NEW MUSIC INDABA 2011

[ up to: Contents ]

NEW MUSIC INDABA 2011

From 14th to 16th October NewMusicSA will present the 2011 New Music Indaba, incorporating the Growing Composers workshops. This year the focus will be on improvisation in composition of different styles.

The Indaba will feature internationally renowned Swiss musicians Roland Dahinden (trombone/composer) and Hildegard Kleeb (piano). This experienced duo have performed works by Christian Wolf, Morton Feldman, Anthony Braxton, and Duke Ellington amongst many others and have premièred and recorded a huge amount of new music. Their repertoire is eclectic and crosses the composition-improvisation and art-jazz divides. Visit their websites at www.roland-dahinden.ch and www.hildegard-kleeb.ch. The duo will be featured in concerts and several improvisation workshops.

Canadian artists Véronique Mathieu (violin) and Sophie Patey (piano) will also perform at the festival and lead a workshop-presentation on their repertoire. Their programme will include works by Canadian and South African composers.

Due to unforeseen circumstances Jill Richards’s concert has been cancelled. Jill’s performance of the Concord Sonata will be rescheduled for early 2012 — watch this space.

[ up to: Contents ]

SPONSORS

NewMusicSA acknowledges the kind support of:

• Pro Helvetia Cape Town - Swiss Arts Council
• SAMRO Endowment for the National Arts
• Distell Foundation for the Performing Arts
• The National Arts Council
• Business and Arts South Africa
• Canadian Music Centre
• Council des arts et lettres de Quebec
• Canada Council for the Arts / Conseil des Arts du Canada

Clockwise, from top left: Roland Dahinden Hildegaard Kleeb DuoFourIVTwo Sophie Patey Carlo Mombelli Elliott Carter Witold Lutoslawski Nicholas Csicsko Franco Donatoni Charles Ives ca. 1945 [credit: Eugene Smith] Gabriel Dharmoo Robert Fokkens Lukas Ligeti [credit: Chris Woltmann] Samora Ntsebeza Véronique Mathieu Michael Dingaan

[ up to: Contents ]

COMPOSERS & PERFORMERS

Composers and performers featured include:

Composer/performers

• Roland Dahinden (CH) info (bio)
• Hildegard Kleeb (CH) info (bio)
• Lukas Ligeti (AT/US) info (bio)
• Carlo Mombelli (ZA) info

Performers

• The Chamber Choir of South Africa (ZA) (bio)
  Conducted by Michael Dingaan (ZA) (bio)
• DuoFourIVTwo:
  • Magdalena de Vries (ZA) (bio)
  • Frank Mallows (ZA) (bio)
• Véronique Mathieu (CA) info (bio)
• Samora Ntsebeza (bio)
• Sophie Patey (FR) (bio)

Composers

• Elliott Carter (US) (bio)
• Nicholas Csicsko (US) (bio)
• Gabriel Dharmoo (CA) (bio)
• Franco Donatoni (IT) (bio)
• Robert Fokkens (ZA) (bio)
• Charles Ives (US) (bio)
• Witold Lutoslawski (PL) (bio)

[ up to: Contents ]

WORKSHOPS

As ever, our workshops are aimed at young and emerging composers. Roland Dahrinden and Hildegard Kleeb will cover topics emerging from their exceptionally wide and stylistically diverse repertoire and also pass on skills from their own style of improvising to the workshop participants.

The workshops are free and there will be some financial support available to help with travel and accommodation costs for those who need it. Spaces are limited, so apply as soon as possible (deadline 23rd September 2011).

Further details:

• Workshop 1
• Workshop 2

Applications

Applications are slightly different this year. We do not need you to write a piece for the workshops as in previous years but we do need to know you are serious about your music. Download and complete the workshop application form, and send the following by email or post to accompany the form:

• A brief CV including details of pieces of music you have written to date and performances of your music that have taken place.
• The score of any piece you have written in the last 2 years that you are proud of. (Hard copy, PDF, Finale 2005 or Sibelius 5 formats are acceptable.)
• If you require financial support to attend, please indicate this in your application.

Submit workshop applications to Cameron Harris at or by mail to:

Cameron Harris
PO Box 473
Wits
2050

[ up to: Contents ]

PROGRAMME

Full notes on performers, composers, and works will be available at Indaba events.

Programmes and artists subject to change.

Programme navigation:

• 1
  Fri
• 2
  Sat
• 3
  Sun
• ^
  top

Day 1
Friday 14 October

WORKSHOP 1

11h00 | POPArt Centre | 3 hrs 30 min (with break for lunch)

Both this workshop and the workshop on Sunday 16th October are centred on improvisation as the key for musical communication between cultures; from free improvised forms to graphic symbols.

We will focus on the musical language of the American composer-improviser Anthony Braxton and the workshops are open to all instruments, including voice and non-European instruments. The workshops will culminate in a concert-presentation of the music that has been created during them. Please bring your instrument/s with you. (See workshop application section, above.)

Hildegard Kleeb has recorded Braxton’s piano music on a 4-CD-Set released by HatHut. Roland Dahinden was Braxton’s assistant at Wesleyan University in Connecticut for 3 years and has also recorded 6 CDs with him. Together, Kleeb and Dahinden perform Anthony Braxton’s music throughout the world.

Activities continue in Workshop 3 (Day 3, Sunday 16th).

ROOFTOP CONCERT: MAIN STREET LIFE

16h00 | Main Street Life

South African music for marimba and vibraphone.

Come and wind down on a Friday evening with an informal concert given by this unique duo who have been performing music for the beguiling yet rare combination of marimba and vibraphone since 2003 (see biographies below).

In the case of bad weather DuoFourIVTwo will perform in the POPArt Centre.

SWITZERLAND MEETS SOUTH AFRICA

19h30 | POPArt Centre

The concert will include improvised music and the interpretation of graphic scores by South African and Swiss composers.

• 1
  Fri
• 2
  Sat
• 3
  Sun
• ^
  top

Day 2
Saturday 15 October

WORKSHOP 2

16h00 | POPArt Centre | 2 hrs

RECALL POLLOCK

20h00 | POPArt Centre

Roland Dahinden and Hildegard Kleeb with compositions by Dahinden-Kleeb and South African musicians; improvised music.

• 1
  Fri
• 2
  Sat
• 3
  Sun
• ^
  top

Day 3
Sunday 16 October

WORKSHOP 3

10h00 | POPArt Centre | 2 hrs 30 min

NEW MUSIC FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO FROM CANADA, SOUTH AFRICA, ITALY, AMERICA AND POLAND

14h00 | POPArt Centre

Véronique Mathieu (CA) and Sophie Patey (FR) in Concert.

— Interval —

PUBLIC PRESENTATION: MUSIC FROM THE GROWING COMPOSERS WORKSHOPS — ALL WELCOME

15h30 | POPArt Centre | 1 hr

THE CHAMBER CHOIR OF SOUTH AFRICA IN CONCERT

16h30 | Arts on Main

The Chamber Choir of South Africa will be singing a wide range of music including traditional songs, works from the classical repertoire and pieces written very recently (some especially for the choir itself).

• 1
  Fri
• 2
  Sat
• 3
  Sun
• ^
  top

[ up to: Contents ]

BIOGRAPHIES

[ up to: Composers & Performers | Biographies ]

Elliott Carter

Born in New York City on 11 December 1908, Elliott Carter began to be seriously interested in music in high school and was encouraged at that time by Charles Ives. He attended Harvard University where he studied with Walter Piston, and later went to Paris where for three years he studied with Nadia Boulanger. He then returned to New York to devote his time to composing and teaching.

With the explorations of tempo relationships and texture that characterize his music, Carter is recognized as one of the prime innovators of 20th-century music. The challenges of works such as the Variations for Orchestra, Symphony of Three Orchestras, and the concertos and string quartets are richly rewarding. In 1960, Carter was awarded his first Pulitzer Prize for his visionary contributions to the string quartet tradition. Stravinsky considered the orchestral works that soon followed, Double Concerto for harpsichord, piano and two chamber orchestras (1961) and Piano Concerto (1967), to be “masterpieces”.

Elliott Carter has been the recipient of the highest honors a composer can receive: the Gold Medal for Music awarded by the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the National Medal of Arts, membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and honorary degrees from many universities. Hailed by Aaron Copland as “one of America’s most distinguished creative artists in any field,” Carter has received two Pulitzer Prizes and commissions from many prestigious organizations.

As Carter’s centenary approaches, celebration is already underway. The BBC Symphony Orchestra presented Get Carter: The music of Elliott Carter at the Barbican Hall in January 2006. This concert series showcased the breadth of Carter’s compositional output with orchestral works, string quartets, piano pieces, concerti, and more.

Recent recordings of Carter’s music include: Variations for Orchestra — Munich Philharmonic Orchestra/James Levine, Oehms 502; Concerto for Orchestra and Concerto for Piano — Ursula Oppens (piano), Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra/Michael Gielen, Arte Nova 277730; String Quartets 1-4 — Arditti String Quartet, Etcetera Records 2507.

[ up to: Composers & Performers | Biographies ]

The Chamber Choir of South Africa

Founded in 2006, the Chamber Choir of South Africa (CCSA) is a performance driven institution that strives for the highest artistic level and promotes both standard repertoire and lesser-known works. It has been commended for its passionate, committed singing and the ability to switch composer, language and idiom with stylistic conviction.

The CCSA has performed at a wide variety of events including a number of ClassicFM functions and Handel's Messiah with the Chanticleer Singers, the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra and soloists Sibongile Khumalo and Andre Howard. The choir has also shared the stage with the Cenestra Male Voice Choir, Johas Gwangwa and Johnny Mekoa.

On the international stage, the choir has performed with the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church Choir (USA), the Morgenkor Choir of Rudolf Steiner (Norway) and the Bellview Chorus from Washington (USA). In 2009 the choir hosted the Eton College Chapel Choir (UK) under Maestro Ralph Allwood.

The CCSA regularly gives service pro-bono in and around the communities to which it belongs. In this capacity the Choir has helped raise funds for the Anglican Church in Kwa-Thema, an orphanage in Springs and St. Francis Centre in Boksburg.

The membership of the choir is a mixed composition of students and professionals from all parts of South Africa, all these individuals being united in the single purpose of performance excellence. To this effect, some of the choir's members continue to sing in the World Youth Choir, participating in productions conducted by renowned musicians such as Peter Dijkstra and Karl Jenkins as well as taking masterclasses in Finland, Norway and the United Kingdom.

[ up to: Composers & Performers | Biographies ]

Nicholas Csicsko

With his unique voice and vision, Nicholas Csicsko has enthralled audiences throughout the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Qatar, and the Philippines. His works have been performed at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, and at various other venues by ensembles including the Juilliard Orchestra, the Indiana University Orchestra, and by various prize-winning performers. In addition to composing, Mr. Csicsko is a member of the Juilliard Pre-College composition faculty and is a graduate of Indiana University and The Juilliard School.

[ up to: Composers & Performers | Biographies ]

Roland Dahinden (trombone/alphorn)

Roland Dahinden was born in 1962 in Zug, Switzerland. As a trombonist, he specializes in the performance of contemporary music and in improvisation/jazz. He has performed throughout Europe, in America and Asia and he has worked with artists including Anthony Braxton, Miles Davis, Pièrre Favre, George Gruntz and Quincy Jones.

Many renowned composers have written works for Dahinden, including Peter Ablinger, Maria de Alvear, Anthony Braxton, John Cage, Peter Hansen, Hauke Harder, Bernhard Lang, Joelle Léandre, Alvin Lucier, Chris Newman, Pauline Oliveros, Hans Otte, Lars Sandberg, Wolfgang von Schweinitz, Daniel Wolf and Christian Wolff. Since 1987 Dahinden has performed as a duo with Hildegard Kleeb and since 1992 he and Kleeb have performed a trio with the violinist Dimitrios Polisoidis.

As a composer, Dahinden has collaborated with visual artists Andreas Brandt, Stéphane Brunner, Daniel Buren, Rudolf de Crignis, Philippe Deléglise, Inge Dick, Rainer Grodnick, Sol LeWitt, Lisa Schiess, Guido Baselgia, with the architects Morger & Degelo, and with the author Eugen Gomringer. He has also participated in exhibitions with sound installations and sculptors in Europe and America. He has recorded widely for labels including Mode Records, Hat Hut, Col Legno, Warner Bros and PolyGram.

www.roland-dahinden.ch

[ up to: Composers & Performers | Biographies ]

Magdalena de Vries

“...the evocative slow movement was a virtuoso exercise in tonal restraint…” LONDON EVENING STANDARD

Magdalena de Vries started percussion at the age of 15, and within a few years won a number of South African music prizes and national scholarships.

After obtaining performer’s licentiate diplomas (with distinction) from both the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music and the University of South Africa, two of the most prestigious South African overseas music scholarships were awarded to her, and enabled her to pursue postgraduate studies in percussion as the first foreign student at the Tokyo College of Music under Professor Atsushi Sugahara. While in Japan, she was invited to join Percussion Museum (resident percussion ensemble in Tokyo), made her solo recital debut, received a Tokyo College of Music study grant and obtained a postgraduate diploma cum laude.

Work in the UK (2000 – 2003) include a UK-France concert tour with Ensemble Bash; CD recordings with Errollyn Wallen and Continuum Ensemble; workshops run by Ensemble Bash, Sinfonia 21, spnm; performing with a variety of groups including Premiere Crew, Modern Band and ESO at various venues, including Australia House (London), Purcell Room (London South Bank Centre), King’s College (Cambridge) Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and Linbury Studio Theatre (Royal Opera Covent Garden).

As orchestral percussionist, Magdalena has worked with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra (Tokyo), attended the 2000 Festival de Musica de Canarias as member of the former Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, and currently regularly works with all major South African orchestras.

In May 2001 she won first prize in the Performing Australian Music Competition in London and was subsequently featured as guest soloist on BBC3 In Tune.

In January 2003 she opened the series Music Oz: The Australia you’ve never heard before, at St John’s Smith Square in London, and appeared on invitation of the Australian High Commissioner as guest artist at the Australia Day celebrations in London.

May 2003 saw the debut recital of EXPOSURE (marimba/saxophone duo with British saxophonist Sarah James) in London’s Purcell Room, and during June/July of the same year she returned to Tokyo on invitation of Prof. Sugahara to perform a series of solo, ensemble and orchestral concerts. EXPOSURE continued their success by completing a South African concert tour in March/April 2004.

In 2003 she formed Duo FourIVTwo with South Africa’s most acclaimed vibraphonist, Frank Mallows. The duo has performed with great success at the Grahamstown Festival, the Baxter Concert Hall (Cape Town), the Aardklop Festival (Potchefstroom), Northwards House (Johannesburg), the Kruger National Park, the Franschoek Festival as well as the ZK Matthews Auditorium. Magdalena has performed several world premiéres including works by Errollyn Wallen, Peter Klatzow and Robert Fokkens.

In January 2005 she performed the South African premiére of Ney Rosauro’s Concerto for Marimba and Strings with the CPO, in March she performed as marimba soloist with the ECPO and in September of the same year she was concerto soloist with both the JFO and COSA. Also in 2005 she formed Acoustic Moodz featuring David Houghton on guitar and as composer. The duo, occasionally expanding to a trio or quartet, has performed to great acclaim at the ZK Matthews Auditorium, University of Johannesburg, Classic fM Soirees as well as at the opening of the 2010 UNISA International Strings Competition.

In 2006 Magdalena was invited to perform once again as concerto soloist with COSA and was one of the featured soloists at the RMB Starlight Classics, performing the world premiére of Mozart for Marimba, arranged especially for her. In August 2007 she performed Bartok’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Percussion with the JPO and in September 2009 she was once again one of the featured soloists at the RMB Starlight Classics in Johannesburg. In September 2010 Magda performed the South African premiere of La Folia, Karl Jenkins’ marimba concerto and in March 2011 she shared the stage with Katherine Jenkins at the RMB Starlight Classics in Cape Town.

As recording artist, she is featured on CDs by Claire Johnston, Denzil Weale, Hannelie Rupert, Ockie Vermeulen, Duo FourIVTwo and Acoustic Moodz.

As adjudicator, she is chairman of the Stellenbosch National Ensemble Competition, and has been on the panel of the Performing Australian Music International Competition in London, as well as the ATKV Muziq.

Magdalena is the fulltime marimbist of Acoustic Moodz, works as freelance percussionist with the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra and the Johannesburg Music Initiative, and lectures marimba at Beaulieu Preparatory School and percussion at the University of Pretoria.

[ up to: Composers & Performers | Biographies ]

Gabriel Dharmoo

After a classical training in cello, Gabriel Dharmoo studied composition with Hugues Leclair (2000) and Éric Morin (2000-2003). However, it is at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal that he truly dedicated himself to composition, under the teachings of Serge Provost (2003-2007). He finished his studies with a “Prix avec grande distinction”, the highest honor to be awarded, in both composition (2006) and analysis (2007).

Having researched South Indian Carnatic music with 4 renowned masters in Chennai (India) in 2008, his recent work is strongly focused on integrating elements of this music to his personal style (Moondraal Moondru, Vaai Irandu, Sung in a Rickshaw, Pushpangalin Mutthiraigal).

In 2011, he wins the Prix d’Europe de composition Fernand-Lindsay as well as the Robert Fleming Prize from Canada Council for the Arts. Five of his works have been awarded prizes at the SOCAN awards for Young Composers: Vaai Irandu (Second prize - 2010), Le jour de mon mariage avec Dieu (Second prize - 2008), Chapelets (Second prize - 2008), D’arts moults (Third prize - 2006) and À l’Homme (First prize - 2002).

He has received grants from CAC, CALQ, SODEC, OFQJ, the Joseph-McAbbie Foundation and both the Student Association and the Alumni Association of the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. He is a member of the Canadian Music Centre and The Canadian League of Composers and his music has been broadcast on CBC Radio, CKIA (Québec) and CKUT (Montreal).

His works have been performed and/or commissioned by established and emerging musical ensembles from Canada (ECM+, Arraymusic, Codes d’accès, Ensemble Chorum, Erreur de type 27, Motion Ensemble, Reveille Trumpet Collective, Alizé). He has also attended various workshops such as the Domaine Forget New Music Session (2006), the Arraymusic Young Composers Workshop (2008) and the Banff Centre Music Residencies (2011).

He frequently collaborates with filmmakers, visual artists and choreographers. He has provided music for short films screened in festivals across North America, Europe and South America. His musical contribution to short films has been twice noticed at the Festival International du Film d’Aubagne (France), which focuses on sound/image collaborations.

As an improviser, Gabriel Dharmoo works both as a vocalist and cellist. He studied improvisation with René Lussier and has played various venues with established improvisers such as the Mardi Spaghetti series, the Codes d’accès Tentacules.10 event, the Montreal Off Jazz Festival and Festival International de Musique Universelle (Trois- Rivières).

Aside from his various artistic projects, he is very active on the Montreal musical scene where he lives and works.

[ up to: Composers & Performers | Biographies ]

Michael Dingaan

Michael Dingaan was born and bred in the township of Kwa-Thema outside Springs. He is a former member of the Kwa-Thema Youth Choir led by Ludumo Magangane and the Central Methodist Church Choir conducted by Prince Thethe. In 1992 he joined the State Theatre Opera chorus under the directorship of Mathilda Hornsveld, in 1994 he enrolled at the Potchefstroom University majoring in vocal studies under Prof. Werner Nel, during this period he sang in numerous operas and oratorios accompanied by the National Chamber Orchestra.

On graduating, he was appointed Student-Conductor of the world-renowned Drakensberg Boys Choir, here he received extensive, first-rate training under Christian Ashley-Botha. He began his teaching career in vocal studies at the choir school, producing consistent first-class results. He led for five consecutive years the National Youth Choir of South Africa under the auspices of the choir school.

In 2000 he was appointed Head of Music at the Max Stibbe Waldorf School, where he founded the choirs, Within six months he prepared the technically demanding Magnificat in D by Bach and presented this at Centenary of the Waldorf movement in Basel, Switzerland.

He has been a guest music director for choirs in Norway, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He is the co-founder and artistic director of the Chamber Choir of South Africa. In 2008 he presented a choir course in Norway alongside the respected Maestro Dale Warland, at the summer school hosted by the Norwegian choir association.

He is a broadcaster on ClassicFM 102.7 where he anchors the morning shows and Classic Voices on Sunday evenings. Outside his busy schedule Michael finds time to sing with the Cenestra Male Choir under the leadership of Themba Madlopha, with whom he has sung for 15 years.

He presently serves on the board of the newly established Choral Institute of South Africa (Chorisa). He has also served on the music committee of the National Arts Council of South Africa. Michael continues to work very closely with the father of choral music in South Africa, Emeritus Prof. Mzilikazi Khumalo, focussing on the composer's lesser-known works.

[ up to: Composers & Performers | Biographies ]

Franco Donatoni

Franco Donatoni was born in Verona on 9 th June 1927. In the course of his career Donatoni won many prizes: the Liège prize (1951, Quartet), the Radio Luxembourg prize (1952, Concertino for strings, brass instruments and solo timpani; and 1953, Symphony for string orchestra), the S.I.M.C. prize (1961, Puppenspiel for orchestra), the Marzotto prize (1966, Puppenspiel II for flute, piccolo and orchestra), the Koussevitzki prize (1968, Orts for 14 instruments) and the Psacaropoulo prize (1979, Spiri for 10 instruments).

Donatoni taught in the Bologna, Turin and Milan conservatories from 1953 to 1978. He also held the chair of advanced composition at the Accademia Nazionale di S. Cecilia in Rome and taught for many years in Siena.

He was a member of the Accademia Nazionale di S. Cecilia and the Accademia Filarmonica Romana.

In 1985 he was awarded the title “Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” by the French Minister for Culture.

In 1990 the Settembre Musica festival in Turin dedicated an extensive monographic programme to him. In 1991 he was invited to Australia by the Elision Ensemble to hold a series of seminars at the Italian Cultural Institute in Melbourne. In the course of this trip the world premiere of Refrain II was performed. From June to October 1992 the Milano Musica concert series realised an important series of concerts in his honour; the 8 concerts featured a number of his most important compositions including the world premieres of Feria II for organ and the first part of Bach’s The Art of the Fugue (Counterpoints I-VII) transcribed by Donatoni for orchestra (the second part, Counterpoints VIII-XIV, was performed posthumously by the Orchestra Nazionale della Rai in Turin in November 2000).

Of the compositions written in the decade ’90-’99 mention must be made of Sweet Basil for trombone and big band (1993), commissioned by the French Ministry for Culture and Communications, Portal for bass clarinet, clarinet in B flat, E flat clarinet and orchestra (1995), on commission from Radio France, In Cauda II (1996), on commission from the Süddeutscher Rundfunk Stuttgart, and In Cauda III (1996).

1999 saw the performance of Fire (In Cauda IV) and, on commission from the Salzburg Festival, Poll for 13 performers. His last orchestral works Esa (In Cauda V) – on commission from the Los Angeles Philharmonic – and dedicated to the orchestra’s conductor as well as former pupil of the composer Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Prom – on commission from the BBC Proms – were performed posthumously: respectively in February and May of 2001. Donatoni died on 17th August 2000.

[ up to: Composers & Performers | Biographies ]

Robert Fokkens

Robert Fokkens is a South African composer based in London. His music has been performed in many major venues in the UK (including the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room and Royal Festival Hall), South Africa, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, the USA and Japan, and broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio, Swedish Radio P2 and various South African radio stations. Performers of his music include Pierre-André Valade, Ernst Kovacic, Ian Partridge, Martyn Brabbins, the South African National Youth Orchestra, Oliver Coates, The Fibonacci Sequence, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Trio Fibonacci, Tim Murray, Harriet Mackenzie, juice vocal trio, Tête à Tête Opera and sopranos Claire Booth and Patricia Rozario. His music has been published in a number of journals and recorded on the Herald, TUTL and South African National Youth Orchestra labels.

Robert studied at the University of Cape Town and the Royal Academy of Music, and held the Manson Fellowship at the RAM in 2001-2002. During this time he worked with many composers including George Crumb, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Thomas Ades, Simon Bainbridge, Poul Ruders, and Mauricio Kagel. He completed his PhD at the University of Southampton in 2007, where he was supervised by Michael Finnissy.

Throughout his studies, Robert was generously supported by organisations including the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, the South African Music Rights Organisation, the National Arts Council of South Africa, the Overseas Research Scheme, and the Royal Academy of Music. His doctoral studies were largely funded by a University of Southampton Major Studentship.

Robert is currently Vice Chairman of New Music South Africa, the South African section of the ISCM, and teaches composition at Trinity College of Music’s junior department and at Cardiff University.

[ up to: Composers & Performers | Biographies ]

Charles Ives (1874 – 1954)

For all his singularity, the Yankee maverick Charles Ives is among the most representative of American artists. Optimistic, idealistic, fiercely democratic, he unified the voice of the American people with the forms and traditions of European classical music. The result, in his most far-reaching work, is like nothing ever imagined before him: music at once unique and as familiar as a tune whistled in childhood, music that can conjure up the pandemonium of a small-town Fourth of July or the quiet of a New England church, music of visionary spirituality built from the humblest materials — an old gospel hymn, a patriotic tune, a sentimental parlour song. The way in which Ives pursued his goal of a democratic art, and his career of creating at the highest level of ambition while making a fortune in the life insurance business, perhaps could only have happened in the United States. And perhaps only there could such an isolated, paradoxical figure make himself into a major artist.

Born in Danbury, Connecticut on 20 October 1874, Charles Ives pursued what is perhaps one of the most extraordinary and paradoxical careers in American music history. Businessman by day and composer by night, Ives’s vast output has gradually brought him recognition as the most original and significant American composer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Inspired by transcendentalist philosophy, Ives sought a highly personalized musical expression through the most innovative and radical technical means possible. A fascination with bi-tonal forms, polyrhythms, and quotation was nurtured by his father who Ives would later acknowledge as the primary creative influence on his musical style. Studies at Yale with Horatio Parker guided an expert control overlarge-scale forms.

Ironically, much of Ives’s work would not be heard until his virtual retirement from music and business in 1930 due to severe health problems. The conductor Nicolas Slonimsky, music critic Henry Bellamann, pianist John Kirkpatrick (who performed the Concord Sonata at its triumphant premiere in New York in 1939), and the composer Lou Harrison (who conducted the premiere of the Symphony No. 3) played a key role in introducing Ives’s music to a wider audience. Henry Cowell was perhaps the most significant figure in fostering public and critical attention for Ives’s music, publishing several of the composer’s works in his New Music Quarterly.

In 1947, Ives was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his Symphony No. 3, according him a much deserved modicum of international renown. Soon after, his works were taken up and championed by such leading conductors as Leonard Bernstein and, at his death in 1954, he had witnessed a rise from obscurity to a position of unsurpassed eminence among the world’s leading performers and musical institutions.

Jan Swafford / Charles Ives Society and www.schirmer.com

[ up to: Composers & Performers | Biographies ]

Hildegard Kleeb (piano)

Hildegard Kleeb was born in Switzerland in 1957. She studied piano in Zürich and Geneva with Claude Helffer and also studied in Paris and with Jürg Wyttenbach at the Academy of Music in Basel. She has premièred works written for her by Peter Ablinger, Maria de Alvear, John Cage, Roland Dahinden, Peter Hansen, Hauke Harder, Alvin Lucier, Lars Sandberg, Heinz Weber, Daniel Wolff, Christian Wolff and others. Ms. Kleeb performs extensively in Europe and America as a soloist and in ensembles, as well as in duo/trio with Dahinden and Polisoidis. She has recorded for the HatArt and Lovely Music labels, amongst others.

In 1990 Kleeb was visiting scholar at the school for visual art in Helsinki and resident in London. Between 1992 and 1995 she was resident at Wesleyan University in Connecticut and worked with Javanese Gamelan Orchestras. During this time she also worked with Anthony Braxton.

From 2003 Kleeb has been involved with ‘community performance’, with works including, Zitronenbaum (for a residency/commission in Palästina), Fermata and Kirschblütenzweig und Uristier. In 2004 Kleeb initiated the project “Hildegard” for organ.

www.hildegard-kleeb.ch

[ up to: Composers & Performers | Biographies ]

Lukas Ligeti

Transcending the boundaries of genre, composer-percussionist Lukas Ligeti has developed a musical style of his own that draws upon downtown NY experimentalism, contemporary classical music, jazz, electronica, and world music, particularly from Africa. Lukas creates music ranging from the through-composed to the free- improvised, often exploring non-Western elements, and has been participating in cultural exchange projects for the past 15 years.

Lukas studied composition and jazz drums at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria, and spent two years working at CCRMA, the computer music research center at Stanford University, before settling in New York City in 1998.

Lukas has been commissioned by Bang on a Can, Kronos Quartet, Ensemble Modern, the American Composers Orchestra, the Vienna Festwochen, Austrian Radio, and Radio France, to name a few; his music has also been performed by the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lyon, the London Sinfonietta, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and the Amadinda, Third Coast, and So Percussion Groups. He frequently performs solo on the marimba lumina, a rare electronic percussion instrument.

As a drummer, he co-leads several bands including Burkina Electric, the first electronica band from Burkina Faso in West Africa. He performs at jazz and world music festivals internationally and has worked with John Zorn, Henry Kaiser, Raoul Björkenheim, Elliott Sharp, Gary Lucas, Marilyn Crispell, John Tchicai, Jim O’Rourke, Eugene Chadbourne, members of Sonic Youth and the Grateful Dead, and many others.

He has led or co-led experimental intercultural projects in Florida, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Lesotho, among other places, has taught at the University of Ghana, and was composer-in- residence at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Lukas’ music is has been released to high acclaim on two CDs on the Tzadik label as well several more on the Cantaloupe, Intuition, TUM, Wallace, and Innova labels, among others.

In 2010, Lukas received the Alpert Award in the Arts in Music.

For more information, please see www.lukasligeti.com

[ up to: Composers & Performers | Biographies ]

Witold Lutoslawski (1913 – 1994)

Witold Lutoslawski was born in Warsaw in 1913 and soon showed his prodigious musical and intellectual talent. He studied at the Warsaw Conservatory (1932-37) and soon made his mark as a pianist and composer. During these studies, Poland lived through a politically difficult time. Lutoslawski’s attempts at studying in Paris were therefore replaced by military training, imprisonment by the Germans and escape back to Warsaw. He and Adrzej Panufnik survided the war playing piano in cafes (where amongst others the Paganini Variations (1941) were created). Few works from before 1945 have been published: those that have include the Paganini Variations for two pianos.

After the war, the Stalinist regime banned his first symphony (1941-47) as “formalist,” but he continued to compose and in 1958 his Musique Funebre, in memory of Bartok, established his international reputation. He had by then developed a clear, fresh tonality related to late Bela Bartok, displayed in the Little Suite for orchestra (1951), the Concerto for Orchestra (1954) and the Dance Preludes for clarinet and piano (1954). But that style was short-lived: in the late 1950s he was able to essay a kind of serialism (Funeral Music for strings, 1958) and to learn from John Cage the possibility of aleatory textures. Lutoslawski’s own personal aleatoric technique whereby the performers have freedom within certain controlled parameters was first demonstrated in his Jeux Venitiens (1961) and is to be found in almost all the later music.

Most of his subsequent works were orchestral, fully chromatic, finely orchestrated in a manner suggesting Debussy and Ravel, and developed from an opposition between aleatory and metrical textures. These include his Second (1967), Third (1983) and Fourth (1993) symphonies, concertos for cello (1970) and for oboe and harp (1980), and settings of French verse with chorus (Three Poems of Henri Michaux, 1963), tenor (Paroles tissees, 1965) and baritone (Les espaces du sommeil, 1975). During this period he was also internationally active as a teacher and conductor of his own music.

Over the years, Witold Lutoslawski was frequently inspired by particular ensembles and artists including the London Sinfonietta, Sir Peter Pears, Heinz and Ursula Holliger, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Mstislav Rostropovich and Anne-Sophie Mutter.

Among many international prizes awarded to this most modest man were the UNESCO Prize (1959,1968), the French order of Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres (1982), Grawemeyer Award (1985), Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal (1986), in the last year of his life, the Swedish Polar Music Prize and the Inamori Foundation Prize, Kyoto, for his outstanding contribution to contemporary European music, and, posthumously, the International Music Award for best large-scale composition for the fourth symphony.

[ up to: Composers & Performers | Biographies ]

Frank Mallows

Frank Mallows hails from Cape Town. He started out as a violin student, and then changed to percussion, receiving lessons from John Hargreaves and Peter Hamblin. As a student he was fortunate to study with two of the world’s leading mallet percussion specialists: Robert van Sice, focusing on marimba, and Ed Saindon (Berklee College of Music in Boston Mass. USA) with whom he specialised in contemporary jazz vibraphone techniques and styles. He also had masterclasses with Dave Samuels and Victor Mendoza.

Frank is currently the Principal of the Beau Soleil Music Centre in Kenilworth, Cape Town, a position he has held since 1990. Apart from his duties as Principal, he teaches percussion and drum set as well as directing the Stage Band and jazz theory programme. He is also the percussion and drum set lecturer at the University of Cape Town’s College of Music. Prior to his appointment at the Music Centre Frank held the position of Sub Principal Percussionist and Assistant Manager of the now disbanded CAPAB (Opera and Ballet) Orchestra. In 1990 he performed Peter Klatzow’s Concerto for Marimba and Strings with the CAPAB Orchestra at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival.

Frank holds a MMus in vibraphone performance as well as both a Bachelors and Masters degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Cape Town.

As a versatile percussionist, with a strong leaning to the mallet percussion instruments, Frank has performed with international acts at the Cape Town Jazz Festival and performs regularly in a wide range of musical settings, from classical concerts with professional orchestras around South Africa, to Jazz gigs with his own group FMJAZZQ, to local styles with Frank on Marimba in Adamastor, to his highly acclaimed functions band Misty Blue (where Frank plays keyboards).

Over the last number of years Frank has concentrated on arranging music for and performing with the vibraphone-marimba duo, Duo FourIVTwo. His arrangements include Mompou’s Variations on a theme by Chopin, Volodos’ Concert Paraphrase on Rondo alla Turca and Mozart’s Glass Harmonica Adagio. He has also commissioned several South African composers and premiered these compositions with Magda de Vries and their mallet duo, Duo FourIVTwo. The duo hopes to inspire more South African composers to write for this innovative and appealing combination.

[ up to: Composers & Performers | Biographies ]

Véronique Mathieu (violin)

Canadian violinist Véronique Mathieu has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Austria, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, Switzerland, and the United States. She is currently Concertmaster of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, a member of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (TX), as well as a frequent guest soloist with the Montreal Contemporary Ensemble. Véronique is a prizewinner of the 2010 Krakow International Contemporary Music Competition, and of the 2009 Canada Council Bank of Instruments Competition. Ms. Mathieu broadcast recitals for the Canadian Broadcasting Company, Radio-Canada, the Classical Radio in Costa Rica, and the Radio Suisse-Romande. She was recently invited to perform and teach master classes in Costa Rica for the series Promising Artists of the 21st Century, and was an artist in residence during the 2010 Festival de Musica Classica de Sao José do Rio Preto and the 2011 International Music Festival of Piracicaba, in Brazil.

An avid contemporary music performer, Véronique premiered many works written by American and Canadian composers, and recorded for the CD series New Music at Indiana University, and the label of Radio-Canada. She was invited to participate in the Lucerne Academy Festival under Pierre Boulez, and performed during the 2009 Thy Chamber Music Festival, in Denmark. She has performed as soloist with orchestras such as the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Oakville Symphony Orchestra, the Kokomo Symphony, and the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic.

Véronique won many prizes in Canada before completing her Bachelor’s Degree in Music at the Québec Conservatory. In 2002 she was personally invited by Pinchas Zukerman to participate in his Young Artists Program. The following year she obtained an Artist Diploma with outstanding achievement in violin performance from McGill University as a student of Denise Lupien, and was a recipient of the Ethel J. Ivey Award, and the Lloyd Carr Harris Scholarship. Ms. Mathieu completed a Performer Diploma and a Master’s Degree in music at Indiana University with professor Miriam Fried while working as an Associate Instructor in violin. She is a candidate for the Doctor of music degree in violin performance at Indiana University under the guidance of Mark Kaplan, and is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Canada Council for the Arts. She is currently in residence at the Glenn Gould School in Toronto as a violin fellow. Véronique wishes to thank the Canada Council for the Arts for its generous support through the loan of the 1715 Dominicus Montagnana violin.

Véronique is currently in residence as a fellow at the Glenn Gould school of music in Toronto.

www.veroniquemathieu.com

[ up to: Composers & Performers | Biographies ]

Samora Ntsebeza

Samora Ntsebeza is a multifaceted musician who performs on indigenous African instruments, African Percussion and the southern African marimba/xylophone and idiophones. The wide array of African percussion instruments he plays is continually expanding. He is also an exponent of World Music, jazz and ethnic percussion and an experimental, improvisational music musician & composer.

[ up to: Composers & Performers | Biographies ]

Sophie Patey (piano)

Since her concerto debut at age 17, French pianist Sophie Patey has performed extensively in Europe and North America, as soloist and chamber musician. Hailed for “the beauty of her sound” and her “exalting and organic performance” (Thisted Dagblad), she has collaborated with renowned artists such as Barry Shiffman, Colin Carr, Daniel Blumenthal, Suzie LeBlanc, Simon Fryer, members of the Metropolitan Opera and the Saint Lawrence Quartet, and recently collaborated with the New World Symphony Orchestra. She was featured as soloist with the Lille Conservatory Orchestra (France), the Sinfonietta Orchestra (Germany), the Stony Brook University Orchestra (New York), and has been heard on French, Danish and Swiss Radio. A highly versatile pianist, her repertoire ranges from Baroque to 21st century works. She has collaborated with composers Martin Matalon, Johannes Maria Staud, David Rakowski, Ryan Carter, and frequently performs with the Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players. She is a founding member of Duo Thalie with violinist Véronique Mathieu.

Sophie was awarded prizes in several competitions such as the Krakow Competition for Contemporary Chamber Music, the European Claude Kahn competition, Grand Concours International de Piano, EuroRégion Competition, Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche competition, and was a finalist in the Jean Françaix Competition. Sophie Patey recently completed an Artist Residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts (Canada) with a full scholarship, and was invited to participate in numerous festivals in Europe and in the USA, including the Emerson Quartet Festival, Klangspuren Festival, Jeunes Talents, Pablo Casals Festival, Transart Festival, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, Sarasota Chamber Music Festival, Thy Chamber Music Festivals, Nyborg Festival, and MusicAlps.

She was awarded a First Prize with honors, a “Prix de perfectionnement” with the highest distinction in piano, as well a First Prize in Chamber Music from the Conservatoire de Musique in Lille (France) under the guidance of Eric Pauwels and Marc Lys. In 2004, she graduated from the Cologne Musikhochschule with the Künstlerische Ausbildung (Masters of Music) with the highest honors from the studio of Pr. Dr. Florence Millet. At the same time, she studied accompaniment at the Conservatoire in Lille (France) with Christophe Simonet, and worked as a vocal accompanist for Barbara Schlick at the Musikhochschule in Cologne. After studying with Florent Boffard, Sophie completed a Doctorate in Musical Arts under the tutelage of Gil Kalish at the State University of Stony Brook (NY), where she received coaching from The Emerson Quartet, Tina Dahl, Pamela Frank, Colin Carr, Philippe Graffin, Soovin Kim, and Ani Kavafian.

During artistic residencies and master classes, she worked with artists such as Seymour Lipkin, Claude Frank, Robert Levin, Pascal Devoyon, Bruno Canino, Pierre Amoyal, Henri Barda, and members of the Ensemble Modern, Juilliard Quartet, and the Fine Arts Quartet. In addition to her performances, Sophie is an active piano teacher and chamber music coach. She served as Head Piano Teacher Assistant and Piano Teacher Assistant at Stony Brook University (2006-20010), has taught privately for many years, and is involved with different outreach programs. Next year, she will be part of the International Ensemble Modern Academy in Frankfurt.

Presented by NewMusicSA - The International Society for Contemporary Music, South African Section
www.iscm.org