Thursday 19 March 2026, 7.30pm
Doors are at 7:30pm and music will start from 8pm
Nathalie Forget | ondes Martenot
Audrey Chen | voice
eavesdropping returns to Cafe OTO for another four-day festival, curated by Juliet Fraser, which includes four evening double-bill events and a weekend-long forum of provocations up the road at Vortex Jazz Club. We hope to stimulate your ears and your imagination by presenting new work by eight artists working at the experimental fringes of a variety of genres. The programming within each set is artist-led: repertoire is only announced on the night.
eavesdropping
eavesdropping is a platform for the sharing of new music and new ways of thinking about music. Founded by soprano Juliet Fraser in 2017, our activity includes a festival, a forum, a podcast, outpost events around the UK and artist development opportunities. Our mission is to build community through an ethics of curiosity and care, in the belief that ripples do make waves.
https://www.eavesdropping.london
eavesdropping is a PRS Foundation Talent Development Network Partner supported by PPL. eavesdropping gratefully acknowledges the generous support of Arts Council England's National Lottery Project Grants & the eavesdropping consortium patrons.
NATHALIE FORGET has performed across Europe, Russia, the United States, Canada, Africa and Mexico with leading conductors and ensembles including Hans Zender, Peter Rundel, Ilan Volkov, Joana Mallwitz, Thomas Adès, Sylvain Cambreling, Heinz Holliger, Reinbert de Leeuw, Kent Nagano, Pierre Boulez, Marin Alsop, Esa-Pekka Salonen, the London Sinfonietta, NDR Sinfonieorchester, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. She has appeared at major festivals such as Kuhmo, Bern Biennale, Donaueschingen, and multiple times at the BBC Proms, and is regularly invited to the Messiaen Festival in La Meije. A champion of both the classical repertoire (Messiaen, Honegger, Varèse, Murail, Jolivet) and new music, she collaborates widely in contemporary, improvisatory and rock contexts (ErikM, Faust, Radiohead). Her work often merges the ondes Martenot with contemporary art. Her recordings include Saint François d’Assise, Uaxuctum, and Turangalîla-Symphonie. Since 2016, she has been Professor of Ondes Martenot at the Conservatoire of Paris.
https://www.nathalieforgetondes.com/
AUDREY CHEN is a second-generation Taiwanese American artist based in Berlin. Her work explores migration, memory and the transmission of untold histories through voice and the body. Using extreme vocal techniques and the Ciat-Lonbarde “Fourses” synthesizer, she creates visceral performances where body, space and sound merge in a feedback loop of resonance and imagination. For over two decades, she has toured internationally, performing solo and in long-term collaborations including duos with Phil Minton, Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø (as BEAM SPLITTER), Lukas Koenig and Julien Desprez (as MOPCUT), Kaffe Matthews, Nick Klein and Hugo Esquinca. Her work has been presented at festivals and venues such as Maerzmusik, CTM, Unsound, Wien Modern, Berghain, Zacheta National Gallery and the Watermill Center. The Wire describes her practice as “uncompromising and idiosyncratic… tightly disciplined yet acoustically wild,” exposing the raw physicality of voice and utterance.
https://www.audreychen.com/
