Tectonics Festival

This year we’re bringing artists from around the globe to Glasgow: Colombia’s Lucrecia Dalt has wowed crtics and audiences alike with her new album and she closes the first night of the festival; we welcome pianist Aki Takahashi who’ll give the World Premiere of a new work by one of Japan’s longstanding composers, Somei Satoh, along with works by Bunita Marcus and Peter Garland; Germany’s Limpe Fuchs is something of a legend in new music circles; and France’s Jérôme Noetinger has been pushing boundaries for decades. Another pianist, Cory Smythe, brings his improvisatory flair to a solo set and also performs in Ingrid Laubrock’s Drilling, along with the composer and Adam Linson, a premiere delayed from 2020 due to the pandemic. And also from the States, ‘the king of sampling’ himself, the inimitable Carl Stone.

Scottish and UK-based artists continue to be our lifeblood. Inge Thomson & Calum McIntyre open the festival on the 29th, followed by Manchester cellist and sound artist, Semay Wu, while Glasgow’s Lucy Duncombe and Feronia Wennborg team up for a duo set.

A new work by composer Rufus Isabel Elliot is one of a number of BBC Commissions and orchestral World Premieres for the BBC SSO, with others from Linda Buckley and Scott McLaughlin, and US composers Ian Power and William Dougherty. Being forward-looking can also involve championing artists from the past that we’d like to see programmed more in the future. So in amongst the World Premieres you’ll also find a work by the late Dutch composer Margriet Hoenderdos.

The Recital Room installation has seen a number of prestigious artists and performers and this year we’re excited to welcome Ryoko Akama to create a unique response to the space, as part of her shimatsu series. We also welcome Maayan Franco, who’s been behind the scenes at Tectonics for a few years now, and who steps up to the podium to conduct the BBC SSO for the first of its two concerts.

Thanks for being with us over the past decade. We’re certain this year’s festival will channel all the excitement and optimism of the very first one. But here’s to the future…