Nexmap presents Binary Cities Event #4:
Benoit Delbecq - pianist (Paris); François Houle - clarinetist (Vancouver)
WITH INTERACTIVE VIDEO AND MIXED MEDIA BY Frédéric St-Hilaire (Montreal)
7PM mixer and post performance artists reception (hosted bar)
@ Swissnex San Francisco - 730 Montgomery St., San Francisco at Jackson St.
Houle and Delbecq's collaborative performances include pieces for piano or prepared piano and clarinets, solo improvisation, with electronic manipulations. As the music unfolds, composition and improvisation seem to flow together into a continuum where jazz, new music and world music fuse. Delbecq and Houle extend the techniques of their instruments and create their own language of musical gestures through spontaneous musical composition. This collaborative performance with Video & Mixed Media by Frédéric St-Hilaire (aka Cinétik) inspires the audience to listen to a world in constant evolution and transformation.
Delbecq's contemplative piano “fabrics” draw on Cage, Ligeti, and African timbres and polyrhythms, and are characterized by unexpected juxtapositions and patternings. Houle's approach has been inspired by Evan Parker and clarinetist William O. Smith’s multi-layered sonic explorations, and combines a thoroughgoing reinvention of the clarinet's expressive possibilities with an exceptional melodic lyricism. The duo’s rapport results in a highly ordered yet intuitive discourse, echoes and undercurrents of other music continually opening up new directions.
This performance is made possible in part through grants from the French America Cultural Exchange (FACE)- Funds for Contemporary Music and the British Columbia Arts Council. The reception is sponsored with support from the Cultural Cervice of the Consulate General of France in San Francisco.
Cost: $15-$20