Week of sound experiences at L'Auditori with Ryoji Ikeda and Brian Eno
The Japanese artist performs an acoustic piece and presents an electronic disc, in a week in which compositions by Brian Eno will also be played.
The music of the Japanese artist Ryoji Ikeda and that of the composer and singer Brian Eno are the stars of a week of major concerts in the Sampler Series cycle, which is committed to new music. The concerts feature prestigious musicians such as percussionists Alexandre Babel and Stéphane Garin, as well as the ensemble Frames Percussion (in the case of Ikeda's music) and the Ensemble Dedalus (playing Brian Eno). Dates on 20 and 23 March.
The Sampler Series cycle is the Auditori's commitment to the newest sound creation, including both written music and free improvisation, as well as acoustic and electronic instruments, performance music and sound installation or video creation.
In this panorama, one of the greats is Ryoji Ikeda, a Japanese musician who has performed at Sónar and the Grec Festival in Barcelona on more than one occasion. His music will be played twice on the 20th. First of all, and in acoustic format, you can listen to it in the concert Music for percussion (pictured. Photo; Raphaelle Mueller), a sample of the analogue work of an artist best known for his electronic compositions. Two great percussionists, the aforementioned Alexandre Babel and Stéphane Garin, and Frames Percussion, a Barcelona-based percussion ensemble with an extraordinary international trajectory, bring us to Ryoji Acoustic. In this first concert, which is open to the public (19:00), Ikeda will not be performing, but he will be the star of the concert the same day at 20:00 (15 €). There we will see the electronic side of the Japanese musician, who once again demonstrates why he is considered the king of Japanese audiovisual glitch or post-digital. The artist presents his new album, ultratronics (2022), released under the seal of fellow sound artist Alva Noto. It is Ikeda's new proposal, in which he represents in the form of music and images the digital data that surrounds us. Prepare yourselves for an extreme sonorous and visual universe, which is born from combining high and low frequencies of sound. The sound is accompanied by visuals that make the digital data explicit in a suggestive way, showing the saturation of the information.
Also as part of the Sampler Series cycle, which includes two concerts by Ryoji Ikeda, on Sunday, 23 March (15 €) there is a second particularly significant event. It is with the acoustic music of Brian Eno, a British composer who has been in projects such as U2, Coldplay and Roxy Music, of which he was also a member. In the concert we will attend the national premiere of the acoustic version of Eno's compositions Discreet Music (1975); Music for Airports (1978, which gives the concert its title) and Thursday Afternoon (1985).
The contemporary music group Dedalus Ensemble, based in Toulouse, will perform acoustic versions of Brian Eno's works. They review the ambient creations of a 20th century musician who has been influenced by musicians such as Erik Satie, John Cage and La Monte Young.
If you don't want to miss the most advanced new compositions of the moment, come to the two concerts of Ryoji Ikeda (more information here and here) and Brian Eno, both at L'Auditori de Barcelona.