Contemporay Acousmatic Music

The shape of this piece emerges gradually, at first several independent micro-sounds appear and are gathered at a slow pace, in order to then become organized and create musical phrases. Through these phrases various polyrhythms emerge which in turn are increased and eventually create a unified sound mass. The energy of this mass creates tension so that it becomes more and more dense until it reaches its peak and release. It will then weaken by gradually subtracting its density and organization of its individual elements until we reach the end and the initial silence. The evolution of this piece could be explained very simply with a shape of a triangle, although we will see that there are important events within this piece that break its seemingly linear evolution and dramatically affect the listener's anticipation.

Scala

‘Âphâr is an Hebrew word that means “dust”.
This piece is inspired on the dream of Jacob, described in the Old Testament:
Jacob had a dream: He saw a stairway erected on the earth with its top reaching to the heavens. The angels of God were going up and coming down it and the Lord stood at its top. He said, I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of your father Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the ground you are lying on. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth (Genesis 28).

To climb Jacob’s ladder is a very difficult process. Each step you take is harder than the previous one and takes more time and effort to accomplish. These steps are heavy, and the dust in your feet is spread around, and finally disappears. If you reach the top of the stairs, everything else is gone, and a door closes to the rest of the world, you have reached infinity.
‘Âphâr was composed at the composer’s personal studio and at the Electroacoustic Music Studio of the University of Aveiro. It received the first prize in Yamaha-Visiones Sonoras competition (Mexico) in 2007.
Also check the version with video at:
https://vimeo.com/143418505

Aphar

This work is part of a cycle of four works related to representations of the four elements in the Old Testament. Neshamah means “breath” and is inspired in the following biblical text:
Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature (Genesis 2:7).
This piece was commissioned by the Ibermúsicas Project and was composed at the Centro Mexicano para la Música y las Artes Sonoras and at the Centro de Pesquisa em Música Eletroacústica of Federal University of Minas Gerais. It received an honorable mention at the Concours International de Composition Electroacoustique de Monaco 2016 and at the Destellos Competition 2016.
Also check the version with video at:
https://youtu.be/RIzLRAQ9h0M

Neshamah

Hydatos belongs to a cycle of four pieces inspired by representations of the four elements (fire, water, earth, wind) in the Old Testament.
Hydatos is a Greek word that means “water”.
This piece is inspired on the first verses of the Old Testament (Genesis Chapter 1:2)
“And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”
This piece was commissioned by Gulbenkian Foundation, and was composed in the composer’s personal studio and at the NOVARS Center in Manchester.It received the Second Prize at the Concours International de Composition KLANG! 2015. 
Also check the version with video at:
http://youtu.be/D87vRy5sLr0

Hydatos

This piece is inspired on the first vision of the prophet Ezechiel:  
Et vidi et ecce ventus turbinis veniebat ab aquilone et nubes magna et ignis involvens et splendor in circuitu eius et de medio eius quasi species electri id est de medio ignis (Ezechiel 1:4).
And I looked, and behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire unfolding itself; and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
Et Ignis Involvens was commissioned by Gulbenkian Foundation, and was composed at the composer’s personal studio and at the University of Keele Electronic Music Studio. It received the first prize at Metamorphoses 2006 Competition (Belgium).
Also check the version with video at:
http://youtu.be/ZxJ0L0n2Q6o

Et Ignis Involvens

N'vi'ah is an Old Testament word meaning prophetess. 
A prophetess conveys one or more divine messages often in the form of inspired songs. And many times her words are cryptic, requiring interpretation or even translation. This work uses isolated phonemes as musical material. Intelligible words are not articulated, leaving to the listener the imagination of what their contents and meanings could be. N'vi'ah was commissioned by the Ibermúsicas Project, and composed at the Human Interaction Laboratory - Diego Portales University in Santiago de Chile. It is dedicated to Federico Schumacher.

Scala

Nikos Kanelakis