DISOBEDIENCES IN SOUND

Disobediences in Sound is a musical exploration of the convergence between noise and resistance. Noise as a sonorous image that refuses a pre-established (musical? social?) order and that proposes other (utopian?) spaces of aesthetic experience. Disobedience as a radical stance, as dissidence, with a (sonorous?) resistance as its uppermost consequence, but also as a search, within the realm of aesthetics, of a utopia denied to us within the realm of the social. Sonorous disobediences as a principle and as a bold start.

Initiated by Duo Hellqvist/Amaral (violin and piano) with composer and sound artist Alberto Bernal, the project brings together artists from different generations and geographies (Sweden, Israel, United States, Norway, Spain and Brazil), who, either through the conceptual proposition or through their choice of formats, draw markedly different approaches to the idea of sound disobediences. Thus, with the piano and violin duo as starting point, works will include the use of electronic sounds and video (Lisa Streich, Kent Olofsson, Marina Rosenfeld and Alberto Bernal), exacerbated virtuosity (Dror Feiler), improvisation (Rosenfeld) or performance (María Salgado & Fran Cabeza de Vaca). The project will take the shape of a concert and will be developed through a series of workshops. In addition, it will feature parallel events such as talks, panel discussions as well as an audiovisual installation of the Norwegian video artist Bodil Furu. 

Trailer Disobediences in Sound in Madrid, February 2018. Concert at CentroCentro's series Vang#5 followed by a symposium at MediaLab Prado.

Live-streaming of the panel discussion on music and political activism at MediaLab Prado, 23.2.2018. With Alberto Bernal, Julia Ramírez, Duo Hellqvist/Amaral, Dror Feiler and José Luis Espejo.

PROGRAM

Alberto Bernal – numbers (new work)  for violin, piano and real-time video

Dror Feiler – Matarra (2016)  for  violin and piano

Marina Rosenfeld — My red red blood (2012, revised version 2017)  for violin, piano, video and electronics

Fran Cabeza de Vaca & María Salgado — Hacía un ruido (new version) for violin, piano, performer, live electronics

Lisa Streich — Saffran (2018) for motorized violin and motorized piano

Kent Olofsson – Tend (2017) for piano, violin and electronics

Bodil Furu - Radio (2007) short film

DESCRIPTION OF THE WORKS

Alberto Bernal — numbers (new work)

We are not only surrounded by numbers, but also literally ruled by them. Numbers that are usually presented as mere abstractions (as in stock market quotation boards or in other macroeconomic data) and disconnected from whatever sensible influence it may exerce on people, societies and other realities.

Numbers is an attempt to translate numbers into a sphere in which they can be perceived aesthetically. In that way, more or less concrete numbers of different origins will be confronted to their sounding alter ego and to the irremediably sensible reality of the musical surface determined by the historical formation of the violin and piano duo. At the same time, an opposed movement will emerge, linking the musical discourse to the rawness of numbers and hence, to a political ecosystem, from which it is usually entirely disconnected. In the work, the use of real-time video will create a platform of interrelation with the sound realm, together with the possibility of playing with the image of the different numbers and their deconstruction through several visual transformation and alienation procedures.

Dror Feiler — Matar

“I was inspired during my work on Matar by two short quotations, one by Arnold Schoenberg ”Music conveys a prophetic message which makes a higher form of life evident, towards which humanity develops. And it is thanks to this message that music appeals to human beings of all races and nationalities”. And a second one by Hannes Eisler ”Music is a remarkable art. Its muse has a bodily defect. She lacks both legs and so cannot stand or walk on earth. She is forced, by means of a pair of extremely dilapidated wings, to move in ‘higher regions”.

Matar is one in a group of compositions in which I was trying to cast aside the burden of the European music tradition : the principles of development, climax, dynamics and orchestration. In Matar as well as in my recent ones I am trying to carve out time and not to use development in the usual sense of the word. To use crudity to achieve purity and brutality to find tenderness.” 

Marina Rosenfeld — My Red, Red Blood

Based on a text by poet Kim Rosenfield on memoirs of comedians sent by the USO organisation to entertain US military personnel deployed overseas, Rosenfeld creates images that double as notation, shaping and directing the actions of live players who improvise over a scale of gray textures and other visual noise going from delicate timbres to a violent buzz. The use of noise in Rosenfeld’s piece extends the instrumental sounds of violin and piano with finely tuned shades of noise. Besides, the subtle experimentation with visual and auditive noise amplifies the contrast between different materials and ideas.

María Salgado & Fran Cabeza de Vaca — Hacía un Ruido

Hacía un ruido (It made a noise) is at the same time a research project started in 2014 by Fran MM Cabeza De Vaca (music) & María Salgado (voice), and a collection hybrid recital mixing different sound, verbal materials (rap) to relive the riots emerged in much of the world between 2011 and 2013 and to re-enact the experiences of revolt or confusion belonging to this time of rupture. Hacía el ruido has travelled many places in and outside of Spain (CDN, Musac, Fordham University New York, CA2M, Hangar Barcelona...). In the context of Disobediences in Sound, its authors propose a new version in which the presence of the Duo Hellqvist-Amaral will act as catalyst for the development of new formats and ideas.

Lisa Streich — New Piece for motorized violin and motorized piano

In this new piece for motorized violin inspired by Jean Tinguely’s fountain in Place Stravinsky, Paris, Lisa Streich explores early 20th century aesthetics of the machine. What is more fragile – the man or the machine?

 “Contrary to the beginning of 20th century, says Streich, I tend to say it's the machine which is more sensitive. But whatever the answer may be, can these two sides switch during a piece? The second question is: how far back in time can a motor go in music history? If a violinist or a pianist plays a major second just how it was played for hundreds of years in a contemporary piece my body feels awkwardly ashamed. If I let the motor play the major second the material comes to life in a new way, I can hear the history, feel the present and have ideas about the future. Something I wish for to happen in the listener.”

Kent Olofsson: TEND for violin and piano and electronics

In many of my compositions for instruments and electronics the idea of sonic extensions of acoustic instruments have been central. In recent years I have worked extensively in the field of experimental music theatre, composed theatre and radiophonic art, experiences that have nurtured new insights and approaches in composing music for the concert stage. In this new work I will continue to explore the idea of sonic extension, but here I will try to let the concept in itself be extended to encompass also the performative aspects; the physical performance of the instrumentalists, the instruments and the performance space. This is done partly in very concrete ways as for example with the specific placements of loudspeakers in relation to instruments and performance space. But it also means a somewhat different way to think compositionally, which opens up for questions concerning what constitute musical material in a musical composition.The title –TEND, as in the word extend and distend, refers back to the Latin word tendere that means to “stretch or “to spread”.  Kent Olofsson

Bodil Furu: RADIO     HD Video 4 minutes. Actors: Charlotte Sætre, Raymond Berge. Foto: Marthe Thorshaug, Bodil Furu

 Radio is Bodil Furu’s first fiction film. The short story takes place in a radio studio a few minutes before a live interview. A female radio host tries to calm down a nervous young man. A discussion starts. In a moment of self-doubt his insecurity takes over, while the radio host tries to convince him otherwise. The young man questions his own rhetoric’s and legitimacy as a spokes person –the decision has to be made; go through with the interview or not. When the aired song fades out and the conversation meets its end, his agenda is still hidden; the same is the outcome of their discussion. The film ends when the radio hosts switch to the live interview.

BIOGRAPHIES

Duo Hellqvist/Amaral

Violinist Karin Hellqvist and pianist Heloisa Amaral met in 2009 while working in Oslo with Ensemble neoN. Two years later, they set off exploring Iannis Xenakis’ Dikthas (or “dual”) for violin and piano. Featuring two contrasting voices held together through intense energy, the piece was to determine the spirit of Duo Hellqvist/Amaral, which, fearless in their exploration of the newest music, has since played an outstanding role in the field of experimental music.

Alongside the performance of new commissions in Norway (Ultima, Borealis), Sweden (Magnet, Sofiagatan), USA (Spectrum), Germany (Darmstädter Ferienkurse), Brazil, Italy, Argentina (conDIT), Danmark (Klang), Korea (House Concert) and Colombia (Festival de la Imagen), the duo has given workshops and seminars in major universities in Latin America, USA, Argentina and Korea focusing on the interpretation and notation and techniques of experimental repertoire as well as on the dialogue between performer and composer. Residencies at Harvard University (USA), conDIT (ARG), House Concert (KO) and Villa Romana (IT) have also contributed to the development of the duo and to exciting musical encounters that led to the formation of the HAHB QUARTET with Joshua Hyde (sax) and Noam Bierstone (percussion) and HELLQVIST/AMARAL/CHOI with Sori Choi (traditional Korean percussion). Upcoming projects include commissions by Øyvind Torvund, Natasha Barrett, Mauricio Pauly, Santiago Diez-Fischer, Ragnhild Berstad, Daniel Moreira as well as concerts in KontraKlang Berlin and a residency at Zentrum für Kunst und Media (ZKM) with media artist Giuliano Obici.

Alberto Bernal

Composer and sound artist of classical formation and several influences, with works at the turning point between traditional concert situations and other disciplines like installation, performance or videoart. His work is, above all, a search and deconstruction of borders: between the aesthetic and sociopolitical realms, or between the different conventional perceptual fields (sound, image, word, quotidian perception).

Bernal started his musical studies in Madrid and Salamanca, moving later to Germany, where he studied composition and electroacoustics with Mathias Spahlinger, Mesías Maiguashca and Peter Ablinger. His work has been presented in Europe, North America and Asia and has been recognized by means of several grants and awards such as the International Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt (2002 and 2004), the Humboldt Foundation, DAAD/Fundación La Caixa, the Spanish Ministry of Culture, the Goethe Institute, the SWR Stuttgart, the Casa Velázquez or the Matadero de Madrid. In parallel to his activities as a composer, Bernal works as a music promoter and writer, regularly publishing articles in various media and giving courses and talks about composition, aesthetics, analysis and new media Currently, he works as co-director of the Masters in Electroacoustic Composition (CSKG, Madrid) and teaching at the University of Music of Zaragoza.   

albertobernal.net

Marina Rosenfeld

Known equally as a composer of large-scale performances and an experimental turntablist, New York-based Marina Rosenfeld has been a leading voice in the increasing hybridization between the domains of visual art and music. She has created chamber and choral works, such as Teenage Lontano; a series of "orchestras" for floor- bound electric guitars and other quasi-sculptural scenarios; works notated in video, including My red, red blood; and since 2008, a series of installation/performance works, often mounted in monumental spaces, such as the Park Avenue Armory in New York and Western Australia's Midland Railway Workshops. Rosenfeld's work has been widely presented throughout Europe, North America and Australia, in- cluding recent solo projects for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, SPOR, Ultima, Wien Modern, the Whitney Biennials.

marinarosenfeld.com

Dror Feiler

Born in 1951 in Tel Aviv. Feiler grew up in a kibbutz in Israel and moved to Sweden in 1973. First he studied there at the Fylkingen Institute of New Music. In 1977-1978 he studied musicology at Stockholm University. Between 1978-1983 he studied composition at the State College of Music with Gunnar Bucht, Sven-David Sandström, and Brian Ferneyhough in Stockholm. Dror Feiler must rank as one of Sweden’s leading composers and improvisation musicians. In the recent years his reputation as a musician and composer is growing fast and some of the most important European orchestras, festivals and ensembles has commissioned works from him (Stockholm New Music Festival, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Huddersfiled Contemporary Music Festival, Wien Modern)

Since the mid-70s he performed with his own improvisation group Lokomotiv konkret and The too much too soon Orchestra, and other groups as a saxophone soloist in several countries. He founded different cultural policy institutions, among others European Jews for a Just Peace, EJJP, JIPF - judar för israelisk-palestinsk fred, The Freedom Theatre and Tochnit Aleph. Dror Feiler is the vice president of Society of Swedish composers, CEO of the Swedish Music Information Centre Svenskmusik and president of the European Organisation “European Jews for a Just Peace". When speaking about his music and art he shows a will to work with music that deals with the world. Since the end of the 1970s he composed upwards of 30 works for various combinations of instruments, ranging from orchestral music to solo pieces, from electronic music to ballet music. !In 1983 Dror Feiler became a Swedish citizen. Today he lives as a composer, musician and artist in Stockholm, and runs with his wife Gunilla Sköld Feiler gallery TEGEN2 in Stockholm.

drorfeiler.se

Fran Cabeza de Vaca & Maria Salgado

Poet Maria Salgado is a low-tech poet. She has published Feria (2007), 31 Poemas (2010) and Ready (Arrebato, 2012). She investigates contemporary forms of writing and recital. She makes zines (self- published magazines) and is a part of the Euraca Seminar group. She writes a blog at globorapido.blogspot.com and explores sound with MM Fran Cabeza de Vaca.

Fran MM Cabeza de Vaca is a musician and composer. He has premiered instrumental and electronic music in various national and international festivals. He has participated as composer and performer in various stage shows. Among other audiovisual works he has made three documentary films with Jose Luis Tirado and the soundtrack for the film Carmina y Amén by Paco León. He actively participates in the collective ZEMOS98. He created and directed the stage show Veo una Voz (I see a Voice) with actress Ana Barcia, and experimental opera Todos Caníbales with Nou Ensemble and artists Christian Fernández Mirón and Roberto Martínez. For two years he has explored audio together with Maria Salgado.

http://haciaunruido1.tumblr.com

Lisa Streich

Highly praised by critics, including reviews by Alex Ross and DeReNeM, the music of Swedish composer Lisa Streich (1985) has studied Composition and Organ in Berlin, Stockholm, Salzburg, Paris and Cologne with among others Johannes Schöllhorn, Adriana Hölszky and Mauro Lanza. Master classes with a.o. Chaya Czernowin, Steven Takasugi and Hanspeter Kyburz complete her musical education. Her works have been performed on stage in Sweden, Germany, Israel, Austria, France, Great Britain, USA and Canada and have been broadcast on Swedish, German, Norwegian, Canadian and Czech radio. Her music has been played by among others Quatuor Diotima, Ensemble Recherche, Ensemble Sonanza and Stockholms Kammarkör at among others Ultraschall, Ircam, Deutschlandfunk, Swedish Radio, Acht Brücken and Schloss Solitude. She held a scholarship from Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes and Cité des Arts, Paris/Kungliga Musikaliska Akademin, Stockholm. In 2013 she was a beneficiary of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Fund/Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and recipient of the Busoni Förderpreis of the Academy of Arts, Berlin. 2014 she got a working scholarship from the Swedish Arts Grants Committee and she won the Bernd Alois Zimmermann Prize. In 2015 she was selected for the Edition Zeitgenössische Musik to have a portrait CD released on WERGO. She received a Roche Young Commission for a new orchestra piece for Lucerne Festival 2017, and she was awarded the Rome Prize by the German Arts Council to live in the Villa Massimo 2016/17. 2017/18 she will have a composer residency with the ensemble recherche. She just won the Siemens Composer Prize.

Kent Olofsson

Kent Olofsson (1962) is a composer with an extensive artistic output of over 170 works that span a broad field of genres, including music for orchestra, chamber music, electroacoustic music, music theatre, alternative rock music, music for baroque instruments and works for dance performances and installations. His music has been performed by ensembles and orchestras like Ensemble Recherche, Symphonieorchesters des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Swedish Radio Choir, Klangforum Wien, Oslo Sinfonietta and Avantii! and by conductors as Lothar Zagrosek, Gustavo Dudamel and Franck Ollu. His long-term collaboration with guitarist Stefan Östersjö has resulted in numerous large-scaled works for guitar, among them Corde, that was awarde d a prize at the at Musica Viva / BMW Composition Competition Munich (2004) as well as, for the whole concerto, the Christ Johnson Prize for Composition Stockholm 2009. Since 2009 he is collaborating with Swedish theatre group Teatr Weimar in a series of Sonic Art Theatre-pieces. Their productions have been widely recognized also internationally with performances like Hamlet II: Exit Ghost, A Language at War and Arrival Cities: Hanoi, the latter composed for Vietnamese instruments and electronics.

Bodil Furu

Furu lives and works in Oslo, Norway. She is graduated from The National Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo, Norway in 2002. She has contributed documentary films and video works to exhibitions and film festivals in Europe, Africa, Asia and USA. Her films have been shown at MoMA in New York, the International Istanbul Biennial, the 4th Ars Baltica Triennial of Photographic Art, The Busan Biennale 2007, South Korea, Johannesburg Art Gallery, South Africa, Oberhausen Short Film Festival, the Lubumbashi Biennale 2013, Lubumbashi, DRC, Beaconsfield Contemporary Art, London, Moscow documentary film festival, Montreal Short Film Festival, Tromsø International Film Festival, Norway and the Biennale of Sydeny 2014.

She has worked as an associated professor at the Tromsø Academy of Contemporary Art, University in Tromsø, and The National Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo, Norway. 

bodilfuru.com