NEWS
Upcoming new pieces
Upcoming premieres! // Calendrier des créations de mes nouvelles pièces… // Snart uruppföranden:
6 May, Kungasalen, Stockholm
Duell för horn och inspelad sång
– a piece for horn and electronics, written as a duel between a live horn and a recorded soprano voice singing a few words by Kierkegaard (two Sørens are involved… as the piece is dedicated to, and premiered by hornist Sören Hermansson)
17 May, Futur Scènes for string orchestra, written for Musica Vitae, Nygatan6, Växjö, Sweden. This piece was inspired by periodic acoustic patterns I heard in the Pacific during my Musicomexp journey, telling of scenes from an upcoming music theatre piece (the title is made of two French nouns in a foreign grammar!)
…a bit later but very much looked forward to:
7 December, Budapest Music Center, Hungary
Act II of Clavigo, a chamber opera creation made possible by the Peter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation in Budapest.
More info very soon…
A chamber opera in the making
In February I was part of a chamber opera workshop at the Peter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation in Budapest, where I had the chance to meet György Kurtág when my piece was discussed.
I was then selected as one of the composers for the next phase of the project: Clavigo, a chamber opera after the play by Goethe.
Very sadly Peter passed away in March as you know; the project is still on though and the chamber opera will premiere in Budapest in December, with more dates planned in Berlin and Köln. So right now I’m writing act II of this Clavigo!
Late summer residency at Obras
After a summer filled of music festivals and courses including Montpellier, Bayreuth and Darmstadt(!), I started composing again in Stockholm, only making an exception for a late-summer creation residency at Obras in Portugal in October.
Here’s a pic from my artist talk; have a look at the map I drew for my colleagues on the wall behind me: it pictures the developments of my composition plans and adventures, showing why music theatre is what I’ve come to in the past few years, as much as how I had been aiming for it from the start.
….a quick stop in Weimar between Bayreuth and Darmstadt (the guard in charge cautioned the taking of this picture!)
Live impro gigs
More “Space Jazz for the Future II” gigs this spring! Do not miss the legendary sleeping bag electroacoustic marathon at Fylkingen in June, powered by Vems (verksamma tonsättare på EMS, Elektronmusikstudion). All details in the “live” section
Hey 2023
First stop is Visby International Centre for Composers (VICC) where I’ll be doing a residency in February.
Looking forward!
… below a bright sun dog (parhélie) photographed on December 18 in Skärholmen, Sweden.
Kalejdoskop and farewell
As a farewell to my time as a music producer (among other things) at the Swedish National Radio (many tears involved, but I really had to go!), I made an updated version of my old Kalejdoskop.
Kalejdoskop is a personal late-night mix tape with music played and created in any possible manner, from a robot player to a flute charming serpents in the desert. As I wrote… dive in with open ears!
I had been producing music recordings for the Swedish National Radio for many years, my latest position being head of selection and production of recordings of orchestra, opera, jazz, folk and chamber music in the Southern part of Sweden, for national broadcast on channel P2. For this channel I had also previsouly worked with many other orchestras in the rest of Sweden – especially projects with the Swedish Radio National Orchestra which you’ll find further down on this page – though I’ve collaborated with other ensembles as a free-lance in other countries before that… scroll down:)
Acoustic Atlas commission: Snømaskn (chimera)
I was commissioned a work for the Acoustic Atlas by Cobi van Tonder. The Atlas is a fascinating website where you can pick an acoustic space anywhere on the globe and listen to yourself in it (if you have headphones and a mic!). The commission included both a music piece, which I’ve called Snømaskn (chimera), and a space, which I’ve imagined and conceived to be used in the Atlas. You’ll find the stories of both the piece and the space below, underneath the artwork I made for the piece; as well as Cobi’s notes on the concept of Echoes and Reflections.
Listen on bandcamp (with headphones! the piece is in binaural, 3D audio) or on the Acoustic Atlas (in ambisonics audio)
Below: my artwork for the piece
ABOUT THE PIECE
Chimera through time-space reflection
I had this idea to make something “impossible” – or unreal, as a “chimera”: an impossible appearance of sources originating in an electric or electronic process, in an acoustic atmosphere where they do not belong. The resulting space is an attempt to connect several different acoustic worlds through immaterial underground paths.
To enter the imaginary space, listen to the piece: it starts with electronic drops, like morse signals from an unreachable space. The space builds up as the narrative develops around an interview with the snow maintenance company for railways, from processed news prep archive tapes from the 60s, that I process time-wise – thinking of “mirroring” as a timely process, time running back and forth, continuing into another subject about future space stations.
“Mais tu ne peux pas l’entendre,
la chimère aux yeux de rêve/de verre.
Et où disparaît la route
Quand la nuit tombe sur nous ?”
(But you can’t hear it, you’re the chimera with eyes made of glass/of dreams. And where does the road disappear, when the night falls us?) (Cikatri$, Quand la Nuit Tombe sur Nous)
Drums played by Jonas Jonsson
Aurélie’s imaginary space
A rare type of marble has been discovered beside a regular mine in the region of XXX in Northern Scandinavia, off a faraway drift deep underneath the surface. An underground excavation is secretly started, that follows the extracting habits of marble quarries from the Alentejo region in Portugal – think, building a pink marble cathedral underground as a monolith. This works fine for a while, as the added dimension of a “roof” do not seem make the whole structure weaker than the usual open-sky excavation site. When the marble runs out, the idea of installing an experimental nuclear reactor in the created space is investigated, as an underground location was believed safer at the time (in the end this reactor will be installed at R1 underneath Stockholm instead). Unfortunately, as years go by the mining ground in the region becomes unstable. The tunnel connecting the “cathedral” to the regular “official” mine is walled off and the space condemned, any trace of information such as exact location is discarded. All remaining equipment is re-labeled as belonging to a company in charge of snow maintenance in a distant city. Since the exact location of the secret marble excavation cannot be displayed, we are using as GPS coordinates a barycenter of all mines in production in the area in the late 60s, when the unusual snow maintenance equipment mentioned above was reported.
Echoes and Reflections is a series of 9 sound works created by artists commissioned by the Acoustic Atlas. These works bring a unique experience to listeners by combining virtual acoustic heritage sites with composition, whilst reflecting on the myth and meaning of Echo. Everything about our consciousness seems to be a continuing process of mirroring – from language, behavior, empathy, sharing tweets and internet memes. Music is the most delightful mirroring of consciousness that ripples in our minds to continue its evolution. Music can also be the matter that crosses all boundaries between interior (body-mind) space and exterior world, which in turn is so beautifully mirrored in architecture with its play between exterior landscape or elements and interior closeness or safety.
– Cobi van Tonder
Gig in Copenhagen
Preparing for a gig at the Swedish Embassy in Copenhagen with member-colleagues Henning (piano) and Sibille (Paloma) while I played and processed theremin, violin and voice. This improvisation trio was one of our activities as members of the think tank UTOM (Unga tankar om musik) this year which included several days of action and reflexion over the music world and industry.
Summer News
May-June: Creation residency at Obras, Portugal
I returned to Obras in Portugal for a longer creation residency. This will require a separate recap which I haven’t had time for yet. I draw, started writing a string quartet, played up Musicomexp for fellow co-residents, performed a gig with musician colleague Peter Van Huffel, followed abandoned railways, tried to resurrect the “hidden paradise” bird miracle and failed, hunted spiders, grew stuff, and played swimming pool theremin (video below). And also, did studies and first attempts of a larger piece including painted with fire and embroidery, and made it: it’s called Boca (mouth in Portuguese). Then Boca traveled by itself from Alentejo to Skärholmen and almost disappeared in another dimension. But that’s another story… Here’s a detail below, full results will be unveiled soon.
Many thanks to the Obras Foundation directors Ludger van der Eerden and Carolien van der Laan for their precious help and support.
…below a video of swimming pool theremin on a late June night.
Jurys and gigs
This July I’ve been again jury member for examinations at the Paris Conservatoire, but also jury member for the Ung Nordisk Musik composition competition towards Ung Nordisk Musik Festival in Reykjavik 2023. This competition is intended for composers under 30, and we’ve experienced, let’s say, an impressively large spectrum of sensibilities among participants.
Orchestra and Opera productions in South Sweden
This spring I’ve been busy producing orchestra, opera and chamber music recordings, being in charge of production selection and realization for the Southern part of Sweden, for the National Radio music channel P2.
I have been producing music for P2 for many years, but discovering this other part of the country was a collection of beautiful encounters and amazing productions. I’ll miss you, South Sweden, and my beloved music team there!
