The Mad Moon and the Owls
7:30pm Tuesday 20 October 2026
The Horse Hospital
Collonade, Bloomsbury
London WC1N 1JD
Plus-Minus Ensemble introduces UK audiences to the music of American composer Tristan Perich, with two works for instruments with 6-channel 1-bit electronics. The WIRE magazine describes his compositions as “an austere meeting of electronic and organic” and the Wall Street Journal said “its oscillations have an intense, hypnotic force and a surprising emotional depth”. See here for a short intro to Tristan’s 1-bit music.
The programme also features works by Natacha Diels and Jack Sheen. In The Mad Moon and the Owl, Diels sets a simple narrated story to fantastical music for clarinet and synth. Sheen's Lop tests the edges of instrumental sound in tiny, looping, evolving patterns.
To kick us off we’re delighted to welcome guest trombonist Benny Vernon with a performance of Xenakis’s awesome solo Keren.
Programme
Part one
Iannis Xenakis • Keren
Jack Sheen • Lop
Part two
Tristan Perich • Observations
Natacha Diels • The Mad Moon and the Owls
Part three
Tristan Perich • Formations
Performers
Benny Vernon, trombone
Plus-Minus Ensemble
Mira Benjamin violin
Elsa Bradley crotales, narrator, percussion
Mark Knoop crotales, keyboard, electronics
Alice Purton cello
Vicky Wright clarinet/bass clarinet
