Big Ears Festival Announces Roster

BIG EARS FESTIVAL 2015 ANNOUNCES:

TYONDAI BRAXTON’S HIVE – A Weekend Residency at the Knoxville Museum of Art

SILVER APPLES (Special Edition: SIMEON COXE AND TOBY DAMMIT)

OMAR SOULEYMAN, WILLIAM TYLER,

BING & RUTH, RYLEY WALKER, WU MAN, LOSCIL also join 2015 Big Ears roster

America’s genre-busting boundary-blurring Big Ears Festival is proud to unveil new facets of its kaleidoscopic 2015 weekend, scheduled for March 27 – 29 in multiple venues throughout historic downtown Knoxville, Tennessee. 

Tyondai Braxton – “one of the most acclaimed experimental musicians of the last decade” (Washington Post) and former front man of the band, Battles – will present his remarkable live-performance conception, HIVE, in a weekend residency at the Knoxville Museum of Art.  Both an installation and a performance, HIVE features five musicians sitting atop oval pods designed by acclaimed Danish architect Uffe Surland Van Tams.  The live music combines synths, samples, and intricately composed acoustic percussion with lighting and visual effects programmed to create a visceral and expressive sonic mood. Premiered in 2013 at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City and later performed at the Sydney Opera House and the Barbican in London, this performance will mark only the second occasion that HIVE has been presented in North America.  HIVE will be performed several times during the residency, and Braxton has hinted at other surprises in store for the weekend as well.

Another exciting addition to the Big Ears weekend will showcase the pioneering minimalist electronic duo Silver Apples in a special performance where founder Simeon Coxe will be joined by drummer Toby Dammit aka Larry Mullins (drummer for Iggy Pop, Iggy and the Stooges, Swans, and countless others).   Formed in 1967, Silver Apples fused Simeon’s homemade synthesizer and eerie vocals with the electrifying drumming of the late Danny Taylor and quickly gained an underground reputation amongst the New York avant-garde.  Although they disbanded in 1969, their musical influence continued to grow on new generations of sonic explorers, and Silver Apples was reactivated in 1996.  This Big Ears performance by Silver Apples will be a special event in at least two ways:  it will mark the first ever collaboration between the two, who only recently met and discovered they were both originally from Knoxville, TN.  So, it will be both a premiere and a homecoming.

That’s not all.  Other new additions to the festival slate include Syrian dance party master Omar Souleyman; mysterious minimalist collective Bing & Ruth; guitarist extraordinaire William Tyler (presenting Corduroy Roads, his haunting show commissioned by Duke University and inspired by images of the Civil War); psychedelic folk rocker Ryley Walker; Chinese pipa virtuoso and longtime Kronos Quartet collaborator, Wu Man; acclaimed ambient/electronic composer/performer, Loscil; and lyricist, self-taught painter, and multimedia artist Little Annie, who’s collaborated with everyone from Adrian Sherwood to Crass and more.

“We’re thrilled that these amazing artists will be joining us at Big Ears this year, “ says Big Ears founder, Ashley Capps.  “We’ve been working on locking down the details of these performances for weeks – even months in couple of cases.  These additional performances will add another dimension to what’s already an extraordinary weekend.  It’s almost like another festival within the festival.”

For the full lineup, please see the list below or  http://www.BigEarsFestival.com.

More details about the Big Ears Festival will be announced shortly – including film programs, artist talks and discussions, interactive projects, and more.  Details of the full daily schedule will also be announced soon.

Full Lineup (with latest additions denoted):

Kronos Quartet: 2015 Artists-in-Residence

Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet “Landfall”

Terry Riley

Tyondai Braxton: HIVE*

tUnE-yArDs

Max Richter: The Blue Notebooks and Infra featuring American Contemporary Music Ensemble

Max Richter: Vivaldi Recomposed and The Leftovers featuring The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and

American Contemporary Music Ensemble

Swans

Ben Frost

Bryce Dessner

The Bad Plus

Bill Frisell

Jamie xx

Silver Apples*

Perfume Genius

Rhiannon Giddens

Tanya Tagaq

Clark

Nels Cline

“Häxan” re-scored by Demdike Stare

Grouper

Loscil*

SQÜRL

Omar Souleyman*

Sam Amidon

A Winged Victory for the Sullen

Nosaj Thing

Gyan Riley

Harold Budd & Keith Lowe

Ryley Walker*

Steve Gunn

William Tyler*

Little Annie*

Amen Dunes

Wu Man*

Jozef Van Wissem

Bing & Ruth*

Hildur Guðnadóttir

Holly Herndon