A special session of the audioLogie series will be devoted to preparation of instruments, one of the most important inventions of John Cage, whose preparations in “Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano” opened new possibilities for sound expression. Today prepared instruments are regularly used by avant-garde and free improve musicians.
A prepared instrument becomes a tool for producing new sounds by enabling techniques beyond recognized stylistics. Prepared instruments are liberated from the musical tradition imposed on them.
AudioLogie will include improvised concerts of music played on prepared instruments in different configurations (duo, trio, octet). The invited artists freely explore different kinds of improvised music.
Ruth Barberan (Spain)
Ruth Barberan is an audiovisual artist who combines in her works sonorous effects (using trumpet and amplified objects) with video. She began to focus her work on free improvisation when she joined, in 1999, Barcelona’s IBA. At present she is a member of two projects: i treni inerti with Alfredo Costa Monteiro and a trio with Ferran Fages and Alfredo Costa Monteiro. She also frequently collaborates with other musicians, such as Pablo Rega, Dorothee Schmitz, Guillermo Torres, and Margarida García.
Ilia Belorukov (Russia)
Ilia Belorukov is a musician from Saint-Petersburg, Russia, interested chiefly in improvised, electroacoustic music and noise. He is a member of several projects, such as Wozzeck, Wooden Plants, Benzolnye Mertvecy, and Punktieren. He also collaborates with musicians who work in other genres (from hardcore and metal to contemporary academic music), dancers, and painters. Experimenting with various ways of extracting sounds from his alto saxophone, he also uses electric-gituars and other instruments as well as a laptop. A founder of the Intonema label (www.intonema.blogspot.com), he organizes various musical events in Russia, including the Teni Zvuka festival.
Konrad Chyl (Poland)
Konrad Chyl is a philosopher and a musician. A member of: kr39, zubra2 and ecHamiXu, he is the curator of the audioLogie music project held at Crossroads Centre. He often participates in improvised sessions playing percussion and electronic instruments and producing sounds using a turntable and various objects. He always tries to find his own formula for a “sound situation” which combines performance with sound installation.
Robin Hayward (UK)
Robin Hayward is a tuba player and composer who has developed several unique playing techniques. He perceives the tuba as a labyrinth, in which air can be trapped and redirected. The complex structure of the instrument allows for its alteration and retuning. Hayward’s experiments and experiences are reflected his tonal and microtonal character of Hayward’s compositions. In 2005, he founded Zinc & Copper Works – a group exploring the possibilities resulting from the character of tuning and noises generated in brass instruments.
Alfredo Costa Monteiro (Portugal/Spain)
Portuguese multimedia artist, electroacoustic improviser and multi-instrumentalist. Since 1992, he lives and works in Barcelona. Since mid 1990s, he deals with improvised music, cooperating with musicians and fine artists. He is a member of music groups Cremaster and i treni inerti, as well as the collective 22a dealing with contemporary art issues. He is also the co-organizer of the international improvised music festival IMPROVISA in Barcelona.
Patryk Lichota (Poland)
Musician, radio producer, composer of theatre music. Plays on saxophone, laptop, bass guitar, Theremin and zither. Composed music for the performances “Jarzenie” and “Animo Tristi” by the Palmer Eldrith’s Theatre, “Bez Podłogi” directed by Robert Jarosz and “Voices” (“Głosy”) directed by Janusz Stolarski. Cooperates with the performative duo Janicka/Elsner. Together with Marta Romaszkan, Lichota realized the dance theatre performance “Starving Mirrors”. He authored the performance “Strange Lóóp” based on the consciousness thesis of Douglas Hofstadter. Lichota is a member of the free improvised trio Kurort and the leader of the audiovisual group KakofoNIKT. He played and/or recorded with Jeff Gburk, Rafał Zapała, Jakub Paczkowski, Clayton Thomas, Krzysztof “Arszyn” Topolski and Szymon Kaliski.
Mikołaj Pałosz (Poland)
Independent cellist, contemporary musician and improviser. Graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw in the classes of Kazimierz Michalik and Andrzej Bauer. Prizewinner of several music competitions, including the Krzysztof Penderecki Competition of Contemporary Chamber Music in Kraków and the Witold Lutosławski Cello Competition in Warsaw. Performs regularly on the Warsaw Autumn festival. A member of the Dutch ensemble Cello Octet Amsterdam and the Warsaw group Cellonet. In 2008, the record company DUX released his solo album “Cellovator” with contemporary compositions and improvisations.
Luca Venitucci (Italy)
Since late 1980’s involved in the European improvised music scene. In his career, he has utilized an expansive setup of instruments, usually involving several keyboards, acoustic and electric and many kinds of electronic devices. He also plays the accordion (acoustic and amplified), amplifies the sound of objects electronically, and uses his voice for various musical purposes. Venitucci is the co-founder of the electroacoustical improvising group Ossatura. From 1996 to 2002 has been part of Zeitkratzer ensemble, with whom he did performed and recorded contemporary music scores (Cage, Glass, Stockhausen, LaMonte Young, James Tenney) and made original projects and collaborations with several experimental musicians and composers. Venitucci is also part of multimedia project Arturo, of Mondo Ra, an Italian improvisers orchestra devoted to the music of Sun Ra.