Pleased to welcome back French-American cellist, composer and sound artist, Leila Bordreuil to OTO for the first time in 7 years! 

Bordreuil's music accesses concepts from noise, free jazz, contemporary classical and other experimental traditions but adheres to no single genre. Mixing melancholic cello melodies with harsh noise walls, she creates “steadily scathing music, favoring long and corrosive atonalities.” (New York Times). Driven by a fierce interest in pure sound and inherent texture, Leila challenges conventional cello practice through extreme extended techniques and amplification methods, to the extent she sometimes seems to be playing the P.A rather than her cello. Her composed works frequently incorporate sound-spatialization by way of site-specific pieces and multichannel installations.

Her panoramic vision of form and genre is reflected in the diversity of her collaborative projects, which include artists such as Tamio Shiraishi (Fushitutsa), Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth), Kali Malone, Laurel Halo, Drew McDowall (Coil), Zach Rowden (Tongue Depressor), Julia Santoli and Luke Stewart (Irreversible Entanglements).

Leila’s longstanding dedication to Improvised music has led her to perform with musicians Marina Rosenfeld, Zeena Parkins, Bill Nace, Toshimaru Nakamura, Eli Kessler, Thurston Moore, Chris Corsano, Nate Wooley, Susan Alcorn, Ingrid Laubrock, Joanna Mattrey, Michael Foster, C. Spencer Yeh, Aki Onda, SENYAWA and many others.