LCMF x Hôtel du Couvent

LCMF
x
Hôtel du Couvent
1 Rue Honoré Ugo
Nice, France
5 & 6 July 2024

^{Limpe Fuchs performing at the Hôtel du Couvent}

A special two-day mini-fest to celebrate the 10th anniversary of LCMF, ‘London’s most important festival’ (The Wire), and the resurrection of a derelict 17th century convent in the heart of Nice

Friday 5 July

Limpe Fuchs
Live

Pascale Criton/Silvia Tarozzi
Circle Process (2012)

Christian Marclay
NO! (2020)

Russell Haswell
UNTITLED OPERA DEMO VERSION [NICE] (2020-2024)
(world première)

Performers:
Elaine Mitchener voice (Marclay)
Silvia Tarozzi violin (Criton)
Limpe Fuchs percussion
Russell Haswell electronics

Saturday 6 July

Limpe Fuchs
Live

Pascale Criton/Silvia Tarozzi
Circle Process (2012)

Christian Marclay
NO! (2020)

Joëlle Léandre
Live

Joëlle Léandre/Elaine Mitchener duo
Live

Mariam Rezaei
Wheels of Steel (2024)
(world première)

Performers:
Elaine Mitchener voice (Marclay)
Silvia Tarozzi violin (Criton)
Limpe Fuchs percussion
Joëlle Léandre double bass
Mariam Rezaei turntables

Featuring a selection of highlights from our past festivals and a few previews of what’s to come, our two nights will include improvisations from legendary double-bassist Joëlle Léandre; a new work by explosive turntablist Mariam Rezaei; a performance of Christian Marclay’s No! by acclaimed vocalist Elaine Mitchener; a work by festival favourites, composers Pascale Criton and Silvia Tarozzi; Russell Haswell gives us an exclusive look at an opera he’s creating for our festival in London this December; and the extraordinary 83-year-old percussionist Limpe Fuchs will present and play her spectacular homemade instruments, made of bronze, granite and wood.

With the support of Diaphonique, Franco-British-Irish fund for classical contemporary music in partnership with the SACEM, the Friends of the French Institute Trust, the British Council, the Institut français, the Institut français du Royaume-Uni, the Centre National de la Musique, Culture Ireland and the Salabert Fondation

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Pascale Criton studied composition with Ivan Wyschnegradsky, Gérard Grisey and Jean-Etienne Marie. Since 1980, Pascale Criton has explored sound variability, instrumental techniques and the spatialization of listening. A specialist of microtonality, she applies specific tunings to various instruments combined with computing. She has collaborated l’Ensemble 2e2m, l’Itinéraire, Aleph, Accroche Note, and music research studios IRCAM, InaGRM (Radio-France) & GMEM (Marseille). A monographic CD Pascale Criton. Infra, has been recently released on the label Potlatch. Her works are published by Jobert Editions (Lemoine distr.) and available from Art Fact.

Limpe Fuchs (pictured above) has been one of the most imaginative female sound artists and percussionists on the international experimental music scene for decades. She studied piano, violin and percussion in Munich. She plays her extraordinary sound installation, which incorporates bronze, granite and hardwood material, with a rare sensitivity for surprise and sponteneity.

Russell Haswell (pictured above) is an artist, record producer, free improvisor, computer musician, noise aficionado and curator based in Glasgow. He graduated from Coventry School of Art in 1991 and has since performed in over 30 countries around the world, presenting extensively in venues and festivals including the Prix Ars Electronica, Serpentine Pavilion, Barbican, Frieze Music, ICA, SONAR, ATONAL, the V-A-C Foundation in Russia, MOFO in Tasmania, the Office for Contemporary Art in Norway, ICC and CCA in Japan. While having recorded over twenty albums, Haswell is perhaps best known for his creation of highly innovative, often improvised large-scale sound works, regularly playing with the immersive experience of surround sound. As a curator, he has delivered projects for MoMA PS1, All Tomorrow’s Parties, Cafe OTO, Aldeburgh Music and Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary

Joëlle Léandre (photographed above at LCMF 2022 by Dawid Laswkowski) (b. 1951, Aix-en-Provence) is a French double-bassist, composer and improviser. In 1976, she was awarded the Creative Associate of Arts, a one-year grant to work in Buffalo, New York, with Morton Feldman. Léandre is a laureate of the Villa Médicis Hors les Murs program (1981), recipient of the DAAD Scholarship (1990) and the Villa Kujoyama Scholarship (Kyoto, 1998). In 2002, 2004 and 2006, Léandre was a visiting professor of composition and improvisation and the Darius Milhaud Chair at Mills College in Oakland, California. Her creative and performance activities, both solo and ensemble, have led her to the most prestigious European, American and Asian scenes. She has worked with Merce Cuningham, Morton Feldman, John Cage, and Giacinto Scelsi, Philippe Fenelon, Philippe Hersant, Steve Lacy, José Luis Campana, Betsy Jolas and Aldo Clementi. At ease with contemporary music ensembles, she has performed with L’Itineraire, L’Ensemble Intercontemporain and 2E2M in Paris. She has also collaborated with the greatest names in jazz and improvisation such as Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton, George Lewis, Evan Parker, Irene Schweizer, William Parker, Barre Phillips, Pascal Contet, Hamid Drake, Steve Lacy, Lauren Newton, Peter Kowald, Urs Leimgruber, Mat Maneri, Roy Campbell, Fred Frith, John Zorn, Mark Naussef, Marilyn Crispell, India Cooke, to name a few. About forty composers have composed works for her. Léandre has recorded more than 180 albums. Her book, A Voix basse, is a collection of interviews with Franck Médioni (MF, 2008). This book was translated into English at Kadima (Israel). She was named Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite and most recently Chevalier de l’ordre des Art et des Lettres.

Christian Marclay has explored the fusion of fine art and audio cultures, transforming sound and music into visible forms through performance, collage, sculpture, installation, photography and video. Marclay began his exploration into sound through performances with turntables in 1979. Since the 1990s he has presented works applying collage techniques to various materials including sound. In recent years, he has carried out the project Found in, incorporating sounds produced by everyday objects found in cities including Oslo, Milan, Venice, Basel, and Sapporo. He was Composer in Residence for the 2018 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, a first for the festival to bridge visual art and music. A newly published book Call and Response (Siglio Press) is a series of photographs and short piano pieces created with his long-time collaborator Steve Beresford. In November 2022 the Pompidou Center will be presenting a survey of Marclay's work.

Elaine Mitchener (photographed above performing Marclay’s No! at LCMF 2022 by Dawid Laskowski) is a British Afro-Caribbean vocalist, movement artist, composer and curator 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 an exhibiting artist in the British Art Show 9 (2021-22). In February 2022 Mitchener was awarded an MBE for Services to Music.

Mariam Rezaei (photographed above by Stefano Bonusi) is a multi-award winning composer, turntablist and performer. She previously led experimental arts project TOPH, TUSK FRINGE and TUSK NORTH, and in November 2022, she received the Paul Hamlyn Foundation #AwardsForArtists, in recognition of her contribution to music composition. Her music has recently been described as ‘genuinely ground-breaking’ (London Jazz News 2022) and ‘high-velocity sonic surrealism’ (4* The Guardian 2022). Recent release BOWN (Heat Crimes) charted no.6 in The Wire and no.10 in The Quietus’ best albums of 2023 and was The Quietus album of the week. Boomkat described it as ‘harnessing extreme technical prowess – phenomenal stuff’. Recent performances include Turntable Trio with Evicshen and Maria Chávez at Counterflows and REWIRE festivals 2023, Donau and Archipel festivals 2024; new band The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (with saxophonist Mette Rasmussen, trumpeter/electronics Gabriele Mitelli and drummer Lukas Koenig) at Café Oto London 2023 and REWIRE 2024 (forthcoming gigs at Festival Meteo and Berlin Jazz Festival 2024).

Silvia Tarozzi (pictured above) is a violinist, composer and improviser. The oral transmission of music and the form created through a deep immersion into the sound are traits of her musical research and find expression in several collaborations with composers as Éliane Radigue, Pauline Oliveros, Pascale Criton, Cassandra Miller, Martin Arnold, Pierre-Yves Macé, Philip Corner. Her projects are released by I dischi di Angelica, Unseen Worlds, New World Records, Potlatch. Her concerts have been recorded and broadcasted by BBC Radio and France Musique. She performs regularly in festivals and venues in Europe, North America, Canada, Mexico.