Thursday 27 March 2025, 7.30pm
Doors are at 7:30pm and music will start from 8pm
Sarah Saviet | violin
Aya Metwalli | voice & electronics
eavesdropping returns to Cafe OTO for another four-day festival, curated by Juliet Fraser, which includes four evening double-bill events and a weekend-long forum (at Vortex Jazz Cafe) of provocations exploring 'Experiments in Magic'. We hope to stimulate your ears and your imagination by presenting new work by eight artists working at the experimental fringes of a variety of genres. The programming within each set is artist-led: repertoire is only announced on the night.
eavesdropping
eavesdropping is a platform for the sharing of new music and new ways of thinking about music. Excited by experimentalism, we create opportunities for artists and audiences to practise engaged listening and compassionate debate. Our activity includes a festival, a forum, a podcast, and training and development workshops. Our mission is to build community through an ethics of curiosity and care, in the belief that ripples do make waves.
https://www.eavesdropping.london
eavesdropping is a PRS Foundation Talent Development Network Partner supported by PPL. eavesdropping gratefully acknowledges the generous support of Arts Council England's National Lottery Project Grants, the Hinrichsen Foundation & the eavesdropping consortium.
Violinist SARAH SAVIET specialises in contemporary music. In addition to her international appearances as a soloist, she commissions and performs as a member of the Saviet/Houston Duo and ensemble mosaik. In 2023 she released her debut solo album SPUN (Coviello Contemporary) which presents music by Lisa Streich, Evan Johnson, Lawrence Dunn, Liza Lim, and Arne Gieshoff and was nominated for the Deutsche Schallplattenkritik prize. Other notable solo recordings appear on another timbre, All That Dust and HCR/NMC. In 2024 the Saviet/Houston Duo released a clearing, an album of co-composed music for violin and piano (Marginal Frequency). Important musical collaborators include Elaine Mitchener, Rebecca Saunders, Soosan Lolavar, Catherine Lamb, Bryn Harrison, Arne Gieshoff and Liza Lim. Sarah has been a visiting artist and taught masterclasses at University for the Arts Berlin, Hochschule für Musik Hannover, Hochschule für Musik Leipzig, Manhattan School of Music, Harvard University, UC San Diego, Lucerne Festival Academy and held artist residencies at Britten Pears Arts.
AYA METWALLI is an Egyptian vocalist and composer-performer whose music is marked by a heartrending voice and unnerving atmospherics. Raised in Cairo, Aya’s musical foundation was shaped by the microtonal modalities of Arabic maqam, noise pollution, early piano lessons and her mother's haunting voice. Her sound draws from and defies tradition, blending songs of lament with a stark, contemporary edge. Described as a “musical enigma” (The Guardian) and praised for crafting “a spellbinding brand of anti-pop” (Pitchfork), Aya’s work is a gritty, unflinching exploration of dread. Her live performances are raw, cathartic études on despair where she combines heavy synthesised noise with unrelenting emotion to leave audiences both transfixed and troubled.
