Category: News

Here’s for a better 2021!

Things are already looking up in the States with the change in administration. In Europe the Covid-19 vaccine is being distributed slowly.  Hopefully by the springtime we’ll be able to start thinking about live concerts again.

I’m currently working on various collaborations that I can do over the internet. I’m also developing a new solo that involves electronics with flute and electric guitar.  I hope to be posting some samples and snippets of this work on this page and elsewhere on the internet in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, below you will find an excerpt from a reading from Howl that I will soon be releasing.

The second short video, “3by3by3 (revisited”), draws from an ongoing collaboration between Rhys Chatham, Gh Hovagimyan and Raphaele Shirley.

Here is where I was on the first day of summer last year, or maybe it was the year before.  Anyway, it was a performance of les 100 guitares in Le Havre, France.  Photo is by Anonia Enos.

For this year, we are, of course, just coming out of lockdown here in France.  I spent the spring working on a piece for choreographer Pascal Gravat, to be presented in Geneva this September.  Further details to be announced.

For other news, a piece I wrote back in 2016 has finally been released!  It is about 10-minutes and is called “For Bob”.  It is a piece written in memory of the composer Robert Ashley, who was a composer I looked up to while coming of age.

It’s finally out on vinyl as part of a double compilation album with various artists, the proceeds of which benefit the Alzheimer’s Association, you can give it a listen at the link below.

The limited vinyl edition is for USD$ 50 (or more), the CD version is $30, and the MP3 (and similar) version is $25.

Here is the link to order it:  The Longest Day Order link.

Aside from that, in related news, I’ve decided to get back to my roots in electronic music.  Back in the nineties, I did extensive programming in Max and performed widely at the time on trumpet and interactive electronics programmed in Max.  At the start of the mid-2000s I decided to get back into electric guitar and abandoned electronic music at that point… until now!

So this summer, I’ll be getting back into electronic music with a view to having a new live set ready to go for the autumn involving electronic sounds combined with the various live instruments that I play.

Watch these pages for updates!

For booking any of my projects, from les 100 guitares, to my various smaller ensembles, to my solo and duo projects, you can contact us at this address:

rhyschathamprojects

Or for Europe and France contact Pascal at Julie Tippex

In December I did a duo concert with Ghédalia Tazartes at the Théâtre Municipal Berthelot Jean-Guérrin in Montreuil, France.  The house was packed and we had a great time, here is a link to an excerpt from the concert:

For booking or enquiries about this concert or my other projects, you can contact Pascal at Julie Tippex Arts and Music Agency for European booking, or for outside Europe you can contact us at Rhys Chatham contact.

For upcoming projects, I have been commissioned to do the music for a new work by Pascal Gravat entitled Quelqu’un d’autre, to be premiered at  Théatre Galpon in Geneva this April featuring the danser Pascal Merighi, with staging by Syvie Kleiber.  More on this as the date approaches!

I recently got together to play with the organist Hampus Lindwall, who plays the organ at Eglise Saint-Esprit in Paris.  We did a jam to see how the timbres would mix between the instruments that I play and the organ, we thought that it sounded quite well.  Here is a brief excerpt to give you an idea:

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We plan to continue this collaboration, normally culminating in recordings and performances in the not-to-distant future.

For the moment, I am putting my nose to the grindstone and working on the commission for Pascal Gravat, stay tuned to these pages for more news and music!

—ooOoo—

Dimanche 1er décembre à 20 h – Théâtre Municipal Berthelot – Jean-Guérrin.  8€ – Métro Croix de Chavaux – Montreuil

Ghedalia Tazartes / Rhys Chatham

Ce concert marque la deuxième rencontre de deux figures légendaires.
Beaucoup revendiquent un cinéma pour l’oreille, dans cette catégorie, Ghédalia Tazartès est de loin le plus grand de tous. Sa musique assemble des éléments sonores de toutes natures et de toutes provenances … entre Orient et Occident ou on ne sait où. “ (Dominique Grimaud). Rhys Chatham, multi-instrumentiste et compositeur, n’a pas besoin d’être présenté (Theatre of Eternal Music de La Monte Young, Dream Syndicate de Tony Conrad en passant par le poste de direc- teur musical de The Kitchen et la scène de musique expérimentale post-Minimal New Yorkaise

Here are some photos from the recent ISSUE Project Room concerts from early October 2019.  See the post from September (below) for the complete program.

The show started with a duo of Jonathan Kane on drums and Zeena Parkins on electric harp and electronics, followed by a flute solo by Rhys Chatham (me).  After the solo, we played a commissioned piece entitled The Sun Too Close to the Earth.

I’ll be posting photos from the commissioned piece shortly, as well as announcements concerning upcoming Rhys Chatham concerts.

For now, I’ll post photos of the flute solo, taken by Cameron Kelly McLeod: