A three-part concert of new music by Massimiliano Messieri, Nicola Baroni and Vangelis Lympouridis.
Zadig: caprices for cello, hypercello and live electronics focuses on the interaction between human and computer. The music, by Messieri, is inspired by Voltaire’s philosophical novel of the same name. The first part is entirely acoustic (solo cello) and highlights the instrumentalist’s technical and expressive abilities to the fullest extent. In the second part, the instrumentalist’s interaction with the calculator (software) is delineated with ever-increasing sharpness, until in the final two caprices the machine analyses the instrumentalist’s performance and replies with a tonal counterpoint.
K_Thrilogy: for hypercello, by Nicola Baroni. Three of Kafka’s famous short novels are the inspiration for exploring the hypercello as a virtual composer in real time. The work is grounded on the timbre analysis in real time of the cello performance in order to build sound images evolving in time, and to allow partially pre-structured open musical forms to be modified through live interaction. The hypercello exploits the IRCAM Gesture Follower, able to recognise in real-time the timbre shapes extracted by the live performance, and several systems of sound analysis and electro-acoustic sampling and synthesis. The electronics are integrally shaped by the cello performance, allowing for surreal extensions of Kafka’s atmospheres.
#untitled-n: for hypercello and motion tracking, by Nicola Baroni and Vangelis Lympouridis. The work, based on improvisation and interaction, applies a Whole Body approach to the hypercello. Trajectories of movement and synthetic sounds build up a system in which the gesture is central to create patterns of contrast and continuity in relation with the cello performance.
About the musicians:
Nicola Baroni teaches cello and improvisation at the Monteverdi Conservatory in Bolzano and is developing a PhD at the University of Edinburgh with a project on hyper-bowed instruments. A cello soloist and live electronics performer, he collaborates with chamber and contemporary music ensembles and experimental groups. His hypercello is an augmented cello focused on real-time sound analysis, in order to create interactive compositions and to drive electroacoustic sounds as an extension of the cello performance.
Massimiliano Messieri is interested in all contemporary arts and has focused his music research in particular on the interaction with these arts. Hence his involvement in ballet, new operas and such original pieces as Leonids’ Play, based on sounds from the Leonid meteors recorded by NASA.
Vangelis Lympouridis (PhD, Edinburgh University) collaborated in the design of Baroni’s hypercello. His work focuses on Whole Body Interaction using motion capture, 3D immersive technology and sound, applied in a wide range of contexts including interactive music, dance and theatre, animation, virtual reality, biomechanics, sports and occupational therapy.A preview article for the concert (from the Examiner) is available here.Please click here to register for this event.