Day 1: Evening Concerts

Day 1 will include films and a new hybrid piece which will include live link ups to musicians from around the world.

We will also present George Lewis' work for large ensemble: High Load, Low Road and a new piece from our great friend Maggie Nicols.

George Lewis

George Lewis is an American composer, musicologist, and trombonist. He is Professor of American Music at Columbia University and Artistic Director of the International Contemporary Ensemble, as well as a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy, and a member of the Akademie der Künste Berlin.

GIO first worked with George Lewis in 2003 when he came to Glasgow with The International Composers And Improvisers Ensemble from Munich and both ensembles (around 50 musicians) lead by George collaborated in a wild and celebratory first encounter. In 2007 we commissioned George to write a piece specifically to be performed at GIOfest that year and the resultant piece Artificial Life 2007 is not only one GIO return to frequently, but is performed around the world by other ensembles. The recording of the premiere at GIOfest in 2007 was lost and we had to wait till GIOfest 2012 to record this version. George’s own notes state: “Artificial Life 2007 is designed to realise a model of group improvisation as an emergent phenomenon based upon negotiation and local intelligence.” We’ve been lucky to maintain a close working relationship with George whose visits to Glasgow are always action packed, fun and inspiring.

Maggie Nichols

Musician, Performer, Teacher, Dancer, Composer, Actor, Activist, Maggie Nicols is one of the world’s most respected improvising vocalists - a “Singer of Songs & Sounds” with a lifetime of experience as performer.

Maggie Nicols is a quietly powerful and highly influential voice whose presence has spanned the evolution of British free music from her joining the Spontaneous Music Ensemble in 1968 onwards, right up to the present day and her very first solo album appearing earlier this year via Café Oto’s Takoroku imprint (also the source of a great trio recording with Maggie, Joëlle Léandre and Roger Turner). Part of the magic of hearing Maggie, either solo or as part of an ensemble, is that she draws music from the very quotidian and seemingly mundane, turning everyday life and surrounding inanimates into fully realized and enveloping flights of musical fancy that combine a diversity of reference points from her rich artistic life. Truly a unique voice, she is also a regular member of GIO and has worked with John Russell, Keith Tippett, Julie Tippetts and countless others.

Maggie will lead GIO in a new piece she has developed: Offerings in Space, which focuses on the challenge of simplicity.

Festival passes

Festival passes can be bought here.

Passes grant access to GIOFest's full programme, however you must still book a free ticket for each event you want to attend.