Okkyung Lee‘s Yeo-Neun Quartet
CS + Kreme

Seated concert in the Auditorium.

The Bourse the Commerce will host a concert by Korean experimental music cellist Okkyung Lee, a major figure of New York’s avant-garde scene over the last two decades. For the first time ever in France, she will present her ensemble Yeo-Neun Quartet, whose compositions blend traditional Korean sounds, modern classical music, and improvisation. Her songs are rooted in the artist’s musical memory, ranging from the folk ballads of her childhood to the multiple uprootings she experienced in learning to play the cello. The evening will conclude with a set by the Australian experimental music duo CS + Kreme.

Artist Thomas Jeppe is creating the stage design for the concert - a sculptural structure and a series of paintings collectively entitled Time is a Bozo, based on a piece by CS + Kreme. In what looks like a music kiosk, Yeo-Neun Quartet begins to perform its improvisations through the openings in the structure. This frame will move during the evening to welcome the duo CS + Kreme. Thomas Jeppe’s artistic practice includes painting, sculpture, and publishing, and it concerns the social histories that surround cultural production. Jeppe has created album covers for many artists, including the first records by CS + Kreme.

Okkyung Lee is a cellist and composer who explores the farthest edges of contemporary cello playing. Trained in classical music in South Korea, she developed a highly versatile approach to the instrument, ranging from tonal elegance to nervous improvisation, testing the boundaries between tonality and noise. Since 2016, with her cello, she directs the Yeo-Neun Quartet, accompanied by harpist Maeve Gilchrist, pianist Jacob Sacks, and bassist Eivind Opsvik. In 2020, they released the album Yeo-Neun, which in Korean signifies the gesture of an opening, on the French label Shelter Press. The ten tracks waver between delicate compositions and free improvisation, traditional Korean influences, and avant-garde experimentation.

Yeo-Neun Quartet is composed of : 

Okkyung Lee : Cello

Maeve Gilchrist : Harp

Jacob Sacks : Piano

Eivind Opsvik : Bass

Experimental music duo CS + Kreme consists of the Australians Conrad Standish (alias CS) and Sam Karmel (called Kreme). 2020 saw the release of the delicate Snoopy, which juxtaposed many worlds: dub, a slow and melodious ambient, rap instruments, the buzzing of insects, and beat boxes. In 2022, they released their new album Orange on the label Trilogy Tapes, which is infused with the most diverse influences and experimentations.