elaine mitchener: gigs and things

READ

Feburary seems a long time ago now.

I BURN FOR YOU (Aldeburgh Music - Faster Than Sound)

Here's a review of the performance in WIRE (May issue)

WATCH

clips of IBFY:

'Fragmentings of Things'

My work with Messrs Toop and Lewis continues

GIGS

Keeping it real at Boat Ting with Sharon Gal and Steve Beresford (May 7) and again with Steve B (in June) also, singing bits of Pierrot Lunaire with Jane Manning and Barb Jungr to name a few directed by the wonderful Lore Lixenberg (NonClassical June 7).

AND

I left it too late to get cheap tickets for Einstein on the Beach so consoled myself by watching this gem - a series of four programmes (Cage, Ashley, Monk (meredith)) :

http://www.ubu.com/film/greenaway_glass.html

back-in-the-day when Channel 4 used to show decent programmes ...

LASTLY

The fantastic Bas Sheva with Les Baxter:

over and out.

Spring has sprung, everyone feels a little frisky, so here's a quickie:

GO TO:

• I am singing the wonderful 'Three Horatian Songs' by the rather marvellous Heiner Goebbels, with the Thallein Ensemble safely guided by cond. Diego Masson - Friday 23 March, 7.30pm (http://soundandmusic.org/thesampler/event/2012/03/frontiers-plus-heiner-goebb...
• I'm keeping it real at BOAT TING - performing with wildkats Sharon Gal & Steve Beresford - Monday 7 May 8pm - voice, lo-fi electronics, gadgets galore, theremin  - lovin' it!

LISTEN TO:

• Performance of the mighty Manga Scroll by Christian Marclay (recorded live, Aldeburgh Music's 'Faster than Sound' Oct 2011) http://soundcloud.com/elaine_mitchener

WATCH IT:

• Of Leonardo Da Vinci DVD (Toop/Mitchener/Lewis) will be released on French Label Nuun next month (April) - we're very pleased with our labour of love project.
• Selected footage of I Burn for You (with Phil Minton, Attila Csihar, David Toop, Clive Bell, Cathal Roche) blood-sucking-dark-sexy-madness-coming-soon ...

and a little something to get your groove on - enjoy!

Is it too late to say 'HNY'?

No?

Okay, Happy New Year to You!

OLD YEAR

Click here to read a lovely review of Henry Grimes at Cafe Oto on Monday 12 Dec 2011

Mopomoso (Dec 18) was fab. I was lucky enough to perform with the following wonderful musicians: Steve Beresford, Maggie Nicholls, Alex Ward and Julien Faultless (BIG thanks to you all for inviting me to join you). Photos of the night can be viewed here and click here to see a youtube clip of Maggie and I in action (our first ever duet!).

NEW YEAR - A COUPLE OF GIGS IN JAN & FEB

Sunday 22 January

free improvisation at

SERVANT    JAZZ    QUARTERS
in DALSTON N16

by various combinations of ANGHARAD DAVIES ELAINE MITCHENER SHABAKA HUTCHINGS UTE KANNGIESSER STEVE BERESFORD

violin voice & theremin clarinets & tenor saxophone cello electronics

music starts at 8pm

Servant Jazz Quarters    10a Bradbury Street    Dalston    London N16 8JN

very near The Vortex trains Dalston Junction and Dalston Kingsland overground

buses 30 38 56 67 149 236 242 243 277

£6 or £5 concessions

Saturday 11 February - Aldeburgh Faster Than Sound

I'm involved in a rather unusual experimental music theatre piece 'I Burn For You'  by composer Ian Wilson. It will be workshopped between 6 - 10 Feb with a public performance on 11 Feb.

Here's what Aldeburgh says:

After Dracula by Bram Stoker

‘I Burn for You’ is an atmospheric new music theatre work inspired by Bram Stoker’s legendary vampire novel Dracula, created by composer Ian Wilson and stage director Tom Creed.

It brings together an astonishing line up of performers including the Hungarian death metal vocalist Attila Csihar (Mayhem, Sunn O))), and Void of Voices) – whose remarkable voice has been described as operatic – in the vampyric role.

He is joined by virtuosic vocal improvisers Phil Minton and Elaine Mitchener and acclaimed musicians including saxophonist Cathal Roche, accordionist Clive Bell and electro-acoustic improviser David Toop.

The Feb issue of WIRE has a small article on the project and fantastic photo Attila in action.

For further info and to book tickets click here

Those seasoned performers out there know this already. Expect the unexpected. 

So it was a wonderful surprise for me to be invited, an hour and a half before the concert, to perform a duet with Henry on Monday 12 Dec.

Chuffed does not begin to describe my feeling on stage with this wonderful artist. I am grateful to photographer John Sharpe for sending this photo which I believe really captures this special moment.

Happy Christmas to you all!

Really looking forward to performing a trio gig with Henry Grimes and David Toop at DRIEKLANK in Ghent on Sat 10 Dec. 

More details here: http://www.kraak.net/en/events/index.php#gignr0

And if you can't make it you can catch Henry with Roger Turner and Paul Dunmall at Cafe Oto Monday 12 Dec.

I've been very lucky to work with Aleks Kolkowski - a fabulous violinist and a leading expert in phonographs. Over the past five years he has recorded well over a hundred contemporary musicians, artists and writers using a 1909 Edison phonograph, an acoustic recording horn and a large supply of blank wax cylinders.

 Earlier this year, on a cold and rainy sunday morning in January I performed a improvised/percussive piece multitracking my voice 3 times. We tried to add a 4th track but by that time all the voices were so faint it was difficult to hear. My concern was timing and tuning so I'm very pleased with the result. Congratulations Aleks!

Visit the newly launched www.phonographies.org archive website for complete access to the recordings and information on each artist, images and the wax cylinder recording process. You can listen to my efforts here: http://www.phonographies.org/recordings/vocal/elaine-mitchener-–-voices/

And tune in to: Phonographies - Selections from a Wax Cylinder Audio Archive 

A Radio Series on Resonance 104.4 FM Wednesday Nights at 7:30pm, beginning November 2nd, presented by Aleks Kolkowski.

WALLPAPER* interview

Christian Marclay and Kraftwerk are guest editor's of the October's Wallpaper* and the magazine comes with a FREE pair of 3-D glasses!  

In it there's an extensive interview with Marclay about his work and ideas, including and explanation behind MANGA SCROLL (2010), along with profiles of vocalists who have performed this work before: David Moss, Shelley Hirsch, Joan La Barbara, Phil Minton, Makigami Koichi and Me.

Each of us give share accounts of our experiences of working with Marclay (this is my first time) and our very different approaches to interpreting his pieces. I'm delighted to have been given an opportunity to be involved.

There are six profile pics/interviews of each artist and if you get the ipad edition you'll also hear our onomatopeias based on 12 images which he asked us to interpret vocally:

http://www.wallpaper.com/ipad

http://www.wallpaper.com/print 

October's WIRE also has a good feature on Christian Marclay written by David Toop: http://www.thewire.co.uk/

Two new works QUILLS + NATURE & MIRACLES - music by David Toop, film by Barry Lewis and my vocals are now on youtube.