Zwerm CD-release "Underwater Princess Waltz"

Electric guitar quartet ZWERM has just released it's latest album on New World Records!! Now available through their website, but soon also in local stores!

To order it or get more info click HERE or download it from iTunes!

Underwater Princess Waltz is a Collection of One-page Pieces by Karl Berger, Earle Brown, Alvin Curran, Nick Didkovsky, Joel Ford, Daniel Goode, Clinton McCallum, Larry Polansky and Christian Wolff. 

Zwerm: Johannes Westendorp, Bruno Nelissen, Kobe Van Cauwenberghe, Toon Callier, guitars; w/ Eric Thielemans, drums, percussion; Bertel Schollaert, saxophone; Matthias Koole, guitar; Thomas Moore, voice-over

The "one-page piece" - a written-down musical composition that fits on a single piece of paper - is appealing to a group like the Belgian/Dutch electric guitar quartet Zwerm. Zwerm and their collaborators took full advantage of the opportunity to create their own scores out of the one-page pieces, to allow their own creativity and compositional ideas to run free, to explore interesting sound worlds, and to seek out possible links between the pieces. These positive experiences are inherent to the format of the one-page piece: a composer provides a musical idea, in traditional notation, prose, graphics, or some combination of all three; sometimes this idea is rough or conceptual, sometimes more clear in its musical content and process. The rest is up to the musicians. Collaborative brainstorming is necessary, and many ideas might be tried out before settling on a particular way of realizing the piece; often, the possibilities seem endless, limited only by one's conventional training, adherence to idiomatic instrumental techniques, and musical sensibilities. This collaborative brainstorming works best when the ensemble is made up of adventurous musicians who trust each other.

One-page pieces fall into the category of process pieces. With roots in the history of American experimental music, both process pieces and one-page pieces are sometimes traced back to Terry Riley's minimalist masterpiece In C of 1964. The recordings on this CD represent a crossover project in which Zwerm looks for connections between the sound worlds of blues, free improvisation, experimental rock, noise, minimalism, and many other contemporary musical ideas. 

Aliados - Un opéra de temps réel

I'm currently rehearsing with the ensemble Multilatérale on Sebastian Rivas' opera Aliados (allies), which will be premiered as part of Ircam's festival Manifeste on june 14th. A remarkable production of which I'm very happy to be part of! Other playing dates are 15, 17, 18 and 19 june at the Theatre de Gennevilliers. 

About Aliados (from the Manifeste website):

“We’re also very much aware that it’s you who brought democracy to Chile” said Lady Thatcher when she invited the senator Augusto Pinochet to tea in London in 1999, sparing not the slightest compliment for the man who would soon have to stand trial for his crimes. Following the example of Nixon in China by John Adams, the opera Aliados inspired by political history, in this case by the Falklands War in 1982 and the improbable alliance of the Iron Lady, champion of liberalism, with the Chilian general during the Cold War.

Augusto Pinochet et Margaret Thatcher en 1990. © Jones, L.R.C., Sipa

 The failing memories of the two aged leaders retired from roles of power, revealing archives, and collective history are at the heart of this project by Sebastian Rivas and Esteban Buch, two Argentineans looking back at a decisive event for their generation and their identity. On the theater stage, designed by Antoine Gindt to look like the set of a television program, reality strikes through visual manipulation and stylized singing. An opera in real-time in every sense of the word; historical time and computer time.

Schloss Solitude

I'm very happy to anounce that guitar duo Oh Mensch (with guitarist Matthias Koole and myself) has been selected for a residency at Schloss Solitude!

During this residency we'll work on several future projects, one of which is a close collaboration with composer Christopher Trapani, who will be a resident as well, on a new piece to be included in a program around microtonal music, next to new pieces by Larry Polansky and Tim Mariën, and older pieces by James Tenney and Brian Ferneyhough.

Here's a video of a workshop we did with composer Brian Ferneyhough during the Darmstadt summer course:

and of us performing it at the end of the workshop:

Click here to see the list of all selected fellows and jurors of the generation 2013 - 2015.

New York

It's very nice to be back in New York from march 30th till April 6th!

If you're in or around town I'm playing two concerts here this week! 

I curated a  small concert at Spectrum in the Lower East Side on April 3rd at 7pm. Performances by myself and guest musicians Fabienne Seveillac (mezzo-soprano), Dennis Sullivan (percussion) and Ed Rosenberg (saxophone), more info here!

Program: 

Simon Steen-Andersen, "In Her Frown"

Alexander Schubert, "Your Fox's A Dirty Gold"

Fausto Romitelli, "Trash TV Trance"

Georges Aperghis, "Pub"

Alexander Schubert, "Infinite Jest"

On April 4th I have the pleasure to join the wonderful Either/Or ensemble with a program dedicated to the music of Rebecca Saunders at Miller theater! The composer will be there for an onstage discussion during intermission, check for more details here!

Program:

Rebecca Saunders, "Vermillion"

Rebecca Saunders, "Dichroic Seventeen"

Rebcca Saunders, "Murmurs"

March performances!

March performances with my favorite groups Zwerm, Nadar and Soundinitiative!!

10/03 Premiere of Arachnaratata with Zwerm and visual artist Joachim Devillé, a theatrical performance for kids! More info here!

In dit concert stellen vier belangrijke buitenlandse wetenschappers hun ingenieuze machine voor aan het publiek: de Arachnaratata.  Hun uitvinding  is een ingewikkeld kluwen van kabeltjes, zoals alleen een gekke maar heel slimme spin zou kunnen bedenken.

 

De gitaristen van Zwerm bouwden een instrument met meer dan honderd effectpedalen – maar geen gitaren! In deze wirwar worden de beelden van video-artiest Joachim Devillé omgezet in muziek. De hele vloer ligt bezaaid met draden en bakjes, maar wat als de machine haar eigen zin wil doen?

15/03 PARK with Shila Anaraki, Stefan Prins and Zwerm in de Beursschouwburg in Brussels. Here is a short trailer of this performance which was very well received at the Darmstadt festival for new music and in deSingel in Antwerp! More info here!

16/03 I'll be playing Trash TV Trance by Fausto Romitelli during Marelle, an event that's part of the Ars Musica festival where the audience is invited to discover 40 short pieces spread around La Maison de la Création in Brussels. More info here!

17/03 Zwerm will present a try-out concert of their new program One Page Pieces as part of Ars Musica! After the succes of the first Zwerm album "The World's longest melody" featuring the music of Larry Polansky (shortlisted by The wire magazine in their 50 best albums of 2010), the One Page Pieces will be Zwerm's next album on New World Records. More info about this concert here!

One Page Pieces are compositions that fit on a single page – sometimes just one musical idea, other times consisting of a large musical structure with concert- length proportions. Rough sketches, witty sound experiments, conceptual folk songs, politically engaged “sound” manifests... All of these One Page Pieces require a considerable amount of creativity and compositional skills from the performers. In other words, a perfect fit for Zwerm!

23/03 Nadar performs Alexander Schubert's Point Ones and Stefan Prins' Generation Kill as part of the Ars Musica festival in Brussels. The premier of Generation Kill at the Donaueschinger Tage was named one of 10 memorable performances of 2012 by Alex Ross. Don't miss the Belgian premier of this piece!

The deepest impression was made by Stefan Prins's "Generation Kill," an explosive synthesis of live and electric sound which focussed on the intersections of technology and global conflict.
A. Ross, The New Yorker, 12/11/2012

Click here for more info on this event!

24/03 Soundinitiative plays Artificial Environments at the What's Next Festival! An all british program with new pieces by Joana Bailie, Chris Swithinbank and Rebecca Saunders. More info here or here!

With “Artificial Environment” soundinitiative presents a program of all English music, bringing together three generations of English composers. Rather than representing an “English school” all four of them show a distinct and personal esthetic in their music. These different approaches can result in theatrical gestures and rituals, the use of field recordings and electronics, radios, music-boxes and other external objects, all of which fit perfectly in the artificial environment that is the (concert)stage.