Season 8: Encounters with festivals, ensembles, instrumentalists and creators | S8 - Playlist
Episode 3: SoXXI Festival and the pedagogical proposal En Clau d'Art - Joan Soriano Morales and Alicia Arnau-Aparicio | S8 - E3
In this episode 3 of season 8 of the comusik Podcast, we present the directors of the SoXXI project Alicia Arnau-Aparicio and Joan Soriano Morales who will talk to us about the International Festival and the pedagogical proposal En Clau d’Art.
About the creators of the SoXXI project:
Pedagogical Director of the International Festival SoXXI
Teacher specialized in Early Childhood and Musical Education. Higher Education Diploma in Music Sciences and Humanities (UAM, 2001). Degree in History and Sciences of Music (UAM, 2004). Diploma of Advanced Studies in Audiovisual Communication, Documentation and Art History (UPV, 2011).
PhD in Music from the Universitat Politècnica de València, 2016.
Since 2001 she has been developing pedagogical-artistic projects with kindergarten students at CEIP Vicente Rius Guillemes in Canals (Valencia). She connects interdisciplinary students with people, artists and the arts with the intention of helping them to become first level cultural agents. The proposals developed are part of the history of its En Clau d’Art program.
Implements and develops the children’s art project Viure la Mirada together with Juan Fernández Cursach and his research group, holding exhibitions in different locations in the Valencian Community. She collaborates with different research groups in arts, education and creativity such as Sinergies Lab (IVAM Valencia), València Music Art Magnets and Createctura.
She is director of the pedagogical-artistic projects of the SoXXI International Festival for the dissemination of culture and contemporary arts since 2011 where the participation of children as creators and performers of their productions is a fundamental axis. She is technical director of the Festival Àgora Actual Percussió, of the European Meeting of Contemporary Percussion and member of the Editorial Board of Graó Edicions, Barcelona.
Artistic Director of the SoXXI International Festival
He studied at the Centro de Estudios de Percusión Neopercusión in Madrid. He finished his studies at the Conservatorio Superior de Música del Liceo de Barcelona and obtained the End of Career Honor Award. With Juanjo Guillem, he takes three postgraduate courses in interpretation at the University of Alcalá de Henares. Diploma in Teaching, specializing in Music Education at the University of Valencia.
He took different training courses in Orff, Kodaly, Willems and Dalcroze Pedagogy at the Longueras Institute in Barcelona, Diploma in Music Sciences and Humanities at the Autonomous University of Madrid, Degree in History and Music Sciences at the Autonomous University of Madrid and Master in Contemporary Music at the Polytechnic University of Valencia. D. from the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Cum Laude. He has collaborated with the main orchestras and chamber groups in the country. He has taught at the professional conservatories of La Vall d’Uixó, Torrent, Valencia, Oliva, Conservatory of Alicante and Conservatory of the Balearic Islands. Co-director of the Valencia Percussion Academy from 2010 to 2020.
He is currently a professor at the Professional Conservatory of Carcaixent, member of the Ensemble Project SoXXI, Artistic Director of the SoXXI Festival for the dissemination of Culture and Contemporary Arts, Academic Director of the Agora Actual Percussion Festival and the European Meeting of Contemporary Percussion and professor at the Escuela Superior de Música de Extremadura, Musikex.
About the Festival and the pedagogical proposal:
The SOXXI Festival is an important reference within the specific cultural offer of Culture and Contemporary Arts, making Canals known as an active, dynamic and concerned about one of the engines of enrichment and revitalization of society: Culture.
It is a highly specialized project that maintains a coherent common thread. The presentation format varies from monographic proposals of great composers of the twentieth and twenty-first century, thematic proposals focused on repertoire of specific decades, proposals focused on a defined aesthetic, through eclectic proposals where different aesthetics and languages converge giving a sample as complete as possible of the current creation.
Composers, performers and artists from different Valencian and national disciplines have a significant presence in the programming, always looking for the highest quality, and promoting national, European and absolute premieres as a permanent tonic. Some of the main figures from Portugal, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and Mexico have passed through SoXXI.
It is common the use of all audiovisual tools such as video projections and electro-acoustics, among others, and the fusion with different artistic disciplines such as music, singing, video-art, dance, poetry, and live painting-design.
This festival aims to disseminate culture and contemporary arts and in its pedagogical aspect it collaborates with people of all abilities and ages through its collaboration with the En Clau d’Art Project designed and directed by Dr. Alicia Arnau-Aparicio.
Pedagogical proposal En Clau d’Art
The pedagogical proposal En Clau d’Art is a confluence of people and objects/creative processes that connect children’s curiosity for all languages with the satisfaction and enjoyment that comes from using them in everyday life from an aesthetic point of view. It seeks to make the school think and express itself, from the first moment it is invited to participate in cultural manifestations present in its environment. It is linked to the educational challenges of the present time and contributes to the development of citizenship from active and critical positions.
The close and genuine relationship between the En Clau d’Art experience and the international SoXXI1 Festival is the facilitator of interdisciplinary collaborative projects that involve children and other social groups in original artistic experiences together with professional artists.
For the past 13 years, a synergy between the educational centers and the artists who participate in each edition has been fully consolidated. The dynamics consists in the construction of contexts articulated by the arts that link childhood with culture and society. It attends to childhood as an agent and bearer of its own culture (Trueba, 2015), capable of constructing meanings through processes (with a critical approach) of listening, reflection, expression and consensus. It is carried out through multi-aesthetic developments where knowledge is generated, skills are developed, links are established between the school and the cultural environment shared with varied audiences (Clapp, 2018).
To all this we add the possibility of inviting collectives of people with whom we collaborate to carry out the projects. They regularly participate with us: AFA (Association of relatives and people with Alzheimer’s of Canals), TAPIS (Pre-labor Workshop for Social Insertion) ASCADIS (Canalense Association of people with diverse abilities).
Content of the radio program and podcast:
I. Presentation
II. Explanation of the SoXXI festival
III. Explanation of the pedagogical project
IV. Audition of Fragment of 16′ of Inuksuit John Luther Adams
V. More about the festival
VI. Audition of Persephassa Iannis Xenakis
VII. Context of the project, screenings and collaborations
VIII. Closing
I. Presentation
II. Explanation of the SoXXI festival
III. Explanation of the pedagogical project
IV. Audition of Fragment of 16′ of Inuksuit John Luther Adams
V. More about the festival
VI. Audition of Persephassa Iannis Xenakis
VII. About the productions and concerts
VIII. Audition teaser Wemilere portrait of Louis Aguirre
IX. Other considerations and context of the project
X. Future plans and collaborations
XI. Closing
REFERENCES
Episode 2: NO HAY BANDA with Daniel Áñez, Noam Bierstone and Geneviève Liboiron | S8 - E2
In this episode 2 of season 8 of the comusik Podcast series, we present NO HAY BANDA:
NO HAY BANDA is a non-profit organization based in Montreal, Canada, dedicated to the production, performance and promotion of musical events based on exploratory and avant-garde practices. We organize a series of annual concerts at the Sala Rossa, in Montreal, with the purpose of offering a space for artists working in the established genre fringe to realize projects that would not otherwise appear. Presented with the support of Suoni Per Il Popolo, NO HAY BANDA’s programs aim to broaden and challenge the public’s musical experience, accentuating the work of a young avant-garde that takes its graces from pop/rock, DIY culture and post-war experimentation.
We promote the music of a generation that sees no barriers between musical genres, theater, performance arts and contemporary culture. We conceive the concert space not as a museum whose purpose is the reproduction of historical works, but as a gallery, offering a space with potentials to be exploited, modified, transformed to serve the presentation of new and stimulating artistic products.
In addition to programming a wide variety of Canadian and international artists, NO HAY BANDA works in close collaboration with a core group of Montreal musicians associated with the organization. The works can thus go on tour and be performed by this group outside Montreal, in order to promote and contribute to the reciprocal exchange, so important for artistic communities.
NO HAY BANDA was founded in 2016 by three Montreal musicians: Daniel Añez, Noam Bierstone and Geneviève Liboiron. Concerts generally happen on Monday nights at La Sala Rossa (4848 St-Laurent), a magnificent hall located in a historic building in Montreal. In 2020 we have created a record label, NO HAY DISCOS, to record our musical productions.
Daniel Áñez, (piano, Martenot waves, synthesizers)
Daniel Áñez is an avant-garde musician. He specializes in Latin American repertoire, which he has performed throughout the continent, working with composers Rodolfo Acosta, Coriún Aharonián, Graciela Paraskevaídis and Natalia Solomonoff, among others. In 2022 he released a monographic album with the complete piano works of Cergio Prudencio on the Kairos Music label. In addition to his solo work, he is a member of the violin and piano duo Wapiti Ensemble.
Daniel is co-founder and co-director of the avant-garde concert series No Hay Banda, which has been programming avant-garde performances since 2016. His most recent album, I Had a Dream About This Place, brings together 4 30-minute works by composers Anthony Tan, Andrea Young, Sabrina Schroeder and Mauricio Pauly, and was included in the Bandcamp 2022 Best of the Year listing in the Classical/Contemporary category.
Daniel Añez obtained his master’s and doctoral degrees in piano performance at the University of Montreal (Canada), where he studied with Paul Stewart and Lorraine Vaillancourt. His research project revolved around the piano music of Latin American composers born in the 1940s. Áñez also earned a diploma from the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal in Ondes Martenot, as a student of Estelle Lemire. He received a degree with honors as a piano musician from the Universidad de los Andes, where he studied with Ignacio Pacheco and Antonio Carbonell.
He won first place in the III María Clara Cullell International Piano Competition in San José, Costa Rica (2004) and won an honorable mention in the X Piano Competition of the Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS) in Bucaramanga (2005). Daniel has given solo and chamber music recitals in several cities in Germany, Argentina, Belgium, Bolivia, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, France, England, Mexico and Uruguay and his interpretations have been published in records by Kairos Music, No Hay Discos, Parma Records, independents, the Colombian Ministry of Culture and Tacuabé/Ayuí.
Noam Bierstone, (percussion)
He is a Canadian percussionist and curator, dedicated to the performance of modern works of art. Committed to the creation and development of new music, Noam is the founder of three artistic ventures: the saxophone and percussion duo scapegoat, an ensemble that has toured throughout North America, Europe and Australia; the Montreal-based concert series and performance collective NO HAY BANDA, which has quickly established itself as a leading voice in experimental music in Canada; and the percussion quartet Architek, also based in Montreal.
Noam also collaborates with various composers and artists, with particular interest in works that expand the notion of percussion by playing new techniques, hybrid instruments, theatrical and choreographic elements, and electronic media controlled by performers. Noam is regularly invited to perform on stage at international festivals with groups around Canada and Europe, and his discography includes releases on KAIROS, New Focus Recordings, NMC, and Cantaloupe Music. In his spare time, Noam enjoys cooking, baking, gardening, and folk dancing.
Noam holds a doctorate in musical arts from McGill University (supervisors Aiyun Huang and Fabrice Marandola) and a master’s degree in percussion and chamber music from the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse in Paris. His research has been published in the CeReNeM Journal.
Geneviève Liboiron, (violin)
Geneviève Liboiron is a fellow of the Orford Arts Centre and the Domaine Forget International Academy and the Banff Arts Centre in Canada, as well as the Kayaleh Academy in Switzerland. She also won the OPUS Award for the best concert of the year 2012 in the category “Current/Electroacoustic Music”, for her participation in the performance of Fausto Romitelli’s “Professor Bad Trip” together with Ensemble La Machine.
Developing her passion and curiosity for contemporary music, she joined the Paramirabo Ensemble in 2012, with which she has performed concerts in six Canadian provinces, as well as in England, the United States and Mexico.
Accompanied by pianist Daniel Áñez, she is part of Ensamble Wapiti, a violin and piano duo dedicated to experimental and contemporary music of the Americas. The duo has performed in Argentina, Bolivia, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Uruguay. Wapiti has received two artistic residencies from the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec in the cities of Mexico City and Bogota D.C.
In 2016, Geneviève joined the organization of the concert series “No Hay Banda”, with percussionist Noam Bierstone and pianist Daniel Áñez, specializing in the dissemination of experimental music concerts and DIY instruments.
Also active as a freelancer, she has played concerts with the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (NEM), the Bozzini Quartet, the Bradyworks Ensemble, SuperMusique Productions and the Ensemble de la Société de Musique Contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ).
She has been a guest artist at several festivals such as the Laboratoire de Musique Contemporaine de Montréal in 2013, the Mise-En Festival in New york, the Jornadas de Música Contemporánea CCMC 2016 in Bogotá and the Eduardo Mata Festival in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Geneviève teaches the violin and music theory at the Conservatoire de la Montéregie and Collège Regina Assumpta. She is a graduate of the University of Montreal with undergraduate and master’s degrees in violin performance, where she studied in the classes of Anne Robert and Laurence Kayaleh.
Content of the Program:
I. Introduction
II. First season 2016-17: Gyorgy Dorokhob’s Rondo.
III. Life Expectancy I: The Sun by Elena Rykova
IV. Second Season 2017-18: Territories IV by Stefan Maier
V. Third Season 2018-19: Sideshow by Steven Takasugi
VI. Fourth Season 2019-20: plectros I by alcides lanza
VII. Fifth Season 2020-21: XXX_LIVE_NUDE_GIRLS_!!! by Jennifer Walshe
VIII. No Hay Discos: I had a dream about this place : An Overall Augmented Sense of Well-being by Anthony Tan
IX. No Hay Discos: I had a dream about this place : The Difference is the Buildings Between Us by Mauricio Pauly
X. No Hay Discos: Hopeful Monster : Height by Eve Egoyan and Mauricio Pauly
XI. Farewell
REFERENCES
Episode 1: Ensamble Percussion Group SoXXI - Joan Soriano, Pilar Fontalba and Ramiro García with the music of Louis Franz Aguirre | S8 - E1
In this episode 1 of season 8 of the comusik Podcast, we present the Percussion Group SoXXI with the works:
Oriki and Bembé a Eshu and Egungun: Ará Orun part of an eponymous monographic CD (2023) containing all of Aguirre’s sextets.
We also present oboist Pilar Fontalba performing two works by Aguirre: Wemilere a Yemayá y Oshún, which is part of the CD “TEMPO” of the year 2022 and the duet Oriki a Obatalá, dedicated to the oboist and Ramiro García, which will have its live premiere on October 25, 2023 at the After Cage Festival in Pamplona, Spain.
About the instrumentalists:
Members: Borja Donet, Andreu Queralt, Miguel Angel Real, Oscar Martí, Sergi Dauder, Josep Furió and Joan Soriano.
With a trajectory of 13 years as the resident ensemble of the SoXXI International Festival, it has focused its attention especially on the great repertoire of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
SoXXI has dedicated monographic concerts to Steve Reich, Jesús Torres, Iannis Xenakis, José Manuel López, Maki Ishii, Louis Aguirre, Gérard Grisey and has performed world premieres of composers such as: Sergio Blardony, Llorenc Barber, Montserrat Palacios, Javier Martínez, Jorge Sastre, Louis Aguirre, Stefano Scarani and Esther Pérez. He has also collaborated with renowned international soloists such as Jean Geoffroy, Cristian Dierstein, Philippe Spiesser, Pedro Carneiro, Juanjo Guillem, Nuno Aroso and Miguel Bernat, among others. He has carried out joint projects with groups as diverse as the dance companies Dansa-Dum, the Grupo Vocal Musicant, the Coro Ciudad de Xátiva. The National Youth Orchestra of Spain, Neopercusión, or SAFA Ensamble de Percusiones de México, also carries out an important pedagogical work and dissemination of the arts of our time through the articulation of interdisciplinary, inter-center, inter-institutional and inclusive collaborative creative projects together with the En Clau D’Art project.
SoXXI has participated in festivals such as: Festival Konect@rte in Madrid, Festival Internacional Ágora Actual Percussió de Xábia, Día de la Música del Auditorio Nacional, Ciclo de Música Actual del Museo Vostell-Malpartida, Festival After Cage de Pamplona, Ciclo de Cámara del OEX, Festival Internacional Ensems de Valéncia among others.
Artistic Director of the International Festival SoXXI
He studied at the Centro de Estudios de Percusión Neopercusión in Madrid. He finished his studies at the Conservatorio Superior de Música del Liceo de Barcelona and obtained the End of Career Honor Award. With Juanjo Guillem, he takes three postgraduate courses in interpretation at the University of Alcalá de Henares. Diploma in Teaching, specializing in Music Education at the University of Valencia. He took different training courses in Orff, Kodaly, Willems and Dalcroze Pedagogy at the Longueras Institute in Barcelona. Graduated in Music Sciences and Humanities at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Bachelor in History and Music Sciences at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Master in Contemporary Music at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia. D. from the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Cum Laude. He has collaborated with the main orchestras and chamber groups in the country. He has taught at the professional conservatories of La Vall d’Uixó, Torrent, Valencia, Oliva, Conservatory of Alicante and Conservatory of the Balearic Islands. Co-director of the Valencia Percussion Academy from 2010 to 2020. He is currently a professor at the Professional Conservatory of Carcaixent, member of the Ensemble Project SoXXI, Artistic Director of the SoXXI Festival for the dissemination of Culture and Contemporary Arts, Academic Director of the Agora Actual Percussion Festival and the European Meeting of Contemporary Percussion and professor at the Escuela Superior de Música de Extremadura, Musikex.
Oboe
“J’ai pu constater les grandes qualités instrumentales et la forte personnalité de cette interprète”
(Pierre Boulez)
Born in Madrid in 1976. She obtained the title of Superior Professor of Oboe with Honorary Prize at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid in 1998. Later she studied with Thomas Indermühle at the Musikhochschule Zürich in Switzerland, where she obtained the Master of Arts in Music Performance Konzert (120 ECT) and Specialiced Music Performance Solist (120 ECT) with the highest distinction (Auszeichnung). She has achieved the Concert Diploma with First Prize at l’Ecole Nationale de Musique du Pays de Montbéliard (France) with Christian Schmitt and the Advanced Diploma of the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in Florence, Italy. In 2020 she received a Master’s Degree in Musical Research (60 ECT) from the UNIR.
Ramiro García Martín
Fagot
Born in Madrid in 1980. He began his musical studies at the age of seven as a pianist. He holds a superior degree in accordion from the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid, with Esteban Algora and Tito Marcos as teachers. He also has a degree in bassoon from the Centro Superior de Música del País Vasco (Musikene), with teachers such as José Luis Mateo, David Tomás, Javier Aragó, Edurne Santos, Vicente Alario and Eriko Takezawa. He has taken instrumental improvement courses with Enrique Abargues, Francisco Alonso, Salvador Aragó, Reinold Cárdenas, Diego Chenna, Ole Christian Dahl, Antonio Lozano, Francisco Más, Vicente Merenciano, Vicente Palomares, Klaus Thunemann and David Tomás. He studied for five years with Sergio Azzolini at the Hochschule für Musik der Stadt Basel where he obtained the postgraduate degrees Konzertdiplom and Master Solist with the highest qualification by unanimous decision of the jury. He has worked with the Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid, Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla and Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid and collaborated with numerous orchestras and chamber groups in Spain and Switzerland. He is currently a member of the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla.
About the composer:
Multi-awarded composer, violinist and conductor. His catalog, with more than 200 works, includes operas, orchestral and chamber music, works for soloists, vocal music, choral music, electronic and didactic music.
Aguirre has received countless commissions, and his works have been performed at festivals such as: Wien Modern; Darmstadt Ferienkurse für neue Musik; Ultraschall Festival, Berlin; Südseite nachts, Stuttgart; New York Opera Festival; Saint-Denis, Paris; Gaudemus Festival: Festival de Música y Danza de Granada, Spain; Nordic Music Days; Copenhagen Jazz Festival; BKA “Unerhörte Musik”, Berlin; KLANG Festival; etc.
Louis Franz Aguirre has been living in Denmark as a freelance composer for more than 20 years.
Content of the radio program and podcast:
I. Audition of Egungun: Ará orun for percussion sextet.
II. Presentation and reflections on the work and the composer.
III. Explanation and audition of the work Wemilere a Yemanyá y Oshún for oboe.
IV. Explanation and audition of the work Oriki a Obbatalá for oboe and bassoon duet.
I. Audition of Egungun: Ará orun for percussion sextet.
II. Presentation and reflections on the work and the composer.
III. Explanation and audition of the work Wemilere a Yemanyá y Oshún for oboe.
IV. Explanation and audition of the work Oriki a Obbatalá for oboe and bassoon duet.
V. Explanation and audition of Oriki and Bembé a Eshu for percussion sextet.
REFERENCES
Egungun: Ará orun (2006 – 2007)
Members SoXXI: Borja Donet, Andreu Queralt, Miguel Angel Real, Oscar Martí, Sergi Dauder, Josep Furió and Joan Soriano.
Recording made in the RC-Records studios in Xátiva, Cultural Center of Canals and the Cultural Association Apart 2022-2023.
Executive producer: Mathias Reumert
Wemilere to Yemanyá and Oshún (2022)
Pilar Fontalba – Oboe
CD “Tempo”.
Production, recorded, mixed and mastered by Javier Monteverde at Cezanne Studios.
Oriki a Obbatalá (2020)
Dedicated to the instrumentalists:
Pilar Fontalba – Oboe
Ramiro García Martín – Bassoon
Presented on October 25, 2023 at the After Cage Festival in Pamplona, Spain.
Oriki and bembé a Eshu (Kyrie eleison) 2022
Dedicated to the SoXXI ensemble
Photo Pilar Fontalba: ensemble Vertixe Sonora