BNM: Apartment House / Matana Roberts / Maggie Nicols & Dan Johnson

Apartment House present a new transcription by Kerry Yong of seminal post-gothic, harmonium-sick 1968 album ‘The Marble Index’ by Nico and John Cale, featuring Francesca Fargion as vocalist, along with Jim O’Rourke’s beautiful and laconic ’12 dollars is a lot’ (written for the ensemble in 2020) and selections from Arthur Russell’s avant-classical outlier ‘Tower of Meaning’.

They’re joined on the bill at St George’s by legendary free improv vocalist Maggie Nicols performing in a special duo with drummer Dan Johnson for the first time, and NYC saxophonist, composer and media artist Matana Roberts.

Apartment House

Francesca Fargion (voice)
Kerry Yong (keyboards)
Mira Benjamin, Chihiro Ono (violins)
Bridget Carey (viola)
Anton Lukoszevieze (cello)

Created by cellist Anton Lukoszevieze, Apartment House has been pushing the boundaries of avant-garde and experimental music for nearly thirty years, with performances all over the world and almost fifty album releases.

’Revelatory’ (The Guardian), ‘Pure and rootless musicality’ (The Times), ‘Stellar playing’ (Art Forum), ‘impeccable’ (Daily Telegraph).

Maggie Nicols

A mainstay of the European improvisational community since joining John Stevens’ legendary Spontaneous Music Ensemble in the late 1960s, Maggie Nicols has performed internationally for several decades at major festivals and worked with a great many improvisers from all over the world. As co-founder of the Feminist Improvising Group, she has also worked to further women in improvised music, dancing and other creative arts.

Dan Johnson

Dan Johnson is a Bristol based percussionist, performance artist and educator who pushes the boundaries of how drumming is perceived through his solo and ensemble work. Known for intense, intimate and often durational solo performances, he also collaborates widely.

Matana Roberts

An internationally renowned composer, band leader, saxophonist, sound experimentalist and mixed-media practitioner, Matana Roberts’ work spans many contexts and mediums, including improvisation, music composition, visual art, dance, poetry, and theatre.