Event - Mathilde 253 with Ishamel Wadada Leo Smith

Wednesday 30 March, 8:00 pm - Cork Opera House

“Ordered and entwining… a tapestry of choice: that of another Mathilde, of a complete beauty.” Guillaume Belhomme (Le son du grisli)

“This new improvising group… draws disparate personalities into one eccentric orbit….” Daniel Spicer (Jazzwise)

In this special event, part of a two-date tour, ensemble Mathilde 253 is joined by internationally renowned composer-improviser Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith in his first appearance in Ireland. Mathilde 253 features the pioneering avant-rock drummer Charles Hayward (This Heat, Massacre), rising Cork-based guitarist and improviser Han-earl Park (Paul Dunmall, Kato Hideki), and trumpeter and mainstay of the London improvised music scene, Ian Smith (Derek Bailey, The London Improvisers Orchestra).

Hailed as “one of the most vital musicians on the planet today” (Bill Shoemaker, Coda), trumpeter and multi-instrumentalist, composer and improviser, Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith has been active in creative contemporary music for over forty years. He performs with three ensembles, Golden Quartet, Silver Orchestra, and Organic, and is currently a faculty member at The Herb Alpert School of Music at California Institute of the Arts. Other contemporary music ensembles, including Kronos Quartet, Da Capo Chamber Player, New Century Players, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Del Sol String Quartet and New York New Music Ensemble, have also performed his compositions. Smith is a Guggenheim Fellow and a long- time member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.

8 pm, Half Moon Theatre, Emmet Place.

Tickets: €11 (€6 concessions)
from the Cork Opera House (corkoperahouse.ie or +353 (0)21 427 0022).

Presented with funding from the Music Network Performance and Touring Award, and support from UCC School of Music and the Cork Opera House.