Big Ears Festival March 23-26 2017 |
Posted by: Gavin | 01 Apr 17
LATEST PERFORMANCE
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Calendar
GB Ensemble, including Beckett Songbook
6 November 2018
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Sounds of Music, Groningen
Note : Sounds of Music, Groningen 
Sounds of Music, Groningen
GB Ensemble third concert in Holland after Den Haag and Den Bosch: a short one-hour programme with no interval
It Never Rains c. 5'
Songs from Beckett Songbook c. 20
The Flower of Friendship c. 12'
Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet c. 25'
Performers: Orlanda Bryars (soprano, cello); James Cave (counter tenor, cello); Morgan Goff (viola); James Woodrow (electric guitar); Nick Cooper (cello); Gavin Bryars (double bass)
GB Ensemble in Den Haag
4 November 2018
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Crossing Border Festival, Den Haag, The Netherlands
Note : Den Haag Concert
Den Haag Concert
Part One
It Never Rains c. 6' (viola, guitar, cello, bass)
The Flower of Friendship c. 12' (viola, guitar, cello, bass)
Lauda 43 Spirito Sancto c. 5' (soprano, counter tenor, viola, guitar, cello, bass)
Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet c. 25'
Part Two
Dancing with Pannonica c. 4' (viola, guitar, cello, bass)
Beckett Songbook c. 35 (soprano, counter tenor, viola, guitar, cello, bass)
Epilogue from Wonderlawn c. 6' (viola, guitar, 3 cellos, bass)
Performers:
Orlanda Bryars (soprano, cello); James Cave (counter tenor, cello); Morgan Goff (viola); James Woodrow (electric guitar); Nick Cooper (cello); Gavin Bryars (double bass)
GB Ensemble, including Beckett Songbook
3 November 2018
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‘s-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) Netherlands
Note : GB Ensemble Den Bosch
GB Ensemble Den Bosch
Gavin met the artistic director of November Music, Bert Palinckx, at a performance of Gavin's opera The Collected Works of Billy the Kid in Rotterdam, May 25th this year. It transpired that Gavin had borrowed Bert's bass when Gavin's ensemble peformed at a festival in the remote Austrian village of Ulrichsberg many years ago. He will borrow the same bass in Den Bosch!
Programme:
Lauda con Sordino c.12'
Beckett Songbook c. 30
The Flower of Friendship c. 12'
Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet c. 25'
Performers:
Orlanda Bryars (soprano, cello); James Cave (counter tenor, cello); Morgan Goff (viola); James Woodrow (electric guitar); Nick Cooper (cello); Gavin Bryars (double bass, piano)
Performance with Italian Ensemble
6 October 2018
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La Tenuta dello Scompiglio, Lucca, Italy
Note : Dello Scompiglio
Dello Scompiglio
This version of The Sinking of the Titanic revisits Gavin's collaboration with percussionist Antonio Caggiano and members of Alter Ego - with whom he recorded the poiece in Venice for Touch.
Directing:Gavin Bryars, double bass
Costanza Negroni, Luca Sanzò, viola; Michele Rossi, cello; Manuel Zurria, flute; Paolo Ravaglia, bass clarinet; Sergio Sorrentino, electric guitar; Francesco Carlo Leone, keyboards; Antonio Caggiano, percussions
It also includes the first performance of Half-Time, originally for solo vibraphone for Evelyn Glennie, in which the instrument is played entirely with two bows. This new version for vibes and electcric guitar follows on from Gavin's work with Sergio Sorrentino in Vercelli and Bologna earlier this year.
Compagnie Nationale de Dance, Angers, France
12 September 2018 - 19 March 2019
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Lyon, Angers, Le Mans and others
Note : Merce Cunningham: Biped
Merce Cunningham: Biped
Biped is one of the most successful dance works created by Merce Cunningham, with music by Gavin Bryars and design by Paul Kaiser and Shelly Eshkar. After Merce's death in 2009 the company continued to tour the work, along with other works in the repertoire, until the end of 2011.
Biped was subsequently licensed to the Bavarian State Ballet, who gave many performances in Munich, as well as one in Rouen. For all these performances the music was played live, as will be the new performances. The musicians are: Gavin Bryars, keyboard/bass; James Woodrow, electfric guitar; Audrey Riley, cello; Morgan Goff, viola.
The work is now licensed to the National Dance Company of Angers, France. As with all the licensed performances, the dance is directed by Robert Swinston, long time associate of Merce.
Biped will be performed along with Merce's work Beach Birds, with music by John Cage, played by the same musicians.
There are several performances from September onwards, with further performances probable in 2019, the centenary year of Merce's birth.
12-sept.-18 Biennale de la Danse, Lyon
13-sept.-18 Biennale de la Danse, Lyon
14-sept.-18 Biennale de la Danse, Lyon
20-sept.-18 Les Quinconces, Le Mans
26-sept.-18 Le Quai CDN, Angers
27-sept.-18 Le Quai CDN, Angers
10-jan.-19 Théâtre de Laval
22-jan.-19 Le Grand R, La Roche-sur-Yon
12-march-19 Le Volcan, Le Havre
14-march-19 La Barcarolle, Arques
19-march-19 Le Bateau Feu, Dunkerque
After that, we have strong options for:
- Festival Montpellier Danse (between June 21stand July 7th2019) probably with a serie of 5 performances
- Festival Le Temps d'Aimer la Danse, Biarritz (between September 6 to 15, 2019)
- Festival d'Automne in Paris (October and November 2019)
- Culturgest in Lisboa (November 2019)
Performance in Dundalk, Ireland
23 June 2018
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St Nicholas Church of Ireland, Dundalk, Ireland
Note : #1
Jesus' Blood...
Diorected by Gavin Bryars: a performance involving professional musicians, amateurs and children, to take place within a programme of other works
Jesus' Blood at Happy Days, Enniskillen
Performance with Wesley Stace
15 June 2018
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Junction, Paradise Place, Goole DN14 5DL
Note : INTRODUCTION/PROGRAMME NOTES by Wesley Stace
INTRODUCTION/PROGRAMME NOTES by Wesley Stace
Peg Fyfe was the Queen of a robber band, her name a menace throughout East Yorkshire in the 17th Century. She earned the nickname "Cruel Peg” in the following way.
In Holderness, not far from Spurn Point, a small farmer cultivated a few acres of land. One day, she ordered the farmer’s boy to leave the stable door open the next night so she could steal the horses. She’d skin him alive if he told his master. The boy came up with a possible loophole: he’d tell the horses, rather than the farmer, but make sure the farmer was within earshot. The next night, the farmer was able to successfully ambush the thieves, severely wounding one, though the gang escaped.
For a long time, the boy lived in constant dread of reprisal, but weeks, months, years wore on, and nothing happened. One night, however, he was seized, stripped, and bound. His captors took out their knives and as their fiendish leader looked on and taunted him, proceeded to flay the boy alive. After their horrid work was done, the boy somehow found his way home, where he died on arrival.
For this, Peg was sentenced to hanging, though she reputedly placed a spoon down her own throat to prevent the rope choking her. Soldiers on their way to York were called in to assist. They hanged her with a rope made of willow reeds before driving their swords into her.
In 1945, Oliver Onions published a novel The Story of Ragged Robyn, inspired by these events.
Peg's possessions were supposedly exhibited in the Hull Municipal Museum, destroyed during an air raid on the 24th June, 1943.
She is still said to haunt Skelfrey Wood. She may or may not; but she certainly haunts Goodmanham where All Hallows Brewery currently makes a traditional dark mild beer named for her.
Performers: Wesley Stace, Gavin Bryars, Molly Townson (Wesley's mother)
Note: Gavin and Molly were at Kingsway Primary School together and both went to Goole Grammar School in 1954. Molly's father died during her first year there and the family moved away. This will be the first time that Gavin and Molly have seen each other since that time...
Molly Townson, age 10, May Queen at Kingsway Primary School, Goole
Discussion/conference
7 June 2018
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Freud Museum, London
Note : Note from Camille Germanos
Note from Camille Germanos
We have known since Freud that artists instruct us about the discontent of civilisation, the state of social bond, and even the ways in which subjectivity is altered by its epoch. We envisage an "in conversation" event to take place on June 7 2018
The event would be organised by the Foundation for Art and Psychoanalysis, a charity based in London.
Chamber Opera
25 May 2018
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Opera Daggen, Rotterdam
Note : The Collected Works of Billy the Kid
The Collected Works of Billy the Kid
The Dutch premiere of Gavin's new chamber opera. Gavin will attend and participate in a pre-performance talk.
Father John Misty, with band, and BBC Ulster Orchestra
25 May 2018
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Titanic Slipway, Belfast 1 to 1:30 PM
Note : Father John MIsty
Father John MIsty
After writing two arrangements for Father John Misty's 2017 album Pure Comedy, Gavin will work again with him for a live performance in Belfast as part of the BBC's Biggest Weekend. For this Father John Misty's band will play with BBC Ulster Orchestra, this time performing six songs arrnged and directed by Gavin.
