Wild Flutes on the Run

Robert Dick, Ned McGowan and Anne La Berge perform on custom-made flutes precisely tuned to their own musical imagination. Together they present an evening of compositions and improvisations featuring an ensemble never heard before.

Robert Dick broke early with conventional ideas about what a flutist should play. From the 1970s onwards, he composed and improvised from the conviction that acoustic instruments can sound like human-powered synthesizers, driven by his fascination with the continuous transformation of sound. His invention, the Glissando Headjoint™, gave the flute a flexibility and expressivity it never had before - comparable to what the whammy bar does for the electric guitar - and opened up a vocal palette of sounds that previously did not exist.

Ned McGowan is an American-Dutch composer, flutist, researcher and teacher living in Amsterdam. His work has been performed internationally in halls such as Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw and the Purcell Room. As a performing musician, he specializes in the bass flute and has made an important contribution to the contemporary repertoire for low flute, including a series of feedback and percussion works. During this concert he also plays his new design of the vertical flute.

Anne La Berge explores the extremes in both composed and improvised music, at the edges of storytelling and sound art. Her work is rooted in social and political issues, and she works with quarter-tone flute, electronics, controllers, live processing and spoken text.

Robert Dick - flutes
Ned McGowan - flutes
Anne La Berge - flutes and electronics