Alexander Hawkins Photo credit: © Francesca Patella

Peter Bacon reports:

The Emulsion Festival, the celebration masterminded by Trish Clowes and Tom Harrison of all that is adventurous and open-minded in music, reaches its seventh incarnation at the MAC in Birmingham on the first weekend of November.

The big guest name this time around is pianist Alexander Hawkins and the line-up is completed by saxophonists Clowes and Harrison, Chris Montaque (guitar), Mandhira de Saram (violin), Lauren Weavers (oboe), Percy Pursglove (trumpet and bass), James Maddren (drums), Louise McMonagle (cello), Ross Stanley (piano and Hammond organ), Donald Grant (violin) and Catriona McDermid (bassoon).

According to the Emulsion VII press release:

“The evening concert on 2 November will present a myriad of small and large line-ups from the Emulsion Sinfonietta featuring our special guest Alexander Hawkins. The afternoon event on the 3rd is Clowes’ new immersive event ‘Emulsify’ (debuted at Emulsion VI) in which audience members can explore morphing between the roles of listener and performer with Emulsion members.

“Across the festival you can experience a melding of contemporary musics, drawing from the jazz, classical and folk traditions. Featured composers include Anthony Braxton, Percy Pursglove, Trish Clowes, Bela Bartok, Nicola Lafanu, Alexander Hawkins, Donald Grant… as well as free improvisations from all the players.”

Writing about Emulsion III, Matthew Wright of the Arts Desk, described “an absorbing spectacle of multi-genre music that was both emotionally and technically compelling… brilliant, three-dimensional theatricality” .

LINK: Full details of Emulsion VII