Julieanne Klein (New York): Stimme
Karlheinz Essl: Elektronik

 

Die menschliche Stimme - das unmittelbarste und berührendste aller Instrumente - tritt an diesem Abend in Kontakt mit elektronischen Klangprozessen. Dabei verliert sie nicht nur ihre Unschuld, sondern gewinnt an künstlerischem Ausdruck und expressiver Kraft.
 
Die klassisch ausgebildete Sängerin Julieanne Klein hat sie sich zunächst mit der Moderne auseinandergesetzt, um danach die Erweiterung der Stimme mit elektronischen Mitteln zu untersuchen. Dafür erarbeitete sie sich Kooperation mit verschiedenen KomponistInnen ein eigenes Repertoire im spannenden Grenzbereich zwischen Stimme und Elektronik, das sie im Essl Museum präsentiert.
 

PROGRAMM
Kaija Saariaho: Lonh (1996) Karlheinz Essl: Sequitur IX (2008) Geof Holbrook: Lounge Etude I (2011) - UA Ricardo Romaneiro: Cinza (2011) - UA Julieanne Klein: Reconcilement (2011) - UA
 

BIOGRAFIEN
Noted for her “flirtatiously manic” and “fearless and riveting” performances filled with “astonishing colors,” American soprano Julieanne Klein is a versatile singer whose repertoire spans from traditional opera to avant-garde electronic music. A devoted champion of 20th and 21st century music, she has performed and premiered contemporary works throughout North America and Europe. including a 2007 tour with the Ulysses Ensemble (sponsored by Britten-Pears / Aldeburgh Music), performing Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire in 5 cities in the U.K. and live on BBC Radio.
 Julieanne’s musical passion lies in electronic music, and she holds a Doctorate of Music from McGill University (Montreal) specializing in live and interactive electronic vocal music. She regularly writes articles and gives lectures on this topic – in addition to her concert/lecture series in Vienna, she has been invited to perform in Switzerland at the Dampfzentrale Bern (House for New Music in Berne) later this year. Julieanne also produces her own electronic music under the moniker JuXta, and will be presenting a live show of her electro-vocal works on April 14, 2011 at Vienna’s Verein08.
Following a mind-opening summer working with children in Tanzania, Africa, Julieanne has now committed her career to using multimedia art to raise social consciousness, and is creating a large-scale electro-opera that depicts existential dilemmas of the 21st century, reflecting on the tragedies and hopeful triumphs of the postmodern human condition.
 

Kaija Saariaho is not only among the most important Finnish composers of her time, but must be ranked as one of the leading composers of the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries. Born Kaija Anneli Laakkonen, she studied visual arts at the University of Art and Design (then known as the University of Industrial Art), and in 1976 began composition studies at the Sibelius Academy with Paavo Heininen.  Afterward, she enrolled at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg, Germany, to study with British composer Brian Ferneyhough and Germany's Klaus Huber. In 1982 she began extensive studies in computer techniques as they relate to musical composition at the Paris-based I.R.C.A.M. (L'Institut de Recherche et Coordination), and permanently relocated to Paris that same year. In 1984 she married Jean-Baptiste Barriere, also a composer. During this time Saariaho's works began garnering much attention and she received many prestigious awards, such as the Kranichsteiner Prize in 1986, the Prix Italia in 1988, and the Ars Electronica for her works Stilleben (1987-1988) and Io (1986-1987). She also attracted several impressive commissions, including one from the Lincoln Center, which resulted in the chamber work Nymphea (1987), which was premiered by the Kronos Quartet.  Many of her compositions have been written specifically for major artists or groups, as with the violin work she produced for Gidon Kremer, entitled Graal Theatre (1994), and the song cycle Chateau de l'ame (1996) for Dawn Upshaw. A 1993 trip to Japan led to a commission from Kunitachi College for which Saariaho composed a work for percussion and electronics, Six Japanese Gardens (1993-1995). Other major performances of her compositions include the 1999 Kurt Masur-led New York Philharmonic premiere of her choral work Oltra mar, and the Salzburg Festival premiere of her first opera, L'amour de loin, in August 2000 (which featured Upshaw and conductor Kent Nagano). Saariaho also continues to collect prizes, including the German Kaske Prize and the Swedish Rolf Schock Prize, both in 2001. Many of her works have been made available on a variety of labels, including DG, BIS, Finlandia, and Ondine.
 

New York-based composer Ricardo Romaneiro, born in 1979 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, is known for his innovative works that synthesize orchestral and electronic music.   Earning a Master of Music from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Christopher Rouse, Ricardo also holds  an undergraduate degree from the Manhattan School of Music under the tutelage of Richard Danielpour, and has mentored with Samuel Zyman.  Incorporating his formal classical training into a passion for electronic music, Ricardo uniquely melds these worlds together, often binding them with rhythmic elements drawn from his native Brazilian culture. Ricardo's compositions have been commissioned and performed throughout North and South America, and in Africa, Southeast Asia and China, played by the Metropolis Ensemble, the Museum of Modern Art's Summergarden Series, Wordless Music, the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, American Composers Orchestra's Underwood New Music Readings, New Juilliard Ensemble, Quintet of the Americas, the Colorado Ballet, the Sacramento Ballet, and his music was featured in Esquire Magazine's 2007 "Best & Brightest" issue. His work with Metropolis Ensemble includes "The Rite: Remixed", a re-imagination of Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" for brass ensemble, percussion, and live electronics, and "Two-Part Belief", featuring Grammy Award-winning soprano Hila Plitmann. Presented by Wordless Music Series as part of "Celebrate Brooklyn!" summer concerts, both were premiered in Prospect Park Bandshell and nationally broadcast live on NPR Radio.
 

Geof Holbrook (born 1978 in Guelph, Ontario, Canada) has had works performed in Canada, U.S., South America and in Europe, including performances by the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, International Contemporary Ensemble, the McGill Symphony Orchestra, the Allsar Quartet, In Extensio, Talea, Wet Ink, Quasar, Sixtrum Ensemble, Ensemble of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and the Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain in Lyon. He has been awarded seven times in the SOCAN Competition for Young Composers, was a finalist in the CBC National Composition Prize, and in 2007 was awarded a Prix Opus in Quebec for "Première of the Year". He was chosen to participate in the NEM International Forum for Young Composers, held in Amsterdam in 2006. He has participated in composition courses at le Domaine Forget, Royaumont, the National Arts Centre, and at IRCAM in Paris, in addition to his university studies at McGill University and Columbia University, where his mentors have included Denys Bouliane, Fabien Levy and Tristan Murail.
 

Karlheinz Essl born 1960 in Vienna. Studies at the Wiener Musikhochschule: composition (Friedrich Cerha), electro-acoustic music and double bass. Studies at the University of Vienna: musicology (1989 doctoral thesis on Das Synthese-Denken bei Anton Webern).
His work with computers (with emphasis on Algorithmic Composition) and a prolonged occupation with the poetics of serial music have been a formative influence on his compositional thinking. Besides writing instrumental music, Karlheinz Essl also works in the field of electronic music, interactive realtime compositions and sound installations. Since the early 1990's he has developed software environments for interactive algorithmic composition in real time which he uses for his own live performances and also in collaboration with artists from other fields (choreographers, dancers, visual artists and poets).
1990-94 „composer in residence” at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse für Neue Musik. 1992-93 work on a commission at IRCAM (Paris). 1997 Essl was featured at the Salzburg Festival with portrait concerts and sound installation. Between 1995-2006 Essl was teaching „Algorithmic Composition” at the Studio for Advanced Music & Media Technology of the Anton Bruckner University in Linz. Since 2007 he is professor of composition for electro-acoustic and experimental music at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.