for Violin, Piano and Percussion Keyboard Controller

Premiere
Date 2011/abr/10
Performer(s)
California E.A.R. Unit
Venue REDCAT – Roy & Edna Disney / CalArts Theatre
Town Los Angeles
Country United States of America

Conver(say)tions  | Chamber Music with live-electronics |  Sond'Ar-te Electric Ensemble

Yuan Zhi Yuan
for sporano, tenor, 6 traditional Chinese instruments, chamber choir and live electronics

Singcircle, Gregory Rose (conductor)
Huaxia / Antifonia

miso records (mcd 015.06)

Yuan Zhi Yuan (excerpt)

Miguel Azguime was born in 1960 in Lisbon. Distinguished for originality and diversity, his musical world reflects an approach that relies on his multifaceted capabilities as composer, performer and poet. This threefold activity closely reflects an almost mystical vision of music and art.

In 1985, together with Paula Azguime, he founded the Miso Ensemble, a duo recognized by the public and by critics alike, as one of the most important Portuguese contemporary music ensembles. Besides giving numerous concerts in Portugal, the Miso Ensemble has been regularly performing abroad, with several hundred of concerts given up until now.

Miguel Azguime has composed music for diverse formations – instrumental and/or vocal with or without electronics, tape music, sound poetry, and also music for exhibitions, sound installations, electroacoustic theatre, dance and cinema. His compositional style enrols in a language of structural rigor, on the one hand, and formal liberty, on the other. “Mosaic” and “radiant” expressivity obtained by timbric richness as well as clarity in the development of ideas are assumed, in his music, as constant and unifying factors.  

Miguel Azguime’s works have been performed by renowned soloists, ensembles  ( Ensemble Recherche, Norrbotten NEO, Ensemble Ensemble Musikfabrik, Remix Ensemble, BBC Singers, Quarteto de Matosinhos, Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble,  Smith Quartet, California EAR Unit, etc.), and conductors ( Laurent Cuniot, Petter Sundkvist, Franck Ollu, Guillaume Bourgogne, Renato Rivolta, Johannes Kalitzke, Pedro Neves, Pedro Carneiro, Pedro Amaral) and  presented at major festivals of contemporary music around the world (Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, MaerzMusik, Warsaw Autumn Festival, Nordic Music Days and Festival Synthèse, among others). The composer also regularly receives commissions from Portuguese and international music institutions.

The connections between "Azguime" the composer and "Azguime" the poet and performer, gave birth to a unique text and music relationship, developed in the Electroacoustic Theatre and New Op-Era concept. The multimedia opera “Salt Itinerary” (2003/06) is the materialization of this idea. It is a work, which transcends theatrical and music conventions. Reflecting on art and madness it revolves around languages, words as sources of meaning and words as sources of sound. Both are used as an extension of the body and melted in the construction of the staging – a tangible projection of the words’ resonance through sound and image.

Yuan Zhi Yuan (excerpt)

Miguel Azguime

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