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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
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Music
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Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
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Reader rating
Phone: 0207 770 6244
Website: www.fredtheband.com
Email: fred@fredtheband.com
Four's company: the Elysian Quartet will be performing Dominic Murcott's experimental installation
As radical musical ideas go, making people stand up to listen to classical music is pretty bold. But then the classical fare put on at Brick Lane club night Blank Canvas is far from the usual pomtiddlepom stuff anyway. It's an edgy evening with an experimental brief that celebrates Squarepusher every bit as much as Stravinsky.
Launched in the middle of last year in a Clapham bar, tonight's Blank Canvas marks their new partnership with the website dilettantemusic.com, an internet community for classical music enthusiasts, like Facebook for cellists-There will be new music on parade here, the premiere of a composition for string quartet by Sean O'Hagan. O'Hagan is better known for his links with indie bands, including Stereolab and his own High Llamas, and has previously composed string arrangements for Doves and Super Furry Animals. He's no stranger to violins and such but leaving the band format behind is a more radical step.
His High Llamas bandmate Dominic Murcott will be taking the experimentation still further by putting on his piece Installation, with contemporary string quartet the Elysian Quartet. It features both audience and quartet facing a filmed conductor on big screens while the stabbing, disjointed music is played.
Then there's pianist Will Dutton, organiser of the Blank Canvas nights, plus DJs playing both classical music and electronica. A "mass improvised freakout" is promised at the conclusion, which will reveal that guitars aren't the only stringed instruments that can cause earache.
If you miss it, it's being webcast at www.dilettantemusic.com. And if you're hungry for more, try Gabriel Prokofiev's Nonclassical club night, on the first Wednesday of every month at the Macbeth in Hoxton. Makes a change from concert halls.
• Tonight, 7pm; tickets £8. More information: 020 7247 3293 or www.93feeteast.co.uk.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
