Louth Contemporary Music Society presents Michael Pisaro’s
ASLEEP, FOREST, MELODY, PATH at the Oriel Centre at Dundalk Gaol
on Saturday 17 October 2015 at 8pm
asleep, forest, melody, path
For musicians and field recordings
Composed by Michael Pisaro
Performed by Carol Robinson, clarinet, Séverine Ballon, cello, and David Stalling, field recordings.
8pm on Saturday 17 October 2015
Louth Contemporary Music Society (LCMS) present a unique evening of sounds and silence. Journey through an atmosphere of intricate soundscapes and absolute stillness with this exclusive upcoming performance of Los Angeles based composer Michael Pisaro’s work asleep, forest, melody, path (2013) for musicians and field recordings…..
Using recordings made at various locations in Co.Louth by composer David Stalling and Music Generation Louth students, the musicians Carol Robinson, clarinet and Severine Ballon will perform Pisaro’s beautiful work described by New York Times music critic Steve Smith as a “patient, unpredictable, exceedingly beautiful mingling of simple structures, improvised textures and field recordings.”
Pisaro, one of the key members of the Wandelweiser collective uses silence, field recordings, stillness as key aspects of his work. The collective by Europe-based composers including Antoine Beuger and Jürg Frey extends the American experimental-music tradition started by John Cage, Christian Wolff, and their New York circle during the 1950s. Michael Pisaro crafts intricate soundscapes that hover at the boundaries between sound and silence whilst creating beautiful experiences for the listener.
Funded by the Arts Council and Create Louth
Saturday 17 October 2015
Doors open 7:00 p.m.
Concert at 8:00 p.m.
€10
Tickets available in advance from www.eventbrite.ie and if any remain, on the door on the night.
Notes to editors
Michael Pisaro
A guitarist and composer from Buffalo, Michael Pisaro explores the use of silence as one of his key compositional tools. In 1993 he joined Jurg Frey, and Manfred Werder – and later Radu Malfatti and Craig Shepard – to become a member of the Wandelweiser Group of composers, originally founded by Antoine Beuger and Burkhard Scholthauer. Taking their cue from Cage’s seminal 4’33”, the ensemble creates works frequently referred to as ‘silent music’ – although it is a lot more about exploring the fruitful relationship between sound and the absence of sound than a fetishisation of silence as such. Pisaro has found it hard to explain his aesthetic predilection (“There’s no reason to love this music. One just does (or one doesn’t).”, as he once pointed out). And yet, it is gaining new followers with each year. Along with teaching composition at The California Institute of the Arts, Pisaro has composed over 80 works that have been performed all over the world at music festivals and smaller venues. Taking cues from poetry and literature in the past, Pisaro now follows his interest in field recordings to further explore the relationship between listening and sound.
Carol Robinson Clarinet
Composer and clarinetist, Carol Robinson has a multifaceted musical life. Equally at ease in the classical and experimental realms, she performs in major concert halls and international festivals (Wien Modern, RomaEuropa, MaerzMusik, Huddersfield, Archipel, Musica, Musica Contemporanea, etc.). In addition to working closely with composers, she pursues the new in more alternative contexts, collaborating with video artists, photographers, and musicians from divers horizons.
The freely converging musical world of Sleeping in Vilna is typical of what interests her.
Carol Robinson plays all types and sizes of clarinets, including the Lithuanian birbyne. Improvisation is her passion. Carol Robinson was born in the United States and graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory. She currently resides in France.
Severine Ballon,cello
Séverine Ballon‘s work focuses on regular performance of key works of the cello repertoire, as well as numerous collaborations with composers; in addition, her researches as an improviser have helped her to extend the sonic and technical resources of her instrument.
She studied the cello at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin and in Lübeck with Joseph Schwab and Troels Svane. In 2004-2005 she was ‘academist’ at the Ensemble Modern (Internationale Ensemble Modern Akademie). She perfected her contemporary cello technique with cellists Siegfried Palm, Pierre Strauch and Rohan de Saram. In 2005-2006 she was solo cellist of the Toulouse Chamber Orchestra, but subsequently decided to concentrate on contemporary music and on the premiere of new works. Currently she is working on developing extended techniques for her instrument and finding an appropriate notation.
Séverine Ballon particularly enjoys working with contemporary composers and has worked with Helmut Lachenmann, Chaya Czernowin, Rebecca Saunders and Liza Lim. She has premiered a number of solo works which have been written especially for her, including those from Rebecca Saunders, Mauro Lanza and Franck Bedrossian. She has also worked with many of the best known contemporary music ensembles including Klangforum Wien, musikFabrik, Ensemble Intercontemporain and Ictus. She is a member of the Elision ensemble (Australia).Thanks to the Harvard French Scholarship Fund and an Arthur Sachs grant she is a fellow at Harvard University during academic year 2014-2015.
David Stalling, Field Recordings
Originally from Bochum, Germany, David Stalling has been working as a composer, musician and sound artist since the early 1990s. His works have been performed and exhibited widely in Ireland and abroad. With a sensitivity to the sonic nature of both lived in and imagined worlds, David’s practice transcends the traditional definition of composing, utilising a variety of media: acoustic and electronic sound; field recordings and found objects; video and lighting. As a performer, David has collaborated with many artists and musicians, including Strange Attractor, Alessandro Bosetti, Rhodri Davies, Olwen Fouéré, Michaela Fuenfhausen, John Godfrey, Danny McCarthy, Mick O’Shea, Lee Patterson, Tom Plsek, Steve Roden, Jed Speare, David Toop, Stephen Vitiello, Jennifer Walshe, and many others. He maintains an ongoing collaboration with artist Anthony Kelly. Together they create sonic and visual works, as well as run the sound art record label farpointrecordings.com. Recent projects include A Soundmap of Dún Laoghaire, an online archive of field recordings from the borough. David is a recipient of the 2014 Art-in-Science Residency Award at University College Dublin. He is represented by the Contemporary Music Centre Ireland and is currently based in Dublin. www.davidstalling.com
PISARO: ‘asleep, forest, melody, path’
Greg Stuart, percussionist, and ensemble
(Soundcloud)
The California composer Michael Pisaro has not lacked for recordings lately, with three superb CDs to his name in 2013 on Gravity Wave, a label he helps to run. But I keep returning to this as-yet unreleased recording of a November 2013 concert in Columbia, S.C., in which Mr. Pisaro’s close collaborator Greg Stuart leads a 30-member ensemble in a patient, unpredictable, exceedingly beautiful mingling of simple structures, improvised textures and field recordings. (Smith)
http://michaelpisaro.blogspot.com/