Monday 23 June 2025, 7.30pm
Late Works: Preparations is an event where 23 artists have created a preparation* each for the grand piano. Three pianists/groups are then tasked with constructing individual live performances with the adaptable unit of preparations.
For this third iteration** of Preparations, Gentle Stranger, otta & Stanley Welch will be performing on the grand piano with preparations made by Olivia Albanell, Fan Bangyu, Hayett Belarbi-Mccarthy, Ellis Berwick, Zoe de Caluwé, Patrick Cole, Verity Coward, Mandeep Dillon, Natalya Marconini Falconer, Alia Hamaoui, Ellen Poppy Hill, Joseph Bradley Hill, Louie Isaaman-Jones, Athen Kardashian & Nina Mhach Durban, Pheobe riley Law, Vita Lerche, Joe Moss, Eleni Papazoglou, Alexandra Phillips, Gillies Adamson Semple, Thirza Smith & Dominic Watson. Concept and curation by Joseph Bradley Hill.
*A preparation is an object that alters the sound of a piano when placed on or in-between the strings. Each artist has made a preparation that can be held comfortably in the palm of the hand, and the pianists will be encouraged to use as many of the preparations as possible in the piano at once.
**Late Works: Preparations first took place in September 2021 at Cafe OTO with pianists Finlay Clark (Still House Plants), Max Syedtollan & Aga Ujma. The second iteration had sets from Finn Carter, Dear Laika, Ted Mair & Ed Bernez.
Late Works is a sporadic series of live intermedia events and permutable collective of artists, musicians, writers, designers, filmmakers and dancers, with a weekly radio show on Resonance 104.4FM & Extra. Each manifestation of Late Works is governed by a set of pre-determined rules and instructions, aimed to encourage discourse, collaboration and exchange between the artists taking part. The heavily process-based experimental shows are united by an ethos of indeterminate intermedia improvisation. All Late Works concepts are intended to be carried out infinitely, with a different set of artists/musicians/designers/film-makers/dancers/writers etc. taking part each time.
So far Late Works’ founder Joseph Bradley Hill has worked with over 270 collaborators to bring the various events to fruition, including Academy Award and Mercury Prize Nominees & multiple New Contemporaries. Late Works has been featured in Electronic Sound, Loud & Quiet & Creative Boom, and played on BBC Radio 6, NTS & Resonance FM in various forms.
Gentle Stranger are a London based trio, composed of Tom Hardwick-Allan, Alex McKenzie, and Joshua Barfoot. They are "a band who are not so much without a genre, but operating at a level where the very idea of genre is anathema; they make music purely as is required” (The Quietus). Existing across both music and performance, their most recent release was 2023’s Inner Winter. They have an ongoing collaboration with Jesse Darling, and have collaborated with other artists including Agnes Scherer and Adam Christensen.
otta's new EP 'WITH LOVE FROM EVERYWHERE' marks her long-awaited return after a lengthy pause from releasing music. Acting as a postcard from the edge, the project moves between genres with ease — its playful yet heavy production balances moments of emotional clarity with densely textured sonics. Featuring captivating contributions from some of London’s finest musicians, it takes us deeper into otta’s collage-like approach to making music.
Having first surfaced on SoundCloud, otta has since featured in Slow Dance's 3rd annual compilation ('18), and released three EPs, including 'after it all blew over' & 'Songbook' on kwes.’s label Bokkle in 2020. 'WITH LOVE FROM EVERYWHERE' was self-released on 4th April through her own label ‘löyly’. Previous support for otta has come from Pitchfork, The Quietus, Clash, NME, Best New Music (I.D), New Music Friday (Spotify) with spins on BBC from Mary Anne Hobbs, Lauren Laverne, Iggy Pop & Mike Skinner.
Stanley Welch is an artist and musician from Cornwall. He studied sculpture at the Slade School of Fine Art and is currently based in Glasgow. His debut album Virgins was released in June 2024. He is one half of the record label North <3 South Records.
