"Idolum" for flute, violin, and two guitar machines by Taylor Brook

Ecstatic Music: Tak Plays Brook

Idolum

The works of the composer and conductor, Valerio Sannicandro, are the product of different cultural influences and of his own reflections about the parameter 'space' that he researches consequently, first as compositeur associé at IRCAM (Paris), then at the Technische Universität (Berlin) where he got a Ph.D. in Musicology and at Experimentalstudio (Freiburg). Compositions like Strali (2002), Fibrae (2005), Ius Lucis (2006/2007) and Forces Motrices (2010) are the most outstanding examples of his interest in large orchestral instrumentations, as well as of his concern with the role and the aesthetic of (live) electronics. He is currently working at Experimentalstudio of SWR (Freiburg) on Finesterrae, a new work for voices, viola and live-electronics. He has been awarded among others the Claudio-Abbado Prize from the Academy of Berlin Philharmonics in 2014, the Musica Viva Composition Prize, München in 2002 and 2010, the Giga-Hertz production Prize as well as the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis (2000). His works have been recorded on CD for Wergo and Telos Music Records. He has been invited at the Villa Kujoyama (Kyoto) and is new music advisor at the Philharmonisches Orchester Cottbus (Germany). His works are published by Edizioni Suvini-Zerboni (Milan).

I am a composer that is classically trained with broad interest and experience in world musics. MM New England Conservatory '86, BM University of Massachusetts at Amherst '76.

My compositions have won awards from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, New England Reed Trio International Chamber Music Composition Competition, a Bryant Fellowship from Harvard University, and a certificate from the 21st Century Music Project Competition of the the International Center for Japanese Culture in Yokohama, Japan. My works have been performed across the United States, Europe and Japan.

As a composer, I am interested in considering commissions and collaborations. Performing scores and parts are available to all my works here on SoundCloud through Universal Edition, J. W. Pepper Music, Frank Warren Music Service, or by contacting me.

I hope you enjoy listening here.

“Some of it reminds me of minimal music, the repetitions, the different layers that build up little by little, but she doesn’t hide behind them, she uses these techniques to express her own ideas. I find it wonderful how carefully she goes about it. When she’s onto an idea, she doesn’t just grab it, but approaches it carefully and gives the idea time to blossom.” – Tuula Simon, WDR 3, “3 von jetzt” (“3 of now”)

Sophia Jani is a German composer of contemporary classical music who takes a poetically minimalist approach to composition. She is the current Composer in Residence of the Dallas Symphony for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons, as well as the 2023 Musical Artist in Residence of the Arvo Pärt Center and recipient of the APC Fellowship.

Her music has recently been performed by the New Jersey Symphony, the Munich Symphony, Bang on a Can, musicians of the Dallas Symphony, the Goldmund Quartet, vocal sextet Sjaella, and pianist Eunbi Kim, among others. She has also contributed music to successful film, theater, dance and album projects.

In 2021, Jani was awarded the prestigious Scholarship for Music by the City of Munich for her solo violin piece III. Her debut album of chamber works, 2022’s Music as a mirror, received a nomination for the German Classical Music Prize “Opus Klassik.” In June 2022, she co-composed and produced “Tulips” with violinist Darian Donovan Thomas, which was featured on !K7’s String Layers Vol. II. And in July 2022, she participated in the Edward T. Cone Composition Institute at Princeton University, where her composition “What Do Flowers Do at Night?” was performed by the New Jersey Symphony under conductor David Robertson.

In addition to her work as a composer, Jani is passionate about building a diverse and international community of artists that open-mindedly addresses the challenges notated music faces in the 21st century. To that end, she is one of the founders and artistic directors of “Feet Become Ears”, which is a platform that commissions, presents, and celebrates contemporary chamber music.

Jani holds degrees from the University of Augsburg, the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich and the Yale University School of Music where she studied with Martin Bresnick and David Lang, made possible through the generous support of the Fulbright foundation.

Regarded as “one of the most prominent ensembles in the United States practicing truly experimental music” (I Care If You Listen), TAK delivers energetic performances "that combine crystalline clarity with the disorienting turbulence of a sonic vortex.” (WIRE Magazine). The ambitious ensemble “impresses with the organicity of their sound, their dynamism and virtuosity” (New Sounds, WQXR). Dedicated to the commissioning of new works and direct collaboration with artists working in a variety of disciplines, TAK promotes ambitious programming at the highest level. 
 The quintet has released four albums to critical acclaim, including Oor (2019), which launched their in-house media label TAK editions. This label creates broadly accessible platforms for audience engagement with a host of new music media with a focus on original TAK content. The ensemble's Youtube videos have been viewed 15,000 times, and the TAK Editions Podcast has received over 5,000 listens from across the globe.

'Love, Crystal and Stone' by Ashkan Behzadi out on TAK editions 5/10/22

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TAK’s operations occur on Lenape lands—Lenapehoking; we acknowledge the Lenpae as the original people of this land and their continuing relationship with their territory.

Recording project out of Australia.

https://open.spotify.com/artist/28Ic0jDdzt6mAwJ0HFZuei?si=KM99vlxRSWeqvgk7vHUAzw

Thanks for stopping by.

All music © Mount Plenty 2024

Upon him the contempt of three planets descended.

https://esslemont.bandcamp.com/

Idolum

TAK ensemble