Synesthesia: An Electroacoustic Music and Multimedia Concert

[Event postponed due to Covid-19.]

An eclectic program of works for solo live performer and digital media showcases Shaw Auditorium’s state-of-the-art audiovisual system and promises cross-stimulation of the senses! The concert will include multi-instrumentalist JUNK!’s live performance on virtual reality instruments, as well as the world premiere of a new work by prize-winning Hong Kong composer and multimedia artist Samson Young, commissioned for the festival. 

Program

Bios

Multi-disciplinary artist Samson Young (b. 1979, Hong Kong) works in sound, performance, video, and installation. He graduated with a PhD in Music Composition from Princeton University in 2013. He was Hong Kong Sinfonietta’s Artist Associate from 2008 to 2009. In 2017, he represented Hong Kong at the 57th Venice Biennale. Other solo projects include the De Appel, Amsterdam; Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh; SMART Museum, Chicago; Centre for Contemporary Chinese Art in Manchester; M+ Pavilion, Hong Kong; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Ryosoku-in at Kenninji Temple, Kyoto; Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne; and Jameel Art Centre, Dubai, among others. Selected group exhibitions include Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Gropius Bau, Berlin; Performa 19, New York; Biennale of Sydney; Shanghai Biennale; National Museum of Art, Osaka; National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul; Ars Electronica, Linz; and documenta 14: documenta radio, among others. In 2020, he was awarded the inaugural Uli Sigg Prize.

William Lane performs as a soloist, orchestral and chamber musician in Australia, Asia, Europe and North America. He studied under Jan Sedivka, Bruno Giuranna and Garth Knox, as well as in Germany at the International Ensemble Modern Academy, and in Switzerland at the Lucerne Festival Academy under Pierre Boulez. He was a prizewinner of the Valentino Bucchi Competition in Rome in 2005. Lane was Principal Viola of Ensemble Resonanz and a member of the Hong Kong Philharmonic; and has appeared as guest violist of Ensemble Modern and the Lucerne Festival Strings. Based in Hong Kong since 2008, he is Founder, Artistic Director and Violist of Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Asia’s most active professional chamber ensemble dedicated to new music. In 2013 he was awarded the Award for Young Artist (Music) from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council.

Stylianos Dimou is a Greek composer of acoustic, electroacoustic, and acousmatic music. Recipient of numerous International Awards and Grants, his music has been premiered and commissioned by Festivals and Institutions in Europe and the USA such as the Société des arts technologiques [SAT], impuls 2019, Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival 2019, IRCAM/manifeste, Gaudeamus Music Week, etc. His academic and artistic activities have been supported by organizations such as the Fulbright, IRCAM, Cité Internationale des Arts Paris, Herrenhaus Edenkoben, etc. His music has been premiered by renowned orchestras and ensembles such as the Ensemble InterContemporain, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, International Ensemble Modern Academy, the Arditti Quartet, Talea Ensemble, ICE ensemble, and others. Some of his awards include the Charles S. Miller Prize (2019) from Columbia University, Award for artistic excellence as a Promising young Composer from the European-wide Ulysses Network / IRCAM (2018-19), 1st Prize at the International Prize for Composition “Luigi Nono”, 3rd edition, 2nd Prize in the 24th Annual Martirano Award, etc. Dimou is an alumnus of the prestigious professional training program, Cursus, at IRCAM in Paris, and he holds a Doctoral Degree from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University. He is a Research Assistant Professor of Music in the Department of Music at Hong Kong Baptist University.

One of the most versatile musicians of his generation in Hong Kong, Angus Lee is a graduate of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (2010–14) and the Royal Academy of Music in London (2014–16). Lee has appeared at numerous international music festivals, most notably the Lucerne Festival, where in 2013 he worked briefly with the Academy’s founder Pierre Boulez. Returning in 2015, he performed as soloist in Boulez’s 90th birthday celebration concert series, and reprised the performance in spring 2016 at the composer’s memorial concert. Lee retains a strong working relationship with the Lucerne Festival, having returned to perform on tour on multiple occasions. Since returning to Hong Kong in 2016, Lee has joined the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, with which he has presented numerous regional and world premieres. Lee was appointed programme manager of the Ensemble since summer 2020. In 2020, Lee was conferred the Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music, a specialised teaching degree offered by the Royal Academy of Music. Lee maintains a private studio at his residence.

Recipient of a 2018 Guggenheim Fellowship, Tonia Ko’s music has been lauded by The New York Times for its “captivating” details and “vivid orchestral palette.” She has been commissioned by leading soloists and ensembles, and performed at venues such as Walt Disney Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, and the Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Music Festival, and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Internationally, her work has been featured at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Royaumont Académie Voix Nouvelles, Shanghai Conservatory New Music Week, Young Composers Meeting at Apeldoorn, and Thailand International Composition Festival. Ko has received grants and awards from the Barlow Foundation, Fromm Music Foundation, Chamber Music America, American Academy of Arts and Letters, Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) as well as residencies at MacDowell Colony, The Copland House, and Djerassi Resident Artist Program. She served as the 2015-2017 Composer-in-Residence for Young Concert Artists. Ko was born in Hong Kong in 1988 and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. She earned a B.M. with Highest Distinction from the Eastman School of Music and an M.M. from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. She holds a D.M.A. from Cornell University, where she studied with Steven Stucky and Kevin Ernste. She was the 2018-19 Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Chicago’s Center for Contemporary Composition and was appointed Lecturer in Composition at Royal Holloway, University of London in 2020.

Chicago-born composer, musician, and performance artist Timothy Page creates works that revolve around play with style and context, body, physical materials, and space. Page holds degrees from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland, where he established himself as a composer and studied with Veli-Matti Puumala; and the University of Chicago, where he completed his PhD with mentors Augusta Read Thomas and Anthony Cheung. In 2019 he was appointed Lecturer in Music and Digital Arts at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Page is a founder and co-director of Dayjob Collective – a Helsinki-based interdisciplinary ensemble investigating meeting points between contemporary music and performance art. His works have been performed around the globe by ensembles such as Ensemble Dal Niente (US), Third Coast Percussion (US), Eighth Blackbird (US), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (FI), Avanti! (FI), Uusinta (FI), Defunensemble (FI), Dayjob Collective (FI), S.E.M. Ensemble (US/CZ), Caput (IS), and Cikada (NO).

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Chak-Yin Pun received his Diploma and Bachelor of Music Degree in cello from Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) in 2012 and 2015, under the tutelage of cellist Karey Kwok‐Chee Ho. In 2017, Pun completed his Master of Arts Degree in cello performance at Royal Academy of Music, where he was awarded the Mary Stuart Harding entrance award, under the tutelage of Professor David Strange. Pun currently teaches at the HKAPA Junior Music Programme. Pun has participated in masterclasses with cellists such as Professor Li Ji Wu, Bion Tsang, Professor Zhu Yi Bing, and Jens Peter Maintz. He has also participated in music festivals and projects such as Musicus Festival and the Modern Academy 2015. Pun has been awarded scholarships including the Breguet Trey Lee Scholarship in Pursuit of Musical Excellence, the Freemason's Lodge Scholarship, the First Initiative Foundation Music Scholarship, and the Breguet Trey Lee Performing Arts Scholarship. Highly active as a chamber musician, Pun participated in masterclasses with Vladimir Mendelssohn and Miami Quartet and is In 2021, Pun joined the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble (HKNME) as the group’s associate musician.

Internationally acclaimed electroacoustic composer and researcher Natasha Barrett creates acousmatic and live electroacoustic concert works, sound and multi-media installations, and interactive music. Since 2000 she has been highly active ambisonics, 3-D sound, and its contemporary music context. Barrett has received awards such as the Nordic Council Music Prize, (Nordic Countries), Giga-Hertz Award (Germany), Edvard Prize (Norway), Jury and public first prizes in Noroit-Leonce Petitot (France), Five prizes and the Euphonie D'Or in the Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Awards (France), prizes at Musica Nova (Prague), TEM - international composition competition (Italy), CIMESP (Brazil), Concours Scrime, (France), International Electroacoustic Competition Ciberart (Italy), two prizes in Concours Luigi Russolo (Italy), two prizes in the International Rostrum for electroacoustic music, and prizes in two Ars Electronica competitions (1998 and 2017). Active in performance, education and research, Barrett co-founded and now co-directs EAU (Electric Audio Unit - the Norwegian spatial-music performance ensemble) and 3DA (The Norwegian society for 3-D sound-art). She is currently professor of composition at the Norwegian Academy for Music, Oslo.

JUNK! is the alter-ego of Hong Kong-based, avant-garde multi-instrumentalist Glen Lloyd, who uses technology to push the boundaries of live performance. Glen has been experimenting with music technology since high school, using loopers, video game controllers, and other unconventional hardware to build live shows. When consumer virtual reality equipment became available, he took on the challenge of creating live music from inside a virtual space that could be simultaneously enjoyed by an audience. Glen has performed extensively as JUNK! in his native Australia, Japan, Vietnam, China, and Korea. Alongside his work as a musician, Glen runs a voiceover and music production business in Hong Kong.

Program notes

Samson Young: new work (2022) for viola and electronics (world premiere, Cosmopolis Festival Commission)

10′

William Lane, viola

Stylianos Dimou: Momentum "I": death & escape (2019) for bass flute and electronics

9′

Angus Lee, bass flute

“momentum "I": death & escape” is a piece for bass flute and live electronics composed in 2019 and was commissioned by the 20th Weimarer Frühjahrstage für zeitgenössische Musik Weimar. The piece is developing a continuum of repetitive, rhythmic models which are in a constant counterpoint with counter-repetitive live-generated electronic sounds. The acoustic image of the live electronics is filtered by impulse responses, derived from the resonant parts of the bass flute. The ultimate goal is the creation of an electrified, electroacoustic experience that is characterized by acoustic hybridity and extends the sonic vocabulary of the bass flute. The piece was written for and is heartily dedicated to Carin Levine. -Stylianos Dimou

Tonia Ko: Breath,  Contained (2013/2016) for bubble wrap and electronics

5′

Timothy Page, bubble wrap and electronics

Breath, Contained is a structured improvisation with electronics, which allows musicians (of any sort) to engage with basic bubble wrap playing techniques. It features a text-based score with built-in flexibility for experimentation with the materials. It was first developed in 2013 as my first bubble wrap-related work, then later revised for Tenth Intervention’s Dorian Wallace in 2016.  -Tonia Ko

Timothy Page: Striate (2018/2022)

for timpani-enhanced cello, objects, electronics, and video

13′

Chak Yin Pun, timpani-enhanced cello

Striate is an audio-visual exploration in instrumental hybridity. Amplified signal from the cello excites the membrane of a timpani, which acts as a variable resonator that the performer can adjust while playing. A series of images and actions on stage provides counterpoint to the sonic content, which focuses on the percussive potentials of the cello and the pitch content of the timpani sounds. Striate was a commission for Society of Electroacoustic Music Festival in 2018, and is dedicated, with gratitude, to cellist Tyler J. Borden, with whom I developed the work in close collaboration.  -Timothy Page

Natasha Barrett:  Dusk's Gate (2018)

for 8-channel audio tape

12′

Dusk's Gait is partly narrative in form while projecting an overarching appreciation of the natural world: as dusk falls, a habitat of fictional creatures is let loose, celebrating moments of real nature that may easily expire. Although acousmatic sounds may appear abstract, they can be imbued with a sense of character through their gait - or literally the manner of moving, which can occur in space, in spectrum and in morphology. In Dusk's Gait, ambisonics spatialisation and custom-made sound analysis and transformation methods are used to create tangible spatial objects, each with a characteristic gait. Dusk's Gait is composed in 7th order 3D ambisonics. -Natasha Barrett

JUNK!:  JUNK!VR (2021)

solo performance for virtual instruments and video

15′

JUNK!VR is the live, multimedia culmination of JUNK!’s meticulous work repurposing virtual reality equipment for use in musical performance. The one-man show puts the audience inside the virtual reality experience of the performer by projecting video of the “virtual instruments” that he plays on. JUNK!VR features a series of JUNK! originals and some reworkings of popular repertoire.