Phil Durrant (electric mandolin and electronics) and Christoph Gallio (saxophones) are veterans of the international free improvisation scene. Their individual and collaborative projects have helped shape the development of improvised music. They first worked together over 40 years ago, but it wasn’t until 2022 that they started performing as a duo. It is rare that improvisors of their calibre make it out to NZ, so we’re very happy to host them at Pyramid Club for a duo concert plus collaborative sets with local musicians.
Phil Durrant (London, UK) is a multi-instrumentalist improviser, composer and sound artist. As a violinist he was one of the key exponents of the ‘group voice approach’ style of improvised music, performing as a member of the Butcher/Russell/Durrant trio, News From The Shed and the Chris Burn Ensemble. In the late 90s, his influential trio with Radu Malfatti and Thomas Lehn represented a shift to a more reductionist approach. As a synthesiser player, Durrant performs with Bertrand Denzler and Burkhard Beins in Trio Sowari. He is also a member of the international electronic ensemble MIMEO with Keith Rowe, Kaffe Matthews, Thomas Lehn and Rafael Toral. He has performed all over Europe and Canada and released CDs and records on Acta and Emanem Records.
Swiss saxophonist and composer Christoph Gallio studied classical saxophone with Iwan Roth at the Basel Music Conservator and then with Steve Lacy in Paris. He has collaborated with many of the world’s leading voices in improvisation including Irene Schweizer, Urs Blöchlinger, Mani Neumeier, Peter Kowald, Fred Frith, Haco, Tetsu Saitoh, Phil Minton, Pablo Diaz, Marcelo von Schultz, Olie Brice, Andrew Lisle, Cath Roberts, Irene Aebi, William Parker, Rashied Ali, Matthew Ostrowski, Gerry Hemingway, Sven-Åke Johansson, Olaf Rupp, Jan Roder, Oli Steidle, Andrea Neumann, Ernst Thoma, Julian Sartorius, Nicolas Stocker, Paula Shocron, Sergio Merce, Alistair Zaldua, Phil Durrant, Roger Turner, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and many more. Gallio has been running his own label PERCASO since 1986.
www.gallio.ch
Durrant and Gallio will perform a duo set, and then be joined by local improvising musicians Tom Callwood (bass), Jake Baxendale (sax) and Daniel Beban (guitar/tapes).
Their tour is sponsored by Swiss Arts Council, Aargauer Kuratorium, City of Baden, SIS (Schweizerische Interpreten Stiftung) and Fondation SUISA.
$15 unwaged door sales
Special thanks to CNZ for supporting Pyramid Club's programme
