An evening of international improvisation, with German pianist Magda Mayas performing in a trio with Australian clarinet player Laura Altman and British improvisor Phil Durrant - here on violin - and the second meeting of the Anglo-Nordic duo of John Russell and Ståle Liavik Solberg.

GREAT WAITRESS

“Multiplicity emerges in Great Waitress through virtuosic collective listening, and creates a unique lucidity. This is intricate, complex music – but … they can also converge to make the monumental.”- Rafa Segura, Modisti

MAGDA MAYAS / piano

Magda Mayas is a pianist living in Berlin.

Developing a vocabulary utilizing both the inside as well as the exterior parts of the piano, using preparations and objects, she explores textural, linear and fast moving sound collage.

Alongside the piano, Mayas has recently been performing on a Clavinet/Pianet, an electric piano from the 60s with strings and metal chimes, where she engages with noise and more visceral sound material, equally extending the instrumental sound palette using extended techniques and devices.

The last time Magda played at Cafe Oto was in a stunning trio with Tony Buck and John Butcher and we're very pleased to see her here again.

LAURA ALTMAN / clarinet

Laura Altman has been an important voice on the Sydney improvised music scene since 2007, playing with groups such as The Splinter Orchestra and Prophets, and collaborating with Australian improvisers including Jim Denley,Dale Gorfinkel and Peter Farrar. Her delicate clarinet playing suggests a new way of thinking about the instrument - one doesn’t have the impression of ‘the clarinet’, more a set of frequencies and ambiguities from her direction. Laura has toured internationally in 2009 with the Netherlands-based quartet Nocomotras. Laura is also a composer, and is currently co-director and co-curator of the NOW now Series and Festival of Spontaneous Music, based in Sydney

PHIL DURRANT / violin

Born near London in 1957, Phil Durrant is an improviser/composer/sound artist who devises his own virtual performance instruments using Reaktor.

As a violinist (and member of the Butcher/Russell/Durrant trio), he was one of the key exponents of the "group voice approach" style of improvised music In the late 90s, his trio with Radu Malfatti and Thomas Lehn represented a shift to a more “reductionist” approach.

His exploration in the use of live electronics to expand the timbre of the violin, has evolved into the creation and building of self- made virtual instruments. His live sampling/treatments duo with John Butcher and his work MIMEO, have seen Durrant move from the use of hardware to the use of software in live situations. He is keen to transfer the flexibility of playing an acoustic instrument, into his laptop performances, and this is the subject of his PhD research.

Durrant currently performs regularly with the acoustic/electronic group Trio Sowari (with Bertrand Denzler and Burkhard Beins).

Phil Durrant has also been collaborating and composing site-specific music for a wide variety of choreographers, including Maxine Doyle, Susanne Thomas, and Gill Clarke.



JOHN RUSSELL / STÅLE LIAVIK SOLBERG

John Russell and Ståle Liavik Solberg first played together at a Jiada event in a small windowless basement, and the combination of Russell's astringent guitar and Solberg's stripped down percussion proved mesmerising. We were happy to have the chance to bring them up into the relative light and air of Cafe Oto and hear their further investigations unfold.

John Russell website