Welshman Rhodri Davies confronts traditional concepts of the harp through his use of preparations, de-tuned, bowed and e-bowed strings.

Here, he presents a program of recent works for both lap harp and concert pedal harp—material from his acclaimed Wound Response and pieces composed for him by Yasunao Tone and Alison Knowles—in his Chicago solo debut and first local appearance since 2002.

Tone works tonight include Origin of Geometry: An Introduction (2006) and Ten Haikus of Matsuo Basho (2006, 2007).

Rhodri Davies (b.1971, Aberystwyth, Wales) plays harp, electric harp, live-electronics and builds wind, water, ice and fire harp installations. He has released four solo albums—Trem (2001), Over Shadows (2007), Wound Response (2012) and An Air Swept Clean of All Distance (2014). His regular groups include a duo with John Butcher, Common Objects, HEN OGLEDD: Dawson – Davies, a trio with David Toop and Lee Patterson, Cranc, The Sealed Knot and a trio with John Tilbury and Michael Duch. In 2008 he collaborated with the visual artist Gustav Metzger on Self-cancellation, a large-scale audio-visual project in London and Glasgow. New pieces for solo harp have been composed for him by Éliane Radigue, Phill Niblock, Christian Wolff, Ben Patterson, Alison Knowles, Mieko Shiomi and Yasunao Tone. In 2012 he was the recipient of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Grants to Artists Award.

Presented in partnership with the Graham Foundation