How has our relationship with our world changed over time? Do our surroundings affect how we listen? Our upcoming event listening to place on Sunday 20 February explores artists’ responses to their environments with a day of live music, panel discussions, DJ sets and ambient performances. From roundabouts to brutalist architecture, read on to find out more about our artists, their inspiration, and what you can expect on the day.

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Li Yilei

Artist and composer Li Yilei is known for their experimental music, live art, and sonically inclined site-specific installations. Li’s practice reflects on an alternative mode of listening, often informed by their sensory processing issues and neuro-divergence. Their unique approach to electronics and found sound makes for thought provoking performances about the politics of listening and the different ways of engaging with sound.

Li will conclude our Barbican event with Boundary Conditions, an original set featuring theremin, live image scanning and field recordings from the UK and China.

Ligeti Quartet

The Ligeti Quartet have been at the forefront of modern and contemporary music since their formation in 2010. They have established a reputation as one of the UK’s leading ensembles, breaking new ground through innovative programming and championing of some of today’s most exciting composers and artists.

They’ll be performing a selection of works on both the Free Stage in the afternoon and on the Main Stage in the evening event, including a new commission by Cedrik Fermont for string quartet with electronics and selections from Christian Mason’s Sardinian Songbook, released on Nonclassical in 2020.

Cedrik Fermont

Cedrik Fermont is a composer and musician working with electroacoustic, noise, electronic, experimental and improvised music. Cedrik is an advocate of innovative electronic music, placing a specific focus on music from Asia, Africa and Latin America. Alongside their creative work, Cedrik is also an independent researcher and author focusing on music from Asia and Africa.

Cedrik will be performing their own work alongside the Ligeti Quartet on the main stage, and will also make a solo appearance for a live electronics set in the foyer.

Rebeca Omordia

Nigerian-Romanian pianist Rebeca Omordia is in demand throughout the UK and abroad for her vibrant and exciting virtuosic playing. Alongside her award winning career as a soloist, Rebeca enjoys a varied creative life as a recording artist, chamber musician and artistic director. A pioneer for African classical music, in 2019 Rebeca launched the African Concert Series in London, a series of monthly concerts featuring music by African composers.

Rebeca will be performing works for solo piano inspired by gardens, cathedrals and more, which will be intertwined with field recordings as she performs.

Kate Carr

London based Australian sound artist Kate Carr has been investigating the intersections between sound, place, and emotionality both as an artist and a curator since 2010. During this time, she has ventured from tiny fishing villages in northern Iceland, explored the flooded banks of the Seine in a nuclear power plant town, recorded wildlife in South Africa, and in the wetlands of southern Mexico. Field recording is central to her work and the sounds she captures in different surroundings are often woven into her compositions.

Kate will be performing a work inspired by the Bricklayers’ Arms roundabout in Bermondsey (South London), transforming a table full of objects and electronics into a collection of unorthodox instruments to perform on.

Langham Research Centre

Langham Research Centre formed in 2003, as producers at BBC Radio 3, based in London’s Langham Place. They take inspiration from the rich sound of tape and the personalities and imperfections of tape machines. Like an early music group’s use of historic instruments, LRC continue to work with obsolete equipment including tape recorders, gramophone cartridges and sine wave oscillators to perform authentic versions of 20th century classic electronic repertoire by the likes of John Cage and Alvin Lucier as well as their own compositions.

They will be performing a selection of their own music alongside works by Luc Ferarri and John Cage. Their performance on the main stage will be accompanied by evocative images from Photolanguage, a series of images which highlight the beauty of brutalist architecture.

Chihiro Ono

Chihiro Ono is a London-based Japanese sound artist and violinist specialising in experimental music and sound art. Her work draws on influences from a rich variety of repertoire, encompassing folklore, field recording, improvisation and more. Her curiosity with sound has led to an intense fascination with how making noise and music is a deeply meaningful experience.

Chihiro’s set on the Free Stage (3pm) features an original work involving field recording and solo violin.

Gabriel Prokofiev

Gabriel Prokofiev is a London-based composer, producer, DJ and founder of Nonclassical. Composing music that both embraces and challenges western classical traditions, Gabriel has emerged at the forefront of a new approach to classical music in the UK at the beginning of the 21st century. His compositions have been performed at a diverse range of venues, from the Royal Albert Hall and Tchaikovsky Hall, through to East London night-clubs & warehouses.

Gabriel will perform a DJ set as part of the free afternoon programme in the foyer. In the evening event, his field recordings will be featured in tandem with Rebeca Omordia’s setlist.

Meet the Artists // listening to place

Read more about the free foyer performances and activities >>>