You may remember the violinist and composer Preetha Narayanan from the duo Balladeste who gave a memorable performance with the poet Kelvin Corcoran at Free Range in 2023. Now she presents her own compositions, blending contemporary classical music with Indian classical and folk music: contemplative, soulful melodies interwoven with lush harmonies. For this intimate evening, she brings Palestinian Oud maestro Saied Silbak and multi-instrumentalist Zac Gvi to present new arrangements of pieces from her EPs Rebirth and Bleeding Heart with live choreography by dancers Nandita Shankardass and Mithun Gill.
Adam Coney is a guitarist, producer and DIY music organiser, founder of Trestle Records and the remarkable series of One Day Band releases. Adam will be performing music from his beautiful recent album, Ashwin & Above. 'The LP takes us on a journey from quiet contemplation to maximal abandon via compositional poise, intense delivery and astute sound design' (Kyle McCallum, Contra Pop / Extra Normal)
Unrealtime is an audio visual software interface designed for improvisers. Developed by a team of musicians over ten years led by improviser and composer Panos Ghikas, Unrealtime is partly an aesthetic approach to improvising, partly a provocative musical partner and partly a digital prosthetic, extending existing instrumental capabilities.For this performance, the Unrealtime players will collaborate with members of the Free Range Orchestra, including poet Kat Peddie, as well as inviting the audience to play.
During lockdown Mercury-nominated drummer and composer Mark Holub (Led Bib) explored new ways of combining composing and improvising, based around the musical personalities of specific players from Vienna where he lives. Drums, cello, violin, bass clarinet and saxophone play lines with a wonky energy akin to Led Bib but with a new exploratory openness in the improvising. Joining Anthropods on their UK tour is another 5-piece improvising powerhouse led by baritone saxophonist Cath Roberts. Sloth Racket shares a punky, groove-based approach to free improvisation using notation to create high-energy music with contrast, detail and texture.
Have you become a bit of an expert at avoiding thinking about the future of our planet? This innovative collaboration between Free Range and Extinction Rebellion approaches the topic of climate anxiety through music, words and collaborative creativity. Last year’s XR/FR event ended in a joyous collective action as everyone in the space worked together to build a model of an ideal society. With a similar spirit of playfulness, this event aims to tap the creativity and community in the room to develop the resilience and radical joy that will sustain us.
Sophie Sirota is a viola player and electronic musician. With a background in classical music and film soundtracks Sophie has embraced real time audio processing in her recent compositions and is currently involved in the Coastal Electronauts synth open mic.
Maya Homburger is a violinist specialising in Baroque and New Music, having played for many years with groups conducted by John Eliot Gardiner, Trevor Pinnock and Christopher Hogwood she now concentrates on her work with smaller ensembles and the Homburger / Guy Duo.
Barry Guy also started in classical music, holding principal bass positions in major London orchestras before starting the London Jazz Composers Orchestra, the Barry Guy New Orchestra and more recently the “Blue Shroud Band” and embarking on a high-profile career as an improviser and composer.
When the two met in 1988 they began playing as a duo, juxtaposing baroque music with free improvisation and newly-commissioned pieces. In this performance you’ll hear movements from Bach’s solo violin works alongside works by Kurtág; stunning bass improvisations from Guy and his composition ”Quindecim” with texts by Samuel Beckett.
The Goodwin Sands Radiogram is an award-winning documentary podcast about the lives of people on the south east coast of Britain, presented as a pirate broadcast from an imagined ship cast aground on the infamous Goodwin Sands near Deal in Kent. This live version of the podcast focuses on stories of the sea, touching on themes of ecology, political protest, psychogeography and the shipping forecast.
Pre-recorded interviews are framed by old-school radio presentation and live improvised sound and music. Expect intimate, surprising, funny and moving insights into life by the sea.
The poet Sam Simmons and sound artist Ben Horner are turning 33 and 45 this year. Reflecting on both birthdays, this performance grew from their shared love of 33 and 45 rpm vinyl records and Bill Drummond’s book 45 (Drummond was co-founder of avant-garde pop band KLF).
Ruth Goller is a bassist, vocalist, composer, environmentalist and one of the most in-demand musicians at the moment, performing bass alongside Alabaster DePlume, Shabaka Hutchings, Bex Burch, and Damon Albarn. Though it is with her personal project SKYLLA that experience, technique, and ambition merge into her defiantly unclassifiable new album SKYLLUMINA. Open your ears and heart to the bliss of de-tuned bass alongside a trio of interweaving virtuosic vocal lines and dizzying defiant drum patterns. Join us for far-out sibilant ice-age siren songs that haunt like something conjured in a fever dream - powerful and raw - prepare to be smitten!
The opening set features & Karybdis. Skylla’s pop-up warm up act.
You are between a rock and a hard place. Between speech & song.
Now on the other path are two cliffs, one of which reaches with its sharp peak tothe broad heaven, and a dark cloud surrounds it. This never melts away, nor does clear sky ever surround that peak in summer or in harvest time. Nomortal man could scale it or set foot upon the top, not though he had twentyhands and feet; for the rock is smooth, as if it were polished. And in themidst of the cliff is a dim cave, turned to the West, toward Erebus, even whereyou shall steer your hollow ship - The Odyssey, Book XII
& Karybdis is between a band and duet between Alexis Deese-Smith and Kat Peddie.
Oren Marshall is a pioneering player of acoustic & electric tuba who has collaborated with Derek Bailey, Charlie Haden, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Moondog, Radiohead, Hermeto Pascoal, The Pan-African Orchestra & the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
For Trio Pertubando he’s joined by two giants of the Brazilian music scene, Alua Nascimento (percussion) & Jansen Santana (percussion) to play new original compositions & arrangements drawing on influences from Afro-Brazilian culture, North African rhythms & jazz.
The opening set features experimental folk cellist Francesca Ter-Berg playing new solo material for the first time.
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Through music, movement, satire, slapstick & film, ‘Lady, Garden’ explores the natural & unnatural habitats of the Lady Gardener in an immersive, improvised performance which takes its inspiration from the 'happenings' of the 1970s.
Free Women is currently a seven-strong ensemble which includes tutors & alumni of the Margate School, the University of Kent & Christ Church Canterbury & local independent artists. Between them they specialise in movement, spoken word, music & theatre. They are a diverse group of experienced performers interested in creating eclectic, thought-provoking & humorous experiences which examine the world through the female gaze.
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