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Upcoming Performances

Stay up to date with our upcoming performances. Click a link below for more information and ticket enquiries.

Various Stages

Date: Friday 24th February, 1-8pm
Venue: Institute of Contemporary Arts (SW1Y 5AH)

We are thrilled to join Mahogany Opera Group’s Various Stages Festival as the resident ensemble.  We’ll be workshopping and premiering a scene from Oliver Brignall’s new opera Palace of Junk, a multimedia retelling of the tragic tale of the Collyer brothers, an infamous pair of hoarders, and an exploration into hoarding disorder.  We’ll also be performing in Christopher Cerrone, Stephanie Fleischmann and Brian Mertes’ In a Grove, an immersive opera inspired by a short story by Japanese author Ryūnosuke Akutagawa examining an incident of love torn by violence from multiple perspectives; and Calamity/Billy by Théâtre de la Croix-Rousse, Gavin Bryars, Ben Johnston and Michael Ondaatje, a double portrait of two iconic wild west heroes Billy the Kid and Calamity Jane that shows a different and more intimate side to the characters.

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A Chest of Toys: Real World Sessions

Dates: Friday 17th – Sunday 19th February
Venue: Real World Studios

Back in 2014, on Radio 4, comedian Mark Steel quoted an anonymous description of the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival: ‘Much of it sounds like a chest of children’s toys coming down the stairs.’

We think this is accidentally a wonderful description of the joyful, cacophonous and unpredictable musics that make up contemporary new music today, and we’re thrilled to be working with Coviello Music Productions to make our second CD recording – A Chest of Toys – for release on Coviello Contemporary in late 2017.

We’ll be recording Michael Cryne’s Celia’s Toyshop, and our 2016 Call for Scores commissions: In My Room (Yukiko Watanabe) and Florescence (Lee Westwood) alongside an array of other chamber music including Thomas Kotcheff’s death, hocket and roll for two toy pianos, Monica Pearce’s Kandinsky for soprano and toy piano, Television Continuity Poses by Jack Sheen, and Hayirli Olsun for Trombone, Harpischord, Percussion and Piano by Utku Asuroglu.

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Listen II: The Text Scores of Pauline Oliveros

Date: Tuesday 4th April, 7.30pm
Venue: Cardiff University Concert Hall (CF10 3EB)

We return to Cardiff University for an evening-length performance of Pauline Oliveros’ Text Scores, like the one below.  You can read Tim Rutherford-Johnson’s reflections on these scores on our blog. The music is joyous, fun and informal.  The concert will take place in two halves, with an interval.
Riot Ensemble will also do a workshop with Cardiff University composers the next morning.

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Speak, Be Silent

Date: Friday 3rd March, 7.30pm
Venue: The Warehouse, Theed Street (SE1 8ST)

We are thrilled to be bringing Liza Lim’s Violin Concerto Speak, Be Silent to the Warehouse for its UK Premiere with soloist Sarah Saviet.  Alongside Lim’s concerto, this concert includes an array of atmospheric, colourful and virtuosic music including the UK Premiere of Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Ró, Edmund Finnis’ Frame/Refrain, and Rebecca Saunders’ A Visible Trace for 11 conducted soloists. A cash bar will be available at the concert.

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Celia’s Toyshop

Date: Thursday 16th February, 7.30pm
Venue: Brixton East 1871 (SW9 7JF)

The Riot Ensemble celebrates the beginning of 2017 with a return to Brixton East 1871 in an evening filled with chamber music from around the world.  Come hear some of Europe’s top performers in an array of World and UK Premieres, along with the customary £5 bottles of wine!
The concert includes Hayirli Olsun for Trombone, Harpischord, Percussion and Piano by Utku Asuroglu (UK Premiere); Shades of Silence for String Trio and Harpsichord by Anna Thorvaldsdottir (UK Premiere), Hammock by Kerry Andrew, Celia’s Toyshop by Michael Cryne (World Premiere), Wolke über Bäumen for solo violin with gut strings and baroque bow by Evan Johnson (UK Premiere), and our second performance of Television Continuity Poses, which we co-commissioned with BBC Radio 3 from Jack Sheen.

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Breathe AHR: Charcoal

Date: Wednesday 9th November 1pm
Venue: Guys Hospital – Atrium 1
A ‘Remembrance’ themed concert, with live artist Marcus Stefanelli.  Music by John Garner, A world premiere of Giovanni Cacioppo’s The Immigrant Suite, a selection of Bartok’s 44 Duos For Two Violins and Kate Williams Suite for Two Violins.

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The Viola in my Life

Date: Monday 21st November, 8.00pm
Venue: The Forge, Camden (NW1 7NL)

The Riot Ensemble connects people to great contemporary music with this performance entitled “The Viola in my Life.” The performance features Riot’s new Artistic Board Member Stephen Upshaw, who programmed this concert alongside fellow rioters Sarah Mason & Claudia Maria Racovicean.
The concert features Feldman’s classic The Viola in My Life, alongside the world premiere of new solo viola works by Mark Simpson, and small chamber music by Jack Sheen, Tigran Mansurian and others.  Here’s the full programme:

Mark Simpson: New Work for Solo Viola (World Premiere)

Morton Feldman: “The Viola in My Life 3” for viola and piano

Mark Bowden: “Hoist” for solo percussion

Jack Sheen: “Each One Cancels Out the Last” for viola, piano and tape (World Premiere)

Anna Meredith: “Flex” for solo percussion

Tigran Mansurian: “Duet” for viola and percussion (UK Premiere)

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