OCTOMBER 02

Este es el laberinto de Creta.

Este es el laberinto de Creta cuyo centro fue el Minotauro.

Este es el laberinto de Creta cuyo centro fue el Minotauro que Dante imaginó como un toro con cabeza de hombre y en cuya red de piedra se perdieron tantas generaciones.

Este es el laberinto de Creta cuyo centro fue el Minotauro que Dante imaginó como un toro con cabeza de hombre y en cuya red de piedra se perdieron tantas generaciones como María Kodama y yo nos perdimos.

Este es el laberinto de Creta cuyo centro fue el Minotauro que Dante imaginó como un toro con cabeza de hombre y en cuya red de piedra se perdieron tantas generaciones como María Kodama y yo nos perdimos en aquella mañana y seguimos perdidos en el tiempo, ese otro laberinto.

• • • •

This is the labyrinth of Crete.

This is the labyrinth of Crete whose center was the Minotaur.

This is the labyrinth of Crete whose center was the Minotaur that Dante imagined as a bull with the head of a man, and in its network of stone, so many generations were lost. 

This is the labyrinth of Crete whose center was the Minotaur that Dante imagined as a bull with the head of a man, and in its network of stone, so many generations were lost, just as María Kodama and I were lost.

This is the labyrinth of Crete whose center was the Minotaur that Dante imagined as a bull with the head of a man, and in its network of stone, so many generations were lost, just as María Kodama and I were lost on that morning, and we continue to be lost in time, that other labyrinth.

J.L. Borges - El Laberinto (The Labyrinth • Atlas, 1984)

Katerina Konstantourou, piano
Goethe Institute Athens 19·12·17

I avoided for years to write a piano solo piece, but my friend Katerina insisted and eventually convinced me to do it. The outcome is rather different from my previous pieces. The recording is from Katerina Konstantourou's recital in Goethe Institute of Athens.
https://soundcloud.com/k-konstantourou

Φλοιός / Cortex ·· 2016

dedicated to Peter Adriaansz

commissioned by the Shanghai Conservatory and Shanghai Symphony

recorded by David Yi and the Yale Philharmonia with the inimitable JX Yu singing.

Electronics by Patrick McMinn

Ascending for voice, orchestra, and sinewaves

Ensemble du Bout du Monde:
Noa Mick, soprano saxophone
Kay Zhang, alto saxophone
Quentin Darricau, tenor saxophone
Don-Paul Kahl, baritone saxophone

https://www.ensembleduboutdumonde.com/

Recorded at Baumstrasse Studios, Athens, November 25th 2017
http://www.dentra.gr/gr/

Lumineux (2017) for saxophone quartet

Ensemble Artéfacts
Recorded live at the Onassis Cultural Center, Athens,  May 26th 2017

“Treillis” was commissioned by the Onassis Cultural Centre, Athens, for the “Music for the New World” project and was first performed at the Onassis Cultural Centre by the Artefacts Ensemble in May 2017.

Spyros Tzekos, bass clarinet
Guido de Flaviis, baritone saxophone
Laertis Kokolanis, Violin
Ilias Sdoykos, Viola
Theodore Vazakas, Percussion
Kostas Seremetis, Percussion

Treillis (2017), for bass clarinet, baritone saxophone, violin, viola and two percussionnists

Genesis

Serendipity was written during my time as a fellow composer at the Bang On A Can Summer Festival in July/August 2019 in North Adams, Massachussets, USA. One of my personal goals when going to the festival was to write a short chamber piece inspired by the voyage and get it performed there. 

The word serendipity means an unplanned, fortunate discovery; a happy accident. One day at the festival somebody who now, by a beautiful accident, is a close friend of mine, brought this word up in a conversation and I fell in love with it. There are things we can plan out and control and there are things that happen as a by-product of our actions. So often the unplanned, lucky accidents seem much more significant and meaningful than the initial reason for doing something. The three weeks I spent in North Adams were full of beautiful accidents each of whom have fuelled this piece with joy and inspiration.

Performed by:

Kyla-Rae Ashworth (flute)
Phoebe Bognár (alto flute)
Ellie Harrison (viola)
Francesca Masel (violoncello)

recording of a rehearsal in December 2019 in Brisbane, Australia

Serendipity

Convex (2019-2020) 
for large ensemble of 13 players

Flute (Alto Flute, Piccolo)
Oboe (Cor Anglais)
Clarinet in Bb (Bass Clarinet)
Alto Saxophone (Baritone Saxophone) 
Horn in F
Harp
Percussion1
Percussion 2
Piano
Violin I 
Viol II 
Viola 
Violoncello

composed for Grossman Ensemble 

Program note:
The uncanny secret about the experience of falling apart is
 that one can—even if only for seconds—capture the image
 of the day just the way light is broken up into a hundred
 shattered shades and bended hues when it passes through
 a prism.

Grossman 20200312 vs 0501

Convex (2019-2020)

Duo A&O: Eva Zöllner, Akkordeon & Kerstin Petersen, Orgel
Ein Projekt des Online Musicking Call Mai / Juni 2020 
des Verbands für aktuelle Musik Hamburg,
gefördert von der Behörde für Kultur und Medien Hamburg.

Die Akkordeonistin Eva Zöllner und die Organistin Kerstin Petersen treten gemeinsam von Hamburg aus in Kirchen und Konzertsälen in ganz Europa auf. Eine besondere Besetzung erfordert besonderes Repertoire, und so widmen sich die beiden Musikerinnen seit mehr als 10 Jahren der Initiierung neuer Werke für ihr außergewöhnliches Duo, das beide Instrumente zu einem gigantischen Windinstrument verschmelzen lässt. Sie bilden damit eine seltene Schnittstelle zwischen den sehr verschiedenen Hörwelten der zeitgenössischen Akkordeon- und Orgelmusik. 
In ihrem Online-Musicking-Projekt widmen sie sich nun einem Phänomen, das in „normalen“ Zeiten eher ein Problem in ihrer Musizierpraxis darstellt: Die Stimmung und das Stimmsystem der jeweiligen Orgel muss zu der nicht veränderbaren Stimmung des Akkordeons passen. Dies ist oft schwer vorhersehbar und hat das Duo schon an so manchem Konzertort vor knifflige Probleme gestellt. Intonatorische Abweichungen können jedoch, wenn gewünscht, sehr spannende akustische Phänomene hervorbringen...Mit Hilfe einzelner - mit dem Mund angeblasener hölzerner Orgelpfeifen, einer modernen Digitalorgel, die unterschiedliche Stimmungssysteme erzeugen kann, und dem Akkordeon erforschen die beiden Musikerinnen nun diese spannenden neuen Klangwelten, die geprägt sind von filigranen Stimmungsschwankungen und Interferenzen. Da ein persönliches Treffen und Proben der Musikerinnen in der Coronazeit nicht möglich war, geschah das Zusammenspiel auf Distanz. Durch wechselseitiges Improvisieren mit Tonaufnahmen der Partnerin entstand ein vielschichtiger Audio-Track, der die klanglichen Stärken der Besetzung, die Verschmelzungen und Klangmodulationen auf eine neue Ebene hebt, die so differenziert im Live-Konzert bisher nicht herausgearbeitet werden konnte - diese überraschend andere Art des Musizierens hat die beiden Künstlerinnen vom ersten Ton an begeistert und für die nächste Konzertsaison neu inspiriert.

Eva Zöllner www.eva-zoellner.de
Kerstin Petersen www.kerstin-petersen.org
Verband Aktuelle Musik Hamburg www.vamh.de 
Weitere Projekte: 
https://www.vamh.de/index.php?what=online&year=2020&month=06

so - oder soo? A&O in schwankender Stimmung

Moments musicaux mitteltönig bis equal digital
summt die Orgel elbabwärts - rheinaufwärts strömen
Akkordeonklänge in reinster Orchesterstimmung.
Eine Orgelpfeife mit wärmendem Holzflötenton -
Elbphilharmonie? Nein, doch frisch aus dem Hause
Klais / Bonn mischt sie sich hinein, atem- und
hamburgerzimmerluftbeseelt und teilt die Tonlage
mit Rheinland-Pfalz:
Komm, lieber Mai und gib uns schön verrückte Einfälle!
Der Spieltrieb erwacht - Spielplätze seit heute wieder
geöffnet! Rüttel dich, schüttelt dich, Balg, crescendiere
mit der Orgelwalze. A&O seit 11 Jahren gemeinsam
unterwegs, bald wieder in concert?

so -
oder soo
coming soon
die digitale Emotion
funktioniert. Telepathie?
Intuition. Jedenfalls entsteht Neues
und Stimmungsschwankungen
führen nun zu tief
verborgenen
Quellen...
soooo
oder
so:

so - oder soo? A&O in schwankender Stimmung

Born in Athens, studied and worked as a graphic designer, while studying accordion and piano. After lessons with Costas Varotsis, he shifted entirely to music and moved to the Netherlands to study composition at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. His teachers were Yannis Kyriakides, Martijn Padding, Cornelis de Bondt and Diderik Wagenaar. At the same conservatory he studied classical singing, while taking lessons in medieval and renaissance polyphony singing by Rebecca Stewart. He has taken masterclasses by Franck Bedrossian, Christian Wolff, Klaus Lang, Mark Andre, Dimitri Papageorgiou and Orestis Toufektsis.

He has won the impuls composition competition where his piece "Kāma" premiered on 2017. He has collaborated with musicians such as Klangforum Wien, ASKO|Schönberg Ensemble, Ensemble dissonArt, Nieuw Ensemble, Momenta Quartet, Slagwerk Den Haag, Ensemble KLANG, Enno Poppe, Ilan Volkov, Bas Wiegers, Ben Roidl-Ward, Katerina Konstantourou, Theodore Antoniou, Yorgos Ziavras, Konstantinos Terzakis and many more. His music has been presented in venues and festivals like Muziekgebouw aan ‘t Ij Amsterdam [NL], MATA Festival New York [US], impuls Festival [AU], Onassis Stegi [GR], Greek National Opera [GR], Athens & Epidaurus Festival [GR], REACTOR Vienna [AU], Korzo Theatre [NL] Tehran International Electronic Music Festival [IR] etc. 

As a singer/performer, he focuses on challenging and demanding singing and music-theatre works, including “Kassandra” by Iannis Xenakis and “Anaparastasis I” by Jani Christou, Recitations by George Aperghis, Maknongan by Giacinto Scelsi, as well as polyphony from Medieval and Renaissance era. He has performed together with the ASKO/Schönberg Ensemble, ASKO Kammerkoor, the Ballata Ensemble, the Athens State Orchestra and the Greek National Choir. Additionally, he participated in several premieres by composers or artists including Kate Moore, Kriests Auznieks, Nikos Ioakeim, Maya Verlaak, Nikos Galenianos and more.

He is the founder and artistic director of the new music ensemble TETTTIX in Athens, which already shapes an important presence in the music scene of Greece, staging music theatre or interdisciplinary performances.

His interest for music-theatre started with performing J. Christou’s works and with participating in Karyn Benquet’s choreography “Ensuing” in Nederlands Dans Theater. His first opera "Strella", was commissioned and premiered by the Greek National Opera in 2023, repeated on the next season due to its great success.

From 2019 his is a PhD candidate on music-theatre, under the guidance of Dimitri Papageorgiou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) and Franck Bedrossian (University of Music and Performing Arts Graz).

Φλοιός / Cortex ·· 2016

Michalis Paraskakis