“Underpinning everything [Curtis] has achieved is a deep communion with, and a profound technical understanding of, the stuff of sound itself.” – Philip Clark, The Wire

Four-day residency with the great cellist, Charles Curtis! Acknowledged internationally as a performer of new and experimental music, Curtis has been closely associated for more than twenty years with the legendary avant-garde composer La Monte Young. As director of Young's Theatre of Eternal Music String Ensemble, Curtis has participated in more performances and premières of Young's works than any other interpreter.

For a number of years Curtis has maintained an interest and a presence in the downtown New York free music scene, and has been a guest of artists and groups such as Alan Licht, Michael J. Schumacher, Donald Miller, Dean Roberts, Tim Barnes, Elliott Sharp, David First, Bongwater, Borbetomagus, Circle X, and with individual members of the bands Television, Pere Ubu and Public Image Limited.

As an outgrowth of his intensive work with La Monte Young and his presence in the New York avant-garde rock scene, Curtis has evolved into a creative artist straddling the boundaries between art rock, sound art and minimalist composition. For a number of years he has led the Charles Curtis Trio, presenting his sound-installation-style rock music in clubs throughout Europe and releasing four critically acclaimed albums.

"Curtis does not so much juxtapose different kinds of music against one another as thread them together through tone, resonance, and mood. His playing is focused, calm, and simple in the best sense of the word. It is also spiritual in a way I can’t exactly pin down. It’s as though the huge spaces he slowly opens up inside single notes also suggest a way out of the self." – Richard Beck, n+1

Program 4 - Friday 29th March 2024

- Terry Jennings: Piece for Cello and Saxophone (version for solo cello by La Monte Young)