Cut & Splice: Grúndelweiser

Exploring the role of the collective in modern composition and sound art practice Cut & Splice: Grúndelweiser is four-day journey into the hive-minds of two of the most intriguing international composer groups operating today.

Grúpat is an international arts collective based in Ireland. The founding members met at a rave in the Dublin mountains in 1999; since then the collective and its members have taken on a series of shifting identities from their earliest incarnation as the Avant Gardaí through the Grúpat of today. Though the collective works primarily in sound, their practice ranges widely, from strictly-notated compositions for classic ensembles to graphic scores, sonic sculptures, sound installations, films and interventions in both the public and private sphere.

Formed in 1992, the Wandelweiser collective has created a body of work characterised by its great beauty, economy and focus. Wandelweiser cannot easily be located at one central place or in a specific area of the international music world: the members of the group coming from highly different musical backgrounds and residing in different parts of the world. Taking the music and aesthetics of John Cage, Morton Feldman and Christian Wolff as shared starting points, the Wandelweiser composers share an interest in the exploration of compositional process and a common concern for silence and duration.

Cut & Splice: Grúndelweiser will feature music and performances from:

Antoine Beuger, Freya Birren, Turf Boon, Caoimhín Breathnach, Bulletin M, Ensemble Ascolta, Jürg Frey, Marcus Kaiser, Flor Hartigan, Eva-Maria Houben, Violetta Mahon, Radu Malfatti, The Dowager Marchylove, O’Brien Industries, Ukeoirn O’Connor, The Parks Service, Michael Pisaro, Burkhard Schlothauer, Detleva Verens, Jennifer Walshe, Manfred Werder and Christian Wolff

Established in 2003, Cut & Splice is a celebrated international festival of experimental music and sound art produced by Sound and Music and BBC Radio 3. Annually shifting its thematic focus, Cut & Splice draws connections between the work of the leading figures of the historic avant-garde and the key exponents of today’s radical music and sound. Cut & Splice presents both live and broadcast activity and this year the festival returns to its birthplace, London’s ICA.