23/11/2023 23/11/2023
Morelia
Time: 18:00
Venue: CMMAS
Country: MX

Esther Lamneck, Tárogató. Electronic music composers in residence – Mara Helmuth and Jonathan Wilson
Del 23 de octubre del 2023 al 24 de noviembre del 2023
Lugar: ENES, Aula Magna B

BIOS

Esther Lamneck,  Clarinet and  Tárogató
The New York Times calls Esther Lamneck, http://www.estherlamneck.com/ “an astonishing virtuoso”.  She has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras, with conductors such as Pierre Boulez, with renowned chamber music artists and an international roster of musicians from the new music improvisation scene. A versatile performer and an advocate of contemporary music, she is known for her work with electronic media including interactive arts, movement, dance and improvisation. Dr. Lamneck served for more than three decades, as full professor and artistic director  of the NYUNME at NYU, Steinhardt.  She makes frequent solo appearances on clarinet and the tárogató at music festivals worldwide.  Many of her solo and Duo CDs  feature improvisation and electronic music and include “Cigar Smoke”; “ Tárogató ”; “Winds Of The Heart”; “Genoa Sound Cards”; “Stato Liquido”; “Trasfigurzioni”; “Sky Rings”; “Small Parts of a Garden” , etc.  Computer Music Journal calls her “The consummate improvisor.” New York Music Daily, “Surrealistically Captivating..”;  “Esther Lamneck has fascinating chops and ideas” jazzweekly.com; “E eccezionale la microtonale ricchezza di suono del tarogato” [“the microtonal richness of the sound of the tárogató is exceptional’] Musica Jazz.

Mara Helmuth composes music often involving the computer, and creates multimedia and software for composition and improvisation. Her recordings include “Lifting the Mask” on Sounding Out! (Everglade), Sound Collaborations, (CDCM v.36, Centaur CRC 2903), Implements of Actuation (Electronic Music Foundation EMF 023), and works included on Open Space CD 16 and the 50th Anniversary University of Illinois Experimental Music Studios commemorative collection. Her music has been performed internationally at conferences, festivals and arts spaces. She is Professor of Composition at the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati and Director of the CCM Center for Computer Music. She previously taught at Texas A&M University (1993-1995) and New York University. She holds a D.M.A. from Columbia University, and earlier degrees (M.M., B.A.) from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Her software for composition and improvisation has involved granular synthesis, wireless sensor networks, user interfaces, performance over Internet2, and contributions to the RTcmix music programming language.

Jonathan Wilson’s works have been performed at the Ann Arbor Film Festival, European Media Art Festival, the Experimental Superstars Film Festival, the Big Muddy Film Festival, SICMF, ICMC, SEAMUS, NYCEMF, NSEME, the Iowa Music Teachers Association State Conference, and the Midwest Composers Symposium. Jonathan has studied composition with Lawrence Fritts, Josh Levine, David Gompper, James Romig, James Caldwell, Paul Paccione, and John Cooper. In addition, studies in conducting have been taken under Richard Hughey and Mike Fansler. Jonathan is a member of Society of Composers, Inc., SEAMUS, ICMA, Iowa Composers Forum, and American Composers Forum.
Alejandro Colavita , Composer and producer  is a  prolific composer who has created works for solo instruments, chamber music, experimental works, improvisation, electronic, rock, fusion, film and dance music. He collaborates with musicians from many different cultures and countries outside of Mexico. He has produced more than 30 records, both, of his music and that of other composers, performers and ensembles. Is co-founder and director of Cero Records and has published some of his music under this label. (cero-records.com). Occasionally works as sound designer for film, both documentary and fiction. He is currently director and professor at IMCOMUSIC, Music school in Mexico City where he teaches musical analysis, history of western music and musical theory.
Alfonso Belfiore composer, video creator,  has created musical compositions which cross over into larger contexts, embracing various forms of artistic expression. He has taken part in multimedia projects developed through the use of special technologies and complex interactions between gesture, sound, nature, image and word. He was holder of the Chair of Electronic Music and Coordinator of the Department of New Technologies and Musical Languages of the Conservatory of Florence from 1992 to 2021, from 1980 to 1992 he held the same chair at the Conservatory of Padua. He is the artistic director and creator of DIFFRAZIONI / Florence Multimedia Festival, an international festival dedicated to art and technology of which the fourth edition is being prepared. He has collaborated, with the Tehran International Electronic Music Festival. Between 1984 and 2004, as artistic director he oversaw the publication of over 50 titles on vinyl and CD for the Vecchio Mulino Produzioni. He is the creator and artistic director, together with Esther Lamneck, of FLORENCE TO NEW YORK / PROJECT (Conservatory of Florence and New York University).

PROGRAM

SOUND DUNES:                                      Mara Helmuth, Esther Lamneck
Tárogató  and fixed media

EPOXYLIPS:                                                                      Jonathan Wilson
Fixed and interactive media
Esther Lamneck, Tárogató

FROM ORION TO CASSIOPEIA                                           Mara Helmuth
Fixed media and video
Bill Gwynne video

WEDDING DANCE                         Alejandro Colavita/ Esther Lamneck
Tárogató  and fixed media

“WOLF BY THE EAR”                                               Jonathan Wilson

BURREN WIND         Mara Helmuth, Esther Lamneck, Alfonso Belfiore
Tárogató,  fixed media and video
Alfonso Belfiore Video

PROGRAM NOTES                     

SOUND DUNES:  Mara Helmuth, Esther Lamneck
Sound Dunes, for Tárogató and stereo fixed media, is the third collaborative composition by Mara Helmuth and Esther Lamneck. It was inspired by exploration of the tárogató sound world, and its digital transformations. The piece has resonances with the natural environment, the curving contours and granular texture of shifting sands.

EPOXYLIPS: Jonathan Wilson
This composition is a work in exploration of the tárogató. “Epoxylips” (pronounced “E-pox-ah-lips”) is the working title, which was formed from a play on the word “apocalypse,” but it can also refer to the connection of air that escapes the lips to other elements of this composition, such as the electronics. “Epoxy” is also known in chemistry as an organic compound that consists of chains of carbon that is linked to other elements such as oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen. The live electronics are activated by a machine-learning algorithm that listens to specific sounds that are recorded prior to the performance.
From Orion to Cassiopeia:  Mara Helmuth
This work emerged from experiments with sonification of pulsar data. One of the more interesting types of celestial objects, these neutron stars emitting electromagnetic radiation are formed when the fire in a star burns up all of the fuel, ending with a supernova explosion. Granular synthesis is a logical synthesis technique to use for this sonification because of the appropriateness of mapping the pulsar rotation speed to grain rate and frequency. From Orion to Cassiopeia contains sounds from each known pulsar from galactic longitude 270 degrees to 360/0 to 120 degrees. If you could face the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, the pulsars heard would first be to your right, and moving slowly forward and to the left.
Synthesis was done using new RTcmix granular synthesis instruments programmed by Kieran McAuliffe and Mara Helmuth. Bill Gwynne, astrophotographer, sound engineer and musician, created the video from his photos of space.

WEDDING DANCE:    Alejandro Colavita/ Esther Lamneck
Wedding Dance concludes their recent collaborative album.
Several of the works from REFLECTIONS have been selected for performance and enthusiastically received at NYCEMF in NYC. Wedding Dance is an upbeat work and features several traditional Hungarian folk melodies in a rhythmical and unexpected score setting.

“WOLF BY THE EAR”: Jonathan Wilson,  is a phrase used by Thomas Jefferson several times throughout his life, as an expression of the fear of danger that threatens someone on every hand. It is also derived from the phrase “wolf by the ears”, which has been attributed to the Roman Emperor Tiberius by the historian Suetonius.

BURREN WIND: Mara Helmuth, Esther Lamneck, Alfonso Belfiore
The Burren is on the Wild Atlantic Way on the coast of Ireland, where one experiences the “ancientness” of limestone landscapes, the winds off the ocean, and intricate rock shapes with colorful bursts of lichens and flowers. These all inspired the lines, sounds and textures of Burren Wind, with audio and video created from tárogató multiphonics, granular synthesis algorithms and images of the Burren.