Program Notes:
Merz Re [#1] uses recordings of performances of four of my original graphic scores from my Open Graphic Research Project as its main sonic material. As such, the work draws heavily from the Musique Concrète genre where recorded sounds are used as the foundation of the music. 

Merz Re [#1] is inspired by dada artist Kurt Schwitters and his concept of Merz. I was intrigued by his Merzbau which was a sculpture installation work that was built on and into different houses where Schwitters resided throughout his life. Schwitters would often “bring friends and artists over to contribute to a room, a shelf, or a column”. Like Schwitters’ Merzbau my work is based on the collaborations I have had working with performers to sonify my open graphic scores. 

The work is also heavily inspired by Japanese noise artist Merzbow. The name Merzbow reflects Akita’s dadaist influence and junk aesthetic which is characterized through the use of homemade instruments and analog equipment. 

Merz Re [#1} has been presented in its multichannel version with an octophonic loudspeaker setup at Concert Zero at the University of Toronto in 2022 and at Forum Wallis Swiss Contemporary Music Festival in 2023. 

Performers:
Sylvia Hinz, recorders
Freddi Börnchen, oboe
Stef Haynes, saxophone
Shane Parish, electric guitar
Brian Ellis, classical guitar and voice
Tristan Zaba, voice
Scott Jodoin, piano
Dejana Sekluic, violin
Tim Roth, percussion
Jasmine Tsui, percussion
Joyce To, percussion
Cameron Denby, percussion
Nolan Hildebrand, “no-input mixer”

Merz Re [#1] Stereo Mix

premiered by Miroslav Beinhauer on April 28, 2023
MicroFest Prague 2023, Academy of Performing Arts, Prague, CZ

performed on the 36tet August Förster harmonium, originally built for the performance of Alois Hába's "Six compositions for sixth-tone harmonium."

the harvest manual, for 1/6-tone harmonium

Nothingness as an emergence (2018)
for prepared violoncello & electronics [+video & staging]


dedicated to Beatriz Picas Magalhães

(Photo: performance of Beatriz P. Magalhães at "Música Viva" Festival - O'culto d'Ajuda)

Nothingness as an emergence (2018) - for prepared cello, electronics and video [excerpt]

Recording by Loris Bini at PIC Télémaque in Marseille, November 17, 2019.

Programme note:

Know unknow xeknow is a transcription for voice and ensemble of a work for voice and electronics that I developed in close collaboration with soprano Sarah Albu entitled Xeno-. In that work, the singer imitates recorded sounds of animal vocalizations ad libitum. ‘Xeno’ being a greek prefix meaning ‘other’, the work examines the idea of onomatopoeia and empathy with the other through mimesis. When we imitate, something of our source filters through, but it is always reshaped by the imitator. In transcribing these imitations into written notation, a further layer of filtration is added; the work advances from a kind of oral tradition, to a written one, and finally returning to the aural as the musicians interpret the notation. As steps of transmission are added, we gain ways of knowing as much as we lose knowledge, or ‘unknow’. Through the act of transcription, I allowed my reactions to take their own shape, and the work has become something completely new, including the drawing of new source material inspired by Venezuelan electronic musician Arca’s work Piel.
	As with its parent work, Know unknow xeknow is structured in reaction to one of Zeno’s paradoxes: where that which is in locomotion must arrive at the half-way stage before it arrives at the goal. These successively shorter half-way points are presented in reverse, where the musical energy of the piece unfolds through bursts of noise separated in successively greater distances. These kinds of ‘big bangs’ which unfold all the materials of the piece into a warping menagerie of being-transformation. 

Know unknow xeknow was co-commissioned by Ensemble Télémaque and Groundswell with support from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Know unknow xeknow - Ensemble Télémaque, Raoul Lay

Composer, Noise Artist
https://blackgalaxie.bandcamp.com/
https://nolanahildebrand.wixsite.com/mysite

Merz Re [#1] Stereo Mix

Nolan Hildebrand

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