For her third and final performance as a 2016 Artist-In-Residence, Leila Bordreuil premieres “Void and Dismissal” -- a collaborative piece developed by Bordreuil and composer, guitarist and vocalist Austin Julian (Sediment Club, Sunk Heaven). Featuring Tamio Shiraishi (alto sax) and Julia Santoli (spatialized amplifiers), the piece combines music and performance art within an operatic structure using homemade instruments and creative amplification methods. Evolving out of Bordreuil and Julian’s long-standing performance history, “Void and Dismissal” operates as an interactive piece at the intersection of noise, rock and sound-art -- a realized installment of their jointly subversive, amplified tonality and caustic sensibilities.
An improvised duo set by Leila Bordreuil on amplified cello and acclaimed guitarist Bill Nace -- well known as one half of visceral avant-noise duo Body/Head -- opens the performance.
Leila Bordreuil is a Brooklyn-based cellist and composer from France. Her cello playing is often improvised, and focuses on the relationship between the human body and the inherent sonic qualities of her instrument. Essential to her musical aesthetic is the expression of humans’ neuro-somatic imperfections, which she chooses to magnify through extreme amplification of very quiet playing, revealing microscopic gestures that are otherwise inaudible to the human ear. Her composed works draw from a similar aesthetic but also focus on sound through space and the distortion that arises from spatially organized sound sources. Leila’s collaborative projects include duos with Michael Foster and Tamio Shiraishi, a trio with Sean Ali and Joanna Mattrey, and the no-wave band “Signal Break” with Austin Jullian (Sediment Club) and Evin Huguenin (Sects). She has performed at the Whitney Museum, The Kitchen, The Stone, MoMA PS1, Roulette, the Performa Biennale, Ftarri (Tokyo, JP), the Heresy Series for Women in Sound (Manila, PHL), and many basements across the U.S.
