Monday 23 March 2020, 8.30pm
Incredibly pleased to welcome the phenomenal improvising musician and vocalist, Elaine Mitchener for a solo set, plus a very special Messiaen performance from performer, composer and arranger, Kerry Yong, live-streamed from an empty Cafe OTO.
“Bravest of all were the vocalist Elaine Mitchener and the double bassist Neil Charles (the Charles Mitchener duet), who launched into two exhilarating, mind-bogglingly freewheeling improvisations. The second turned into a cry, a scream, a lament for the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire.” – Rebecca Franks, The Times
Elaine Mitchener is a British Afro-Caribbean vocalist, movement artist and composer working between contemporary / experimental new music, free improvisation and visual art. She is currently a Wigmore Hall Associate Artist; was a DAAD Artist-in-Berlin Fellow (2022) and was an exhibiting artist in the British Art Show 9 (2021-22). In February 2022 Mitchener was awarded an MBE for Services to Music. Elaine is founder of the collective electroacoustic unit The Rolling Calf (with Jason Yarde and Neil Charles). Her regular collaborators include: composers George E Lewis, Jennifer Walshe, and Tansy Davies; visual artists Sonia Boyce, Christian Marclay and The Otolith Group; chamber ensembles Apartment House, London Sinfonietta, Ensemble MAM, Ensemble Klang, and Klangforum Wien; choreographer Dam van Huynh’s company; and experimental musicians such as Moor Mother, Loré Lixenberg, Saul Williams, Pat Thomas and David Toop. While developing her own projects, Elaine continues to work as a collaborative and interpretive singer.
Kerry Yong is a performer, composer and arranger based in east London. He trained as a pianist and now also performs on keyboards and electronics. His piano repertoire includes unusual classical repertoire (such as the Alkan’s arrangement of Mozart’s D minor Concerto K 466 for solo piano), new compositions, and his own project Cover Me Cage: electronic arrangements of various prepared piano works by John Cage.
He performs in groups such as Apartment House, Plus-Minus Ensemble and WeSpoke, and has appeared in many new music festivals including Audiograft, Borealis, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, LCMF, MaerzMusik, ISCM World Music Days, Ultima; in series such as Kammer Klang, Music We’d Like To Hear and NonClassical; on BBC Radio and recording labels Another Timbre and Wirripang.
Kerry studied piano with Stephanie McCallum in Sydney and completed a doctorate at the Royal College of Music in London studying piano with Andrew Ball. He is also Director of Music of Grace Church Hackney, where they are happy to use ancient chants, traditional hymns and new works with choirs, bands, electronics, objects and the like.
