Performances between 2012 and 2013

Building Instruments

SPEEC Symposium Concert

20:00, Friday 6 January 2012
Jacqueline du Pre Music Building (external link)
St Hilda’s College
OX4 1DY Oxford
United Kingdom

The SPEEC symposium presents a concert of works by Matthew Shlomowitz (external link), Peter Ablinger (external link) and Sam Hayden performed by Mieko Kanno and Mark Knoop.

A to Zzz

Vooruit

22:00, Thursday 16 February 2012
22:00, Friday 17 February 2012
Vooruit Minard (external link)
Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 23
9000 Ghent
Belgium

The Letter Piece Company (external link) present a new show, this time about the entire alphabet.

Absolutt Piano

Borealis Festival

11:30, Friday 16 March 2012
Prøvesalen (external link)
Griegakademiet
Lars Hilles Gate 3 Bergen
Norway

Mark Knoop in discussion with Michael Finnissy (external link) before the first performance of the composer’s new collection of Chorale Preludes which set, in Finnissy’s unique way, Norwegian spiritual folk-songs and late 18th century American hymn-tunes.

Fight the intellectual profiteers!

Ensemble Plus-Minus

Borealis Festival

20:30, Friday 16 March 2012
Logen Teater (external link)
Øvre Ole Bulls plass 6
5012 Bergen
Norway

Alongside two classic works by politically outspoken German composer Nicolaus A. Huber, Plus-Minus (external link) also present a number of works by Huber’s provocative young countryman, Johannes Kreidler (external link), whose Borealis commission Money will be premiered at this concert.

Last Breath

Borealis Festival

18:00, Sunday 18 March 2012
Hotel Gran Terminus (external link)
Zander Kaaesgate 6
5015 Bergen
Norway

There’s an austere but nonetheless outrageously delinquent humour to much of Reinholdtsen (external link)’s work, which hits home with greater impact than most attempts to deal seriously with the possibilities and limitations of art and the people who make it. But in presenting Faust, or the Decline of Western Music, is Borealis all but calling in the bailiffs? Will music’s decline inevitably precede its fall?

Choral Preludes

Voix à la Maison du Peuple

19:45, Saturday 21 April 2012
Maison du Peuple (external link)
37 Parvis de Saint-Gilles
1060 Brussels
Belgium

Mark Knoop presents an intriguing mix of repertoire, from Xenakis’s arborescences to Ablinger (external link)’s blending of well-known voices with the piano sound and Bryn Harrison (external link)’s mesmeric miniature. A new work by Michael Finnissy (external link) references Bach and Brahms.

Repurpose

Squib-box

19:30, Tuesday 1 May 2012
The Forge (external link)
3-7 Delancey St
NW1 7NL London
United Kingdom

Mark Knoop presents new works which each take existing musical material as their starting point. From de la Cour (external link)’s cut-up techniques, through Beaudoin (external link)’s microtiming, to Finnissy (external link)’s Brahms-style choral preludes based on Norwegian and American folk songs, each work proposes an intriguing method of negotiating with the past. Tickets available on the door, or book here (external link).

Fremdarbeit

Scenatet

Spor Festival

20:00, Thursday 10 May 2012
Granhøj Dans (external link)
Klosterport 6
8000 Århus
Denmark

Mark Knoop joins Scenatet (external link) in a portrait concert of Johannes Kreidler (external link).

Xenakis 90th birthday

Griffith University Queensland Conservatorium

15:30, Sunday 27 May 2012
Basil Jones Orchestral Hall
140 Grey St
South Bank Brisbane Queensland
Australia

A celebration of the 90th anniversary of Iannis Xenakis’s birth with Ben Marks trombone, Tristram Williams trumpet, Graeme Jennings violin, and Mark Knoop piano, alongside students from the Queensland Conservatorium.

Artificial Environments

Out Hear

20:00, Monday 18 June 2012
Kings Place Hall Two (external link)
90 York Way
N1 9AG London
United Kingdom

Luigi Nono manipulated recordings of the piano, placing them alongside the live instrument to create an original and compelling sound world; Joanna Bailie (external link) conjures an imagined situation; Newton Armstrong (external link) explores the interior detail of the instrument’s unique acoustic; Stefan Prins (external link) adds video, pitting two pianos against each other.

Claude, Rick, Mike and John

The Red Hedgehog

16:00, Sunday 19 August 2012
The Red Hedgehog (external link)
255-257 Archway Road
N6 5BS Highgate London
United Kingdom

Carl Rosman (external link) and Mark Knoop present an afternoon of old and new music for clarinet and piano, culminating in a rarely heard version of Brahms’ clarinet quintet for clarinet and piano.