Exchange Concert with the The Mexican Centre for Music and Sonic Arts (CMMAS).
Curation: Tonalli R. Nakamura.
Alejandro Castaños – Fisuras 11:10
Ana María Romano G. – En un mar de contradicciones 7:48
Francisco Colasanto – Baile 9:05
Tonalli R. Nakamura – Optic Nerve 6:20
Diana Salazar – Papyrus 8:23
Rodrigo Sigal – Interlineal 11:00
Alejandro Castaños: Fisuras.
Fisuras summarizes and mainly covers the use of sounds generated through feedback systems, distortion and interference, sounds generated by friction with objects of different materials and sounds generated entirely by computer; including a specific selection of digital treatments. Work commissioned by the CMMAS, with the support of the Fund National Center for Culture and the Arts and the Laboratory of Research and Musical Production of the Cultural Center Recoleta in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Alejandro Castaños (México) began professional studies of music theory and composition at “Centro de Investigacion y Estudios Musicales in Mexico City, later working privately with Juan Trigos and Ignacio Baca-Lobera. After earning a master´s degree in composition from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, he completed the course for computer music and composition at IRCAM/Centre Pompidou in Paris. Match, for percussionist and video projection, was among the jurys selection at Hollands Gaudeamus Competition in 2008. Major performances include a portrait concert given by the Chamber Music Society of Luxembourg, a presentation by Reykjavik Chamber Orchestra at Dark Music Days in Iceland, a US premiere in New York by the New Juilliard Ensemble at Lincoln Center and a world premiere by the LA Phil New Music Group in 2017. He has also worked closely with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Ensemble Concorde (Ireland), Ensemble Intégrales (Germany), violist Garth Knox, Ensemble Modelo62 and Les Percussions de Strasbourg, as well as other distinguished performers, and has composed for film, theater and in collaboration with visual artists. Castaños currently lives and works in Mexico City.
Ana Ma Romano G.: En un mar de contradicciones.
The harmonic spectrum was assumed as a malleable corpus that, given its complex nature, can be approached as material or as a process, it can detonate multiple paths or it can be a representation. It is a substrate and at the same time a wake. As it mutates permanently, it also transforms all around it. Occupy and generate space at the same time. Work commissioned by the CMMAS for the CD Autoctofonías vol.1.
Ana María Romano G. (Colombia). Composer and sound artist whose creative interests have allowed her to work in acoustic and electroacoustic media as well as participation in multidisciplinary proposals, mainly contemporary dance and performance. Some of his works have been presented in Germany, Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, Spain, the United States, France, England, Mexico, Peru, Switzerland and Uruguay; They have been published by Matiz Rangel editors and Ministry of Culture (Colombia), Sonic Arts Network and IFAR Compilation (England), Experimental Center Wild Ear (Ecuador) and independently.
Francisco Colasanto: Baile.
“Baile” is a piece that pretends to incorporate to the electro-acustic language, the sounds and characteristics of rock. The contrabass clarinet is processed in real time, using MAX MSP, incorporating to huge timbre and expressive possibilities that the mentioned instrument owns, resources that result in unexpected sonorities. This piece has been made thanks to the support of Antorchas Foundation that gave me in 2002 a subsidy for Artistic Creation. This work has also been awarded with the 2004 Juan Carlos Paz Award, granted by the Fondo Nacional de las Artes (National Fund for the Arts). Baile’s debut was performed by the clarinet player Martin Moore.
Francisco Colasanto (Argentina) was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1971 and lives in Mexico since 2006. He has obtained the following distinctions: Ministry of Culture of Spain (2000). Antorchas Foundation (2003). Ministry of Culture of Spain (2006). Study of the Harvard University for electroacoustic composition (Live electronic music contest 2006). Juan Carlos Paz Prize (2004) awarded by the “National Fund of the Arts” Argentina. Giga-Hertz Award 2009 (ZKM, Karlsruhe). Ibermúsicas 2013. He is currently the deputy director of the Mexican Center for Music and Sound Arts (CMMAS) in Morelia, Mexico. He has composed musical pieces for many dance projects, theater, installation, films, advertising, etc. and is the author of the book “Max / MSP: programming guide for artists”, the first Max / MSP guide in Spanish.
Tonalli R. Nakamura: Optic Nerve.
The optic nerve is the second of twelve paired cranial nerves and is technically part of the central nervous system, rather than the peripheral nervous system because it is derived from an out-pouching of the diencephalon (optic stalks) during embryonic development. In humans, the optic nerve extends from the optic disc to the optic chiasm and continues as the optic tract to the lateral geniculate nucleus, pretectal nuclei, and superior colliculus.
Tonalli R. Nakamura (Mexico). Mexican composer born in Morelia, graduated of the fine arts faculty of the UMSNH, specialist in music with new technologies in the fields: Acousmatic Music, Experimental Music and Live Electronics. His Works have been selected in several festivals around the globe like in Japan, Germany, Belgium, Russia, UK, Spain, USA, Canada, Chile, Colombia, and around Mexico.
Diana Salazar: Papyrus.
Papyrus is derived from recordings of différentes paper types, from paper notes to large sheets of walls. Much of this material was recorded for creating a soundtrack of a theatrical production: The Yellow Wallpaper, based on the novel by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. An adaptation of this work was performed at the Manchester Museum, directed by Rob Drummer in May 2008. While composing the soundtrack I was fascinated by the intricate details of the engraved paper and was excited by the idea of exploring its potential for future acousmatic work.
Diana Salazar (UK). Scottish composer and sound artist. Her compositional output ranges from acousmatic work to music for instruments with live electronics, laptop improvisation and intermedia collaborations. Her works have been performed throughout the UK and internationally, across Europe and North, Central and South America, with broadcasts on Swedish National Radio, Radio France, and BBC Radio 3. Selected works have been released on the Studio PANaroma, Discparc, SCRIME, Drift Station, Elektramusic, Abeille Music and CMMAS labels.
Rodrigo Sigal: Interlineal.
Interlineal is a multichannel piece exploring connecting lines between materials, space and sources and was originally composed at CMMAS. The piece was commissioned in 2017 by the Groupe de Recherche Musical (GRM) and supported by the Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Artes (SNCA) in Mexico.
Rodrigo Sigal Sefchovich (Mexico) is a composer and cultural director who works with new technologies, particularly in the field of electroacoustic music. He is also a full-time professor at ENES, Morelia since 2017. Sigal has been director of the Mexican Center for Music and Sound Arts since 2006. He coordinates many creative, educational, research and cultural management initiatives related to sound and music. He obtained a PhD from London City University and completed his postdoctoral studies at the UNAM. He also graduated in cultural management from the UAM-BID and continued his studies and creative projects with the help of several scholarships and support from institutions such as FONCA (he is a member of the SNCA) and the DeVos Foundation for cultural management, among others. For more than 10 years, he has participated in the “Luminico” project, he is also director of the festival “Visiones Sonoras” and editor of the magazine “Sonic Ideas”.
The Mexican Centre for Music and Sonic Arts (CMMAS)
www.cmmas.org Created in September 2006, is a leading venue in creation, reflection and learning in the field of contemporary music, with or without the intervention of new technologies. The centre promotes research, experimentation and the implementation of technology in artistic projects. Making of this centre the main space of Ibero-America in its sector and is an important player in the Mexican and international music and sound production scene. The CMMAS provides the necessary human and technical resources, for artists who use sound as their main medium. The centre also provides an environment conducive to outline and build individual or collective projects. Offering support structures for Mexican and foreign artists, CMMAS aims to encourage creation through artistic residencies, curatorial activities, conferences, academic activities and offering free concerts.
CMMAS is always trying to collaborate with festivals and institutions around the world. Therefore, this program intends to show some of the tens of acousmatic pieces created at CMMAS in the past 12 years. It aims to show various composers related to the centre, some of them permanent staff and others creative artists from Mexico, Colombia and the UK.
