Monday 29 June 2026, 7.30pm
A one-off ensemble, consisting of London and Berlin heavies, performs "As yet untitled," a work in progress by Bex Burch. Players include Tamar Osborn, Laurel Pardue, Tom Herbert, Beanie Bhebhe and Tara Franks and this night at OTO is a great privilege and opportunity to celebrate the importance of the city, community and room that all formed the melting pot in which Bex lived and grew for a decade, and developed much of her voice that you will hear in the music.
A composition in collaboration, "As yet untitled" balances composed material with freedom of individual expression; its performance is a lived and shared experience, reaching for the feeling that music and the sum of its parts lift all those present into a shared, connected place.
This event too is just one part of Four nights, a series unfolding across four cities and two continents continuing via silent green, Berlin (15 June), Constellation, Chicago (10 July), and with FourOneOne at The Kitchen, New York (31 July). Each iteration reconfigures the piece through its local context, creating a constellation of encounters that extend beyond a single moment or place.
"As yet untitled", a conversation between nature sounds, audience voices, and each ensemble, inhabits the space between structure and improvisation, repetition and disruption. Bex heavily relies on expanding the artform of trust beyond just the music, embracing sonic texture, unpredictability, and a deeply collaborative spirit. Making art that brings people together, for each other.
Whether combining the rhythmic timbres of wood, metal and audience claps or duetting with the atmospheric and elegiac echoed sounds of water dripping into a metal basin, Bex Burch is a composer, percussionist, instrument maker and improviser who emphasises space, repetition and aspects of chaos. These themes characterise an ongoing approach she describes as “messy minimalism”.
Burch’s critically acclaimed 2023 solo album, 'There is only love and fear' was released via Chicago’s International Anthem and named The Guardian's Contemporary Album of the Month. She runs the label, Vula Viel Records, the domestic music event, Kantine Musik, and has collaborated with influential artists including Thomas Sekgura, Leafcutter John as part of ‘Boing!’, Tamar Osborn, Sarathy Korwar, Al MacSween and Danalogue in ‘Flock’, Peter Zummo, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Ben LaMar Gay, Dan Bitney and Macie Stewart.
Bex completed an 18-month instrument-making apprenticeship in Ghana in 2008 with master gyil player Thomas Sekgura, a formative experience alongside her questing spirit which has informed her career since, from the open-hearted collaborations of her musical releases to the creation of a new xylophone she handmade under Jamie Linwood’s mentorship, tuning its harmonics to maximise the resonances she wanted to hear. – Bex’s music continues to evolve. More is to come as Bex’s wide-eyed approach continues to break new musical ground.
