Thomas Ankersmit combines abstract, intensely focused saxophone playing with hyper-kinetic analog synth and laptop improvisation, in his Lampo debut.

Here, he presents a solo concert for alto sax, Serge modular synthesizer and computer. He also will employ several highly directional loudspeakers—a new component in his work. In performance, Ankersmit walks around the space with the saxophone, reflecting sound from the walls and the floor. The directional speakers project sound to different spots in the room and set distant objects in motion, making them resonate with an ultrasonic beam. He places preparations on them that start to buzz and sing like insects.

For Ankersmit, the set-up is very much an interconnection between the different parts, where digital steers analog, computer recordings are processed by tape techniques, the synthesizer processes fragmented recordings of its own signals, and the saxophone blends with the electronic sound.

Thomas Ankersmit (b.1979, Leiden, The Netherlands) is a 29-year old saxophonist, electronic musician and installation artist, now based in Berlin. He also creates installation pieces that use sound, infrasound and “modifications to the acoustic characters of spaces” that disrupt the listener’s perception of space and their presence within it. He is a frequent collaborator with New York minimalist Phill Niblock and Milan-based electroacoustic improviser Giuseppe Ielasi, and other improv partners include Gert-Jan Prins, Thomas Lehn, Keith Rowe, Kevin Drumm and Axel Dörner.

Support provided by the Consulate General of the Netherlands, Chicago