A very dear friend and one of the greatest living experimental pianists returns to the People's Republic from Berlin to explore our new grand piano with some brilliant friends from Sydney in an unmissable special performance...

MAGDA MAYAS [Piano] with JIM DENLEY
and GREAT WAITRESS

Magda Mayas is unquestionably one of the world’s leading piano improvisers and she joins us at the People’s Republic for the sixth time! She has performed and toured in Europe, the USA, Australia and Lebanon and collaborated with a plethora of leading composers and improvisers such as John Butcher, Christine Abdelnour, Zeena Parkins, Joelle Leandre, Phill Niblock, Andrea Neumann, Hamid Drake, Axel Dörner, Thomas Lehn, Tristan Honsinger and Tony Buck.

Great Waitress is the acclaimed international improvisational collaboration of Magda Mayas (piano, Berlin), Monica Brooks (accordion, Dharug and Gundungurra country, Katoomba) and Laura Altman (clarinet, Gadigal and Wangal country, Sydney). 
The trio first played in 2009, curated as a first time collaboration at the NOW now festival in the Blue Mountains, and instantly formed a special rapport.
Jim Denley writes, “From their first performance… there has always been magic created whenever they play.” He describes Great Waitress as “one of the most important improvising ensembles of the twenty-first century.” 
They have toured in Australia and across Europe, performing at events including the NOW now Festival (NSW), Sound Out Festival (ACT), Konfrontationen and Music Unlimited (Austria), All Ears Festival (Norway) and Festival Densités (France). They have also released four albums. In the liner notes to their most recent release Chris Abrahrams says, “A favoured criterion I’ve lately adopted as to what constitutes ‘good’ music is that it should affirm the need for humans to make it; I should be able to intuit from listening: ‘this is why humans make and need music.’ This is how I feel when I listen to 'back, before.'...

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT GREAT WAITRESS HERE

Magda Mayas & Jim Denley Duo first performed together at the Densité Festival, France in 2011 when Jim Denley (flutes and saxophones) and Magda Mayas (prepared piano or clavinet) shared the stage. On their CD Tempe Jetz (2017), Magda played the clavinet and on their second CD One Another (to be released in 2025), Magda is playing the late Cor Fuhler's piano. If Jim is in Europe or Magda in Australia, they will always try and get together to record or play live. Their musicking isn't made by two detached singularities, it's an emotive and affecting experience, each phase-shifting reconfigured by the gravity of the other. They hope it's also an affecting and emotive experience for audiences.

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