26–27 January 2020
Iancu Dumitrescu, the enfant terrible of Spectral Music, returns to Cafe OTO for two evenings of primordial sounds and spectral explosions. The first evening will be dedicated to ensemble work and will be performed by the latest incarnation of the Hyperion Ensemble, consisting of some of the UK’s finest improvising musicians and conducted by Dumitrescu. The second evening, Charismatic Numbers, will be dedicated to small groups and will include a rare cello solo set played by Dumitrescu himself.
Participating musicians: Angharad Davies, Mayah Kadish, Hannah Marshall, Gwen Reed, Otto Willberg, Mark Sanders, Chris Cutler, Sarah Gail Brand, Alex Paxton, Yoni Silver, Tim Hodgkinson, and John Edwards.
This residency is part of the UM-SCENE project, which has received grants from the European Union’s “Creative Europe” programme.
“Dumitrescu is an imposing figure, and his presence immediately gave impetus to the proceedings before a note had even been sounded. There was a palpable tension as Dumitrescu led the musicians – all eyes fixed on the Romanian’s black-clad frame – through fitful bursts of discordant noise that bordered on rambunctious rock. Dumitrescu’s music works with sustain and release: distorted bowed guitar notes, scatter-shot drum fills, cavernous manipulations of the piano strings and fluttering clarinet parps all piled up, to be followed, with one sweep of the conductor’s arm, by heavy near-silence punctuated by the omnipresent digital rustles from the laptop. Despite not playing, Dumitrescu remained the focal point, his twisted, rapt facial expression the mark of a man inhabited by his music.” – Joseph Burnett, The Liminal (review of the performance at OTO in January 2013)
