The second lecturer of the 2011 matralab lectures series is Gyula Csapó, who will present a lecture called The Role of Comprovisation in the Works of the Budapest New Music Studio (1975-1983) and Examples of Its Applications in Composition Instruction Today. It will take place in EV 4.520, located in 1515 Ste Catherine Ouest on February 22nd, 2011 at 2:30 pm (14h30).

This lecture will offer a fascinating insight into the structure and functioning of the Budapest New Music Studio, a world-famous formation of cutting-edge avant-garde musicians (Zoltán Jeney, László Vidovsky, László Sáry, Péter Eötvös, Barnabás Dukay, Gyula Csapó, Zsolt Serei, András Wilheim, under the mentorship and active participation of György Kurtág) in Hungary during the Socialist regime.

Sandeep Bhagwati au festival de Montréal Nouvelles Musiques
Bozzini String Quartet and Bye Bye Butterfly Percussion Quartet
http://www.festivalmnm.ca/en/2011/prog/concert/28109/

18 février et 19 février 2011 à 21hr 00 à l’Agora Hydro-Québec — Cœur des sciences — UQAM. 175 avenue du Président-Kennedy [metro Places-des-Arts]

In our high-speed world, all things at rest quietly defend their silent mysteries. Three compositions, three variations on the motionless: deeply layered musical explorations of how wonderfully subtle our sonic world is – if we stop to listen. A new sonic aesthetic of the monochrome, focused and rich – to Bhagwati, a lively market is a monochrome sound, as are cracking ice floes, screaming children, a scorching fire, an idling motor, a thousand bees, a house creaking at night… Alien Lands – 4 energetic patterns of silence and noise for 4 percussionists, monochrom – 4 increasingly intricate comprovisations for string quartet, and Nil Nisi Nive, a sonic tissue of melody and rhythm. Instruments embedded in live-generated soundscapes, in vibrant light spaces – and guided by sophisticated interactive computer scores: This evening is a journey into the world between our ears, moving through both the real space of the concert and our inner, imaginary space, from rage to meditation to dream – and back to the joy of ecstatic beats.

Sandeep Bhagwati (*1963) is a German composer and theatre maker of international renown. Since 2006, he directs matralab, a lab for interdisciplinary and intercultural research-creation at Concordia University, and currently is also director of the Hexagram Concordia Centre for Research Creation in Media Arts.

The first lecturer of the 2011 matralab lectures series is Christopher Butterfield, who will talk about his recent work, including Bosquet, for 22 flutes and one cello, Stall, for two improvising sopranos, and Trip, for string quartet. This lecture will take place in MB 8.255, located in 1450 Guy on February 1st, 2011 at 2:30 pm (14h30).

Composer Christopher Butterfield lives in Victoria, British Columbia. His most recent works include Bosquet, a spatial work for 22 flutes and cello commissioned by Montreal’s Ensemble Alizé; Stall, a site-specific work for public washrooms commissioned by vocal artists DB Boyko and Christine Duncan; Trip, a string quartet written for the Quatuor Bozzini; settings of Jacques Prévert’s 1947 childrens’ stories Contes pour enfants pas sages, Toronto’s Continuum Ensemble; Madame Wu said, a projected three-day piece for piano trio; Triple Expansion for spatial orchestra, commissioned by the Greater Victoria Youth Orchestra; and Les Paradis Perdus, music for voice and tape to accompany a choreography by Laurence Lemieux.

He has written an opera, Zurich 1916, for the Banff Festival in 1998; Convoy PQ17, a ballet score for chorus and orchestra (St. Petersburg, Russia in 2001), and many chamber works. In 1996/97 he performed Kurt Schwitters’ sound poem Ursonata many times, on tour with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in Europe and the U.S.

In 2007 Christopher Butterfield was a fellow at the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France. His music has been played across Canada, as well as in Finland, Slovakia, and France, and is recorded on the Artifact and CBC labels. He studied composition in the 70’s with Rudolf Komorous and Bülent Arel.  He has taught composition at the University of Victoria since 1992.

Performance-lecture at The Ghost in the Machine: Technologies, Performance, Publics with D. Andrew Stewart.

Wednesday, February 2, 6:15 pm
Tanna Schulich Hall, Schulich School of Music, McGill University
Montreal, Canada

The Ghost in the Machine: Technologies, Performance, Publics is a two-day conference (2 – 3 February) hosted by IPLAI, Improvisation, Community and Social Practice.

Many more events, lectures and discussions @
http://www.mcgill.ca/iplai/ghostmachine/

D. Andrew Stewart is a post-doc researcher at matralab.
http://dandrewstewart.ca/

On Thursday, 13 January 2011 at 18h30, Studio XX will host an evening of presentations by media artists, Caroline Gagné and Jane Tingley, whose practices rooted in sound and video installation consider and manipulate natural elements of exterior environments.

Studio XX
4001 Berri (corner Duluth), Suite 201
Sherbrooke Metro
Thursday, January 13, 2011, 6:30 PM
For more information: 514.845.7934 // www.studioxx.org

Free admission for Studio XX members; $5.00 for non-members
Hors d’oeuvres and refreshments will be served.

Jane Tingley is the matralab coordinator.

It would be wonderful if you could join us for the second in The Jewish Home Beautiful – Revisited series of community performance events, which will be held on January 23, 2011 to coincide with the holiday of Tu Bishvat – the Jewish annual celebration of the New Year for Trees.

Please mark the date, time and location in your calendars:

DATE:
Sunday, January 23, 2011

TIME:
13h30-14h00 Welcome and registration
14h00-16h00 The Jewish Home Beautiful – Revisited

LOCATION:
Gelber Conference Centre, 2 Cummings Square (on Cote-Ste-Catherine Road at the corner of Westbury)

RSVP: Devora Neumark: fireside@progression.net

The Jewish Home Beautiful – Revisited is part of a research/creation cycle called Radical Beauty for Troubled Times: The (Un)Making of Home.

This community performance like the first Jewish Home Beautiful – Revisited event (that took place on June 2, 2010 at Concordia University’s FOFA Gallery) is based in part on the original Jewish Home Beautiful script that was written in the 1930s by Betty D. Greenberg and Althea O. Silverman and performed ever since in Jewish congregations across North American. Unlike the original theatrical pageant, this upcoming event will unfold in dialogue with everyone present on the 23rd of January 2011.

At the heart of this conversation will be a reflection about our relationship – both physical and symbolic – to the orchards, groves and forests in Israel/Palestine. While we celebrate this New Year for Trees and mark the Middle-Eastern season wherein the earliest-blossoms emerge from their winter sleep to begin a new fruit-bearing cycle, let us also consider the choices made about which trees are being planted where and whose are being cut down.

Looking forward to your participation,
Devora Neumark in collaboration with (in alphabetical order): Andrew Harder, Vera Kisfalvi, Chantale Laplante, Lesley Levy, Diana Yaros, Sonia Zylberberg

Devora Neumark is an artist-in-residence at matralab.

Jane Tingley went to Vienna, Austria to participate in the 12th annual Roboexotica festival organized by Shifz and Monochrom. There she collaborated with Anouk Wipprecht, and Marius Kintel to build the DareDroid. This robotic cocktail making cocktail dress was a hit and won the Conversation award at the Roboexotica awards on Sunday Dec 5th, 2010.

Jane Tingley is the matralab coordinator.

Adam Basanta will be participating in the interdisciplinary performance project “Paysages éphémères“, an adaptation of Italo Calvino’s book, Invisible Cities. Adam will provide sound design and live laptop performance elements to this project, which includes instrumental musicians, dance and interactive visuals.

Other performers include musicians: Jean-Félix Mailloux-Desjardins (contrabasse), Adam Kinner (tenor saxophone), Krista Martynes (bass clarinet), Solomiya Moroz (flute), Tony Spina (drums), Ingrid Wissink (violin), and dancers: Melusine de Maille, Melina Stinson, Marc-Genya St.Arnaud, Mellisha Dow and Miriah Brennan.

Performances will take place Monday and Tuesday December 6 – 7 2010, 8 PM at the Darling Foundry (745, Ottawa Street, Montréal).

Tickets at the door and by reservation by calling 514-963-7374: 15$ (regular) – 12$ (artists/cultural workers, students and seniors)

Adam Basanta is a research assistant at matralab.

On December 6, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. at matralab, a short demonstration will be given on some of the laboratory work which the research-creation component of the “Hypertext and Performance: A Resonance Response to Joanna Baillie’s Witchcraft” project has been up to.

Under the direction of Cristina Iovita (PhD Humanities, Concordia) and the tutelage of Ursula Denzer-Neuerberg (faculty, Theatre), a group of Concordia actors have explored some of the gestural codes of performance in the Romantic period, as a vehicle for producing Baillie’s Witchcraft. The objective isn’t to stage a museum piece but rather to understand some of the theatrical assumptions behind Baillie’s work.

The dramaturgical and scholarly research was spearheaded by Joanna Donehower (PhD Humanities, Concordia) with contributions from Anna Sigg (PhD, McGill) and Concordia English undergraduates Nina Drystek and Alessandra Ferreri.

Last year, the project explored the Scottish dialogue in this prose tragedy and focused on creating resonant responses to Baillie’s work. This Fall’s work will focus on the actor, on historic acting conventions and our embodied understanding of Ballie’s play through work with contemporary actors.

The presentation starts at 11 a.m. at matralab. Please confirm your presence and, if you come, please arrive on time.

Further information on the next steps of the Baillie project will be provided, including production details for the final year of our three-year initiative.

Louis Patrick Leroux is an artist-in-residence at matralab.

D. Andrew Stewart and Sandeep Bhagwati were cited in this week’s issue of MacLeans. The article, entitled “No Ivy Here”, features Concordia University as one of three underrated Canadian universities.

Read the article: No Ivy Here.

D. Andrew Stewart is a post-doc researcher at matralab.

Sandeep Bhagwati is the director of matralab.