Yannis Kyriakides‘ The Trojan Light will be premiered by ensemble musikFabrik in the Muziekgebouw on Thursday the 17th of February 2011 at 20:15. The Trojan Light, a new 45-minute piece for ensemble and both fixed and live Kyma electronics, will share the program with two other pieces by composers named Yannis (but with alternate spellings): Kassandra by Iannis Xenakis and the cult performance piece, Anaparastasis III: The Pianist by Jani Christo. Full program and ticket information.
Composer Jeffrey Stolet has just finished a new work for bass/baritone Nicholas Isherwood and Kyma: Manda no Sahou. Manda is the name of a character played by actor Riki Takeuchi in a series of Japanese films. Despite the fact that he is a mafioso and a loan shark, Manda lives by his own ethical code, championing the little guy and letting the real Yakuza (bad guys) have it.
Stolet uses lines from the films to evoke a cool Clint-Eastwood-meets-Buddha type vibe over menacing, Kyma-granulated samples of Isherwood singing his basest of bass notes. The premier is set for February 16 2011 at CCRMA (Stanford) after which Isherwood will incorporate the piece into his European concert tour.
Curious to see and hear what kinds of sounds people have been creating with Kyma? Ben Phenix has recently set up a new Soundcloud group and Vimeo channel for that very purpose!
In the Kyma Soundcloud, you’ll hear sounds as wide-ranging and unique as the individuals comprising the Kyma community!
And on the Kyma Vimeo Channel you’ll see excerpts of films featuring Kyma sound design, live computer music performances, unusual Kyma controllers, and computer-generated video with Kyma sound tracks, and more!
Kyma is featured in the February 2011 issue of Post Magazine in Ron DiCesare‘s article, Audio Innovations, an article that focuses on some of the innovators and risk-takers who are reshaping the audio industry. In an interview with Carla Scaletti, DiCesare describes Kyma’s unique position in audio post production, emphasizing Kyma’s capabilities, the ease with which it can be hooked up to unusual control devices, and Symbolic Sound’s close interaction with customers.
Kyma defies conventional description, but some may call it a sound supercomputer or a sound designer’s dream come true…The hardware component, called the Pacarana, combined with the powerful software makes Kyma a truly innovative approach to sound.
Carla Scaletti will be at Brandeis University on February 3rd and 4th 2011, presenting seminars on Kyma and working with composition students of Eric Chasalow, professor of music and director of the Brandeis Electro-Acoustic Music Studio (BEAMS).
UPDATE 1 February 2011: Chicago to Boston flights have been cancelled for the next couple of days for some reason… The seminar will take place via iChat from Champaign instead.