Today we announce the first artists performing at the tenth edition of Rewire festival, taking place in The Hague from 3 to 5 April.
Since 2011 Rewire has been presenting adventurous music across a range of venues in The Hague, from churches, old factories and abandoned spaces to the more institutional theatres and pop venues. The tenth edition of the annual festival, taking place at more than 15 venues and different sites across the city, will continue to showcase emerging developments in contemporary music around the world. The festival programme highlights forward-thinking artists who push boundaries and rewire our perception of music and performance today.
The central thread running through the Rewire 2020 programme is (Re)setting: examining the way humans and sound relate to changing environments. In an era defined by man’s interaction with nature and advancing technological developments, (Re)setting responds to new listening experiences, urbanisation, the changing rural landscape and the ecological crisis. It seeks to query current perspectives via an extensive discourse programme of talks, workshops and an upcoming open call for essays and projects, in addition to the programme of concerts, interdisciplinary performances and screenings.
Festival Passes are now on sale with a €10 discount at Tickets. Please note that Jon Hopkins presents Polarity is not included in the Festival Pass. You will need to purchase an additional Plus Ticket for €15.
Ami Dang
Anna Meredith
Ben LaMar Gay
Blacks’ Myths
Cucina Povera
Dis Fig
Ex Eye
Gabber Modus Operandi
Galya Bisengalieva
Hildur Guðnadóttir presents Chernobyl
Hiro Kone
HTRK
Ian William Craig
James Ferraro
John T. Gast
Jon Hopkins presents Polarity
Juana Molina
Katie Gately
Leo Svirsky & The River Without Banks
Loraine James
Lorenzo Senni
OOIOO
Pelada
Rafael Anton Irisarri & Oliver Coates
Rafiq Bhatia
The Caretaker & Weirdcore
YATTA
More artists and projects, as well as an extensive discourse programme of talks, workshops and screenings will be added in the coming months.
As haunting as the legacy it soundtracks, will present her Emmy-winning and Grammy-nominated score for the HBO hit series ‘Chernobyl’. The celebrated Icelandic composer will perform processed recordings captured from Ignalina (the decommissioned power plant in Lithuania where the series was filmed) and live vocal orchestrations spatialised around the Electriciteitsfabriek, a working power station in the centre of the Hague. Renowned wildlife recordist Chris Watson and sound artist Sam Slater will join Guðnadóttir on stage. ‘Chernobyl’ is co-commissioned by Rewire, Barbican, Dark Mofo and Unsound.
Trained pianist and Grammy-nominated composer Jon Hopkins has forged an evocative style of electronica over five acclaimed solo albums and world-touring live performances. At Rewire 2020 Hopkins will present the Dutch debut of ‘Polarity’, a new concert for piano, strings and electronics, alongside a small group of consummate musicians at the Zuiderstrandtheater in Scheveningen.
Between 2016 and 2019 Leyland James Kirby devoted his The Caretaker alias to sonically charting the advancement of Alzheimer’s disease from “beautiful daydream” into an “abyss” of confusion, horror and isolation across a series of six albums. At Rewire 2020 Kirby will present a new show combining music from the series with live visuals, inspired by The Caretaker’s iconic cover artwork by painter Ivan Seal, from Aphex Twin collaborator Weirdcore.
The Hague-based artist Leo Svirsky returns to Rewire to expand upon his acclaimed Unseen Worlds debut, ‘River Without Banks’. With this special commission, the Russian-American composer will perform together with a large ensemble of internationally renowned musicians and composers, including Reinier van Houdt, Germaine Sijstermans, Johnny Chang, Catherine Lamb, Bryan Eubanks, Luke Stewart and many others. Created through an extensive collaborative process, the River Without Banks immerses the listener in never ending reverberation, unbinding place and time and blurring the perception of past and present.
Prolific experimental composer and musician James Ferraro will present a new audiovisual show based on his latest great epic work, ‘Four Pieces of Mirai’. Building a philosophical allegory around the decline of civilisation, Ferraro offers a dystopian future cloaked in a contemplative generative music score, accompanied by specially arranged digital and woodwind instruments at Rewire 2020.
A dystopian theme runs through the latest work by hardware musician and experimental techno producer Hiro Kone. ‘A Fossil Begins To Bray’ responds to the looming threat of unrelenting techno-fascism with dramatic electronic soundscapes that will be presented at Rewire 2020. Similarly, celebrated ambient musician and cellist, electronic producer and composer Oliver Coates take a prophetic stance on their brand new collaboration, performed for the first time in Holland at Rewire 2020. Through improvised longform compositions of saturated drones and electronics, the pair explore a world endgame scenario caused by accelerated environmental change.
Irreverent Japanese quartet OOIOO bring their new album, ‘Nijimusi’, to Rewire 2020. Approaching their instruments simply as “objects that make sounds” on their eighth studio album, after a six year production hiatus the band return as a more conventional rock ensemble – or do they? Oh-oh-eye-oh-oh!
Underground supergroup Ex Eye, made up of storied musicians Colin Stetson, Greg Fox, Shazad Ismaily and Toby Summerfield, will bring their righteous fusion of metal and avant jazz for a cathartic show at Rewire 2020. More ecstatic jazz comes via the prolific multi-instrumentalist Ben LaMar Gay, one of Chicago’s most adventurous performers and member of the venerated Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) collective.
Blacks’ Myths, whose music reflects on American black history, brings a non-compromising mixture of punk, noise and jazz. The duo, comprising of two of Washington DC’s most active musicians, features Luke Stewart on bass and Warren Crudup on drums. Their latest release includes a special spoken word appearance by Dr. Thomas Stanley, who is joining the duo for this unique performance.
With a sound straddling contemporary classical music, avant pop, electronica and experimental rock, Anna Meredith is one of the one of the most innovative voices in British music. Performing clarinet and electronics in her own band (featuring players on cello, electric guitar, tuba and drums), the Scottish composer and producer will perform songs from her latest genre-crossing and critically acclaimed album ‘FIBS’.
Argentinian singer-songwriter Juana Molina presents the joyful artpunk of her current EP, ‘Forfun’, whilst Australian duo HTRK channel the melancholia and emotive songwriting of their latest album, ‘Venus in Leo’. With a very different use of vocals and lyrics, interdisciplinary artist and digipoet YATTA brings to life the poetic world of queer disorientatation that is ‘WAHALA’.
As ever, Rewire’s club programme presents a mix of emergent and established names across the spectrum of electronic music. The mechanisms of trance through a spectacular new live show from Lorenzo Senni, Dutch gabber-meets-Indonesian Dangdut Koplo and gamelan from explosive duo Gabber Modus Operandi, and raw rave, acid, breakbeats and dembow from activistic live duo Pelada are some of the energetic sounds coming to Rewire 2020. Hyperdub’s newest signee Loraine James brings a blast of jazz, electronica, UK drill and grime, next to a beguiling live show from mysterious UK producer John T. Gast.
Unique and boundering-crossing instrumentalists always feature strongly at Rewire. For the tenth edition, the festival welcomes award winning Kazakh/British violinist Galya Bisengalieva, known for her solos in live productions of ‘Phantom Thread’, ‘Under the Skin’ and ‘There Will Be Blood’, as well as the South Asian-American composer Ami Dang who creates evocative ambient trance music with sitar, voice and electronics. New York-based composer and producer Rafiq Bhatia, and member of Son Lux, brings his trio to The Hague to perform music from his album ‘Breaking English’ and yet to be released material.
Glasgow-based sound artist Cucina Povera will bring her unique approach, creating meditative and spiritual songs through minimal electronic music to Rewire 2020. Next to experimental ambient producer Ian William Craig, these two artists present works pivoting around innovative manipulations of the voice. Ferocious DJ and producer Dis Fig will also present a vocal-centric new work, ‘Purge’, as will producer and sound designer Katie Gately, who sings in choral tones over hard and brittle sound design on new album, ‘Loom’, which will be released just ahead of the festival.
Rewire 2020 Festival Passes grant access to all festival activities* from 3 to 5 April, and will be released in three stages.
*Please note that Jon Hopkins presents Polarity is not included in the Festival Pass. You will need to purchase an additional Plus Ticket for €15.
Early Bird Festival passes are sold out. Reduced Festival Passes are now available for €72.50/€80. Regular Festival Passes will be on sale from 2 February onwards for the price of €90. Individual Day tickets will be available from January.
Festival Passes are available at Tickets.