Contemporary Music

Ballet

dance

This is Mikael's debut chamber music album with performances by Claire Chase, Joshua Rubin, Cory Smythe, Jason Wingate, Fung Chern Hwei, Lee Hui Ping and Mikael (a few plinky plonks on the piano in Five Four.
Mastering my Christopher McDonald.
Cover photo by Niklas Alexandersson. 
Styling and makeup by Tommie X and Isa Maxe.

Five Four - (flutes and alto flutes: Claire Chase, programming and piano: Mikael Karlsson)

Music written specifically for dancer Akram Khan for promotional video. In this I am singing and playing the cello at the same time. Using Arabic musical influences and inspiration taken from Akram's choreography. Music composed fully by me on just voice and cello. Engineered and mastered by Simon Changer.

Akram Khan Website Composition by Katherine Sayles, engineered/mastered by Simon Changer

05 Coda

Homegrown

Excerpt from live premiere performance of As An Nós, given by San Francisco Contemporary Music Players

As An Nós (excerpt)

extrait de l'album Novö Piano, sorti en avril 2010 chez Kwaidan.

Maxence Cyrin - No Cars Go

Original music composition from the "20" dance piece, created by Lukas Timulak (http://www.timulak.com) and Peter Bilak (http://www.peterbilak.com) in 2005 for Nederlands Dans Theater (http://www.ndt.nl).
Twenty focuses on a basic element of dance: time. 'How long is a minute, or a single second?' A large clock was built using Philips Philinea light lamps controlled by custom software. The clock functioned as a timer, counting down the seconds of the performance, except that it moved faster or slower according to the movement of the dancers on the stage. This dance piece challenges the expectations of the viewer and explores the dimensions of time and human perception.
For those who care - the whole piece was recorded using only and solely an Ibanez Jem electric guitar. No other sound sources had been used (yes including the drums).


20 (Twenty)

RUSTY is a dance piece by Benoit-Swan Pouffer with a score by me (Mikael Karlsson). The piece has been part of a lengthy world tour and is finally coming to NYC March 13-24 at the Ailey Citigroup Theater

From the Alvin Ailey website:

Paris-born choreographer Benoit-Swan Pouffer, a former member of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the current artistic director of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, brings a European sensibility to Ailey II’s repertory with this new work. Set to the pulsating tones of composer Mikael Karlsson’s score, Rusty features a cast of nine dancers, ethereal movement and lush partnering. This contemporary piece explores the experiences of young artists – the challenges they face and the relationships they build as performers.

http://www.alvinailey.org/rusty

Rusty (Benoit-Swan Pouffer for Alvin Ailey II) - finale

Here is the dance score for the minimalist faux baroque sequence in Alexander Ekman's piece "Left Right Left Right" for NDT2 (Nederlands Dans Theater 2). I have received a lot of requests for this piece to be released on iTunes, but I want to save it for a dance score compilation with my otherwise unreleased dance scores for NDT2, Ailey II, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, The Royal Swedish Ballet and Project 20.

In the meantime, here is the piece "Walkers", by me, from Ekman's "Left Right Left Right", performed by the Mivos Quartet with Gregory Chudzik on double bass. Enjoy.

Mika

Left Right Left Right - Walkers (performed by Mivos Quartet and Gregory Chudzik)

mikaelkarlsson