HOPE Center for the Arts presents the daring avant-garde guitarist Rafiq Bhatia on Friday, October 10, 2025 in celebration of his new album Environments. He'll be joined by percussionist Ian Chang and trumpeter Riley Mulherkar.
https://rafiqbhatia.ffm.to/environments
About Rafiq Bhatia:
The New York Times proclaims “Rafiq Bhatia is writing his own musical language,” heralding him as “one of the most intriguing figures in music today.” A guitarist, producer, and Academy Award–nominated composer “who refuses to be pinned to one genre, culture or instrument,” Bhatia “treats his guitar, synthesizers, drum machines and electronic effects as architectural elements,” the Times writes. “Sound becomes contour; music becomes something to step into rather than merely follow.”
Bhatia’s 2018 album Breaking English finds a visceral common ground between ecstatic avant-jazz, mournful soul, tangled strings and building-shaking electronics, resulting in a "stunningly focused new sound" (Chicago Tribune) that resembles “science fiction on a blockbuster scale” (Washington Post). 2020’s Standards Vol. 1 renders repertoire from the American songbook “completely deconstructed, infused with brand new textures and electronic effects, dreamlike and beautiful” (BBC). In 2025, Bhatia released Each Dream, a Melting Door, a collaborative EP with the pianist Chris Pattishall described by TapeOp as “a mind-melting work that pushes the boundaries of ‘jazz.’”
Since 2014, Bhatia has been a member of the band Son Lux, releasing several recordings and giving hundreds of performances worldwide. The trio earned Oscar and BAFTA nominations for their score for 2023’s Best Picture–winning film Everything Everywhere All At Once, on which they collaborated with David Byrne, André Benjamin, Mitski, and Randy Newman. Their latest score is for Marvel Studios’ critically acclaimed Thunderbolts*.
Bhatia has collaborated with a beguiling breadth of artists across generations and disciplines, including Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Arooj Aftab, Kronos Quartet, Billy Hart, and many others. His work has been commissioned by major institutions and presented in performances across three continents. Bhatia lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Band Members:
Rafiq Bhatia - Guitar/Live Processing
Ian Chang - Acoustic & Electronic Percussion
Riley Mulherkar - Trumpet
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