The Harmonics of Real Strings (2006) and Second Symphony (2006), performed by Mira Benjamin, John Lely & friends
Open Space Gallery, Victoria, Canada
Music We'd Like to Hear 2016
posted 20 May 2016
Three concerts on three fridays curated by three composers
I GROUPS
7.30pm Friday 1 July
The Music We'd Like To Play Band
Mark Knoop (conductor & piano), Aisha Orazbayeva (violin), Anton Lukoszevieze (cello), Ilze Ikse (flute), Kerry Yong (piano), Elsa Bradley & Adam Morris (percussion) and Newton Armstrong (electronics)
Music by: Newton Armstrong**, Carola Bauckholt*, Bunita Marcus and Linda Catlin Smith*
Shape, Colour, Memory, Architecture. Mark Knoop returns with a large ensemble to present a MWLTH commission by UK-based Australian composer Newton Armstrong, amongst rarely performed works by Bunita Marcus, Linda Catlin Smith and Carola Bauckholt.
II IMPORT
7.30pm Friday 8 July
John McAlpine (piano)
Music by: Tom Johnson* and Chris Newman**
A rare visit from Cologne by the phenomenal New Zealand pianist John McApline, a leading exponent of the music of two other exports - an American in Paris and an Englishman in Berlin.
III SOLOS
7.30pm Friday 15 July
Dafne Vicente-Sandoval (bassoon), Angharad Davies (violin) and Dominic Lash (double bass)
Music by: Jakob Ullmann* and Eliane Radigue*
Independent thinkers from France and East Germany, Radigue and Ullmann have pursued the interior of sound with focus and intensity. These intimate solo works will be realised by musicians who have formed close working relationships with both composers.
all concerts £10 advance, £12 on the door
** World Premiere, * UK Premiere
The 2016 edition of Music We'd Like to Hear is supported by Jeff Cloke, the RVW Trust, the Hinrichsen Foundation and an anonymous donor.
All concerts at St Mary at Hill, Lovat Lane (off Eastcheap), London EC3R 8EE (2-minute walk from Monument tube).
www.musicwedliketohear.com
www.facebook.com/musicwedliketohear
twitter: @mwlth
Goldsmiths
posted 3 April 2016
An extended improvisation and works by Sarah Hughes, John Lely and Jürg Frey
Angharad Davies, violin
Rhodri Davies, electric harp & melodica
Michael Duch, double bass
Lina Lapelyte, violin & voice
John Lely, objects, electronics & melodica
John Tilbury, piano
1 - Sarah Hughes 'A Reward is given for the Best Inframammary Fold No.4' (2015) 13:09
2 - John Lely 'First Page for Five' (2015) 17:59
3 - Goldsmiths Improvisation, 31.08.15 19:43
4 - Jürg Frey 'Circular Music No.6' (2015) 7:00
Recorded at Goldsmiths College, 31st August 2015
available from Another Timbre
Mini-Oramics
posted 8 April 2016First full day working with Tom Richards' Mini-Oramics machine, a device for drawing sound, based on the work of Daphne Oram. Here is a link to Tom's videos of construction and early trials.
Apartment House in Colchester
posted 28 January 2016
Apartment House will perform a concert of music that will include my Piece for Apartment House, August 2014 at Firstsite in Colchester on Friday 29 January 2016.
Mira Benjamin, violin
Anton Lukoszevieze, cello
Launch of the Red Bird is 10
posted 11 December 2015
In 2005 I made a 12-track electronic album called Launch of the Red Bird.
I produced 75 CDs and gave them to friends.
To celebrate its 10-year anniversary I'm making the whole album available online.
You can purchase it here.
Part Music for Violin
posted 8 October 2015
Mira Benjamin will be performing my new piece, 'Part Music for Violin', at a concert on 17 October in London.
Exposure 2015
7:30 pm Saturday 17 October 2015
Exaudi Vocal Ensemble (dir. James Weeks)
New works for voices by Jeffrey Gavett, Luke Nickel, Pia Palme, Michael Perrett, Alastair Putt & Charlie Usher
Mira Benjamin, violin
New violin solos by John Lely, Cassandra Miller & Amber Priestley
The Warehouse, 13 Theed Street, Waterloo, London
£10/£5
'Part Music for Violin' was commissioned by Mira Benjamin with the support of the Britten-Pears Foundation.
840 New Music for String Quartet
posted 3 June 2015
7.30pm Saturday 6 June 2015
840 New Music for String Quartet, The Pound in Corsham, Wilstshire
The concert features The Manon Quartet presenting new pieces by Louis d'Heudieres, Matthew Lee Knowles, Neil Luck, Alex Nikiporenko, Nicholas Peters and Tristan Rhys Williams, as well as Doubles (2012) by John Lely.
event link
Music and/as Process
posted 3 June 2015
Saturday 6 June, Goldsmiths University of London
Performances and talks. Scott Mc Laughlin will be talking about my piece The Harmonics of Real Strings (2006), and I will be performing in a new piece by James Saunders 'all voices are heard' (2015) with Luke Nickel, Mira Benjamin, Richard Glover, Tim Parkinson, Scott Mc Laughlin & James Saunders.
http://musicandasprocess.org/about/
Music We'd Like to Hear 2015
posted 3 June 2015
Our 11th season is coming up in July.
CONCERT I: NEW ROMANTICS - Heavyweight piano trios from 1980s Cologne
7.30pm Friday 3 July 2015
Clarence Barlow - 1981
Walter Zimmermann - Ephemer
Mauricio Kagel - Piano Trio No.1 in Three Movements
Aisha Orazbayeva, violin
Alice Purton, cello
Mark Knoop, piano
CONCERT II: SUMMER EXHIBITION
7.30pm Friday 10 July 2015
New works from British composers Sarah Hughes, Dominic Lash, Amber Priestley, and Paul Whitty, alongside contributions from Stephen Chase and Joanna Bailie, featuring the composers performing each others' work.
CONCERT III: PORTRAIT CONCERT - Music of Martin Arnold
7.30pm Friday 17 July 2015
Points and Waltzes (2012)
Slip Minuet (2014)
The Spit Veleta (2015)
A pair of recent solos and a brand new duo from this fascinating Canadian composer, realised by two of his finest interpreters.
Mira Benjamin, violin
Philip Thomas, piano
each concert £8 advance, £10 on the door
www.musicwedliketohear.com<br>
LCO Soloists @ Union Chapel
posted 10 May 2015
3pm Sunday 31 May 2015
LCO SOLOISTS
Union Chapel, London
Laurence Crane - Holt Quartet
Iannis Xenakis - Tetora
Mica Levi - Saw
Alfred Schnittke - A Paganini
John Lely - The Harmonics of Real Strings
David Stephen Grant - Bånsull
Galya Bisengalieva, violin
Mira Benjamin, violin
Robert Ames, viola
Gregor Riddell, cello
John Tilbury and John Lely play bau bau, Céline Condorelli's exhibition
posted 20 April 2015
John Tilbury & John Lely @ Hangar Bicocca
Curated by Céline Condorelli and Pedro Rocha
To accompany Céline Condorelli's current exhibition at Hangar Bicocca in Milan, Italy
Concert with objects, subjects, and other instruments.
"Drawing on the idea of functional art objects, Céline Condorelli has invited John Tilbury and John Lely to perform inside her exhibition and use the sculptures and installations as instruments with further, musical purposes. "bau bau" is transformed as both site and instrument for the performance, putting to use the polymorphic character of the works in the exhibition and several musical instruments and dialoguing with the architectural elements of HangarBicocca. This concert resonates with Condorelli's transversal approach to art. Both the sculptures and the piano are played by the performers while, at the same time, the exhibition plays the performers and the audience, which will be guided in a sonic promenade through the space. John Tilbury has previously collaborated with Condorelli, and played Structure for Preparing the Piano, or while sitting on Spatial Composition 11 (to John Tilbury), which is dedicated to him in the first place. Central to both Condorelli's and Tilbury's practices is a commitment to forms of collective invention, and how shared responsibility and the politics of friendship are found to structure the very processes of working together. Condorelli's series of sculptures "Additionals" and "Intentionals" arises under this investigation. Two of them were made for and dedicated to Tilbury who, in turn, uses the furniture-like pieces for musical performances. John Lely brings forward a research tied to the relation between sound and silence, around proportion, process, perception and listening."
Free admission on a first-come, first-served basis
The exhibition space will be open from 7pm
http://www.hangarbicocca.org/events/john-tilbury-e-john-lely-suonano-bau-bau-la-mostra-di-celine-condorelli/
Drawing Towards Sound
posted 20 February 2015
4 March - 4 April 2015
Private View: 3 March, 6pm
The Stephen Lawrence Gallery & Project Space,
University of Greenwich,
10 Stockwell Street,
London SE10 8EY
"Drawing towards Sound:Visualising the Sonic is an exhibition curated by David Ryan. It examines the interface between the visual and the aural through notation, documentation, performance and video/moving image. Each of these aspects are currently being explored from many different perspectives by contemporary composers, musicians, visual artists, and film/videographers. Its basic starting point is the historical graphic score/"new" notational practices of the modernist avant-garde and how sound is captured and communicated. It will position these "classic" experimental notations - such as Cage and Boulez - with the output of contemporary composers and visual artists. Highlights will include a complete performance of Cornelius Cardew's 1960s graphic score Treatise, a visit and workshop performance by American experimentalist composer Alvin Curran (b.1938), and a rare chance to see UK performer Anton Lukoszevieze's drawings and films, as well as Icelandic sound artist Hallveig Agústsdóttir's drawing performances."
Concert: A Few Silence
posted 16 February 2015in a continuous sequence lasting one hour
G. Douglas Barrett
A Few Silence (Holy Trinity, 25 February 2015, 19:15) (2008)
Jürg Frey
Wen 3 (1999/2000)
Stefan Thut
two (strings) and boxes (2012/13)
Antoine Beuger
Kiarostami Quintets (2004)
Mira Benjamin, Aleks Kolkowski, John Lely, Tim Parkinson, James Saunders
free / donations welcome
19:15 Wednesday 25 February 2015
venue: Holy Trinity, Prince Consort Road, South Kensington, London
curated by John Lely
To complement the RCM Silence and Music colloquium, we present the work of four composers who share an appreciation of silence, duration and listening. These works will be placed on a ground of silence, in one continuous performance lasting one hour.
The Harmonics of Real Strings CD
posted 8 October 2014
John Lely: The Harmonics of Real Strings (2006/13)
played by Anton Lukoszevieze
four realisations, one on each string of the cello
1 IV 16:34
2 III 15:53
3 II 11:59
4 I 10:57
Recorded by Simon Reynell, Norwich, 23 February 2014
available November 2014
You can read an interview about the piece here:
www.anothertimbre.com/johnlely
nu:nord in August
posted 7 August 2014
Community building project nu:nord 2014 begins today in Oslo, with concerts, workshops, talks, and a final exposé in London on 16 August.
Here is an article by Stine Sörlie about the collaborative process of my piece 'During': www.nunord.net
Thursday 7 August 20:00, nyMusikk, Oslo, Norway
includes Tre Voci Cello Ensemble playing 'During' @ nu:nord
http://nunord.net/wp/concert-nunord-2014-sagene-kulturverksted/
Thursday 14 August 20:00, Sagene Kulterverksted, Oslo, Norway
includes nu:nord contributors playing 'Second Symphony' @ nu:nord
http://nunord.net/wp/concert-nunord-limewharf-london/
Saturday 16 August 17:00, LimeWharf, London E2 9DJ
includes Tre Voci Cello Ensemble playing 'During' @ nu:nord
http://nunord.net/wp/concert-nunord-limewharf-london/
Music We'd Like to Hear 2014
posted 16 June 2014
In July 2014, Music We'd Like to Hear returns to celebrate its 10th season with three rich and diverse programmes of rarities, revivals and nine UK premieres. This season is co-produced by Sound and Music.
I
7.30pm Friday 4 July
DRUMS & PIANO
Adam Morris, percussion
Tim Parkinson, piano
Composer Matteo Fargion, best known for his collaborative work in the world of contemporary dance with choreographer Jonathan Burrows, features in two of the programmes this year. His 1996 Float Weave, a muted yet insistent and energetic battle of instruments, is revived in this first concert. The interdisciplinary thread continues with UK premieres of music by Canadian composer and visual artist Chiyoko Szlavnics, and Korean born composer and performance artist Kunsu Shim, as well as Berlin-based Japanese composer Makiko Nishikaze. Also in the programme a world premiere of a rigorous and propulsive work by New York composer and software engineer Jonathan Marmor. Finally a classic work by veteran experimental composer Christian Wolff who turned 80 this year, his work For Morty, composed in 1989 as a tribute to his friend Morton Feldman.
curated by Tim Parkinson
II
7.30pm Friday 11 July
STRING QUARTET
Ligeti String Quartet
In the second programme, The Ligeti Quartet present an eclectic array of pieces, including the UK premiere of Lichtung by Carola Bauckholt, a composer much under-performed in this country. Building on the enthusiastic reponse last year to the fascinating music of Luiz Henrique Yudo, a Brazilian-Japanese composer now living in Amsterdam, the Ligeti Quartet will present a realisation of his Chinese Wall Paper. The thread of revivals continues with a now classic work from the last decade, Five Famous Adagios by Joanna Bailie; and two works dating from early on in their careers, by Matteo Fargion and the refined non-conformist Jo Kondo.
curated by Markus Trunk
III
7.30pm Friday 18 July
VIOLS & OBJECTS
Phantasm Viol Consort
MWLTH Ensemble
In this last programme the acclaimed viol consort Phantasm plays a selection of consort music by the British 17th century composer William Lawes - exquisite tapestries of sound, contrasted with recent music sharing a contemporary immersion in sound by Alvin Lucier, Antoine Beuger, Taylan Susam and Christian Wolff.
curated by John Lely
All concerts at St Mary at Hill, Lovat Lane (off Eastcheap), London EC3R 8EE (2-minute walk from Monument tube).
Music We'd Like to Hear in Camden
posted 6 October 2012
A special autumn edition:
The Dedalus Ensemble (Montpellier, France):
Amélie Berson (flute)
Pierre-Stéphane Meugé (saxophone)
Deborah Walker (cello)
Thierry Madiot (trombone)
Stéphane Garin (percussion)
Didier Aschour (guitar)
Music We'd Like to Hear invites The Dedalus Ensemble from France, performing New British Experimental Music curated by John Lely, Tim Parkinson and Markus Trunk. In collaboration with British ensemble Apartment House who will perform the same programme with different instrumentation at the Sonorités Festival in Montpellier.
To include music by John Lely, Tim Parkinson, Michael Parsons, James Saunders and John White.
19:30 Tuesday 23 October 2012, The Forge, Camden, London
Tickets £9 (£6) online, £10 (£7) door
Word Events: Perspectives on Verbal Notation
posted 5 June 2012
Now Available:
Word Events: Perspectives on Verbal Notation (Continuum 2012) 488 pages, paperback
by John Lely and James Saunders
Verbal notation has emerged since the 1950s as a prominent medium in the field of experimental music, as well as in related areas of arts practice involving performance and object making. Works created with this type of notation are often referred to by their authors as event scores, prose scores, text scores or instruction scores.
Word Events features over 170 scores, many printed here for the first time, representing the works of more than 50 practitioners including George Brecht, John Cage, Cornelius Cardew, Pauline Oliveros, Yoko Ono, Michael Pisaro, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Jennifer Walshe and La Monte Young.
The commentaries in the book explore the compositional strategies and performance practice of particular works, contextualised by key essays, including previously hard-to-find texts by Lawrence Halprin and Kenneth Maue, together with many new statements and interviews from composers, artists and performers. This unique and wide-ranging collection of scores and writings will be indispensable to musicians, artists, those involved with community arts, and anyone with an interest in exploring the rich potential of the written word.
Music We'd Like to Hear 2012
posted 1 June 2012
A new season of revelatory listening is just around the corner - join us if you can!
Here are the programme details:
4th July
PIANO DUET RELAY
Michael Parsons, Hilary Robinson, Mark Knoop, Philip Thomas, Catherine Kontz, Kerry Yong, Claudia Molitor - piano
Tom Johnson - Symmetries (1990)
Christian Wolff - Duet I (1962)
Kunsu Shim - Zu•sammen (2011)
Laurence Crane - Piano Duets (1990-91)
and new arrangements for piano four hands by:
Hilary Robinson, Catherine Kontz and John Lely
11th July
EDGES
Edges Ensemble
Pat Allison - Cha-Cha (anoga) (2011)
Joseph Kudirka - tbc
Kunsu Shim - Happy for no reason (2000)
Jürg Frey - Un champ de tendresse parsemé d'adieux (4) (2011)
Manfred Werder - 2008(1)
Tim Parkinson - song for many (2011)
Taylan Susam - for maaike schoorel (2009)
Michael Pisaro - Fields have ears 4 (2009)
18th July
OPUS 17A
Michael Duch - double bass
Hanne Darboven - Opus 17a (1984)
Wednesdays at 19:30 at the Church of St Anne and St Agnes, Gresham
Street, London EC1V 7BX
Nearest tube: St Paul's (take exit 1, stairs to the left)
Tickets on the door - £9 (concessions £6)