The Engine Room Festival 2011

The Engine Room Festival 2011

The Engine Room Festival is a one-off event celebrating the life, work and legacy of British composer Cornelius Cardew. It will run from 23 November to 11 December at Morley College and the Southbank Centre in London.

The Engine Room Festival is a one-off event celebrating the life, work and legacy of British composer Cornelius Cardew. It will run from 23 November to 11 December at Morley College and the Southbank Centre in London.

Cardew held the position of tutor at Morley in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was there that Cardew, alongside Howard Skempton and Michael Parsons, founded the Scratch Orchestra, a project that drew together musicians of all abilities for performances emphasising musical experiment and improvisation in an egalitarian atmosphere. The Scratch Orchestra grew out of Cardew’s composition classes at Morley.

The Engine Room Festival will feature concerts, an exhibition, a conference and a series of courses related to Cardew’s work as a politicised avant-garde composer, the latter of which run throughout the term and include a sing and study day on Cardew’s The Great Learning.

A number of leading experts on the composer, including John Tilbury and Walter and Horace Cardew, will appear at the festival, whilst performances will be given by, amongst others, John Tilbury and AMM, the Morley Chamber Orchestra and the Vocal Constructivists, who will perform Cardew’s Treatise. The festival also features music by Michael Nyman, Luciano Berio, William Byrd, Howard Skempton and others.

The Engine Room Festival is supported by the Southbank Centre.

Visit www.theengineroom2011.com

Published on 14 October 2011

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