Pierre Boulez – avant-garde figurehead since the 1940s, musical giant on the world stage and author of some of the key progressive works in musical modernism – is celebrated over one weekend.

As well as hearing the composer himself conducting a special performance of his masterpiece Pli selon pli, with the esteemed Ensemble InterContemporain – which he founded in the 1970s – there is an opportunity to hear almost all his piano works played during one day by Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Tamara Stefanovich. Hear pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, composer Nico Muhly and Gillian Moore, Southbank Centre's Head of Contemporary Culture, discuss Exquisite Labyrinth in following podcast .

Pierre Boulez - avant-garde figurehead since the 1940s, musical giant on the world stage and author of some of the key progressive works in musical modernism - returns to Royal Festival Hall for a rare London concert as composer/conductor. He performs with the esteemed Ensemble intercontemporain, which he founded in the 1970s, soprano Barbara Hannigan and the young musicians of the Lucerne Festival Academy Ensemble as part of a collaboration project.

This concert is the culmination of a special weekend devoted to the composer's music and features a performance of Boulez's sonic masterpiece Pli selon Pli ('Fold upon Fold') for soprano and orchestra. Based on fragments from the French poems of Stéphane Mallarmé - known for their play on phonetics - it is a piece of dynamic contrasts, subtle textures and great beauty - a perfect vehicle for the supreme technical skill of Ensemble InterContemporain and Barbara Hannigan.

“They say I got the makings of a dope emcee, the blood in my veins of a Hip Hop Queen…so I’m striving everyday to achieve my dreams!” A journalist, poet, and emcee, TheSeKondElement (T2E), known to most by KAMMs, has been holding her own in the music and entertainment world since the age of 15 when she first began recording with indie label, Youth Movement Records (YMR). Keeping her set fresh and the audience surprised, mixing raw Hip Hop with autobiographical Spoken Word, TheSeKondElement gains fans through each and every performance.

October's Nonclassical sees a headline slot from the incredible cello & percussion duo, G Project, a collaboration between cellist Gabriella Swallow and percussionist Genevieve Wilkins. Both musicians are renowned for breaking the boundaries of the perceived classical stereotype and their union in the G Project is no exception.

The G Project?s vibrant and individual performing style is continually reflected in exciting new commissions from British composers including Mark-Anthony Turnage, Jonathon Cole and Jazz pianist Andrew McCormack. They also perform eclectic works by renowned Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov, turntablist Shiva Feshareki, Adam Caird, Solfa Carlile and Michael Henry.

Ein Live Hörspiel im lichtlosen Raum mit Hanns Zischler, Shaun Lawton und dem Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop

Words and Music, ein Radio-Play von Samuel Beckett und Morton Feldman, wird in der Inszenierung von Sabrina Hölzer zum Hör-Spiel im lichtlosen Raum. Der zu Beginn der Aufführung in völlige Dunkelheit gleitende Sendesaal wird zur unsichtbaren Bühne für ein scheinbar körperloses Drama: In der konflikthaften Dreierbeziehung des gebrochenen Tyrannen Croak (Shaun Lawton) mit seinen Dienern Bob (Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop) und Joe (Hanns Zischler) personifiziert das Stück die Sehnsucht des Menschen nach Trost im Zusammenspiel von Worten und Musik und zeugt gleichzeitig von den Auseinandersetzungen innerhalb einer Jahrhunderte alten Beziehung von Wort und Ton in Oper und Musiktheater.Contact

Xenakis' electroacoustic works are relatively few in his whole production, but they are very important. Indeed, most of them punctuate the history of electroacoustic music as masterpieces full of originality and innovation. Besides, Xenakis worked both on musique concrète and with electronic music techniques, covering both fields of what is called electroacoustic music. Moreover, his polytopes, where technology plays a major role, are pioneer realizations in the history of multimedia art.

This symposium wishes to gather researchers from all around the world – well-known specialists of Xenakis' music or young researchers – to analyze his electroacoustic music. Proposals of papers should include an abstract of 600 to 1000 words (additional to a bibliography) and a short CV. They should be sent before the 1th of January 2012 to Makis.Solomos at univ-paris8.fr .

Université Paris 8, May 23-25, 2012

Xenakis’ electroacoustic music[PDF]

Bomba Estéreo formed in 2005 as a project by visual artist/musician, Simón Mejía. Originally called A.M. 770, the loosely formed collective of DJs and visual artists included DJ Fresh, Diego Cadavid, Javier Fonseca of Alerta, and was led by Mejia, who renamed the group Bomba Estéreo in 2006 and released debut album, Vol. 1.

That summer, the band played New York City’s Bowery Ballroom and Central Park Summerstage, with the New York Times calling the performance, “kaleidoscopic and danceable.” More recently, the band collaborated with Levi’s jeans for their ‘Pioneer Sessions’ program, with the band covering Technotronic’s ‘Pump up the Jam.’ MTV also named the band, ‘The Best New Band in the World.’

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Bestival is an award winning 3 day boutique music festival set at Robin Hill - a beautiful leafy country park (a veritable Garden of Eden!) near Downend and Newport in the heart of the Isle of Wight.

The world of Bestival was born out of ten fun years of pioneering music events and record releases from Rob da Bank's Sunday Best empire. The BBC Radio 1 leftfield DJ had a dream to one day create his vision of how the modern day festival should be. Along with Creative Director and wife Josie da Bank and co founders / partners John and Ziggy from Get Involved that dream is now fulfilled. On a mission to change the face of independent festival culture, the fearless foursome are bringing some magic to the shores of the Solent and spreading it worldwide.

Emory Douglas is a pivotal figure in the development of political graphic art. Appointed ‘Minister for Culture’ for the Black Panthers in 1967, he became in-house illustrator for the quasi-revolutionary civil rights movement’s eponymous newspaper. Douglas’ instantly recognisable graphics filled the incendiary journal and would form its back page, a ‘cut out and paste up’ propaganda poster.

A cornerstone of the Black Panthers until their dissolution in the early 1980s, Douglas was one of the first agitants to use the visual language of the right wing to express the ideas of the left. His powerful pieces swapped hand-wringing for aggression and victim status for insurgency. Using a strong but consistent, simple yet brutal visual style Douglas’ artwork defined the Black Panther’s pride, resourcefulness and charisma. The illustrations’ accompanying battle cries, including ‘all power to the people’, ‘in revolution one wins and one dies’ and ‘seize the times’, entered the lexicon of a generation.

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Johnson do Cavaco & 2Guedinho Band & special guest Eliano Braz (aka CEARA) , MDM Percussion Grooving featuring Marivaldo, Dende & Meia Noite & special guest Davi Vieira & Jason , DJ Miller Cruz and special samba performance by Leticia, Lina & Mariko Johnson do Cavaco & 2Guedinho Band & special guest Eliano Braz (aka CEARA)

Created in 2009 by Johnson Bispo, former member of Patrulha do Samba, one of the most important bands in the Pagode scene in his hometown of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil in the 90`s. Pagode from Bahia is a style of music that mixes the traditional Samba-de-roda with the elements of the modern and electric music of the Carnaval and became very popular in the rest of Brazil. Originated by the african slaves brought to Brazil during the colonial period, traditions like Samba-de-roda , Capoeira and Candomble (tradional african religion) are still alive and part of the culture in Salvador..[more]

Erykah Badu is an American R&B/neo-soul artist whose work crosses over into jazz. She is best known for her singles “You Got Me” her collaboration with The Roots, as well as her own songs “Tyrone”, “Love Of My Life”, “On & On”, “Bag Lady”, “The Healer”, “Honey” and “Soldier”. Her lyrics are highly personal urban philosophy which throw emotional challenges in the face of the listener. She weaves unusual musical influences together creating a rich texture of sound.

Adrian Younge:Multi-instrumentalist Adrian Younge makes his debut on Wax Poetics Records with his original score to the Michael Jai White comedy Black Dynamite. Inspired by the great blaxploitation soundtracks of the 1970s, Younge commands the Rhodes electric piano, Hammond organ, Hohner Clavinet, harpsichord, synthesizer, vibraphone, guitar, bass, flute, sax, cello, and drums, crafting with a singular vision.

Hai-Ting Chinn , Cherry Duke , Katharine Dain , Karim Sulayman , and Nathan Baer , with music direction by Avi Stein, stage direction by Crystal Manich and produced by Wesley Chinn>

Opera Omnia presents Francesco Cavalli's "Giasone," fully staged in English translation, as a long overdue follow-up to Opera Omnia's sold-out run of Monteverdi's "Coronation of Poppea" in 2008. "Giasone" was the most popular opera of the 17th century; this raucous telling of the Jason and Medea myth features tortured lovers, a bitter old maid, a buffoon servant...and a stuttering hunchback. Using a style that incorporates commedia dell'arte and cabaret, Opera Omnia's version of the quest for the Golden Fleece is sure to delight.