The Institute of Music of Oldenburg University has invited Bill Drummond to lead a performance by The17 in Oldenburg as part of the Sounding D festival. Sounding D is organised by Netwerk Neue Musik. Sounding D is happeing at various cities across Germany including Oldenburg. In Oldenburg the festival is based at the city's railway station and takes on the name Bahnklang (Train Sound). Drummond will be leading a performance of Score 328: SURROUND

This is The17's premier performance in Germany.

If you are interested in being one of The17 for this performance please email the17-oldenburg@gmx.de

Bill Drummond will be leading The17 through a performance of the UK premier of the score NIGHTCLUBBING at Camp Bestival 2010. The performance will include ten sessions with groups of 17 individuals. Each session will last up to 30 minutes and will take place through out Saturdau 31 July, at an as yet undisclosed location on the festival site. The combined performance/recording will be played back through the main PA on the Sunday evening. Tickets can be bought from the Camp Bestival site here.

This performance is part of The17 City-to-City world tour.

As part of The17's world tour Bill Drummond will be begining a performance of Score 321: SHOW in Milton Keynes, England. On Tuesday 6 July 2010 he will be eliciting the 100 responses in bars and cafes across the city throughout the day and evening.

This performance is twinned with another performance of the same score that John Hirst will be leading in Anchorage, Alaska. This should be happening at the same time (weather permitting).

The 200 collected responses will then be used as text on 200 different editions of Penkiln Burn beer mats. These beer mats will then be distributed throughout bars in both Milton Keynes and Anchorage.  Written and photographic documentation of these two performances of SHOW may be added to the TOUR section of The17 site.

As part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour, Bill Drummond will be leading a performance of Score 8: TAKE at the Callanish Stones on the Isle-of-Lewis, Scotland on 19 June 2010. This performance is to be twinned with a performance of the same score at Almendres Cromlech, Evora, Portugal in June 2011.

At 7pm the evening before (19 June), Drummond will be giving a Performance/Lecture regarding The17 at an Lanntair, Kenneth St., Stornoway, Isle-of-Lewis, Scotland HS1 2DS.

If you are interested in taking part in the performance at the Callanish Stones contact admin@penkilnburn.com

If you are interested in attending the Performance/Lecture at An Lanntair either phone 01851 703307 or contact info@lanntair.com

Bill Drummond was invited to give a lecture and lead a performance by The17 at the 2010 European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Radio Drama Workshop. The EBU is based in Geneva and its Radio Drama Workshop is held in a different European states, every second year. In 2010 it is being hosted by HRT/Croatia in Zagreb. The Workshop is between 9 - 11 June. The overall title for 2010 is "Listen Again: The Power of Sounds"

The score performed was a version of Score 13: CELEBRATE.

Bill Drummond is a patron of the Haiti Earthquake Fundraiser @ The Roundhouse. His involvement in the event will evolve. What is known is that he has written a piece for the event's website - to read it click here. It is also presumed that on the night he will say a few words about The17 in Haiti, before leading the audience through a performance of the world premiere of Score 357: LOUDER & LOUDER

More information to follow.

L'Ecole Guillaume Manigat, the school in Port-au-Prince, Haiti where The17 performed during the week before Christmas was in the worst hit area of the city. It was in one of the poorest areas of the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. The school had next to nothing already, now they will have less than nothing. This school was for the poorest of the poor. And yet they were all bright eyed and enthusiatic performers with The17. They were smart, intelligent and had a thirst to learn. They were welcoming of us and open to all the ideas that we were working on together.

As yet we (John Hirst, Tracey Moberly & Bill Drummond) have not been able to learn any news of the school, the pupils or the members of staff -  but we fear the worst. As soon as we know we will put a new News item on this site, to let you know.

The performance in Port-au-Prince was twinned with a performance of the same score at Kingswood Comprehensive, Corby, UK in November 2009. We showed them a large print of a photograph of the young folk from Corby. From seeing this they were eager to learn what the pupils in Kingswood were like and how they performed and what they wore and how they talked and what music they listened to.

After their performance we had a photograph taken of them holding the photograph of Kingswood photo. To view photograph click here

Next week we will be going back to Kingswood to talk to the pupils there, show them the photograph of all the pupils in Port-au-Prince holding the photograph of them. We have also  set up a fund in association with the pupils of Kingswood to raise money specifically for L'Ecole Guillaume Manigat. Click the donate button below to contribute. All funds received (minus PayPal fee) will go directly to L'Ecole Guillaume Manigat. This is to be a long term project between The17 and this school and is not an alternative to the work being done by other charities and agencies who are dealing with Haiti's intstant need for food, water and medicine.  If you are interested in learning more about this fund please contact admin@the17.org

Photograph taken by Tracey Moberly: L'Ecole Guillaume Manigat, Port-au-Prince, 15 December 2009

The17 have been invited to perform at the first Ghetto Biennale in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

The Ghetto Biennale - A Salon des Refusés for the 21st century - is being hosted by the Grand Rue Sculptors of Port-au-Princ

The17 will be performing a version of Score 7. COLLABORATE with all the pupils of L'Ecole Guillaume Manigat in the Grand Rue, Port-au-Prince. This performance will be twinned with a performance of the same score at Kingswood School, Corby, England. Both the Port-au-Prince and the Corby performances are part of The17’s Coast-to-Coast world tour.

The17 will also be performing Score 324. NIGHTCLUBBING at a Voodoo temple in the city. This performance will be part of the City-to-City world tour.

Learn more about the Ghetto Biennale and the Grand Rue Sculptors.

No Music Day is on 21 November

No Music Day 2009 is year five of a five-year plan.

Linz, Austria, in its role as European Capital of Culture (2009), elected to host the fifth No Music Day as part of the cities Hörstadt (Acoustic city) Initiative . To know what this Hörstadt Initiative is visit www.hoerstadt.at

To know more about No Music Day or make your statement visit www.nomusicday.com

The17 were invited to perform at the 10th Open International Performance Art Festival in Beijing, China, this August.

The performance they gave was of Score 328 SURROUND and took place on 14 August 2009. This performance is part of The17’s Coast-to-Coast world tour. This performance was twinned with a performance of the same score in Northampton, England, that took place on 14 March 2009.

The members of The17 taking part in this performance were made up of 100 Beijing market stallholders.

Read a full account of The17’s performance in Beijing, written by Bill Drummond.

View the 100 Beijing market stallholder members of The17.

View Score 328 Surround in Chinese.

View the Imagine Graffiti made by Bill Drummond on the side of a gas tank in Beijing.