MATA

Eva Alkula

alex — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 03:30:17 +0000

Kantele artist Eva Alkula specializes in contemporary and electro-acoustic music and in Japanese fusion music.

Alkula performs as a soloist and in various chaimber music ensembles in Finland and abroad. She has performed widely around Europe, in USA and in Japan. She visits Japan regularly and collaborates with the local musicians e.g. koto artist Tomoya Nakai. Alkula has joined the major classical music festivals in Finland, Sweden, Iceland and Norway and has premiered works by various contemporary composers both in Finland and abroad. She has also worked as a musician in several theaters and operas in Finland, Estonia and Ireland.

Alkula has released a solo album ‘Helios’ in 2007. Album ‘Youkihi’ with koto artist Tomoya Nakai was released in 2009. Alkula has also broadcasted in The Finnish Broadcasting Company, BBC and NHK (Japan) and participated in several film and documentary productions. Alkula has worked with the electric kantele since 2003 and has electro-acoustic projects e.g. with violin artist Pekka Kuusisto, Tomoya Nakai and electro band KONEV.

In 2003 Alkula graduated with a Master of Music from the Sibelius-Academy in Helsinki where she studied contemporary and classical kantele music with kantele artist Ritva Koistinen. In 1999-2000 Alkula studied Japanese koto in Hokkaido University of Education in Sapporo with koto artist Yukiko Takagaki. Alkula has won the 1st prize in the National Kantele Competition in 2003. At present Alkula’s work is supported by an artist grant by The National Council For Music.

April 20: SIGNS AND SIGNALS

yotam — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 22:10:09 +0000

We finish off the Festival with a tour-de-force of new works for large and small ensembles featuring SIGNAL, called “one of the most vital groups of its kind” by the New York Times, and led by the phenomenally astonishing conductor Brad Lubman. MATA presents the final commission of 2012: a large-scale work by Francesco Filidei, a Paris-based Italian composer who is taking Europe by storm. Also featured: the vicious, heart-stopping Viola Quartet by Eric Wubbels, David Coll’s Position,Influence for soprano and electronics based on the speeches of Charles de Gaulle, Alex Freeman’s gorgeous work for solo Kantele (the Finnish folk instrument, played by Eva Alkula, who swoops in from Finland especially for this performance);and the Spanish-based Mexican composer Ivan Orozco’s glittering, salsa-influenced work for player piano and live pianist (the inimitable Kathleen Supové).

This evening will be hosted by Q2 Music’s Nadia Sirota

Program

Jacob Cooper, Tryptich III: Alla stagion dei fior (2012), video

Eric Wubbels, Viola Quartet (2007)

Francesco Filidei, Ballata n.2, MATA Commission (2012) World Premiere SIGNAL Ensemble

David Coll, Position, Influence (2010), for soprano and electronics. Mellissa Hughes, voice.

Alex Freeman, Magnolia (2002), for kantele. Eva Alkula, kantele.

Ivan Ferrer-Orozco, Traces IV: Anamnesis (2009), for piano and tape. Kathleen Supove, piano.

Workshop III: Composer/Performers

yotam — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 22:00:27 +0000

A free and open-to-the-public workshop led by composer/performer and former MATA Artistic Director Christopher McIntyre and musical polyglot, Todd Reynolds. This inclusive and open discussion will revolve around individual experiences as composing performers within concert music and beyond, isolating and addressing basic nuts and bolts concerns for this expanding field of artists.

With composer/performers from the 2012 MATA Festival and special guests from the field.

2pm at BMI

7 World Trade Center
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007-0030

You must RSVP at email hidden; JavaScript is required if you wish to attend.

Todd Reynolds photographed by Toni Gauthier

April 19 RESPONSIBLE PARTIES II: composer/performers today

yotam — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 04:00:52 +0000

The second evening of the Festival is a stunning collection of composer/performers and is highlighted by two works that deal with large-scale installations as sculptural elements and massive hand-constructed instruments: Cecilia Lopez’s Mechanical Music for Sheet Metal and Eli Kezler’s Cold Pin, using a monumental collection of piano mechanisms taken apart and re-organized as a motorized, whirring, machine – in both cases, live musicians resonate and play against these giant structures. Matt Marks presents a sneak preview of his new pop opera on love and religion in America, The Little Death: Vol. 2, with Mellissa Hughes; and Kate Soper presents her gripping ten-minute microdrama, Only the words themselves mean what they say. Jacob Cooper presents the second installation of his newly-created video work, Triptych: II. Black or White.

This evening will be hosted by Q2 Music’s Mary Rowell

Program

Jacob Cooper, Triptych: II. Black or White

Cecilia Lopez, Mechanical Music for Sheet Metal

Kate Soper, Only the words themselves mean what they say

Lesley Flanigan, from AMPLIFICATIONS

Matt Marks, sneak preview of The Little Death: Vol. 2 with Mellissa Hughes

Eli Keszler, Cold Pin with loadbang

Workshop II: The Business of Being a Composer

yotam — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 22:00:41 +0000

A free and open-to-the-public workshop on the business of being a composer: those secrets they don’t teach you at the conservatory. Led by master engraver-publisher Bill Holab, New Music USA, John Nuechterlein, President and CEO of the American Composers Forum, Scott Winship, Program Manager at New Music USA, and musical omnivore Frank J. Oteri.

2pm at BMI

7 World Trade Center
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007-0030

You must RSVP at email hidden; JavaScript is required if you wish to attend.

Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri

yotam — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 03:30:24 +0000

Untitled IV from Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri on Vimeo.

Papalexandri’s work includes compositions and installations for sound objects that she creates herself and in collaboration with Swiss artist Pe Lang. Selected exhibitions and festivals include Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Kunsthalle Darmstadt, Kulturhuset Stockholm, DAS Weekend Transmediale, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, Darmstadt, impuls, Ultrashall, ISCM-World New Music Days, Aspekte and Wien Modern in performances by Klangforum Wien, SurPlus, Mosaik, QNG, among others. She studied composition with Chaya Czernowin, Rand Satieger and Roger Redgate. Papalexandri holds a PhD. and Master’s degrees in music composition from the University of California, San Diego, the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna and Goldsmiths College, University of London. Selected prizes include the Berliner Kompositions stipendien, the Impuls award, the Dan David Prize, the Stipendienpries der Darmstadter Ferienkurse, the Kurt Weil Fellowship, the Robert Erickson Scholarship. She is currently in residence at the Academy Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart.

http://www.marianthi.net/

April 18 FACE OFF: JACK QUARTET + QUARTET NEW GENERATION

yotam — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 22:46:45 +0000

The first night of the festival pits two extraordinary quartets: the JACK string quartet, (David Patrick Stearns (Philadelphia Inquirer) proclaimed their performance as being “among the most stimulating new-music concerts of my experience,” and NPR listed their performance as one of “The Best New York Alt-Classical Concerts Of 2010″; and Quartet New Generation, a recorder – yes, recorder! – collective, the likes of which you
have not heard, hailed by the Los Angeles Times as “mind-blowing” and First Prize Winners of the 2004 Concert Artist Guild International Competition. MATA commissions two talented young composers: Huck Hodge, the 2011 Rome Prize winner, to write a new work from the JACK Quartet, and the Shanghai-based Yi Qin to write for QNG. We begin each night of the festival with one part of Jacob Cooper’s newly-created hypnotic video series, Triptych.

Program

Jacob Cooper, Triptych, I: Commencer Une Autre Mort (video)

Qin Yi , Sound Shadow, (MATA Commission), QNG

Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri, Atemlos, QNG with with motor driven devices designed and built in collaboration with Swiss artist Pe Lang

Huck Hodge, re[(f)use] (MATA Commission), JACK

Hugi Gudmunsson, Matins, JACK

***

Oscar Bianchi, Crepuscolo, QNG

Gordon Beeferman, Passages, QNG

Yotam Haber, Estro poetico-armonico for JACK and QNG

Workshop I: The Art of Composing for the Voice

yotam — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 22:00:25 +0000

A free and open-to-the-public workshop on the art of composing for the voice, led by Grammy award winning singer, Susan Narucki.

With discussions and demonstrations by composer Barbara White, Lesley Flanigan, and composers from the 2012 MATA Festival.

2pm at BMI

7 World Trade Center
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007-0030

You must RSVP at email hidden; JavaScript is required if you wish to attend.

PAULA COOPER GALLERY: OPENING NIGHT KICKOFF GALA

yotam — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 02:30:22 +0000

Please join us on April 17th at 6.30pm at the Paula Cooper Gallery to kick off the 2012 MATA Festival with drinks and live music performed by loadbang.

Purchase tickets to this exclusive event by purchasing a Festival Pass through Roulette (link coming shortly) or here:

PAULA COOPER GALLERY

534 West 21st Street New York, NY 10011

MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTORS

yotam — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 19:16:27 +0000

Welcome to MATA’s 14th annual Festival!

18 works | 9 countries | 10 world and US premieres

“The abiding coolness that is MATA…” (Alex Ross)

MATA prides itself in uncovering the most adventurous and exciting music from emerging talent around the world, and we are thrilled to present this year’s line-up of extraordinary composers and breath-taking performers. As New York Magazine pointed out just this week, we “aren’t your grandmother’s….anything”.

“…the city’s leading showcase for vital new music by emerging composers“ (New Yorker) is the only American festival consisting of music by young composers from around the globe, and MATA’s international draw is reflected this year in ten world and US premieres, curated from an astonishing pool of approximately 500 composers (no longer a record, as we received more than 620 for 2013!).

In addition to the opening night salon at Paula Cooper Gallery (4/17) in Chelsea, and three evenings of premieres at the newly-re-opened Roulette in downtown Brooklyn (after years of being in Manhattan – we’re back!), we’ve expanded the festival to include three workshops open to the public (just RSVP to email hidden; JavaScript is required) hosted by new music diva Susan Narucki, downtown guru Christopher McIntyre, Frank J. Oteri (NewMusicBox), John Nuechterlein (president and CEO of American Composers Forum), Scott Winship (New Music USA) and Bill Holab (master engraver). MATA is also very excited to once again work with WQXR/Q2, our official online partner. Q2 will be broadcasting live on 4/19 and 4/20, with special hosts Nadia Sirota and Mary Rowell, and taping the entire festival for future release online at www.wqxr.org/q2.

And now, onto the music. 2012 marks perhaps the most daring, innovative year in MATA’s history, including a face off between two blow-your-jerkins-off quartets: the “howlingly beautiful” (New Yorker) JACK Quartet and Quartet New Generation, the Berlin-based recorder (yes, we said recorder) quartet, an ensemble making waves on all sides of the Atlantic.They present music fresh off the printer written especially for them, including two MATA commissions from Rome Prize and 2012 Guggenheim recipient Huck Hodge, and Shanghai-based sensation Qin Yi.

Thanks to those brave, generous souls who contributed to the MATA Commissioning Campaign who made these and Francesco Filidei’s spectacular masterwork for SIGNAL (April 20th) possible.

April 19th continues where we left off at last year’s festival, with Responsible Parties II: Composers/Performers Today, includes a world premiere by Matt Marks – a sneak-preview of his much-anticipated Little Death, Vol. 2 with Mellissa Hughes; Black or White, a world premiere video by composer/artist Jacob Cooper based on the late Michael Jackson (each night of the festival begins with a video installation by Cooper); the hypnotic mechanical music for sheet metal by the Argentine Cecilia Lopez; and much more!

On April 20th: Signs and Signals, Brad Lubman and his new music band SIGNAL close out this year’s festival with special guest Kathleen Supové (wrangling a “real” piano against a player piano in Ivan Ferrer-Orozco’s salsa-tinged Traces IV), Eva Alkula, Finland’s premier kantele player (what’s a kantele? Stick around and find out!), and four astonishing string players performing Eric Wubbels fiendish Viola Quartet.

We have both served as MATA directors for a couple of years now – exciting times to be finding and promoting the best new music around. We could not be more proud of this year’s Festival and we couldn’t have done it without a great team (at the forefront, Technical Director Garth MacAleavy, and our indispensable Manager of Operations and Development, Alex Weiser) and a brilliant community who cares about music as much as we do. We hope that this is only the beginning of your relationship with these composers and their music. Take a moment to speak with the many musicians who are in attendance this week, and please continue to follow their work beyond this week’s festival. We certainly will.

Thank you for being an important part of the MATA community and enjoy the 2012 Festival!

Sincerely, Yotam Haber and David T. Little