Friday 13 November 2026, 7.30pm
Senegalese percussionist and multi-instrumentalist Dudù Kouaté and Dutch cellist Ernst Reijseger come together for an evening of solo performances followed by a duo set.
Born into a family of griots, Kouaté draws on a deep knowledge of West African musical traditions, working with voice, percussion and an extraordinary array of instruments, many of them handmade. His restless exploration of sound has taken him from collaborations with Moor Mother to the Art Ensemble of Chicago, of which he has been a member since 2017.
Reijseger has spent decades finding new possibilities for the cello, with a musical history stretching from Derek Bailey’s Company and the ICP Orchestra to film scores.
He has played with Derek Bailey, Han Bennink, Steve Lacy and Gerry Hemingway, alongside work with musicians from many other traditions. His approach to the cello is as rhythmic as it is melodic, moving between fingerpicked passages, bowed textures and improvisation. He has also composed scores for films by Werner Herzog, including Cave of Forgotten Dreams and The White Diamond.
For this concert the two musicians will each have space for a solo performance before meeting in duo.
Renowned for his mastery of pan-African traditional instruments and rhythms alongside cutting-edge experimental jazz, Dudù Kouate depicts the suburbs of Dakar, the natural landscapes, the savannah, the desert, the villages, and the stories of humanity.
Dudù was born in Senegal in 1963 into a family of griots, the conservators of the African cultural and musical tradition. Member since 2017 of the historic Art Ensemble of Chicago, Dudù’s performances are famous for his array of 200+ instruments (many of which are manufactured by Dudù himself from recycled and upcycled materials) with which he journeys to the roots of the sounds of the earth - a journey he names the search for the ‘sound of elements’.
Recognised as an enhancer of traditional instruments, especially percussion and idiophones, he has expanded their inclusion within diverse musical contexts. His debut album ‘Africation’ saw him mark a new creative phase, including string and wind instruments from the Berber lute (xalam) to the kanjira, from the djembè, the Senegalese drum, to pan-African flutes and the Australian didgeridoo.
Dutch cellist, composer & improvisor Ernst Reijseger is an influential improvising musician who developed a personal vocabulary on his instrument.
Ernst Reijseger is a genre bender. His compositions and collaborations transcend musical styles and art forms. He is a creative partner of film- and theatre makers, actors, storytellers, poets, dancers, dj’s, painters, sculptors, photographers, glassblowers, inventors and horses.
Since 2004, Reijseger scored films for Werner Herzog, Alex and Andrew Smith and others. In 2013 Reijseger played in dialogue with paintings by Jerry Zeniuk by making a tour through the gallery whilst playing (album Crystal Palace). Spring and summer 2017 he scored and performed his music to Shakespeare’s Hamlet at The Public Theatre in New York City.
His musical collaborations include many styles: improvised and jazz music - Harmen Fraanje, Han Bennink, Misha Mengelberg, Steve Lacy, Uri Caine, Deborah Brown - classical and baroque music - Yo Yo Ma, Giovanni Sollima, Erik Bosgraaf, Dutch Wind Ensemble, Forma Antiqua - and traditional music - Trilok Gurtu, Tenore e Concordu de Orosei, Groove Lélé, Nana Vasconcelos, A Filetta, Mola Sylla, Ceylan Ertem.
Reijseger’s live performances challenge expectation and provoke communication. Reijseger likes to incorporate the acoustics and reflections of the performance space.
