Sunday 21 January 2018, 7.30pm
Tasos Stamou / DIY electronics, loops, objects
Steve Beresford / objects, toy instruments, effects
Sharon Gal / voice
Thodoris Ziarkas / double bass, cello, bagpipe
Tasos Stamou: is a Greek electroacoustic music composer and performing artist, a music technologist and a tutor, a studio and radio producer.
After migrating in U.K over a decade ago, his sound artstarted being inspired by the idea of nostalgia. His latest albums are combining electronic music with his South East Mediterranean heritage. He has performed in over 300 shows in Europe and in U.S.A in venues and festivals of innovative music (Bent Festival, Incumbate Festival, Supernormal Festival, Café OTO, Seanaps Festival, The Barbican, etc.). He has over 20 releases in independent music labels (Discrepant, Ikuisuus, Moving furniture, Coherent States, KukurukuRecordings, etc.). He has collaborated with several veterans of exploratory music, such as Steve Beresford, Anna Homler, Mike Cooper, Savina Yannatou, Adam Bohman, Tomomi Adachi.
Stamou is also leading workshops of improvised music, hardware hacking electronics for music production and workshops for younger audiences introducing contemporary music. In the last couple of years Stamou is also using radio as a medium,
as a podcast radio producer (Stegi Radio), guest producer or creator of radio art pieces.
Double bassist and composer from Rhodes, Greece. Growing up with the sounds of Greek folk music mainly playing regional instruments such as the Lyra and tsabouna, he evolved through experimentation to discover the double bass. Currently based in London he is the co-founder of the group Valia Calda, as well as appearing regularly with the London Improvisers Orchestra, Michalis Kouloumis, Esquivo, Tasos Stamou and Bonnendis. Thodoris is also part of the movement & music improvisation series ‘’Metafora’’ with dancer/improviser Georgia Paizi.
Other collaborations include: Roman Gomez, Blam, No Clear Mind, Circuit, James Allsopp, Beibei Wang, Takatsuna Mukai, Dave Pattman, Tim Giles, Mimika Ensemble, Julie Kjær, Sue Lynch, Andreas Polyzogopoulos, Adrian Northover, Duncan Eagels, Daimonia Nymphe, Gareth Lockrane, Orphy Robinson, Alex Bonney, Adam Bohman, Manos Achalinotopoulos, Electric Litany.
Sharon Gal is an interdisciplinary artist, performer, vocalist and composer, specialising in free improvisation, experimental music and collaborative, participatory large group compositions. She works with voice, electronics, extended techniques, field recordings, found audio, video and collage; exploring presence, listening, embodiment, and the relationship between people, sound and space. Sharon performs solo and in collaborations with: David Toop, John Butcher, John Edwards, Sue Lynch, Andie Brown, Yoni Silver, Steve Beresford, Phil Minton, Charles Hayward, Anat Ben David and Lina Lapelyte.
Since 2007 she has directed a series of site specific, large group compositions, inviting musicians and non-musicians to take part. She curated music concerts, including the series Sound Matter, at Café OTO, and concerts at Iklectik arts lab. Her music was released by many labels, including five solo albums and various collaborations.
Past performances include The V&A, ICA, The Whitechapel Gallery, Tate Modern & Tate Britain, MACBA, and Colour Out Of Space, Borealis, Supernormal, Supersonic, TUSK and Tectonics festivals.
Etudes by Sharon Gal, a collection of text & colour scores, presented as a deck of 78 cards, was supported by Sound and Music and published in 2021. Her project, Healing Choir, ran @ the Kilburn Tin Tabernacle between August-October 2024.
https://www.sharon-gal.com/
https://sharongal.bandcamp.com
Steve Beresford has been a central figure in the British and international spontaneous music scenes for over fifty years, freely improvising on piano, objects, electronics and other things with people like Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Han Bennink and John Zorn. Long-standing groups have included Alterations (with David Toop, Terry Day and Peter Cusack), The Melody Four (with Lol Coxhill and Tony Coe, both RIP) and London Improvisers Orchestra.
He has written songs, composed for large and small ensembles, and scored short films, feature films, TV shows and commercials. He was part of the editorial teams of ‘Musics’ and ‘Collusion’ magazines, writes about music in various contexts, and was a senior lecturer in music at the University of Westminster.
Steve has worked with Christian Marclay on various Marclay mixed media pieces. He has also worked with The Slits, Najma Akhtar, Stewart Lee, Ivor Cutler, Prince Far-I, Alan Hacker, Tania Chen, Louis Moholo-Moholo, Faradena Afifi, Blanca Regina, Ray Davies, Mandhira De Saram, The Flying Lizards, Zeena Parkins, The Portsmouth Sinfonia, Ilan Volkov, Rachel Musson, Vic Reeves, Lore Lixenberg, Valentina Magaletti and many others.
Beresford has an extensive discography - around 500 releases - as performer, arranger, free-improviser, composer, conductor and producer. He was awarded a Paul Hamlyn award for composers in 2012.
In 2021, Bloomsbury published a book by Andy Hamilton: ‘Pianos, Toys, Music and Noise: Conversations with Steve Beresford’.
In 2022, Siglio published the book ‘Call and Response’, which partnered photographs by Christian Marclay with notated improvisations by Beresford.
