Wednesday 20 July 2022, 7.30pm
The first issue of The Wire was published in summer 1982. To mark its 40th anniversary, throughout July the magazine is hosting a series of live events in London, Bristol, Brighton, Manchester, Glasgow, Chicago, and online.
For this Cafe Oto residency, The Wire’s publisher/director Tony Herrington has assembled a programme based on the editorial philosophy that was encapsulated in the strapline on the cover of that first issue: Jazz, Improvised Music, And….
The second night of the residency features a three hour recital by Apartment House performing a series of works that stretch back over 60 years of experimental and contemporary music practice.
Drawing the dots between the black avant garde, minimalist outsiders, Fluxus radicals and composing improvisors, the recital will roller coaster through the hyper-concrète music of Michael von Biel, a rare Derek Bailey notated work, Terry Jennings’s hermetic jewel-like string quartet, Tony Conrad’s hillbilly tuning stomp, Anthony Braxton’s gnomic miniatures, Ben Patterson’s string soundings, Henning Christiansen’s minimal demonstrations, Yoko Ono’s fruitful-textual haiku, and Clark Coolidge’s spoken word-text-sound constructions.
The Wire’s Cafe Oto residency is part of a series of events programmed by the magazine to mark its 40th anniversary at venues in London, Bristol, Brighton, Manchester, Glasgow, Chicago, and online. Artists appearing at the events include People Like Us, Helena Celle, No Home, Hannah Catherine Jones, Venus Ex Machina, Teresa Winter, UnicaZürn, :zoviet*france:, FM Einheit, Blectum From Blechdom, Apartment House, Black Top, Sarah Angliss, Kemper Norton, Hamid Drake, Ikue Mori, Aaron Dilloway, plus screenings of Neptune Frost by Saul Williams & Anisia Uzeyman, films on Éliane Radigue and William Burroughs, and concerts exploring the legacies of The Scratch Orchestra, AMM and Spontaneous Music Ensemble. Tickets for all events are going on sale in May. To get updates on all The Wire’s 40th anniversary events, including ticketing information and programme announcements, follow The Wire on Twitter and Instagram: @thewiremagazine; Facebook; and sign up to its Weekly newsletter at thewire.co.uk/newsletters.
The group, created by cellist Anton Lukoszevieze has been captivating audiences for nearly 30 years, with performances of avant-garde and experimental music from all over the World.
The ensemble has been a firm fixture on the British concert scene, with regular performances at Café Oto and as an associate ensemble of the Wigmore Hall.
Apartment House has released over 40 albums, many on the UK label Another Timbre. Current releases include Pauline Oliveros - Sound Pieces, Magnus Granberg - Evening Star, Vesper Bell and Morton Feldman’s epic and mesmerising Violin and String Quartet.
