This weekend we will be joined by two British performers who will share some sounds and thoughts on their respective instruments. Rhodri Davies, improviser, contemporary music interpreter, and composer extraordinaire will offer a show and tell of the harp, including scores and soundbites from a variety of composers. Tania Chen, a noteworthy improvising and concert pianist by day, will show us a variety of approaches to making music without her main instrument, featuring a unique take on the Stylophone with iPhone apps and a piece for Pop Rocks candy.
Rhodri Davies is a harpist who confronts traditional concepts of the harp through his use of preparations, detuned, bowed and e-bowed strings. At the University of Sheffield he gained a BMus (Hons) and at the University of Huddersfield a Masters researching contemporary harp music, where he first experienced free group improvisation. In 1995 he moved to London where he became active on the London improvisation scene and since 2007 lives in Gateshead. He has since performed in Europe, Japan, Canada and America.
Tania Chen is a concert pianist and free improviser. She has performed in the UK, Japan, Europe and USA, playing the music of experimental composers John Cage, Morton Feldman and Cornelius Cardew. She has worked with Earle Brown in 2001 for the Earle Brown concert Union Chapel, and she will be working with Christian Wolff in London June 2010. She has also premiered and performed piano works by contemporary composers such as Michael Parsons, Laurence Crane, James Saunders and Andrew Poppy. Tania has sung songs on the piano by Chris Newman and recently has been a guest vocalist for Newman’s Berlin-based band Miss Moth.