film soundtrack composer, sound / installation artist, curator – An architect designs works that occupy spaces; I create sound sculptures that fit in the flow of time and perception
Tmymtur’s new record which I believe can be transcribed as “Yusei” is an intriguing proposition: a sound piece made from over 5,000 recordings of the human voice, manipulated and interpreted by nine different artists from the field of ambient experimental music. The voice recordings were captured using a special microphone with a frequency response wider than that of the human ear, reaching into the range of ultrasound. The ultrasonic frequencies, though perhaps present in the audio file, cannot be reproduced by most consumer speakers; however, it is possible that they made their presence felt as the file was processed by the interpreting artists, influencing the resonances and subharmonics produced.
On initial, casual listening many of the album tracks seem very similar, but upon closer attention the differences in the artists’ approach to the provided material become apparent. Contrasts emerge, for example between i8u’s use of dynamic range and Celer’s gentle stasis, or between Christopher Willits’ turbulence and Taylor Deupree’s airiness. Given that over 5,000 individual recordings went into the creation of the original sound piece, it could be argued that the album represents only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what can be drawn out from the resulting cloud of tones. Personally, I would have liked to have heard a couple of more invasive interpretations included, where the source material is manipulated a bit more radically — the contribution by Stephan Mathieu points in this direction, towards a second album maybe. Yet it is perhaps because of general similarities in the artists’ styles that this collection of remixes makes an excellent manual for those who wish to study ambient composition techniques, either to improve their own compositions or simply to understand why they prefer the work of one artist over another — being able to hear clear differences between one approach to structure or harmonics and another is a valuable learning tool.
It is often argued that ultrasonic frequencies, though technically inaudible, are actually perceived by the senses and possess the capacity to relax the brain, contributing to the soothing effect of sounds such as the flow of a river or wind rustling the trees. I’d love to compare brain scans taken when listening to such sounds with others taken with the music collected as the stimulus: it wouldn’t surprise me if the results were very similar, even without the presence of ultrasonic frequencies. To get the full effect, however, one would have to attend one of Tmymtur’s live performances, such as the one at the Asahi Art Square in Tokyo on 24th March, for which he will construct a sound system capable of reproducing ultrasound; if his material can draw such powerful responses from the range of talented artists represented, then to ‘hear’ this vocal symphony in its full glory should indeed be something special. Tmymtur has managed to create/curate a project in which curiosity about the perception and cognition of sound and ultrasound becomes part and parcel of the aesthetic value of the music, and vice versa; the fact that each of the contributing artists has responded to the source material with sensitivity and imagination makes the album all the stronger.
from “Barton McLean, Reviewer, Computer Music Journal.”
Réseaux des arts médiatiques presents “Akousma,” EMPAC Studio 2, 10/7/11
Since its inception in 1991, Réseaux has dedicated itself to presenting and later commissioning electronic music works from Canadian and non-Canadian composers alike. Based in Montreal and amply funded by national, provincial, city, and other funding, it has garnered a unique place in the development of all forms of electronic music in Canada and internationally. It assigns the broad title “electro music” to all forms of electronic and computer music, with prominent subheadings “electroacoustic,” “concrète,” and “acousmatic.”
The EMPAC audience was treated to a preview of a much larger festival in Montreal to occur the following week. Titled “Akousma,” this sound diffusion concert consisted of an array of 20 loudspeakers configured in bottom and top rows, with a few in the middle, all surrounding and above the audience, with fewer discrete channels (at times 8, at times 6, at other times undetermined). The overall sound quality was spectacular (as we have come to expect from EMPAC), with clarity and finesse of frequency response unparalleled.
Although the stylistic mission of Réseaux is broad-based, the work of three of the four composers on this concert was rather traditionally oriented in sonic materials I would characterize as granular-based, white noise-derived, rapidly moving sound events usually divorced from traditional tempered pitch/rhythm elements, opting instead for the juxtaposition of gesture, silence, peppered with occasional sections of low key continuity. If this sounds like a general description of your average electroacoustic concert of today, you are right. Although these three composers managed to exhibit technical skill in crafting the sound event, there was rarely anything to distinguish one piece from another in this milieu of common practice style that has so permeated the scene for the past decade.
One exception to this was a powerfully executed section of “Qui-vive” by Pierre-Yves Macé, in which a quasi-microtonal gestural melodic idea was repeated over several minutes with variations, to the accompaniment of a gradually rising tension in other stratified layers, producing a grand feeling of inexorable forward motion, prompting this reviewer to the conclusion that this common practice style still has room for growth in the hands of a masterful creator.
Speaking of masterful, France Jobin’s “Valence of one” forced the audience to sit up and take notice, not because of any new wild gestural statement as we had come to expect, but rather from the sheer quietness and slow pace. The overall scheme was simplicity itself, with two main sections, the first being various derivatives of a major second chord sounding with other fleeting pitches and timbres entering and exiting unobtrusively, and the second, the same the treatment of what was basically a major triad with added sixth. This was punctuated by an occasional piano-like note pinging against the otherwise continuous montage of sound. Twenty minutes later, when this longest work of the evening quietly ended, I was startled, since I felt that I was just beginning to feel extremely comfortable and engaged in a wonderful world where time stood still. It was as if awakening from a deeply satisfying dream. How she managed to engage the audience with such simple means still escapes me, but engage she did, masterfully.
Tickets on sale at OBORO ($10)
as of January 15, 2013.
From Tuesday to Saturday, noon to 5 pm.
You can also call 514 844-3250 (credit card only).
No ticket reservation.
The artists
Scant Intone is the solo project of Canadian artist Constantine Katsiris dedicated to experimentation with audio as a medium. The output varies from stark minimalist tones to densely complex textures with a sound palette that incorporates elements of field recordings, shortwave radio, raw data, and digital sound synthesis. Focused on researching psychoacoustics, waveform anomalies and various audio phenomena discovered while exploring the frequency spectrum, his compositions are excursions in abstract electronic music with influences including ambient, lowercase, microsound, noise, glitch and drone. Live performances have been numerous over the past years, including many collaborations and improvisations with like-minded audio and video artists. Katsiris has brought his sound to many notable venues, such as Whitechapel Art Gallery (London), Brut Konzerthaus (Vienna), and SESI Art & Cultural Center (Sao Paulo). Scant Intone has also shared the stage with Fennesz, Crys Cole, KK Null, Tim Hecker, Aidan Baker and Sawako, to name a few.
Tomas Phillips (b. 1969) is a composer, novelist, and teacher whose sound work focuses on improvisational performance and minimalist through-composition. He began composing electronic music in the early 1990s that has seen release on such labels as Trente Oiseaux and Line. Additionally, he has created music for installations and collaborations in dance and theatre. Tomas has taught in the disciplines of literature and fine arts at various universities in the US, Québec, and Finland. Having completed an interdisciplinary Ph.D. at Concordia University, Montreal, he now lives in the US, where he teaches comparative literature, as well as seminars on minimalist texts and horror genres at North Carolina State University.
Nancy Tobin is an audio artist based in the St-Henri neighbourhood of Montreal. Her sound designs for dance and theatre productions have been part of the Festival TransAmériques, the World Stage Festival, the Festival d’Avignon and the Edinburgh International Festival. Tobin has, in her twenty years of experience, developed a specialization in vocal amplification for theater and is known for her distinct style, using unusual loudspeakers to transform the aural qualities of her compositions.
In performance and sound improvisation, Tobin collaborates regularly with turntable sound artist Martin Tétreault (duo TÉTO, the TURNTABLE QUARTET and the SUPERHEART performance). Her solo work includes commissions for the group ARTIFICIEL (Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal), and curator Eric Mattson (Mutek Festival and other special events). Her current performance instrumentation consists of electromagnetic transducers, vintage tone generators, and small speakers. In 2007, she formed BêTEs NoCTurnes, an open collective that improvises live around the idea of sounds of nature at night.
Immerson 4 continues its exploration of new perceptions and experiences of the listening process with the invited artists, who will unveil a diversity of approaches, all while respecting the notion of immersion within an aesthetic of minimalism.
Immerson is a concert event and philosophy initiated by France Jobin that proposes creating an environment dedicated to an enhanced listening experience through focusing on the physical comfort of the audience by means of a specifically designed space.
France Jobin is an audio / installation artist, composer and curator. Her audio art, qualified as “sound sculpture”, distinguishes itself in a minimalist approach of complex sound environments at the intersection of analog and digital. She participates in festivals, as well as presents installations and events internationally. Jobin has produced numerous solo albums with renowned labels such as ROOM40 (AU), LINE (US), popmuzik records and ATAK (JP). France Jobin was a Sonic Arts Awards 2014 finalist in the category Sonic Research.
Laureate for concert of the year – Category Musique Actuelle – Electroacoustique
for her concert at AKOUSMA 8 : sens_action : France Jobin, Réseaux des arts médiatiques, 14 octobre 2011
She presented EVENT HORIZON, the audio version of an audio visual collaboration with Cédrick Eymenier
Congratulations to all the Laureates!
Et les Lauréats sont….
Le Conseil québécois de la musique a dévoilé la liste des Lauréats des prix Opus qui ont été remis lors de la 16e édition du gala des prix Opus, tenu le dimanche 27 janvier dernier à 15 h à la salle de concert Bourgie, à Montréal.
Créés en 1996, les prix Opus témoignent du dynamisme et de la diversité du milieu musical québécois. Ils soulignent l’excellence de la musique de concert au Québec, dans différents répertoires musicaux : médiéval, de la Renaissance, baroque, classique, romantique, moderne, actuel, contemporain, électroacoustique, jazz et musiques du monde. Par cet événement, le Conseil québécois de la musique souhaite rendre hommage aux musiciens d’ici, mais aussi transmettre au public et aux mélomanes le goût de découvrir, d’écouter et de fréquenter la musique de concert.
Les membres du Conseil québécois de la musique choisissent, parmi les quelque 1200 concerts qui se donnent annuellement, ceux qu’ils souhaitent inscrire à la compétition. Ainsi, pour la saison qui s’étend de septembre 2011 à septembre 2012, 160 concerts ont été jugés, auxquels s’ajoutent 66 disques, une dizaine d’articles et plus d’une quarantaine de candidatures pour les 8 prix spéciaux remis à des personnalités et à des organismes qui se sont démarqués au cours de la saison.
Pendant la soirée, le Conseil québécois de la musique rendra hommage à monsieur François Morel, pianiste, compositeur, chef d’orchestre et pédagogue. Considéré comme l’un des plus grands auteurs de musique contemporaine au Québec, ses oeuvres ont été jouées dans les grandes villes d’Europe, en Russie, au Japon, en Chine ainsi qu’aux États-Unis et en Amérique du Sud, sous la direction des chefs les plus réputés. François Morel s’est également impliqué intensivement sur la scène québécoise, produisant des événements tant pour le concert, le disque, le théâtre que pour la radio et la télévision. Par le passé, il a été récipiendaire du titre de Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Québec et du prix Denise-Pelletier des Prix du Québec.
Les prix Opus se distinguent par la remise de prix en argent aux lauréats. Ainsi, lors de la cérémonie, 5 récipiendaires se partageront 26 000 $. Pour une seizième année consécutive, le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec remettra 10 000 $ au lauréat du prix Compositeur de l’année. Pour leur part, le Conseil des Arts du Canada et le ministère de la Culture et des Communications verseront 5000 $ aux récipiendaires des prix Interprète de l’année et Production de l’année – jeune public. Le Conseil des arts de Montréal remettra au gagnant du prix Concert de l’année – Montréal, un montant de 3000 $. Enfin, le lauréat du prix Découverte de l’année recevra également une bourse de 3000 $ du Conseil québécois de la musique qui veut ainsi appuyer sa relève artistique.
Le Conseil québécois de la musique remercie ses partenaires pour leur contribution à cette 16e édition du gala des prix Opus : le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Musicaction, le Conseil des Arts du Canada, Radio-Canada, Espace Musique, le ministère de la Culture et des Communications, le Conseil des arts de Montréal, ainsi que Le Devoir, la Librairie Monet, le Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, la salle de concert Bourgie et La Scena Musicale.
LA LISTE DES LAURÉATS – AN 16, saison 2011-2012
CONCERT DE L’ANNÉE – MONTRÉAL Louise Bessette : 30 ans de carrière, Société de musique contemporaine du Québec en collaboration avec la Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur, 31 mars 2012
CONCERT DE L’ANNÉE – QUÉBEC The Tempest, coproduction : The Metropolitan Opera (New York), Festival d’opéra de Québec, Opéra de Vienne (Wiener Staatsoper), coll. Ex Machina, 26, 28, 30 juillet, 1er août 2012
CONCERT DE L’ANNÉE – RÉGIONS Marc-André Hamelin éblouit dans Busoni, Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières, 6 avril 2012
CONCERT DE L’ANNÉE – MUSIQUES MÉDIÉVALE, DE LA RENAISSANCE, BAROQUE, CLASSIQUE Concert inaugural de la Salle Bourgie du Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, Fondation Arte Musica, 28 septembre 2011
CONCERT DE L’ANNÉE – MUSIQUES ROMANTIQUE, POSTROMANTIQUE, IMPRESSIONNISTE Philippe Sly et Michael McMahon en récital, Philippe Sly, baryton-basse et Michael McMahon, piano, Société d’art vocal de Montréal, 21 mai 2012
CONCERT DE L’ANNÉE – MUSIQUES MODERNE, CONTEMPORAINE Louise Bessette : 30 ans de carrière, Société de musique contemporaine du Québec en collaboration avec la Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur, 31 mars 2012
CONCERT DE L’ANNÉE – MUSIQUES ACTUELLE, ÉLECTROACOUSTIQUE AKOUSMA 8 : sens_action : France Jobin, Réseaux des arts médiatiques, 14 octobre 2011
CONCERT DE L’ANNÉE – JAZZ Rémi Bolduc Jazz Ensemble : 4+2, Les Productions Art and Soul, 14 octobre 2011
CONCERT DE L’ANNÉE – MUSIQUES DU MONDE Convivencia, Fidelio Musique/Art et musique La Mandragore, 16 et 31 octobre 2011
CRÉATION DE L’ANNÉE Atacama : Symphonie no 3, Tim Brady, Atacama !, Bradyworks et VivaVoce, 12 juin 2012
PRODUCTION DE L’ANNÉE – JEUNE PUBLIC Les aventures fantastiques de Flonflon, Jeunesses Musicales du Canada, 26 novembre 2011
DISQUES
DISQUE DE L’ANNÉE – MUSIQUES MÉDIÉVALE, DE LA RENAISSANCE, BAROQUE, CLASSIQUE William Lawes – The Royall Consorts, Les Voix humaines, ATMA Classique
DISQUE DE L’ANNÉE – MUSIQUES ROMANTIQUE, POSTROMANTIQUE, IMPRESSIONNISTE Bruckner 4, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Orchestre Métropolitain, ATMA Classique
DISQUE DE L’ANNÉE – MUSIQUES MODERNE, CONTEMPORAINE Denys Bouliane, Denis Gougeon, John Rea, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Lorraine Vaillancourt, ATMA Classique
DISQUE DE L’ANNÉE – MUSIQUES ACTUELLE, ÉLECTROACOUSTIQUE Palimpsestes, Robert Normandeau, empreintes DIGITALes
DISQUE DE L’ANNÉE – JAZZ Autour de Bill Evans, Donato, Bourassa, Lozano, Tanguay, Effendi Records
DISQUE DE L’ANNÉE – MUSIQUES DU MONDE Lieux imaginés, Cordâme, Malasartes musique, DAME
ÉCRIT
ARTICLE DE L’ANNÉE « Richard Wagner, Louis de Fourcaud, and a path for French opera in the 1880s », Marie-Hélène Benoit-Otis, Act : Zeitschrift für Musik und Performance, no 3, 2012 PRIX SPÉCIAUX
PRIX HOMMAGE
François Morel
COMPOSITEUR DE L’ANNÉE
Simon Bertrand
DÉCOUVERTE DE L’ANNÉE
Stéphane Tétreault, violoncelliste
DIFFUSEUR SPÉCIALISÉ DE L’ANNÉE
Fondation Arte Musica, saison inaugurale
DIFFUSEUR PLURIDISCIPLINAIRE DE L’ANNÉE
Corporation culturelle de Shawinigan
DIRECTEUR ARTISTIQUE DE L’ANNÉE
Grégoire Legendre, Opéra de Québec et Festival d’Opéra de Québec
ÉVÉNEMENT MUSICAL DE L’ANNÉE
Festival d’opéra de Québec – The Tempest
INTERPRÈTE DE L’ANNÉE
Lorraine Desmarais, pianiste jazz
A rather small, independent record store in Cambridge, MA (such places still exist), it contains one of the, well, weirdest selections I’ve ever seen. If you are seeking something off the beaten path, it’s absolutely fantastic. The pricing is good, shipping cheap, and at the end of the day it felt great to support both some lesser-known artists as well as a bona fide record store.
One of my recent purchases from this most excellent establishment was France Jobin‘s CD, Valence. A Montreal-based artist, Jobin (b. 1958) has created solo recordings for a number of labels and has also produced installations around the world. Her work is mostly electroacoustic in nature, exploring sounds at an unhurried pace. If this CD is any indication of her work as a whole, I would be quite anxious to hear some of her installations.
The title for the CD, Valence, is inspired by the valence bond and molecular orbital theories of atomic particles. If you harken back to high school chemistry, you may recall that the electrons around the nucleus of an atom do not follow planet-like orbits (despite what the logo from The Big Band Theory might imply), but rather exist in particular regions around the nucleus. The tracks are thus appropriately titled S orbital, P orbital, and D orbital.
Diagram of S, P, and D orbitals – Image by Dr. Alex M. Clark
The CD opens with sounds that lie on the edges of human hearing, demanding a high-quality listening environment to enjoy the full effect. As the 27-minute track progresses, a swath of warm, lush tones, which might be more commonly found as backdrops to a tranquil video game, emerge. S orbital is anything but passive music, however, as the interaction of this warmth with other sounds at extreme frequencies and occasional, less-musical sounds, creates a complex listening space worth exploring. I only wish I could experience this is a concert hall with as many surround channels as possible.
P orbital takes a noticeably different path from S, as it opens with a single note struck repeatedly, and slowly, on a piano. The sounds, while still primarily warm and consonant, are also more aggressive both in their sweeping volume and slight metallic tinge. In this track, Jobin really demonstrates her remarkable sense of pacing and development. Approximately seven minutes in to this 22-minute track, the opening figures are reduced to a single tone while lower frequences take the piece in a decidedly more sinister direction. Later, a major chord slowly and unexpectedly emerges, and, to provide stunning closure, the piano note returns at the very end. It can be difficult to maintain interest over time with relatively few sounds, but with these opening two tracks Jobin demonstrates both a capacity for sustained intrigue and remarkable adeptness at transitioning to new ideas.
The final track, D orbital, seems to combine aspects of both S and P. The warmth of the opening track and some of its high-pitched tones return, and the slowly emerging harmonies seem connected to the second. As I hear it, these three tracks are intimately connected, but at the same time I would be quite hesitant to impose some sort of three-movement form on the disc. D orbital may be a continuation of similar ideas, but it is not a summary.
In the end, I think this is a magnificent CD, worthy of your time, attention, and purchasing power. As a caveat, though, I think a 30- or even 90-second preview of this album will not do it justice (especially in an inferior listening situation). At a glance, one might write this music off as ambient fluff, but deeper listening reveals a subtle complexity that is immensely satisfying.
DHC/ART presents LOUNGE,
an event presented in the context of the exhibition Ryoji Ikeda
LOUNGE:
Synesthésie Sonore/
Sonic Synesthesia
Laura Cetilia
Seth Horvitz
Saturday, November 10 at 9 p.m
Doors open at 8:30 p.m. — PHI centre, 407 Saint-Pierre Street, Montreal
Free admission with pass, available at DHC/ART
and the PHI Centre as of November 1st.
Guest curator: France Jobin
Associate Curator: Cheryl Sim
LOUNGE is an audio project developed in a minimalist aesthetic,
the result of a long process of reflection on ways of listening
in the context of the public presentation of audio art.
LOUNGE proposes an environment inspired by the architecture
of the presentation space, an environment entirely dedicated
to listening. The presentation takes its inspiration from the
Montreal piano bars of the 1950s and explores new ways
of perceiving and experiencing the listening process, all the while
questioning the relationship between performer and performance,
intimacy and immensity, self and solitude, and between human
and machine. This exploratory environment serves as backdrop
for Seth Horvitz’s “Eight Studies for Automatic Piano” and
Laura Cetilia’s captivating approach to the cello, one that
combines virtuosity with inventiveness.
In this context of performed sound art, the contrast between
acoustic instruments used in very different ways is brought
to the fore; one using computer-based composition, and the
other using an approach to playing where traditional methods
are subverted. These approaches are complemented by
a very positive sort of synesthesia created by the presence
of the sound in the architectural space. It is in this spirit
of synesthesia that LOUNGE forms part of the development
of France Jobin’s curatorial practice, highlighting her
deep belief that the public’s experience of sound art must
happen immersively.
The work of Seth Joshua Horvitz (b. 1973, Los Angeles) crosses many
disciplines, among them electronic and experimental music, music for film
and dance, sound design, visual design, video, and installation art. His recent projects are primarily concerned with the web of relationships between nature, machines, and human perception. Under his own name and various pseudonyms, he has published music on dozens of record labels including LINE (USA), Mille Plateaux (Germany), and Leaf (UK). As a performer, he has appeared at venues across the Americas, Europe, Australia, and Japan. He holds a BA in Cognitive Science from the University of California at Berkeley (1995) and an MFA in Electronic Music and Recording Media from Mills College (2010). Seth Horvitz
Laura Cetilia is a cellist currently based in Providence RI. She is comfortable with both acoustic and electronic performance and improvisation, developing extended techniques and technologies that best convey her artistic intentions. Her work manifests itself in many forms. Apart from her solo projects, she is half of the electroacoustic group Mem1, member of the avant garde viola/cello duo Suna No Onna, and collaborator with a number of video artists, including Naho Taruishi, with whom she creates site-specific audiovisual installations. Laura Cetilia
France Jobin is a sound/installation artist and curator residing in Montreal.
She has created solo recordings for ROOM40 (AUS), nvo (AT), ATAK (JP),
murmur records (JP) and LINE (USA). Her sound installation Entre-Deux,
was met with critical acclaim in Washington DC during the DATA/FIELDS
new media exhibit curated by Richard Chartier and including Ryoji Ikeda
and Mark Fell among others. As curator, she has presented several events
and her latest endeavour is immersound, a concert event/philosophy, which she initiated, and curates.
DHC/ART Fondation for Contemporary Art
451 & 465 Saint-Jean (corner Notre-Dame, in Old Montreal)
Montreal, Quebec H2Y 2R5 Canada
Gallery Hours
Wednesday to Friday from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
chesterfield (Angélica Castelló/Burkhard Stangl) , Chantale Laplante, Steve Bates
Thursday June 7th and friday June 8th 2012 6 pm, limited seating!
Tickets on sale at OBORO for $10 (cash only),
from Tuesday to Saturday, noon to 5 pm.
You can also dial 514 844-3250 to make a reservation with credit card.
The artists
Steve Bates is an artist and musician, raised in Winnipeg and now living in Montréal. Coming from a back ground in the noisier side of music, radio art eventually lead to installation projects, both gallery and publicly sited. The sonic is always the starting point for his projects which are then manifested as evocations of communication networks and systems, or expressions of spatial and temporal experience.
Bates frequently uses sound material that is site-specific in an attempt to uncover place and how the sonic effects our experience of site. Time is measured, stretched, pulled at, ignored, and extended. Bates holds an MFA from Concordia University where he was awarded the inaugural Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Fellowship in Contemporary Art. Current projects include ongoing collaborations with Douglas Moffat as Field Sound, including Okta, a multi-channel, permanent, outdoor sound installation commissioned by the City of Toronto, Lanterner, a music duo with Marc-Alexandre
Reinhardt, and solo exhibitions.
Bates continues to release music, both solo and collaboratively. His
work has been exhibited in Canada, the United States and Europe.
Chesterfield (Angélica Castelló/Burkhard Stangl)
Chesterfield was founded by Angélica Castelló und Burkhard Stangl in 2007. The Duo is active in field of composition (f.i. Tapes & Dreams with a commissioned video by Billy Roisz – premiered at Radar-Festival 2010 México D.F.), live-music to silent movies, improvisation, curating and cooking for nice people. Concerts in Europe and México. CD-release: wireless headphone concert live-recording, Olliwood Records 025, 2012, Vienna (limited edition).
*1972 México City
She studied Music in her native town (Conservatorio Nacional de México), in Montreal (Université de Montréal), Amsterdam (Conservatorium van Amsterdam) and Vienna (Konservatorium der Stadt Wien, Institut für Elektroakustische und Computer Musik). Since 1999 she lives in Vienna where she teaches, She founded the concert series “Neue Musik in St Ruprecht” which she currently runs and where regularly musicians from Austria and abroad perform.She works interdivisionaly with Dancers, Writers, Musicians, Video Artists, Performers, Theater etc.
Even if she stayed faithful to the ancient music (Ensemble fiori musicali), the center and heart of her work is electroacustic and New Music: Co-creation of the Ensembles low frequency orchestra, los autodisparadores (with Thomas Grill and Katharina Klement), frufru (with Maja Osojnik), cilantro (with Billy Roisz), subshrubs (with Katharina Klement, Billy Roisz und Maja Osojnik) and Chesterfield (with Burkhard Stangl). With this ensembles and other musicians such as Olga Neuwirth, Wolfgang Mitterer, Urkuma, Martin Siewert, Eva Reiter, Manrico Montero, Mario de Vega, Barbara Romen, Gunter Schneider, Juan Jose Rivas, Marina Rosenfeld, John Butcher, Okkyung Lee, dieb13, Matija Schellander, Kazu Uchihashi a.o. she performed across America and Europe
As a composer she wrote for her own instruments (mainly Paetzold recorders with or without electronics), for ensembles (a.o. Danubia Saxophon Quartett, subshrubs, Bella Discordia) as well as for theatre and dance; she composed several electroacustic pieces. Her music has being recorded at labels like mosz, Ein_klang Records, Mandorla, Mikroton Records and chmafu nocords and has being presented in several radio programs.
Castelló has work with composers like Mario Lavista, Hilda Paredes, Katharina Klement, Daniel de la Cuesta, Robert Kellner, Jorge Sanchez-Chiong, Phil Niblock, Johannes Kretz, Burkhard Stangl etc. on their works, some of which have been dedicate to her.
She has performed at important festivals such as: Salzburger Festspiele, Ulrichsberger Kaleidophon, Donau Festival, Radar, Taktlos, Interpenetration, Osterfestival, Musica Genera, lmc festival, Musikprotokoll, Numusik, Music Unlimited, Wien Modern, Cha’ak’ab Paaxil, Klangspuren, Kontraste, a.o. And worked as an artist in residence in Schrattenberg (AUT) and in Topolo (I).
Prices and Grants:
1997 Conseil des Arts et Lettres du Quebec (Canada) Grant for abroad studies
1999 FONCA (Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y la Artes, México) Grant for abroad studies
2007 Publicity-Preis from the SKE-austro mechana in Austria (for the Ensemble Low Frequency Orchestra)
2011 State Grant for Composition from the Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture in Austria (bm:ukk)
*1960, Eggenburg near Vienna.
He works in the field of non-idiomatic improvisation, electronica and contemporary classical; more than 70 CD-releases and three books; inter alia: Récital (guit-solo, 1996), Polwechsel (1998, 1999, 2001, 2002), Moon of Venus (opera without location, together with the poet Oswald Egger, 2 CDs, 2000/2004), ereb afrik (composition for piano, 2004) and Duos with Angélica Castelló, Taku Unami, Taku Sugimoto, Christof Kurzmann, Kai Fagaschinski and dieb13. At last: Hommage à moi, box with 3 CDS, Book (496p., german only), DVD, edition echoraum/loewenhertz, Vienna 2011. Since 2004 he teaches at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna Improvisation and New Streams in Music.
http://stangl.klingt.org
Chantale Laplante Biography (French)
Chantale Laplante, compositeure, improvisateure et artiste sonore, vit et travaille à Montréal. Pianiste de formation, classique et jazz, elle a fait des études de composition à l’Université de Montréal puis s’est perfectionnée auprès de Francis Dhomont et Jonathan Harvey, dans le cadre de cours privés. Son travail repose sur la sensation et le champ phénoménal du lieu, et se caractérise par une approche au temps non pulsé, imprégnant
l’œuvre d’une impression à la fois de flottement et de tension. Sa pratique est multiple, allant de la composition instrumentale, mixte et électronique, à l’improvisation et, plus récemment, à l’œuvre in situ.
Depuis 2009, elle est chercheure associée au Matralab de l’Université Concordia et, à compter de l’automne 2011, elle est inscrite au Doctorat en études et pratiques des arts de l’Université du Québec à Montréal, avec le soutien d’une bourse du Fonds québécois de recherche sur la société et la culture.
About immerson:
immerson is a concert event and philosophy initiated by France Jobin that proposes creating an environment dedicated to an enhanced listening experience through the physical comfort of the audience by means of a specifically designed space.
Jobin initiated immerson in February 2011, in partnership with OBORO and in close collaboration with Stéphane Claude.
France Jobin is an audio / installation artist, composer and curator. Her audio art, qualified as “sound sculpture”, distinguishes itself in a minimalist approach of complex sound environments at the intersection of analog and digital. She participates in festivals, as well as presents installations and events internationally. Jobin has produced numerous solo albums with renowned labels such as ROOM40 (AU), LINE (US), popmuzik records and ATAK (JP). France Jobin was a Sonic Arts Awards 2014 finalist in the category Sonic Research.
In collaboration with Oboro and in partnership with Festival Suoni Per Il Popolo
Immerson would like to thank the Austrian embassy in Ottawa for their support
i8u is France Jobin, from Montreal, Canada.
Her discography is pretty impressive (cfr Discogs), and this 3 sound-suites release on Murmur records drives the listener straight into the vibrating suspension of senses, now all fused as one unique.
Roger beeps (loads of), imperceptible glitch, subtle grey shades of drone music, all differently seraphic. Instrumental, more like an aural trip, than a mere hypnosis state. Subliminal and tense. Luminance microsounds which embrace your neck and infiltrate you into the hypothalamus. You should play this on your stereo, and play it at loudest volume possible: the whole room would start vibrating, you’re going experience a one hour preview of after-life, but your dog would eventually die of acute deafness and the neighborhood would stop talking to you.
© F. Jobin, 2012
