Wild Flutes on the Run
Robert Dick, Ned McGowan, and Anne La Berge play custom flutes built to match their imaginations. Their instruments and music have opened boldly individual sonic worlds and led to memorable performances across the globe. An evening of compositions and improvisations born from a configuration never heard before.
Robert Dick has dispensed with preconceptions about what a flutist should sound like and what a flutist should play. A revolutionary composer/performer/improviser, he has literally redefined the flute for our age. He began composing and improvising in the 1970s, driven by the core idea that acoustic instruments can be played as human-powered synthesizers, and by his love of continuous transformation of sound. Robert’s invention, the Glissando HeadjointTM, has revolutionized the essential sound of the flute, doing for the flute what the whammy bar does for the electric guitar and bringing a vocal quality that is entirely new to the instrument.
Ned McGowan is an American-Dutch composer, flutist, researcher and teacher, living in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. His work has been performed internationally at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw, and the Purcell Room. As a performer, he specializes in the contrabass flute and has contributed significantly to the contemporary repertoire for low flute including an exciting array of feedback and percussion works. He will also play his new design of the vertical flute. Two of his biggest inspirations on the flute are Robert Dick and Anne La Berge.
Anne La Berge passion for the extremes in both composed and improvised music has led her to the fringes of storytelling and sound art as her sources of musical inspiration. Her work grows from the social and political issues that shape the world she moves through, giving her music a sense of urgency and reflection. Her instruments include the quarter-tone flute, electronics, controllers, live processing, and spoken text, forming her signature sound world.
Robert Dick - flutes
Ned McGowan - flutes
Anne La Berge - flutes and electronics
