ARC: 30th Anniversary / Phil Durrant & Jerry Wigens. Sunday 11th November 15:30

ARC: 30th Anniversary

Sylvia Hallett
– violin and electronics
Danny Kingshill – cello
Gus Garside – double bass and electronics

The improvising electro-acoustic string trio Arc was formed in 1988 has performed since then with the same line up and has released three albums.

Phil Durrant – mandolin, octave mandola, Mandocaster & electronics
Jerry Wigens – guitar, mandolin

Durrant/Wigens performed a mandolin duo as part of the Martin Vishnick’s ‘The Intimate Contemporary Plucked Instrument’ event at Arch 1 earlier this year. For this concert they will extend the acoustic mandolin duo concept with the addition of electric mandolin, guitar and electronics

Doors 3:30 | music 4pm | entry £5

Phil Durrant is a London based multi-instrumentalist, as a violinist (and member of the Butcher/Russell/Durrant trio), he was one of the key exponents of the “group voice approach” style of improvised music. In the late 90s, his trio with Radu Malfatti and Thomas Lehn represented a shift to a more “reductionist” approach.

As a modularsynth player, Durrant performs regularly with the acoustic/electronic group Trio Sowari (with Bertrand Denzler and Burkhard Beins) and Mark Wastell’s THE SEEN. As a mandolinist, he has been performing regularly with guitarist Martin Vishnick and a quartet with Sue Lynch, Hutch Demouilpied and Dave Fowler.

Jerry Wigens is a composer and improviser who plays mainly guitar and clarinets. His interest in blues, jazz and improvised music has led to diverse collaborations over the years and has more recently extended to compositional activity inspired by composers such as Cage, Wolff, Feldman and Cornelius Cardew. He has also been a long-term participant in Eddie Prevost’s workshop sessions and currently plays in the London Improvisers Orchestra and the trio Glowering Figs with Ivor Kallin and Dave Fowler.

Sylvia Hallett works as improviser and composer, often collaborating with theatre (RSC, Wonderful Beast) or dancers/choreographers (h2dance, Jacky Lansley, Miranda Tufnell),and Japanese silent film, accompanying screenings of Walk Cheerfully (Ozu) and A Page of Madness, in collaboration with shakuhachi player Clive Bell and benshi Tomoko Komura.
Recent musical collaborations include “Sweet Tooth”, a music-dance piece by Elaine Mitchener, alongside Jason Yarde and Mark Sanders. Musical contexts range from Cafe Oto (with David Toop, Rie Nakajima,) iklectik arts space (London Improvisers Orchestra, Catherine Pluygers, Adam Bohman), Hundred Years Gallery (Douglas Benford, Mark Brown, Chris Dowding) and The Old Dentist (the London Hardingfelelag, and poet Amy Cutler).

Danny Kingshill has worked as a player and musical director for Cyclops Theatre Company and the Amici dance company. He has wide experience as a workshop leader and is musical director at his local church and a choirmaster. He has been a member of improvising groups Boyg and In Sand and is a member of Tonbridge Philharmonic and the Medway quartet.

Gus Garside has worked in a variety of musical settings – jazz, contemporary music, rock, cabaret, dance, theatre and, most importantly, improvised music where he has performed with many leading players.
As well as playing in many one off improvising or contemporary music situations he regularly performs in The Static Memories, an electronic duo with Dan Powell) and the West Hill Blast Quartet, a free jazz quartet with Ron Caines, Dan Spicer and Andy Pyne . He also creates structured improvisational compositions including The Star Field, The Sleepwalkers (featuring 10 of the leading improvising string players in the UK) and Collective Stories (a commission in Quebec with Grand Groupe Régional d’Improvisation Libérée).

About ARC : The group’s music has been described as ‘dramatic’, ‘sinister’, ‘witty’ and even likened to ‘a satanic horror movie score’ (though the person who described us thus also said “it was the best thing I’ve ever seen at Sonic Imperfections”). Their music is at times influenced by classical music, contemporary composition, Eastern European folk and improvised music

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