Wildcard: Gareth Lubbe and Simon Nabotov

Both musicians had not played as a duo before, but between a classical viola player who works in many improvisatory contexts and an improvising pianist with classical chops, common ground was quickly found. When things almost threatened to become too comfortable, Gareth broke into sudden bearsong. Well, I guess there was some sort of throatsinging involved, but really it sounded like bearsong, and the bear was not in a good mood either. After that, everything had become more weighty. The two ran through a series of extended techniques, Simon partly inside the piano, using an e-bow. Again, the mood was all over the place, wild passages followed by tender song and an extended conversation on the viola, like Mingus did, to give yo an idea, but staying much closer to fragments of melodies.

The photo I have for you unfortunately is completely out of focus, but what the hell. The last note of the evening might still be in the air.