Errollyn Wallen and Friends w/ special guests Margaret Leng Tan and John Wesley Harding
Errollyn Wallen
Errollyn Wallen, ‘renaissance woman of contemporary British music,’ is as respected as a singer-songwriter of pop influenced songs as she is a composer of contemporary new music. Communication is at the centre of both worlds: engaging the audience, speaking directly to hearts and minds.
Born in Belize, Errollyn Wallen gave up her training at the Dance Theater of Harlem, New York to study composition at universities of London and Cambridge. She founded her own Ensemble X and its motto, we don’t break down barriers in music… we don’t see any, reflects her genuine, free-spirited approach and eclectic musicianship. She has been commissioned by outstanding music institutions from the BBC to the Royal Opera House and has performed her songs internationally.
Errollyn Wallen’s song Daedalus appears alongside songs by Björk, Sting, Elvis Costello and Meredith Monk on the Brodsky Quartet’s recent CD ‘Moodswings’. The two solo albums Meet Me at Harold Moores and most recently Errollyn feature her songs in her own voice/piano performance and in collaboration with outstanding jazz artists. Her multi-media show Jordan Town, a modern day song cycle with dance and film, was a sell-out hit at the Edinburgh Festival. The Errollyn Wallen Songbook published by Peters Edition comprises twelve of her celebrated songs for voice with piano accompaniment.
Margaret Leng Tan
Margaret Leng Tan has established herself as a major force within the American avant-garde; a highly visible, talented and visionary pianist whose work sidesteps perceived artificial boundaries within the usual concert experience and creates a new level of communication with listeners. Embracing aspects of theater, choreography, performance and even “props” such as the teapot she “plays” in Alvin Lucier’s Nothing is Real, Tan has brought to the avant-garde, a measure of good old-fashioned showmanship tempered with a disciplinary rigor inherited from her mentor John Cage. This has won Tan acceptance far beyond the norm for performers of avant-garde music, as she is regularly featured at international festivals, records often for adventurous labels such as Mode and New Albion and has appeared on American public television, at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.
John Wesley Harding
Renowned singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding, hailed by Rolling Stone as, “a literate and ironic neo-folkie with enough bile to win over a younger, hipper audience not attuned to folk music,” releases his latest album, Who Was Changed And Who Was Dead , on March 10 via Popover Corps/Rebel Group. In support of the record Harding will be hosting a three-show residency at New York City’s Le Poisson Rouge on February 11, March 11 and April 15: John Wesley Harding’s Cabinet of Wonders. Part variety show and part concert, the Cabinet of Wonders will draw together collaborators from the worlds of music, literature, comedy and even ventriloquism all hand-picked by Harding himself. “I wanted to bring together my novel writing friends (who mostly envy my musician friends) and my musician friends (who mostly envy my novel writing friends) under one flag,” says Harding. “The fact is: I like everyone who’s performing.”
Errollyn Wallen:
John Wesley Harding:
Cabinet of Wonders from factory twenty five on Vimeo.
Margaret Leng Tan