G3 at the recent BBMix Festival at Carré Belle-Feuille
More concerts got cancelled due to Covid and related uncertainty. Happily, I’m doing a collaboration with composer/guitarist David Fenech, which we decided to schedule for next May in hopes that the pandemic restrictions will have eased by then.
The concert will be on May 12th in May, I’ll release the details soon.
In the meantime, a beautiful video of the concert we did at the BBMix Festival at Carré Bell-Feuille in Boulogne-Billancourt, was made by Bruno Gestin and Ben Lx. Boulogne-Billancourt is a close suburb of paris, on the métro line, with a great theatre and performance space, which you will see in the video.
The performance was of G3, here is a list of the players:
Live at Carré Belle-Feuille, Festival BBmix, Boulogne-Billancourt, France. 11/27/2021. L’ orchestre de guitares de Rhys Chatham :
Le 9 février 2021 Ghédalia Tazartès nous quittait. Dans le cadre de la Semaine du Bizarre, où il avait joué en décembre 2019 son dernier concert en duo avec Rhys Chatham, quinze musiciennes et musiciens qui ont tous collaboré avec Ghédalia proposeront un Concert pour Ghédalia. Avec Rhys Chatham, Maya Dunietz & Elie Tazartes, Parrenin/Weinrich/Rollet, Quentin Rollet/Jérôme Lorichon/Cosmic Neman, Opéra Mort, Super Stoned, Low Jack, Gwen Jamois.9 décembre 2021, 19hdans le cadre de La Semaine du Bizarre #10en partenariat avec Julie Tippex & Les Instants Chavirés Théâtre Municipal Berthelot Jean-Guerrin6, rue Marcellin-Berthelot93100 – Montreuil, FR prix – 12€
On February 9, 2021 Ghédalia Tazartès left us. As part of La Semaine du Bizarre, where he played his last concert in December 2019 as a duo with Rhys Chatham, fifteen musicians who all collaborated with Ghédalia will propose a Concert for Ghédalia, with Rhys Chatham, Maya Dunietz & Elie Tazartes, Parrenin/Weinrich/Rollet, Quentin Rollet/Jérôme Lorichon/Cosmic Neman, Opéra Mort, Super Stoned, Low Jack, Gwen Jamois.
December 9, 2021, 7pm as part of La Semaine du Bizarre #10 in partnership with Julie Tippex & Les Instants Chavirés – Théâtre Municipal Berthelot – Jean-Guerrin 6, rue Marcellin-Berthelot 93100 – Montreuil, FR price 12 euros.
G3 at RISK on Saturday 11 December 2021 – Stavanger, Norway
Photo: Sue Rynski
If you find yourself in the vicinity of Stavanger, Norway, we will be mounting a performance of G3 this week on Saturday, 11 December. For further info, click below.
Here is the lineup: Electric Guitar: Rhys, Gaute Granli, Jan Christian Lauritzen, Peter Larsen, Anders Mosnes, & Kristoffer Riis. Electric Bass: Markus Hagen Drums: Thore Warland
Rhys Chatham guitar orchestra at BBMix Festival on 27, 28 November in Paris!
I’ve been busy working on a new solo, which is why I’m a little late posting this. The main event for this month is the presentation of one of my guitar orchestras here in Paris, for the first time in quite a while.
The occasion will be the BBmix Festival, held on Saturday 27 November which will be the only appearance of the electric guitar orchestra, with the festival continuing on sunday with other amazing events.
After a yearlong pause, the BBMix Festival continues its musical explorations of its latest 16th edition at the Carré Bellefeuille at Boulogne Billancourt (easily accessible on the Paris Métro!)
Here’s the link to buy tickets, which are quite reasonably priced:
SAMEDI 27 NOVEMBRE ● L’ORCHESTRE DE GUITARES ÉLECTRIQUES DE RHYS CHATHAM (USA/FR) ● IN C POUR 11 OSCILLATEURS ET 53 FORMES (FR) ● ENSEMBLE NIST-NAH (AUS/FR/GB) ● VALENTINA MAGALETTI PLAYS THE BATTERIE FRAGILE (IT/FR)
DIMANCHE 28 NOVEMBRE ● CHOCOLAT BILLY (FR) ● AKSAK MABOUL (BE/FR) ● FAUST IV LIVE! (DE)
For the guitar orchestra, we have quite a lineup: Rhys Chatham, guitare Maxime Delpierre, guitare Lou Garcia, guitare Nico Guerrero, guitare Valentina Magaletti, batterie Tatiana Paris, guitare Jean-François Pauvros, guitare Myriam Stamoulis, basse
I’ll be participating in another cool event in November in the context of a screening of films by the No Wave filmmaker Vivienne Dick, who is having a retrospective of her work at Jeu de Paume Paris 18 – 28 November. Composer Martin Wheeler and I will be playing a live set in this context on the Friday 19 April. Go to this link for details:
I’ll be posting some snippets from my new solo in the coming days. A final bit of news, we were supposed to mount G3 in Saint Petersburg, Russia in November, but the show got pushed to next year due to Covid. Alas, we are not done with Covid, folks. so be safe, exercise prudence in your social contacts, and stay healthy!
At the end of June we in Paris were unconfined by order of our president.
I live in the 6th arrondissement, and on my way to the studio , which is also in the 6th, I must say that it was a pleasure to see everybody outdoors at the cafés on rue Bucci hanging out and enjoying themselves!
The only problem is that everybody was packed together like sardines, and of course no one was wearing masks because, hoorah hoorah, the confinement had been lifted!
rue Bucci, Paris 6
I wish people would exercise a little prudence, the pandemic isn’t over. It’s possible to carry COVID without showing symptoms and give it to other people, which is another good reason for continuing to wear masks.
While it is great that we musicians are starting to play again, I only hope it lasts. The choice today isn’t to get vaccinated or not get vaccinated, the choice is either everyone gets vaccinated or we go into confinement again, back and forth…endlessly!
Anyway, all that to say I finally have some concerts coming up in September! I only hope that they don’t get canceled due to COVID, but we’ll hope for the best…
The Farniente Festival – Saturday, 4 September 2021 – Saint Nazaire, France.
I’ve been working since early July at my studio in the south of France, in the foothills of the Pyrenees, near Céret. I have a solo performance coming up at the Farniente Festival on Saturday, 4th September in Saint Nazaire.
Evidently, the festival will be on the beach! Here are some photos:
Over the last few years, my solo has consisted of me playing Pythagorean Dream, a piece I had been developing since 2007 that was released on Foom Records about five years ago.
Since last July, I’ve been working on a new solo for me on alto and C flute, voice and (of course) electric guitar.
Instead of continuing to work with my analog setup of loops and other devices, I’m doing this piece completely live in Ableton, working with the Push 2 interface. I’m excited about the new sounds I’ve been getting and plan to present an early version of the new piece at the Farniente Festival.
Fields Festival – Saint Petersburg, Russia:
I’m please to be returning to Russia, this time to play at the Fields Festival in Saint Petersburg on Saturday, 19 September 2021.
We’ll be playing G3 with guitarists from the region of Saint Petersburg.
I don’t have the website yet but in the meantime I’ll post a picture from their FB page announcing the concert. As soon as I have the names of the musicians and other details, I’ll post them.
Photo by Sue Rynski – who captured my “bluesman” look…
We’re still confined, so my projects have consisted of things one can do online.
I’ve been working with electronic image artist Angie Eng doing music for her a multisensory installation entitled Kosmorganic Art. We hope to have documentation on that in the coming weeks.
Another new project is with choreographer Yves Musard, who is currently based in Marseilles. We’ve been working together virtually on a film featuring Yves and my music.
I’ve also been working on a series of short videos with installation artist Raphaele Shirley, here’s a short video of a piece she mounted that I added music to:
There is discussion of possible performances for the late spring and summer, but of course nothing is firm due to Covid.
I’m looking forward to performing live again. In that spirit, here is an excerpt of a performance I did in Paris, pre-Covid:
(video no longer available)
Other spring news:
There is a vinyl record in the works with the label SubRosa, it is a duo with me and the dearly recent departed Ghédalia Tazartès, scheduled to be released over the summer. I’ll announce the precise date as the time approaches.
I’m interested in doing sound tracks for films during these Covid times, so if you have a project the would benefit from a soundtrack by us, by all means let us know. I’m currently working with electronic sound, transverse flutes and of course electric guitar. Trumpet is on hold at present due to dental work.
Things are already looking up in the States with the change in administration. In Europe the Covid-19 vaccine is being distributed slowly. Hopefully by the springtime we’ll be able to start thinking about live concerts again.
I’m currently working on various collaborations that I can do over the internet. I’m also developing a new solo that involves electronics with flute and electric guitar. I hope to be posting some samples and snippets of this work on this page and elsewhere on the internet in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, below you will find an excerpt from a reading from Howl that I will soon be releasing.
The second short video, “3by3by3 (revisited”), draws from an ongoing collaboration between Rhys Chatham, Gh Hovagimyan and Raphaele Shirley.
We started the season off with the presentation of a dance theater piece by Pascal Gravat. I worked on the music all summer and we put the finishing touches on the piece at Théâtre Galpon in Geneva, rehearsing every day there the first two weeks of September.
The performances were on 15-20 September, which we were able to do despite Covid-19 by practicing strict social distancing and everybody wearing masks.
I was lucky, I arrived in Geneva from Pars just before the quarantine on people living in France, so I didn’t have to isolate during the rehearsals, although I wear a mask.
Here was the lineup:
Chorégraphie Pascal Gravat
Danse Pascal Merighi
Musique Rhys Chatham
Lumière Loïc Rivoalan
Collaboration à la chorégraphie Mélissa Cascarino
Costumes Toni Teixeira Administration Anaïde Ohannessian Image Pascal Gravat
Here is a link to a film excerpt of the piece:
And here are some photos:
Other news:
I am back in Paris, where we are largely in quarantine. I recently did some music for a sound sculpture by the visual artist Angie Eng, which is now finished. All my tours and concerts have been canceled, so I am actively looking for work.
If you have a project that needs music, this would be a good time to ask me. For enquiries, contact me at rhyschathamnews@gmail.com
Here is where I was on the first day of summer last year, or maybe it was the year before. Anyway, it was a performance of les 100 guitares in Le Havre, France. Photo is by Anonia Enos.
For this year, we are, of course, just coming out of lockdown here in France. I spent the spring working on a piece for choreographer Pascal Gravat, to be presented in Geneva this September. Further details to be announced.
For other news, a piece I wrote back in 2016 has finally been released! It is about 10-minutes and is called “For Bob”. It is a piece written in memory of the composer Robert Ashley, who was a composer I looked up to while coming of age.
It’s finally out on vinyl as part of a double compilation album with various artists, the proceeds of which benefit the Alzheimer’s Association, you can give it a listen at the link below.
The limited vinyl edition is for USD$ 50 (or more), the CD version is $30, and the MP3 (and similar) version is $25.
Aside from that, in related news, I’ve decided to get back to my roots in electronic music. Back in the nineties, I did extensive programming in Max and performed widely at the time on trumpet and interactive electronics programmed in Max. At the start of the mid-2000s I decided to get back into electric guitar and abandoned electronic music at that point… until now!
So this summer, I’ll be getting back into electronic music with a view to having a new live set ready to go for the autumn involving electronic sounds combined with the various live instruments that I play.
Watch these pages for updates!
For booking any of my projects, from les 100 guitares, to my various smaller ensembles, to my solo and duo projects, you can contact us at this address:
In December I did a duo concert with Ghédalia Tazartes at the Théâtre Municipal Berthelot Jean-Guérrin in Montreuil, France. The house was packed and we had a great time, here is a link to an excerpt from the concert:
For upcoming projects, I have been commissioned to do the music for a new work by Pascal Gravat entitled Quelqu’un d’autre,to be premiered at Théatre Galpon in Geneva this April featuring the danser Pascal Merighi, with staging by Syvie Kleiber. More on this as the date approaches!
I recently got together to play with the organist Hampus Lindwall, who plays the organ at Eglise Saint-Esprit in Paris. We did a jam to see how the timbres would mix between the instruments that I play and the organ, we thought that it sounded quite well. Here is a brief excerpt to give you an idea:
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We plan to continue this collaboration, normally culminating in recordings and performances in the not-to-distant future.
For the moment, I am putting my nose to the grindstone and working on the commission for Pascal Gravat, stay tuned to these pages for more news and music!
SAMEDI 27 NOVEMBRE
