Riot Ensemble at University Hall
Groundbreaking at University Hall
Award-winning new music collective Riot Ensemble perform a programme that explores the possibilities of two of the group’s most nebulous and anarchic instruments; saxophone and percussion. Both instruments have found themselves as key components of popular music over the last 100 years – from jazz to hip hop, and blues to rock n’ roll. Works for saxophone and drum set explore this identity, and the rhythmic propulsion that the combination is capable of. Interspersed throughout the programme are solo pieces that feature different saxophones, as well as a plethora of tuned and untuned percussion.
- When: Tuesday 24 May 2022, 7 pm
- Location: University Hall, Shakespeare Street, Nottingham, NG1 4FQ
- Cost: £5 - 15
- Booking deadline: Tuesday 24 May 2022, 7.00 pm
- Download this event to your calendar
Event details
We're delighted to welcome members of Riot Ensemble back to University Hall for the final concert of our 2021/22 season.
Setting the stage is Stockhausen’s dramatic and stark Saxophon for soprano sax and a single bongo, in which the pioneering composer explores the inherent drama and space in such an exposed and unusual combination. The instruments begin apart, then come together, and this push/pull, friction/accord relationship is an ever-present dynamic of the programme. Both instruments have found themselves as key components of popular music over the last 100 years – from jazz to hip hop, and blues to rock n’ roll. Works for saxophone and drum set explore this identity, and the rhythmic propulsion that the combination is capable of. Interspersed throughout the programme are solo pieces that feature different saxophones, as well as a plethora of tuned and untuned percussion. And Jacob TV’s unforgettable Grab It! uses provocative speech fragments from death-row prisoners set against the angular grooves of tenor saxophone and drum set. As the composer writes: “the piece does not need to be sad. It can be stood as a ‘memento vivere’… death row as a metaphor for life - Life is worth living… Grab it!”
Saxophon Karlheinz Stockhausen
+8 Dennis DeSantis
Wasserklavier Luciano Berio (arr. S Wilson)
13.8 Billion Years Anna Appleby
And She Flew Paul Burnell
Triplex Unity Dominique Schafer
Remember, Marimba Errollyn Wallen
Grab It! Jacob TV (contains explicit language)
'Always impeccable; Entrancing and highly seductive' – The Times
'Volcanically creative' – Alex Ross, The Rest is Noise
Running time: 1 hour
Riot Ensemble
Riot Ensemble connects people to great contemporary music in concerts and events that are just as innovative, vibrant and rewarding as the music itself. The members of Riot are some of the top European soloists in new music, and with Riot they work as performers, curators, commissioners, and collaborators, creating and producing a diverse array of projects.
Based in London, Riot is active in bringing emerging international voices to the British new-music scene and since 2012 has given over 200 World and UK premieres by composers from more than thirty countries. They enjoy close working relationships with some of the most important composers of our time, including Clara Iannotta, Chaya Czernowin, Ann Cleare, and Georg Friedrich Haas.
In 2020 the ensemble was awarded the prestigious Ernst von Siemens Ensemble Prize.
Riot performs regularly at Wigmore Hall and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (UK) as well as Dark Music Days (Iceland), Tampere Biennale (Finland), Nordic Music Days (Sweden), and November Music (Netherlands). In 2020, the ensemble began a new partnership with King’s Place where they present their ReNEW series, focusing on bringing the most cutting edge international new music to London. They have also recently been appointed Ensemble-in-Residence at the Royal Academy of Music.
NTU / Confetti students and staff are eligible for 2-4-1 tickets - email created@ntu.ac.uk to find out more.
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Location details
Address:
Nottingham
NG1 4FQ
Parking:
Situated on the University’s City Campus, University Hall is a short walk from Nottingham city centre. Due to our central location we don’t have visitor parking available, but public transport will bring you almost to our door.
If you’re intending to park in the city centre, the closest (and largest) facilities to our City Campus are:
- Trinity Square (NG1 4BT)
- Talbot Street (NG1 5GG)
- The Victoria Centre (NG1 3QN)
Travel Info:
Visitors traveling on the tram are advised to get off at the Nottingham Trent University stop on Goldsmith Street.
Visit our travel pages for campus maps and detailed information on how to get here.
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