These Cats Can Speak

Working to keep St. Louis “strange and wonderful”, the Hearding Cats Artists Collective presents another poetry and multimedia word warping event on Saturday, Apr. 16, 2011 – 8 pm at Floating Labs multimedia performance gallery in St. Louis.

Featuring word-artists Brett Underwood, Anna Lum, Treasure Williams and Stef Russell conversing musically with Zimbabwe Nkenya (psaltry) and Rich O’Donnell (Kyma/Pacarana electronics), These Cats Can Speak promises an evening of enhanced word-play and lively interaction.

Lulu at the Berliner Ensemble Theater

Composer/performer Sarth Calhoun is directing rehearsals of  Lou Reed‘s music for Frank Wedekind‘s Lulu directed by Robert Wilson at the Berliner Ensemble theater in Berlin. The score features Kyma processing, Continuum/Kyma playing, and dual Continuum fingerboard improvisations accompanied by a live string section.  Lulu, which depicts a society “riven by the demands of lust and greed” (and which became the basis for both Alban Berg’s opera and Pabst’s silent film Pandora’s Box) opens 11 April 2011 in Berlin.

Spider Galaxies

A sneak preview of choreographer Gilles Jobin’s “Spider Galaxies” is set for 3-4 March 2011. Cristian Vogel will perform the music live with Kyma.

 

 

For choreographer Gilles Jobin, dance is sentient architecture.  Employing the moving bodies of the dancers as his materials, Jobin constructs dynamic, self-aware architectural spaces that continuously flow and intersect with one another.  In his newest work, Spider Galaxies, Jobin and his dancers create an extremely precise and dynamic score of complex generators that is at times powerful and disturbing but with moments of exquisite delicacy and playfulness.

Jobin’s longtime collaborator and musical director Cristian Vogel will be performing the musical score, co-composed by Vogel and Carla Scaletti, live from a Kyma Timeline: a first for the company!

In Le Courrier – 08-09.04.2011, reviewer Dominique Hartmann wrote:

Le relief de la pièce doit beaucoup à la musique, composée par Carla Scaletti et Cristian Vogel et jouée en direct chaque soir. Ses sonorités monumentales, ses  vibrations et ses stridences ceignent la scène et claquent comme un vent de l’espace, contribuant à dilater celui-ci aussi efficacement que la parole aux mains d’un Claude Régy. La création musicale a puisé dans des données récupérées du LHC. Car Spider Galaxies s’inspire aussi de l’accélérateur de particules du CERN: «Le LHC captive tout le monde! Pour ma part, c’est justement le potentiel d’abstraction que ces processus nécessitent qui me fascine.»

…

The depth of the piece owes much to the music, composed by Carla Scaletti and Cristian Vogel and played live each night. The monumental sonorities, the vibrations and the stridences surround the stage and slam into us like wind from outer space, helping to expand the dance as effectively as the word is expanded in the hands of Claude Regy. The creation of the music drew upon data retrieved from the LHC. Because Spider Galaxies was also inspired by the CERN particle accelerator: “The LHC captivates everyone! For my part, it is precisely the potential for abstraction that these processes require that fascinates me.”

More from the critics…

The first performances are in March-June 2011, followed by a world tour later this year:

3-4 March: Sneak preview at Journées de Danse Contemporaine Suisse

15-17 March: World Premiere at Bonlieu Scène Nationale – Annecy – France

30 March – 3 April:  Théâtre Arsenic – Lausanne – Suisse

6-17 April: - Théâtre de l’ADC – Genève – Suisse

29 April - Beirut International Platform Of Dance – Beyrouth – Liban

20 May - Festival Evidanse – Delémont – Suisse

14 June - Festival Latitudes Contemporaines – Lille – France

Sounds of ISAM

Electronic musician/DJ/producer, Amon Tobin, provided a sneak peak at how he made some of the Continuum-controlled Kyma Sounds that he used in his new album ISAM (scheduled for May 2011 release). According to Tobin,

I feel like [Kyma] was made for doing what I love doing.

Yannis X 3

Composer Yannis Kyriakides’ “The Trojan Light” for ensemble and live Kyma electronics will be premiered by musikFabrik at the Muziekgebouw on Thursday the 17th of February 2011 at 20:15.

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.

Manda no Sahou

Composer Jeffrey Stolet’s new composition for bass/baritone Nicholas Isherwood and Kyma: Manda no Sahou will be premiered February 16, 2011 at CCRMA (Stanford).

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.

Soundcloud group & Vimeo channel for Kyma creations

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!

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 featured in Post magazine’s “Audio Innovations”

Kyma is featured in the February 2011 issue of Post Magazine in Ron DiCesare’s article, “Audio Innovations: These companies prove you don’t have to be large to have a big impact”.

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.

Kyma Seminars at Brandeis

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).

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.