... from depths unfathomably cold, the ocean's roar...

Conductor - Pedram Diba.
Piano - Nikolai Valov
Electric Guitar - Thomas Wagenet
Violin 1 - Michelle Brunader
Violin 2 - Sophie Lott
Cello - Makenna Carrico
Percussion - Daniel Surprenant
Live Sound Manipulation - Callie Hunter, Evan Kline, Mason Kline

Aitake

Violin - Izabel Austin
Percussion - Martin Quiroga Jr.
Hammered Dulcimer/Singing bowls/HAPI - Michael Fleming
Electric Bass - Thomas Wagenet
Piano - Nikolai Valov
Conductor - Pedram Diba
Live Electronics - Mason Kline

Ambedo

Izabel Austin - Vln
Martin Quiroga - Cym, Gng, Tam
Michael Fleming - Dulc, Sng Bwl, HAPI
Thomas Wagenet - Elec. Bass
Nikolai Valov - Pno
Pedram Diba - Cond.

Izabel Austin - Violin
Martín Quiroga Jr. - Percussion 1 (3 suspended cymbals, 2 gongs, tam-tam)
Michael Fleming - Percussion 2 (hammered dulcimer, 2 singing bowls, HAPI)
Thomas Wagenet - Electric Bass
Nikolai Valov - Piano
Pedram Diba - Conductor

Ambedo (2017)

This piece was composed for the AKOM Ensemble in mid-2016 and premiered in Tilburg, NED. It was inspired by reflections on the recent rise of isolationism, populism, fear-mongering and demagoguery. Ironically, it received its second performance (featured in this recording) on Donald Trump's inauguration night.

Cl - Chelsea Oden
Hn - Andrea Kennard
Vib - Stephen Medlar
Pno - Nikolai Valov
Cond - Pedram Diba

OCF January 24th, 2017

meditations on bilateral consequences

Litanei auf die Stadt Aleppo

Izabel Austin (Vln) and Nikolai Valov (Pno) perform Birds in Warped Time II by Japanese contemporary classical composer Somei Satoh.

Birds in Warped Time II

I. Austin and N. Valov perform Satoh - Birds in Warped Time II

Written for Earth Day 2017

Jeffrey Chapman - Alto Flute
Thomas Wagenet - Guitar
Stephen Medlar - Tam-tams
Kasey Calebaugh - Viola
Aaron Green - Double Bass
Nikolai Valov - Conductor

three ruminations beneath a forgotten canopy concerning the inevitability of conflict and oblivion

A dark/noise ambient inspired acousmatic work written in Kiev for the 2017 Kyiv Contemporary Music Days masterclasses. It was composed as a condemnation of the growing popularity of contemporary Nazism and white supremacy movements in the Western world and the government's persisted defense of their dangerous ideologies. I created it from processed samples of Paul Celan reading his "Todesfuge", news reports from American media concerning white supremacy,  racist speeches by Richard Spencer, Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler and excerpts from Shostakovich's 8th string quartet, which was written as an elegy to the victims of fascism and state-enacted violence.

eine todesfuge - image from the poetry of paul celan

This piece was composed for the Bilgi New Music Festival for Ensemble Platypus and premiered in their concert in Istanbul, Turkey in April 2018.
The title was taken from Jonas Hallgrimsson's poem "Feuerbach's Nihilism" and is the Icelandic word for "light".

Nikolai Valov

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