Monday 1 August 2016, 8pm
Genre-defying Chinese percussionist, Beibei Wang, returns to OTO alongside special guest Jon Clark (drums), Belle Chen (piano) and Cleveland Watkiss (voice).
Beibei Wang is a uniquely vibrant percussion talent. With a background in both Classical and traditional Chinese percussion, she brings characteristic flair and dynamism to her performances, presenting repertoire as diverse as contemporary classical to free improvisation with equal elegance.
Beibei has performed as a soloist with orchestras such as BBC Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra dell’ Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and lead the BBC Concert Orchestra on their 2018 China tour. She has appeared as soloist on some of the world’s most prestigious stages including the Barbican Centre, Elbphilharmonie, Grafenegg Festival, and Southbank Centre.
http://beibeimusic.com/
“Original and provocative” – Brian Eno
“At the forefront of UK’s new wave of experimental classical musicians” – China Sohu News
Handpicked by Brian Eno as the one to watch, Australian-Taiwanese pianist Belle Chen has distinguished herself with her unique recorded works that are unbound by tradition- often mixing classical music repertoire with recorded soundscapes. Her creativity was celebrated through winning the classical music category of 2015 London Music Awards, as voted by a luminous panel from the UK music industry.
Belle’s unique and versatile creativity as a performer has seen her grace the stages of several major UK festivals and key venues ranging from BBC Radio 3 70th Anniversary at Royal Festival Hall, 2016 Latitude Festival, The Roundhouse to Café Oto. Her work was selected by BBC Radio 3 as one of top 4 best new music by BBC Introducing Classical Artist in the year of 2016.
Forever in pursuit of capturing and recreating special moments and observations through classical music and immersive performances, Belle has collaborated across various creative mediums - from perfume, multimedia, dance, to drama. She believes classical music to be a living language, and often incorporates improvisation as part of her performance.
Since 2016, Belle has been endorsed under the Exceptional Talent scheme by Arts Council England.
Jazz Vocalist of the Year & Mobo Nominated: Cleveland Watkiss 2017
Internationally renowned vocalist won the London Jazz Award for Best Vocalist in 2010, and was voted Wire/Guardian Jazz Awards best vocalist for three consecutive years.
Watkiss was born in Hackney, East London, to Jamaican parents. Watkiss was one of the co-founders of the vastly influential Jazz Warriors big band. His vocals can be heard on their debut album, Out of Many People.
Watkiss has performed with a diverse range of artists from around the world, including: The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Carlinos Brown, Wynton Marsalis, Bob Dylan, Thurston Moore, Art Blakey, Abdullah Ibrahim, Stevie Wonder, Keith Richards, Bheki Mseleku, Fabio & Grooverider, William Parker, the James Taylor Quartet, Sly & Robbie, Nigel Kennedy, Robbie Williams, Joe Cocker, The Who, George Martin, Julian Joseph, Black Top, the London Chamber Orchestra, the BBC Orchestra, Cassandra Wilson, Louis Moholo, and the London Community Gospel Choir, Hamid Drake, & Project 23, Goldie. More recently, demonstrating great versatility, Cleveland was cast as the starring role in Julian Joseph’s, two groundbreaking jazz operas, Bridgetower and Shadowball, to considerable acclaim.
In June last year he performed with vibraphonist Orphy Robinson at Freedom: The Art of Improvisation Festival at The Vortex, performing their project Duke Joint. Also with a project London-Chicago Vibration in Nov’ at the London Jazz Festival, a 50th anniversary tribute to the Chicago-based Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) led by multi-percussionist Orphy Robinson and an all-star band of UK-based improvisers including legendary drummer Louis Moholo vibist Corey Mwamba and saxophonist Jason Yarde.
British Drummer and percussionist Jon Clark is from darkest depths of Somerset. Immersed from the start in a huge variety of musical styles, Jon has spent time studying and touring in India and Cuba. Since 2007, he took his involvement with improvised music to a deeper level under the tutorage of Gwilly Edmondez and Blue Rince. He currently is to be found working with like-minded individuals in a wide range of idioms from latin soul to improvised hip-hop.
