MySpace a place for friends

improvised music and miniature compositions from Cheltenham and Gottingen 27th – 31st July 2009

Featuring Brainville Desperado’s

Longstone Unplugged

Short pieces for pigeons in English

Atrocities of a Street Busker

Stuart Wilding’s Miniature Ensemble

Improvisation workshops with Pete Robson

The miracle of 78 RPM’s

Cocktails

+ much more

Meantime Arts Space, Oxford Passage, Cheltenham. and Slak Bar, Bath Street, Cheltenham.

All tickets will be available on the door at £5 per concert or £10 for a week pass to all five concerts. Workshops are free.

The Week of Small Miracles is part of an on-going cultural exchange that offers a unique window into the thriving independent music scenes in both our towns. During the day, Meantime Arts Space in Cheltenham will be host to Project Improvisation. Established just two years ago it is an open arena and workshop environment for a large-scale improvisation group. All instruments and all abilities are welcome to participate. No membership is required and entry is free. Leading the workshops will be principle conductor Pete Robson who has been working with the group since October 2008. In the evenings a variety of concerts and unusual live events will take place. Brainville Desperado’s feature contrabass clarinettist Ove Volquartz (Gottingen), percussionist Christian Dreher (Gottingen) and guitarist Andreas Duker (Gottingen) performing improvised music inspired by Sun Ra and saluting the noble prize winners of their home turf.

Stuart Wilding’s Miniature Ensemble explores expansive improvisations through the impact of tiny sounds in an environment of scattered debris and junk percussion. Players include Stuart Wilding (Cheltenham), Mike Adcock (Stroud) and Christian Dreher (Gottingen).

Atrocities of a Street Busker is a series of short stories by Cheltenham based bass clarinettist, Saxophonist and busker Chris Cundy. Excerpts from some of the stories will be narrated between concerts exploring the strange customs and folklore’s surrounding the ancient profession of busking.

Short Compositions for Pigeons in English is a series of miniature compositions by Chris Cundy and Mike Adcock for solo bass clarinet, accordion and toy instruments. The pieces explore dances, stomps, reels and rumba’s for sometimes little more than a minute at a time.

Longstone are Cheltenham’s premier electronic ensemble. The band has just released their eighth album ‘Kabuki’ for Cheltenham’s legendary Ochre Records and John Peel and Mary Ann Hobbs have both championed their music in the past. During the festival we see them team up with musicians from Gottingen for an expanded but unplugged ensemble that explores improvisation through dance music, pre-recorded material and delicate atmospheric sound sources.

The Miracle of 78 RPM’s will offer a little light relief. Stuart Wilding relaxes with an old gramophone and some classic 78RPM records. We are invited to join him for a trip down memory lane with a difference in the Small Miracle’s cocktail lounge.