MATA Festival 2024
May 15-18, 2024 @ Fotografiska New York

281 Park Ave South
New York, NY 10010

INTEGRATION:
Music/Technology + Human/Nature

The 26th annual MATA Festival will be presented over four nights at Fotografiska New York, reflecting a newly forged relationship between the MATA Festival and the famed Contemporary Museum of Photography, Art and Culture in Gramercy. The theme of this year’s festival, conceived in alignment with the museum’s spring exhibition, is “INTEGRATION: Music/Technology + Human/Nature” – an exploration of human connection against the backdrop of ever-advancing technology that is changing how we relate to one another and make music.

May 15, 2024 @ 7:00PM
AUTOMATION – Featuring the Double Cello Concerto for Human and AI Cellists

Solo cello has leaned for far too long on Bach suites and enigmatic 20th-century works.  With Press 1 for Cello, Yves Dhar curates a thrilling evening of music celebrating all things cello. From purely acoustic pieces to those supported by electronics and visual projections, the showstopping program spotlights works specially written for Dhar by acclaimed living composers and features the groundbreaking hybrid orchestra version of Emmy-winning/Grammy-nominated Adam Schoenberg’s AUTOMATION, a double concerto for Human and holographic AI cellists.  You’ll come for the heartwarming melodies that make the cello beloved and leave with jaw dropped wondering, “Was that actually played on the cello?”           

Also featuring works by the following composers:

Adonis Gonzalez-Matos // Cristina Spinei // Nathan Schram // Adam Schoenberg

May 16, 2024 @ 7:00PM
CHANGING VOICES

Changing Voices responds to the idea of connections — composer to performer; humans to nature; technology to music — and how it is integrated into the fabric of music-making and always evolving. This concert’s performances feature Bergamot Quartet, the MATA Mavens, as well as select composers performing their own works.

Featuring works by the following Festival Composers:

Danae Venson // Vasiliki Krimitza // Giuseppe Gallo-Balma // Angela Elizabeth Slater // Leo Chang // Daniel Sabzghabaei // Annie Aries Ruefenacht // Christian Quinones

May 17, 2024 @ 7:00PM
EARTHING

Earthing features the newly founded MATA Mavens and selected composers performing their own works. Ideas focus on communication through music and how technology impacts the cause and effect of that result.

Featuring works by the following Festival Composers:

April Dawn Guthrie // Marco Adrián Ramos // Annie Hui-Hsin Hsieh // Qiujiang Levi Lu // Bobby Ge // Henryk Golden // Jane Sheldon

May 18, 2024 @ 7:00PM
OPEN WATERS - Featuring the World Premiere orchestration of Philip Glass’s work Aguas de Amazonia

The closing concert of the 2024 MATA Festival features Olivier Glissant’s world premiere orchestration of Philip Glass’s Aguas da Amazonia, featuring the Brooklyn Orchestra. Composed by Glass based on his travels in Brazil during the early 1990s, Aguas da Amazonia deftly incorporates elements of classical, new age, and jazz music. The work, composed as a series of musical “sketches,” was first performed by the Brazilian percussion ensemble Uakti using highly specialized instrumentation. Released as an album on Point Music in 1999, Aguas da Amazonia has since captivated countless listeners despite amassing only a thin live performance history – limited by the unusual Uakti instrumentation. In this new arrangement, Glissant has translated the feel and rhythms of Glass’s work into a version for mainstream orchestral instrumentation – making this enduring work accessible to a broader range of ensembles worldwide. This final program also features Anthony R. Green’s Connections, Wenbin Lyu’s Duke's Fantasy I, and Mariel Terán’s Manos de Tierra. The evening highlights scores for open instrumentation, graphic notation, and a live installation performance of Andean wind instruments from selected submissions.

Featured Composers

April Dawn Guthrie | Annie Aries Ruefenacht | Henryk Golden | Annie Hui-Hsin Hsieh | Marco Adrián Ramos | Christian Quinones | Qiujiang Levi Lu | Bobby Ge | Danae Venson | Vasiliki Krimitza | Giuseppe Gallo-Balma | Angela Elizabeth Slater | Leo Chang | Daniel Sabzghabaei | Jane Sheldon | Anthony R. Green | Wenbin Lyu | Mariel Teran | Paul Swartzel

Guest Panelists

Human / Nature: Encountering Ourselves in the Natural World

Human / Nature: Encountering Ourselves in the Natural World (featured at Fotografiska from February 9, 2024 through May 25, 2024) is a sprawling group exhibition bringing together more than a dozen photographers from around the world through over 40 works for an investigation into humanity’s fraught relationship with planet Earth. Human / Nature will include photographs, immersive video installations, and sculptures that push audiences to reflect on how people and the world around them have had a profound impact on shaping one another. At once celebratory and contemplative, the exhibition includes works highlighting moments of symbiotic connection while never shying away from the often-fraught relationship humanity has developed with the climate.

Fotografiska

Fotografiska is the contemporary museum for photography, art, and culture. Founded in Stockholm in 2010 and led globally by its Chairman Yoram Roth, Fotografiska is a destination to discover world-class photography, eclectic programming, elevated dining, and surprising new perspectives. Guided by a mission to inspire a more conscious world through the power of photography, art, and culture, Fotografiska produces dynamic and unparalleled rotating exhibitions, spanning various genres in inclusive environments. With a dedicated international community and locations in Stockholm, New York City, Tallinn, Berlin and Shanghai, Fotografiska is the premier global gathering place for photography and culture.

www.fotografiska.com/nyc | @fotografiska.newyork

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