Cellist Leila Bordreuil and guitarist Lee Ranaldo present Constellations, a new longform work that introduces structure to their earlier free improvisations. The duo explores a more defined sound—one that seems to expand endlessly, even as it circles back to begin again.

Lee Ranaldo (b.1956, Glen Cove, N.Y.), musician, visual artist, and writer, co-founded Sonic Youth in 1981. He played in Glenn Branca’s early ensembles and symphonies, 1980–1984, and has been active both in New York and internationally for over forty years as a composer, performer, collaborator, and producer, also exhibiting visual art at galleries and museums worldwide, and publishing several books of journals, poetry, and writings on music. His 30-year performance partnership with Leah Singer, currently Contre Jour, have been large scale, multi-projection sound and light events with suspended electric guitar phenomena that challenge the usual performer/audience relationship. He lives in New York City.

Leila Bordreuil (b.1990, Brooklyn, N.Y.) is a Brooklyn-based cellist, composer, and improviser from Aix-en-Provence, France. Her cello playing focuses on the inherent sonic qualities of her instrument, paying careful attention to timbre and texture. Through extended techniques, unorthodox amplification, and sound-spatialization, Bordreuil explores both the possibilities of the cello and the body’s experience of sound in space.

Her collaborative projects are numerous and diverse, including work with Lee Ranaldo, Luke Stewart, Bill Nace, Tamio Shiraishi, Bookworms, Zach Rowden, Kali Malone, and Laurel Halo.

She has performed at the Whitney Museum, MoMA PS1, The Kitchen, The Stone, Issue Project Room, Lincoln Center, Roulette, and Pioneer Works, New York; Café Oto, London; All Ears Festival, Oslo; Ausland, Berlin; Ftarri, Tokyo; Le Guess Who?, Utrecht; KRAAK Festival, Brussels; Sound of Stockholm Festival, Stockholm; BRDCST Festival, Brussels; Control Club, Bucharest; and the Heresy Series for Women in Sound, Manila.

She was a 2021 Jerome Foundation Artist Fellow and an Artist-in-Residence at INA GRM, Paris. Other residencies include EMS, Stockholm (2019); Exploring the Metropolis, New York, N.Y. (2019); Les Brasseries Atlas, Brussels (2018); MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, N.H. (2017); Issue Project Room, Brooklyn, N.Y. (2016); and the Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, Fla. (2013).

Leila Bordreuil appeared with Lampo in March 2018, her first performance in Chicago.

Lampo, established in 1997, supports artists working in new music, experimental sound, and other interdisciplinary practices. The Chicago-based organization's core activity has been and remains its performance series. Rather than making programming decisions around tour schedules, Lampo invites selected artists to create and perform new work, and then the organization provides the space, resources, and curatorial support to help them fulfill their vision. Lampo also organizes artist talks, lectures, screenings, and workshops, and publishes written and recorded documents related to its series.

Photo: Reuben Radding

Accessibility: This event will be held in the ballroom on the third floor of the Madlener House, which is only accessible by stairs. The first-floor galleries and bookshop are accessible via outdoor lift. Please contact us at 312.787.4071 or info@grahamfoundation.org to make arrangements.

Note: Registration for Lampo programs is required, but does not guarantee entry. Capacity for this performance is limited. Doors open 20 minutes prior to the performance and seats are available on a first-come, first-serve basis for those registered in advance. Reservations expire 5 minutes before the performance start time, at which point seating will be released to the waitlist. Due to the popularity of the Lampo programs, performances quickly reach capacity. No late seating will be permitted.