Comicoperando is a musical collective dedicated to the music of Canterbury scene

Canterbury Scene

The Canterbury scene is a term used to loosely describe the group of progressive rock, avant-garde and jazz musicians, many of whom were based around the city of Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s...

 legend, singer and songwriter Robert Wyatt

Robert Wyatt

Robert Wyatt is an English musician, and founding member of the influential Canterbury scene band Soft Machine, with a long and distinguished solo career...

. The band's debut concert, which world-premiered at the Teatro Communale Luciano Pavarotti

Teatro Comunale Modena

The Teatro Comunale di Modena is an opera house in the town of Modena, , Italy...

 in Modena

Modena

Modena is a city and comune on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy....

, Italy, in March 2010. It featured prominent Canterbury scene-affiliated musicians Dagmar Krause

Dagmar Krause

Dagmar Krause is a German singer, best known for her work with avant-rock groups like Slapp Happy, Henry Cow and Art Bears. She is also noted for her coverage of songs by Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler...

 (Henry Cow

Henry Cow

Henry Cow were an English avant-rock group, founded at Cambridge University in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler and bassoonist/oboist Lindsay Cooper were important long-term members...

, Slapp Happy

Slapp Happy

Slapp Happy was a German/English avant-pop group consisting of Anthony Moore , Peter Blegvad and Dagmar Krause . The band formed in Germany in 1972. The band members moved to England in 1974 where they merged with Henry Cow, but the merger ended soon afterwards and Slapp Happy split up. Slapp...

, Art Bears

Art Bears

Art Bears were an English avant-rock group formed during the disassembly of Henry Cow in 1978 by three of its members, Chris Cutler , Fred Frith and Dagmar Krause...

), Chris Cutler

Chris Cutler

Chris Cutler is an English percussionist, composer, lyricist and music theorist. Best known for his work with English avant-rock group Henry Cow, Cutler was also a member and drummer of a number of other bands, including Art Bears, News from Babel, Pere Ubu and Gong/Mothergong...

 (Henry Cow, Art Bears, Peter Blegvad Trio) and Richard Sinclair

Richard Sinclair

Richard S. Sinclair is a progressive rock bassist, guitarist and vocalist who has been a member of several bands of the Canterbury scene.-Biography:...

 (Caravan

Caravan (band)

Caravan are an English band from the Canterbury area, founded by former Wilde Flowers members David Sinclair, Richard Sinclair, Pye Hastings and Richard Coughlan. Caravan rose to success over a period of several years from 1968 onwards into the 1970s as part of the Canterbury scene, blending...

, Camel

Camel (band)

Camel are an English progressive rock band formed in 1971. An important group in the Canterbury scene, they have been releasing studio and live recordings steadily, with considerable success, since their formation.-1970s:...

, Hatfield and the North

Hatfield and the North

Hatfield and the North were an experimental Canterbury scene rock band that lasted from October 1972 to June 1975, with some reunions thereafter.-Career:...

), alongside Wyatt's longtime collaborators Annie Whitehead

Annie Whitehead

Annie Whitehead is an English jazz trombone player.-Career:Annie learned trombone at school; at 14 she was already busy playing with brass bands, local dance groups and the Manchester Youth Jazz Orchestra and began her professional career at sixteen. Among her initial influences were Miles Davis,...

 and Gilad Atzmon

Gilad Atzmon

Gilad Atzmon is an Israeli-born British jazz saxophonist, novelist, political activist and writer.Atzmon's album Exile was BBC jazz album of the year in 2003. Playing over 100 dates a year, he has been called "surely the hardest-gigging man in British jazz." His albums, of which he has recorded...

, Alex Maguire, Michel Delville

Michel Delville

Michel Delville is a musician, writer and teacher born in Liège, Belgium, in 1969.He has been performing and composing alternative music since the mid-1980s...

, John Edwards and Cristiano Calcagnile.

Their repertoire includes re-arranged classics as such as "Alifib", "Little Red Riding Hood Hits the Road" and "Memories" as well as lesser-known numbers encompassing all of Wyatt's 40-odd-year career, from the early Soft Machine

Soft Machine

Soft Machine were an English rock band from Canterbury, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. They were one of the central bands in the Canterbury scene, and helped pioneer the progressive rock genre...

 albums to Comicopera

Comicopera

Comicopera is an album by Robert Wyatt released on 8 October 2007, available on both CD and double vinyl formats . It is Wyatt's first release on the Domino Records label...

(2007), which inspired the collective's name.

A new incarnation of Comicoperando featuring Karen Mantler

Karen Mantler

Karen Mantler is an American jazz musician, harmonca player, singer and composer. She is the daughter of Carla Bley and Michael Mantler....

on vocals and organ is scheduled to tour Europe and America in the Spring of 2011.