Saxotronics Composer Profiles
-Massimo Botter (Sedna) for baritone sax solo
Massimo Botter studied composition with Azio Corghi and Alessandro Solbiati in Milan.
He won many international prizes such as The Next Millenium Composition Award (Tokyo, 1996), the 3rd International Composition Competition Symphony Orchestra “City of Palma” (2000), the International Competition “Francesc Civil” of Girona and the “Reina Sofia” Prize of Madrid (2003).
In 2000 the Fundació ACA-Palma de Mallorca published Detalls, a monographic CD including his recordings from 1993 to 2000. In 2003 Isabelle Schnöller included in the CD Interpretenportrait (Zeitklang) his composition Vert Foncé for flute. In 2006 Stradivarius has published the CD Agli inquieti spiriti with his compositions Les Algues for orchestra and Sheet of Sounds for saxophone quartet. With the same label in September 2010 come out his monographic CD SCREAM recorded with the Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid conducted by José Ramón Encinar.
He also took part in many national and international Festivals of Contemporary Music such as June in Buffalo in New York State; Museumuskonzerte – Dornach; BBK festival Guggenheim Museum – Bilbao (Spain); Mostly Modern – Dublin; 14th World Saxophone Congress – Lubjana; Rencontre de Musique Nouvelle – St. Irénée (Canada); XVIII Festival Milano Musica, Milan (2009); Le NEM Saison 2009-2010, Montréal (2009); Festival de Musica Electroacustica, Siville (2008/2009); Opera Theatre of Saint-Etienne (2010); Auditorium Nacional de Musica de Madrid (2010).
In 2006 the Biennale of Venice has commissioned him a piece for bass clarinet and orchestra premiered by the ORCAM of Madrid (director José Ramón Encinar, Gareth Davis bass clarinet).
His music has been broadcasted by international radio and television stations such as: NHK Tokyo (Japan), RAI – RADIO 3 (Italy), RTVE (Spain), RTSI (Switzerland), Radio Classica (Spain).
-Monique Jean (Ricochets) for tenor saxophone and Live Electronic
Electroacoustician and sound artist Monique jean is particularly interested to create organic ensembles torn between abstraction and matter, stasis and motion, body and space, sound representation and listening. Aside form her acousmatic pieces in stereo or in multichannel , she explores mixed music ( low memory #1 for flute and fixed sound, Misfit for electric guitar, fixed sound and electronics, low memory#3 for clarinet and electronics). Her work is also regularly associated with dance, sound installation (Connection points or rotary infidelities) and improvisation with Theresa Transistor, a group of electroacoustics composers/improvisers.
Her works have been played and broadcasted on several occasions during numerous national and international concerts and festivals. Her critically acclaimed CD L’Adieu au S.O.S. (Empreintes Digitales label) was nominated for an Opus Award in 2003.
-Rodrigo Sigal (Limite) for alto sax and tape
Holds a PhD in Electroacoustic composition from City University in London, a BA in composition from the Musical Studies and Research Center (CIEM) in Mexico City, and was part of the composition workshop directed by Prof. Mario Lavista. He also studied with Denis Smalley, Javier Alvarez, Franco Donatoni, Judith Weird, Michael Jarrel, Alejandro Velasco and Juan Trigos among others. He finished a postdoctorate at the National School of Music in Mexico and he is the director of the Mexican Center for Music and Sonic Arts (www.cmmas.org). He holds a diploma on Cultural Management (BID/UAM) and does artistic and academic activities in Mexico and many countries.
He has received awards from the Mexican National Fund for Culture and the Arts(FONCA), The CIEM, The Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada, ORS and The Sidney Perry Foundation in England and the LIEM Studios and The Ministry of Culture in Spain, the 1st. Prize (Cycles, 1999), honorary mentions (Tolerance, 2000 and Twilight, 2001) at the Luigi Russolo Composition Prize and finalist at Bourges 2002 (Twilight). “Friction of things in other places” won the 3rd place at the JTTP prize in 2003 by the CeC (Canada) and the SAN (UK).
His work is available in more than 14 compact discs, and his solo CDs “Manifiesto”, “Space within” and “B Blind C Ciego” had received excellent reviews and radio broadcast in Mexico and abroad. His music is presented in different countries and he performs his laptop multimedia projects “Oreja Digital” and “Lumínico” with flutist Alejandro Escuer constantly. Since 1991 he has been working as composer, sound and recording engineer in his private studio in Mexico, London and Santiago, composing chamber music, electroacoustic music and works for dance, cinema and other media. He coordinated the Computer Music Lab at CIEM from 1994 until 1998. Since 2004 he is a member of the board of the Latin-American Sonic Arts Network (www.redasla.org). The Cds and more information are available from www.rodrigosigal.com
-Luigi Pizzaleo (Meridiano) for soprano-alto-baritone sax and live electronic
Luigi Pizzaleo was born in Como in 1971. He took degrees in piano, composition and electronic music studying with Michelangelo Lupone. His main interests are electronic music for dance and theatre: we remember, among the others, the intermedial works Orfeo innamorato (L’Aquila, Teatro San Filippo 2007), commission by Concert Society of L’Aquila for the 400th anniversary of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, Spazio disponibile (Roma, Teatro Greco, ottobre 2008), La ballata dell’infinito universo (Roma, festival Arte Scienza, Goethe Institut, 2009), Enumerazioni (Milano, Festival 5 Giornate, 2010), Mottetti (Teramo, Rassegna Play_Due, 2010), Meditazione (Belgrade, Jugoslovensko Dramsko, 2008). Acousmatic and audiovisual works have been performed too: La distesa e il campo (Roma, Festival Arte Scienza 2006, Còrdoba, IV Jornadas Argentinas de Mùsica Contemporànea, 2008), La voix Guillaume (Milano, Festival 5 Giornate 2008), Florilegi per computer (Roma, “La Piazza”, for the European Feast of Music, and Arte-Scienza Festival, 2008). His audiovisual work Il dolore notturno is scheduled at the next EMUFest-Festival di Musica Elettroacustica (Rome, November 2010). He was finalist at the “Franco Evangelisti” Contest 2009 with Visioni della terra for female voice and live electronics and at the “Franz Liszt” Contest 2010 for composers-pianists. He founded the Ensemble Café Lunaire (Atlante, Cinik Records 2009) and is member of the Association NUME-Nuova Musica per l’Educazione, engaged in musical and pedagogical research by means of electronic contemporary musics and languages. At the moment he also works to develop new instruments for live electronic performance as the Glass harp, he presented last March in Milano (Palazzo Reale, Mostra Gillo Dorfles).
-Elainie Lillios (Veiled Resonance) for soprano sax and Electronic
Elainie Lillios’ music reflects her fascination with listening, sound, space, time, immersion and anecdote. Influential mentors include Jonty Harrison, Pauline Oliveros, Larry Austin, Joseph Klein and Jon Christopher Nelson. She has received grants/commissions from Rèseaux, International Computer Music Association, La Muse en Circuit, New Adventures in Sound Art, ASCAP/SEAMUS, LSU’s Center for Computation and Technology, Sonic Arts Research Centre, Ohio Arts Council, National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts and others. Her composition Veiled Resonance won First Prize in the 2009 Concours Internationale de Bourges, with other awards from the Concurso Internacional de Música Electroacústica de São Paulo, Concorso Internazionale Russolo, Pierre Schaeffer Competition and La Muse en Circuit Radiophonic Competition. Numerous performances of her work include guest invitations to the GRM (Paris), Rien à Voir (Montreal), festival l’espace du son (Brussels) and June in Buffalo (New York). Elainie’s music is available on the Empreintes DIGITALES, StudioPANaroma, La Muse en Circuit, New Adventures in Sound Art and SEAMUS labels. It is also included on the CD accompaniments to The Radio Art Companion and Leonardo Music Journal Vol. 19. Find her on the web at www.elillios.com or on Facebook.
-Frederic Chiasson (La Lame de l’horizon) for alto sax solo
He has been part of the board of directors of Codes d’accès, and the president of the Cercle des compositeurs (Composers’ Circle) of Université de Montréal (CéCo). He has also given many lectures on his research on instrumental and orchestral timbre related to Charles Koechlin’s Traité de l’orchestration.
His original approach to music is a multidisciplinary mix between compositional practice, study of orchestration literature and scientific research. Resulting musical works leave an impression of strength, originality and naturalness. They are highly appreciated from performers and listeners.
Chiasson obtained many grants and prices, among them the Fonds québécois de la recherche en sciences et culture (FQRSC) doctorate scholarship, the CIRMMT Student Award and the Canadian Universities Musical Society (CUMS) Composition Price, given to Cristal, his soloist ensemble piece.
Luca_Vanneschi (Ripavecchia 16 Luglio) for soprano sax
received a diploma in flute at the “Morlacchi” Conservatory of Music in Perugia, where he studied under Roberto Fabbriciani. He then studied composition with Detlev Glanert, Carlo Alberto Neri, David Graham, and Dinu Ghezzo. He has written many works for orchestra, chamber groups and soloists, as well as music for theatre scenes, sound tracks, and musical commentaries for TV and radio programs. His music had been performed in Italy, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Ireland, Luxemburg, Moldova, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Peru, Canada and the United States of America, and broadcast by RAI (Italy), BBC (Great Britain) and ZDF (Germany). His recordings are featured on such labels as Agenda, Athena Records, CENNY, LGNM Editions and Pentaphon.
Mr. Vanneschi has been composing the music for the plays put on by the “Compagnia del Teatro Povero di Monticchiello” since 1991.
Stefan Smulovitz (For Monique) for Baritone Sax and Electronics
More at:www.kenaxis.com
-Manolis Manousakis (A Time to Brake Silence) for baritone and electronics
Manousakis gained his footing in live theater while at Columbia College in Chicago, where he studied composition with Gustavo Leone before returning to study with Tim Ward and Andreas Mniestris at the Ionian University in Corfu, Greece. Prior to his sojourn in Chicago, Manousakis had already composed the music for several projects and was deeply engaged in both independent avant-garde theater and in the popular theater of his native country. Since that time, he has rarely been without a film or stage project and as a result has embraced a wide variety of stylistic influences. He notes, “I found that, through composing for music for the theater, I could explore different paths of writing–from baroque music when composing for Shakespearean plays to hard core electronica when composing for independent shows.”
He is a co founder and Director of ElectroMediaWorks, and a member of the Medea Electronique synergy of Artist.