Matt Wright’s ‘Spheric Totemic’ brings DJ culture and free improv together with splintered beats and immersive sound design. with Alexander Hawkins (keyboards), Neil Charles (bass), Mandhira de Saram (violin/fx), Stephen Davis (drums) and Matt Wright (turntables and live sampling).
Spheric Totemic is the project of Matt Wright a composer, producer and sound designer based in Kent, UK. is diverse output across improvised music, chamber composition and collaborations with dance, theatre and film.
He has collaborated with some of the most dynamic artists in the contemporary sphere, including Evan Parker, Peter Evans, Ikue Mori, Claron McFadden, B’Rock Orchestra, Spring Heel Jack, Ensemble Klang, Neil Charles, Alexander Hawkins and Elaine Mitchener.
Preview: https://www.matt-wright.co.uk/spheric-totemic
Doors for this event open at 7pm. Music begins at 8pm. A wide range of refreshment are available throughout the evening from the cafe.
When you’ve lived such a rich musical life as 80-year old saxophone legend Evan Parker the stories pour out. But what happens if you blur the boundary between anecdote and musical improvisation?
Evan Parker and Matthew Wright (Trance Map) join forces with long-time collaborator and sonic storyteller Filipe Gomes. Evan and Matt have recently released ‘Transatlantic Trance Map’ with False Walls and ‘Horizons Held Close’ with Relative Pitch. Evan and Filipe (Arco Barco, Ramsgate Radio) have recently collaborated on Daniel Blumberg’s Oscar-winning score for the hit film The Brutalist.
Doors for this event open at 7pm. Music begins at 8pm. A wide range of refreshment are available throughout the evening from the cafe.
Reserve your ticket here: canterbury.ac.uk/events/2025/yapada-trance-map
YAPADA: Duo and trio improvisations.
7pm - 8pm
Dan Herbert: Unrealtime and electronics
Yannis Patoukas: electric guitar and electronics
Panos Ghikas: electric viola, transducer feedback and Unrealtime
TRANCE MAP+ 8.30pm - 9.30pm
Evan Parker: soprano saxophone
Matt Wright: turntable, live sample and sound design
Milana Zarić: harps
Richard Barrett: electronics
Evan Parker and Matt Wright met in 2008 and out of their first studio sessions developed Trance Map, a project that mixes field recordings, samples from cassettes, turntable scratching and the live processing of Evan's relentlessly evolving saxophone lines. For this very special event, they are joined by the duo of harpist Milana Zarić and composer/electronics pioneer Richard Barrett.
Milana Zarić and Richard Barrett have been working together since 2013 in a wide variety of contexts from duo performances to collaboration with ensembles on several continents, and ranging from free improvisation to the performance of intricately notated compositions.
Doors for this event open at 7pm. Music begins at 8pm. A wide range of refreshment are available throughout the evening from the cafe.
Wintersound is a festival of new music involving Canterbury Christ Church University, North Western University (Illinois) and Free Range.
The Six Tones combine traditional Vietnamese instruments and musical traditions with experimental Western music. Way back in 2015 this extraordinary trio gave a memorable performance inside glass boxes at a Free Range event in the Sidney Cooper Gallery. The Six Tones are Nguyễn Thanh Thủy (who plays đàn tranh) and Ngô Trà My (who plays đàn bầu) and the Swedish guitarist Stefan Östersjö.
For this special Free Range performance, we present two members of the group: Nguyễn Thanh Thủy and Stefan Österjö.
Wintersound continues on 17/01/25 with a series of talks and performances addressing the topic of ‘Musical glocalities and their influence: sound, geography, community’. Events are free but booking is required.
More info on WinterSound here: www.canterbury.ac.uk/events/2024/wintersound-2025
Doors for this event open at 7pm. Music begins at 8pm. A wide range of refreshment are available throughout the evening from the cafe.
Since the first Feral Choir about 35 years ago, singer and vocal experimenter Phil Minton, has led them in Japan, Brazil, France, Belgium, Germany, United States, Netherlands and Poland. Using the full range of sounds that the human voice is capable of, a Feral Choir is formed just a few days before each performance. If you are interested in exploring the totality of your voice, get in touch. Participation is free, no previous experience is necessary.
Email sam@freerangecanterbury.org if you’re interested.
Think of this as a wild, adventurous continuation of Canterbury’s ancient choral tradition, celebrating the approaching Winter Solstice with howls, groans, croaks and laughter.
Feedback from previous Feral Choir participants:
“You have let the sun enter into my head”
“After singing with the feral choir I felt elated and alive. My voice felt bigger afterwards, and I find myself still appreciating how much it can do.”
Doors for this event open at 7pm. Music begins at 8pm. A wide range of refreshment are available throughout the evening from the cafe.
On Thursday 21st November, we present a collaboration between the Free Range Orchestra and Brighton's Safehouse collective. For 20 years Safehouse has been a hub for improvising musicians in Brighton, running regular performances and workshops featuring some of the UK's finest musicians making music alongside a local community of players.
Thanks to the Outlands Network Exchange Programme, which aims to foster connections between grassroots experimental music organisations in the UK, we are able to do something extraordinary in the current UK arts and bring two large improvising ensembles together to play John Zorn's game piece, Cobra.
Doors for this event open at 7pm. Music begins at 8pm. A wide range of refreshment are available throughout the evening from the cafe.
‘Through The Eyes’ is an immersive performance offering a deep dive into the sensory experiences of neurodivergent individuals, shedding light on their unique encounters with the world. Exploring the performers' personal narratives, the work hones in on their intricate relationships with sight, sound, touch, and more. The audience is guided through literal sensory encounters, such as walking on textured objects or heightened auditory experiences.
The strengths and challenges experienced by the audience is the primary focus of the work creating a supportive environment, one that recognises beauty in the architecture of every brain. The event also showcases a new speaker-like object, crafted in collaboration with Henry Dagg, called the ‘Timpanator’.
‘una’ is a group of neurodivergent artists, performers, and creators that transcend the disconnected nature of arts education and advocacy, creating community centred performances for participants of every age, creative experience and walk of life.
Doors for this event open at 7pm. Music begins at 8pm. A wide range of refreshment are available throughout the evening from the cafe.
unterholz (‘undergrowth’) is an innovative audiovisual performance by German artist, composer and cellist Marcus Kaiser featuring members of the Free Range Orchestra. Based on an immersive projection of a camera moving slowly forwards through jungle undergrowth, the piece overlays audio and video from past performances. This becomes a visual analogy for the exploratory, organic growth of a semi-improvised piece as it is performed repeatedly in different places, with different people and different durations, accumulating meaning and identity with each iteration. Unterholz has been performed 23 times since its premiere in 2006, in Austria, Dusseldorf, Munich, Berlin, Ljubjana, and Tianjin (China) among other places. Discover more.
Sophie Stone's syntheses, initially composed for organ(s) and commissioned for the Amsterdam Wandelweiser Festival in 2022, has been especially adapted for the Free Range Orchestra who will premiere a new version of the piece for ensemble. syntheses captures Stone’s unique approach to notation which reflects both freedom and constraint of musical parameters. Players find and create their own paths through the notation to create a quiet unfolding soundscape.
This performance has been made possible by UCA Surrey galleries and the here.here concert series. This event is part of Being Human Festival, the UK’s national festival of the humanities, taking place 7–16 November 2024. Led by the School of Advanced Study, University of London, with generous support from Research England, in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy. For further information please see beinghumanfestival.org.
Blanc Sceol (Stephen Shiell & Hannah White) will be performing their piece ‘Kinetic Resonance’ on a new instrument called the Orbit they designed and made in collaboration with local luthier Kai Tönjes. Inspired by the work of Walter Smetak and an instrument called a torre (tower) made by his students in the Brazilian band Uakti, the Orbit is a ten-sided instrument played by two musicians. The body is spun by one performer while the other holds a bow to ten rotating strings, creating trance-inducing drones and ethereal harmonics. Blanc Sceol are an artist duo who work in the expanded field of listening, sound, and performance.
Learn about the instrument: www.blancsceol.co.uk/Orbit-the-instrument
The opening set features the violinist and producer Agathe Max.
‘With an elegant command of melody and a strident use of rhythm, Max … bridges the gaps between minimalism, post-classicism, the avant garde, krautrock, and plain old-fashioned pop’ (Boomkat)
Free Women return to Free Range with 'A Women’s History of Happenings’, an exploration of what happens to Happenings when we pay attention to feminist history. Taking inspiration from the work of Yoko Ono and the Feminist Improvising Group, Free Women bring their own Happening to Free Range, referencing 20th Century works through a 21st Century lens.
Free Women are seven experienced performers interested in creating eclectic, thought-provoking & humorous experiences which examine the world through the female gaze: Anna Braithwaite, Heledd Francis-Wright, Kristin Fredricksson, Kat Peddie, Nadia Tewfik-Bailey and Maureen Wolloshin.