The video of Wondjina is already here, do have a look!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYM2asSpPRM&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T0X4uE3ipA

Wondjina is a multidisciplinary work that is inspired in Australian Aboriginal mythology. The Wondjina 'were rain spirits who, during the Dream Time, created or influenced the landscape and its inhabitants. When they found the place they would die, they painted their images on cave walls and entered a nearby waterhole'. For this work, which has been written in collaboration of Víctor de la Rosa, Raquel has related the bass clarinet with the Australian didgeridoo and created a video-landscape who re-interprets the 3800 years old paintings. All together with the choreography recreates a contemporary view of tribal rites.

Premiered the 21 June 2013 at the Great Exhibitionists' Concert Series

Víctor de la Rosa, bass clarinet
Anne-Gaëlle Thiriot, dance & choreography
Raquel García-Tomás, live electronics

Raquel Garcia-Tomas ~ Wondjina (2013)

[co][hes][ion]
dance & live electronics

Year: 2013 | Running time 10:24
Music by Raquel García-Tomás.
Choreography by Fabian Reimair

World Premiere: 3 May 2013
English National Ballet
The Place (London)

[co][hes][ion] is a work which was premiered with the English National Ballet’s ‘Choreographics – A letter to…’ project, where I collaborated with First Soloist Fabian Reimair.

Work concept – Collaborative Aims

From the outset, Fabian and I worked according to a structure based exclusively on concepts related to movement, avoiding any sense of hierarchy: our idea was to create both the music and the choreography simultaneously, instead of creating the music first and the choreography after.

 
Musical development

To compose this work, I functioned in a very unexpected manner, which was particularly connected with the use of technology. As Fabian had already created a short series of steps I considered this material an initial source of inspiration. When I first watched the video of it, I could imagine the music very easily; the choreography had very clear materials, direction and tempo. There was a strong central concept built through repetition and variation. Furthermore, the choreography had a well defined and evolving discourse, which made me think that I could try to compose part of my music literally after his steps.Deciding an appropriate medium to build our work, I imported the video file to Logic Pro and began translating all the movements into musical material. For example, the sweep of the male dancer’s hand in a series of puppeteer-like gestures during the [co] section directly influenced the gradients of the high-pitched glissandi, and how they paused with his movements.At that stage, my main concern was not only to identify the gestures and the tempo of the choreography but also to articulate them into a continuous and progressive musical shape. Every gesture and movement was empowered by the music and the result was both attractive and continuous. This procedure was very helpful in deciding which was the best compositional approach to adopt for this collaboration.We agreed to work with three main different materials, each one of them using a male-female duo of dancers. The first, called [co], is about non-contact manipulation. The second, [hes], operates as a refrain that reappears three times during the piece between sections. It is a delayed pattern that evolves toward a unison represented with both the music and dance. The third idea is called [ion] which, in contrast to [co], the dancers never stop touching each other. All them together form the word [co][hes][ion]: the act or state of cohering, or a tendency to unite.  The work had further sections than the principal materials described above. Once we had these three materials clear, I completed the work under a coherent macro-structure . Even if some parts of the music were initially created after the choreography, this procedure was not applied to the whole work.

 
Outcome

The processes entailed in the composition of this work exemplify how enriching it can be to reconsider one’s pre-established creative processes. Adapting choreographic material to music and making it coherent in itself has been an effective creative strategy to avoid disconnection between these two worlds.We sought to create a coherent and indivisible work that combined music and dance and translated movement vocabulary into music, finding an appropriate syntax for the piece and, concerning myself, learning from the choreographer sense of gesture.

Raquel Garcia-Tomas ~ '[co][hes][ion]' (2013)

The SIGMA Project sax quartet premiered "My Old Gramophone #4" within the CNDM 2020/21 concert series, among other works by J. Magrané, H. Arias, L. Lim and A. Posadas.
The concert took place at the Museo Reina Sofía (A400), Madrid. This video was recorded to be broadcasted on YouTube on the 4th of March 20H (CET+1) within its "SIGMA Orionis" virtual concert series.

My Old Gramophone #4, by R. García-Tomás

Year: 2008 | Duration: 5:30 min~

 Commissioned by Versus String Quartet.

World premiere: 26th of February 2008. L'Auditori de Barcelona, Sala 3-Tete Montoliu. "Concerts de l'Acadèmia | Temporada 2007/08"

Canción Al Alba

[logolepsy / lethologica] - (fragment)

[…] così mostraste a lei i vivi ardori miei […] by R. García Tomás (snippet)

[logolepsy / lethologica] was world-premiered within the frame of the Art's Birthday 2016 organized by Euroradio Ars Acustica. This work has been commissioned by Catalunya Música Radio.

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Logolepsy
(n.) a fascination or obsession with words

Lethologica
(n.) the inability to remember a word or put your finger on the right word

[logolepsy / lethologica] is an acousmatic work inspired in the two concepts above defined. It explores the versatility of the human voice through the manipulation of a fragmented discourse and the incorporation of radiophonic and glitched sounds.

[logolepsy - lethologica] ~ Raquel García-Tomás (2016)

[logolepsy / lethologica] - Snippet

disPLACE-Beginning

Añil [from "Mediterranean reminiscences"] (2011)
by Raquel García-Tomás 
alto flute, clarinet, guitar, piano, violin, viola and cello.
Commissioned by BCN216, Barcelona.
World premiere: 19th of October 2011. L'Auditori de Barcelona, Sala 2-Oriol Martorell.
Ensemble: BCN216, conductor Yasuaki Itakura 
Live recording by BCN216 at Refectorio del Centro del Carmen, Valencia | "Festival de Ensembles-Música per l'avenir". 2nd of December 2011


Raquel Garcia-Tomas ~ Añil [from "Mediterranean reminiscences"] (2011)

This is not a performance recording.
I will upload Mireia Vendrell's performance as soon as she'll premiere the piece in Stuttgart and London.
Enjoy it!

Raquel Garcia-Tomas ~ tangible (2012)

World premiere: 6th August 2012
L'Ateneu de Barcelona 
CrossingLines Ensemble



Raquel Garcia-Tomas ~ aequae (2012)

Encargo del ECHO Rising Stars 2018/19 para el barítono Josep-Ramon Olivé, acompañado por el pianista Ian Tindale. Este lied pretende parecer un compendio de viejas canciones reencontradas, tal y como su título en francés sugiere. Combinando materiales de naturaleza contrastante, esta obra realza la versatilidad teatral del barítono quien, acompañado por un piano inspirado en el Impresionismo Francés, canta en un lenguaje inventado, cuya intención es explorar las cualidades fonéticas de las sílabas que crean el discurso textual.

Chansons trouvées

Raquel García-Tomás is a composer specialising in multidisciplinary creation who is currently finishing a Doctorate at the Royal College of Music. Her recent projects include collaborations with the English National Ballet, the Royal British Society of Sculptors, the Royal Academy of Arts and the Dresdener Musikfestspiele.

Raquel García-Tomás

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