Improvised Music Company (IMC) in partnership with Moving on Music (MOM) and in association with the Irish Film Institute (IFI) presents a trio of new improvisatory musical works on film. On Wednesday 27th April at the Irish Film Institute, experience performances by some of Ireland's finest improvising musicians in a variety of iconic locations.

Improvised Music Company’s BAN BAM initiative began in 2017/18, aiming to promote women in jazz and improvised music and address a gender imbalance in the scene.

In 2020, IMC and Moving On Music came together to launch a BAN BAM commission and development opportunity for female and gender-minority artists across the island of Ireland. The selected composers - Úna Monaghan, Sue Rynhart, & C.V. Lunny - wrote new works which, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, took a different turn in their final presentation. Collaborating with the filmmakers of Inside Voice Studios, and IMC Creative Producer Aoife Concannon, the three composers developed their works into site-specific filmed experiences - works that draw inspiration and energy from their surroundings.

Úna Monaghan's work And the Goals will Come, for harp, bassoon, percussion and hurler comes to life in Co. Kilkenny, where the love of hurling is a tangible presence. Monaghan is a harper, composer, researcher and sound artist from Belfast. Her recent work has combined traditional music with bronze sculpture, sound art and movement sensors. Her compositions have been presented on BBC and RTÉ television and radio, and in theatre productions, festivals and conferences internationally. She performs with harp and computer, and released an album of her compositions for Irish harp and electronics, named “For” in 2018.

C.V. Lunny's work currents explores the push and pull of emotion, electricity, water, and their interaction - against the background of the former Pigeon House power plant Poolbeg. Lunny is an improvising musician with a strong classical background and extensive experience in contemporary classical, improvised, recorded and folk music. They performed around the world as a soloist and chamber musician before specialising in contemporary music, and have been exploring improvisation and composition for many years.

From Smock Alley Theatre, the weight of history and literature saturates Sue Rynhart's piece You, Me or the Wallpaper, based on Charlotte Perkins-Gilman's 'The Yellow Wallpaper'. Rynhart has been crafting her unique and captivating blend of neo-folksy, jazz-laden, classically-inspired original music to international critical acclaim, stemming from her groundbreaking work as part of Dylan Rynhart’s 10-piece Fuzzy Logic Ensemble. Her songs, both soulful and severe, are a fine fusion of the avant-garde and the emotive.

Before the screening, the composers will briefly talk about their work and the development of these pieces, in conversation with IMC director Kenneth Killeen.

Improvised Music Company is primarily funded by the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon. Moving On Music is primarily funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, and additionally by Belfast City Council. MOM is a PRS Foundation Talent Development Partner supported by PPL.