Cath Roberts
Cath Roberts’ work explores free improvisation, composition and the music at their meeting point. Her primary outlet as a composer and improviser on baritone saxophone is the quintet Sloth Racket, which has toured widely and released several albums. She leads ten piece improvising ensemble Favourite Animals, and has a long-standing duo with guitarist Anton Hunter, Ripsaw Catfish. As bandmate, Cath is a member of Madwort Sax Quartet, Vole, Article XI and Alex Ward’s Item 10 amongst other groups. She co-runs LUME with Dee Byrne, producing concerts, tours and festivals since 2013 and releasing music on an offshoot label, Luminous. Cath is also part of the group of musicians who run BRÅK, an improvised music series taking place in Brockley, South East London.
http://cathrobertsmusic.co.uk/
Dominic Lash
Dominic Lash is a freely improvising double bassist, although his activities also range much more widely and include playing bass guitar and other instruments; both writing and performing composed music; and writing about music and various other subjects. He has performed with musicians such as Tony Conrad (in duo and quartet formations), Joe Morris (trio and quartet), Evan Parker (duo, quartet and large ensemble) and the late Steve Reid. His main projects include The Dominic Lash Quartet, The Set Ensemble (an experimental music group focused on the work of the Wandelweiser collective) and The Convergence Quartet. Based in Bristol, Lash has performed in the UK, Austria, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and USA. For nearly a decade he was based in Oxford and played a central role in the activities of Oxford Improvisers; much of 2011 was spent living in Manhattan. In 2013 & 2014 he took part in Take Five, the professional development programme administered by Serious. Festival appearances include Akbank Jazz Festival (Istanbul), All Ears (Oslo), Amplify 2011: stones (New York), Audiograft (Oxford), Freedom of the City (London), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Hurta Cordel (Madrid), Konfrontationen (Nickelsdorf), LMC Festival (London), Manchester Jazz Festival, Suoni per il Popolo (Montreal) and Tampere Jazz Happening. His work has been broadcast on a number of radio stations, including BBC Radios 1 and 3 and Germany’s SWR2, and released on labels including Another Timbre, b-boim, Bead, Cathnor, Clean Feed, Compost and Height, Emanem, Erstwhile, FMR, Foghorn, Leo and NoBusiness. In 2015 he started a digital label for some of his more uncategorisable work, called Spoonhunt. Since moving to Bristol he has been involved in organising concerts under the banners of Bang the Bore and Insignificant Variation.
http://dominiclash.blogspot.com/
Sylvia Hallett
Sylvia Hallett is a multi-instrumentalist and composer moving between violin, Norwegian Hardanger fiddle, saw, accordion, electronics and found objects. She currently plays with The London Improvisers Orchestra and h2dance company, where she is resident composer. Recent collaborators have included Lol Coxhill, Evan Parker, David Toop, Jah Wobble, Anna Homler, LaXula, Opera North, Wonderful Beast, Miranda Tufnell, Eva Karczag, and The Royal Shakespeare Company. She performs internationally as a solo improviser, having released three solo albums, and pops up regularly on the soundtrack of BBC TV’s Silent Witness. In July 2015 she was commissioned by the Livio Felluga Wine Company to create and perform a solo site-specific work on a hill in an Italian vineyard.
http://www.sylviahallett.co.uk/
Douglas Benford
As a composer and sound artist, Douglas has been involved in various audio genres since the late 1980s, performing at many institutions/venues in the UK (Bristol’s Arnolfini, London’s Science Museum, Cafe Oto, Tate Modern, The Roundhouse, ICA and Glasgow’s CCA),festivals worldwide (Mutek, Synch, Transmediale) and had installation work in numerous UK galleries (Inc. London, Swansea, Gloucestershire and Essex). After many electronica releases in his ‘si-cut.db’ and other guises, in the past decade he has focused on acoustic improvisation and installations, using field recordings, classical instruments, vocals and children’s toys. As well as often playing with the London Improvisers Orchestra and Confront Recordings / Mark Wastell’s The Seen collective, his regular collaborators include Blanca Regina, poet Tamar Yoseloff, Angharad Davies, Lina Lapelyte, Steve Beresford, Adam Bohman, Clive Bell, Sue Lynch, sculptor Rob Olins, as well as – in the past – pop group Saint Etienne, Jem Finer (The Pogues), Momus, Rod Thomas (Bright Light Bright Light), Scanner, Stephan Mathieu and Andrew Weatherall. He was also co-curator with Iris Garrelfs, established in 1996, of Sprawl audio events in London for over 12 years.