STATEMENT:

"Jing Hong" is written after reading and moved by Cao Zi’s “Luoshen Appraisal”.

“With elegance of a swan, grace of a dragon”—By Cao Zi’s “Luoshen Appraisal”

翩若惊鸿,婉若游龙。——曹植《洛神赋》

I always admire musicians who perform on stage, fully concentrating in order to achieve the elegance and grace like the expression of the poem above.

ABOUT KEE YONG CHONG:

Dr. CHONG Kee Yong, one of Malaysia’s leading contemporary music composers, possesses one of the most exciting voices in new music today. Indeed, his work has been hailed as “imaginative and poetic” by leading conductor-composer Peter Eötvös, and as “very inventive and artistically pure” by composer Jonathan Harvey.

Dr. Chong's distinctive style has won him many awards and commissions. His list of prizes is remarkable, as Prix Marcel Hastir, 2nd Seoul International Competition, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra International Composers' Award, Lutoslawski Award, BMW Award of Isang Yun Music Prize, the commission grant award by the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation, "The Outstanding Young Malaysian Award" and many other.

He has been awarded the composer-in-residency with Akademie der Künste (Germany), Herrenhaus Edenkoben (Germany), Asian Cultural Council (USA), the Center Henri Pousseur (Belgium), SWR EXPERIMENTALSTUDIO (Germany), Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship 2014 (USA/Italy), Korea National Gugak Center fellowship, IGNM-VS / Forum Wallis in Leuk Switzerland, spring workshop Hong Kong and CulturalSumit Abu Dhabi 2018. Dr. Chong is the creative director of Studio C, president of Society of Malaysian Contemporary Composers (2017-2019) and was the artistic director of the 2009 Kuala Lumpur Contemporary Music Festival and SMCC Contemporary Music Festival “SoundBridge” 2013, 2015 and 2017. 2016-2017 he was visiting professor of Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

www.chongkeeyong-studio-c.com

STATEMENT: 

My spirit is dancing is inspired by Balinese Baris dance, the hand movement and gestures of the dancer has been transformed into fingering and hand position on the piano.

ABOUT YII KAH HOE:

YII Kah Hoe is a Malaysian composer and improviser. Yii was the winner of 11th BOH Cameronian Arts Awards (Malaysia, 2014), the winner of Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra Forum for Malaysian Composers (Malaysia, 2007), the 3rd Prize in the International Composition for Chinese Orchestra (Singapore 2006), the finalist of International Composers Competition "Città di Udine" (Italy, 2010).

Yii has been recognized as one of the major voices among Southeast Asian composers of his generation. His music has been widely performed in Asia, America, and Europe by ensembles such as Ensemble Mosaik, Interensemble, Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, The Claremont Concert Choir, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Birmingham Symphonic Winds, Pan-Pacific Ensemble and musicians such as Peter Veale, Christopher Redgate, Moritz Ernst, Jürg Henneberger, Maruta Staravoitava, Anne Harley, Luisa Sello, Duplum Duo and etc. Recently, Yii won the prestigious National Outstanding Educator Award 2018 presented by the Private Education Cooperative of Malaysia. In the fall of 2015, Yii was the Scripps College Erma Taylor O’Brien Distinguished Visiting Professor at Scripps College in Claremont. Yii was guest composer and guest speaker at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire UK (2013 & 2014), York St John University (2014), Yale-NUS College (2017), Iowa State University (2015),Tianjin Conservatoire of Music (2017), Mahidol University (2017), Guanxi Conservatoire of Music (2014, 2015, 2016).

Yii was the festival director of Kuala Lumpur Contemporary Music Festival 2009, the festival director of SoundBridge festival (2013, 2015), the president of Society of Malaysian Contemporary Composers (2014 – 2016) and a senior lecturer at SEGi College Subang Jaya, Malaysia since 2000.

STATEMENT:

7 Pieces for Small Ensemble was specifically written for the Ripieno Ensemble. It was premiered in Hong Kong Academy of the Performing Arts in June 2015 as part of the Modern Academy organized by the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble. It has had performances in the Quezon City and Los Baños, Laguna in the Philippines in 2015, as part of the Manila Composers Lab in 2016, and the China - ASEAN Music Festival in Nanning, China in 2017. 7 Pieces for Small Ensemble is a conglomeration of musical ideas I have had since 2012 as each piece employs a different style and compositional technique that can be traced back to previous works I have had. The notion of colorful songs and vivid poetries which are very strongly grounded in Philippine culture especially in the traditional kundiman is the main thrust of this work along with the notions of western contemporary musical praxis. It is my intention in this piece to portray the spirit of the kundiman as an art song in the Philippines as well as the Philippine context of contemporary music through the use of poetry.

ABOUT Alexander John Villanueva:

Alexander John “AJ” L. Villanueva (b. 1989) is a composer and conductor who studied in the University of the Philippines, College of Music where he earned his Bachelor of Music in Composition degree in 2012 (Cum Laude). He is also a candidate for Master in Music major in composition also from the UP College of Music. He is the conductor and artistic director of the Ripieno Ensemble, a chamber ensemble founded in 2015 which specializes in 21st century contemporary chamber and vocal music, with performances in China, Hong Kong and around the Philippines, performing and premiering works of Philippine and other Southeast Asian composers.

Among his teachers in composition are Jonas Baes, Chino Toledo and Ramon Santos. He has also taken workshops and masterclasses from renowned composers like Dieter Mack, Chong Kee Yong, Anothai Nitibhon, Bernd Asmus, Eli Marshall, and Ken Ueno. Since 2015, he has taken part in conducting workshops and masterclasses under Manuel Nawri and Johannes Schoellhorn in The Modern Academy by the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble in Hong Kong, and workshops in Manila. Among his honours are a prize in the Young Composers of Southeast Asia of the Goethe-Institut in Bandung (2011, for Threnody IV) and a finalist in the competition for young composers of the Asian Composers League in Tōkyō (2014, for 5 Little Pieces for 2 Cellos).

His music has been performed in the ASEAN-China Music Festival in Nanning, China (2017-2018), The Modern Academy by the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Hong Kong (2015), Yogyakarta Contemporary Music Festival in Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2009), Young Composers of Southeast Asia Competition and Festival Bandung, Indonesia (2011), Asian Composers League Tel Aviv, Israel (2011), Asia Music Festival/Asian Composers League Yokohama, Japan (2014), Soundbridge Music Festival Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2013), and several concerts and festivals in the Philippines.

STATEMENT: 

Dedicated to Rieko Suzuki.

This piece inspired by the sound of rebab (string instrument on gamelan) and the motive was taken from some rebab pieces and then permuted into several phrase.

ABOUT THE ARTIST 

Michael Asmara is an Indonesian leading contemporary music composer from Yogyakarta. He studied gamelan under Suroso, classical guitar under Edi Herwani and JAW Bredie, piano under Ellen Santosa, harmony, counterpoint and music analyses under Karl Edmund Prier SJ, Ellen Shoutard in Akademi Musik Indonesia Yogyakarta (now it is became Indonesia Institute of the Arts/Institute Seni Indonesia Yogyakarta) from 1980-1983 and composition by self-thought. Asmara has written a range of compositions and has written music for both western instruments and Javanese Gamelan. Many of his music besides around Indonesia has been performed in the US, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Thailand, Turkey, Singapore, Malaysia including four time at the Asian Music Festival (2003, Tokyo, 2005, Thailand, 2011 Taiwan and 2013 Singapore). The International Composition Symposium ‘The Timbre of Hue Vietnam, Art Summit Indonesia 2007. Sounds Bridge 2015, 2016 Malaysia. Music Week Nanning China 2015. etc He has received commissions from Izumi Hall Osaka Japan, Shin Nakagawa/Gamelan Marga Sari in Osaka, Trio To Be Sung (Holland) among other ensembles as well as Eduard van Beinum Foundation to write a piece "Plumeria Acuminata" for mix ensemble and premiered by Dutch Chamber Music Company(Holland), and “Etude for Orchestra” from Asian Contemporary Music Ensemble (Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam. and Thailand).

He has received commissions as well as soloists like pianist Kees Wieringa (Holland), and Nadya Janitra (Indonesia), double bassist Allan Von Schenkel (USA), violinst Rieko Suzuki (Japan), bassoonists principle from Guangxu Symphony Orchestra China Michael Garza. He founded the Yogyakarta Contemporary Music Festival in 2003 and has served as its director until now. He is seat as artistic director and manager of Yogyakarta Contemporary Music Ensemble. Beside as composer he have been as panelist/jury such like Hibah Kelola Fondation Jakarta, SEA Composition Competition host by Goethe Institute, and as final adjudicator for Composition Competition Singapore Chinese Orchestra.

ABOUT THE ARTIST 

Composer / Artist / Educator, Anothai completed her bachelor degree in Education from Chulalongkorn University and later obtained her PhD in Musical Composition from the University of Edinburgh in 2007. Working on cultural frontiers, Anothai bases her musical research on the idea of intercultural and dialogues between cultures. She also intensively works in interdisciplinary projects collaborating regularly with dancers, artists, actors and designers. Formerly a vice president and a dean at the Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music in Thailand since it’s establishment in 2013, Anothai initiated and lead various international projects as well as advocated community engagement projects which became a mutual platform for musical development in Southeast Asia. Anothai is also an Executive Member of the Association of Southeast Asia Directors of Music and has been networking between institutions in Southeast Asian and European countries such as Germany, France and the UK.

STATEMENT:

The work was commissioned by the Fresh Inc summer festival in honor of the composer Steven R. Gerber. This commission was made possible by the Steven R. Gerber Trust. About the music, microtones are present throughout the piece, either in little sprinkles or manifested in a larger section, to explore the possibilities on string instruments of imitating some of the vocal techniques found in the Vietnamese traditional genre called “ca trù”. This is coupled with the extensive use of the ricochet, an effect, perhaps, closely related to glottal singing.

ABOUT THE ARTIST 

Nhat Nguyen (b. 1997) is a Vietnamese composer, whose interest in composition began in 2012. Nhat studied in the United Nations International School of Hanoi for the majority of pre-college academics, until his high school graduation in 2015. During the same time period, he also attended the Vietnam National Academy of Music to study piano performance before earning a diploma in composition. Nhat has participated in various musical events including the Composition Masterclass with Professor Bernd Asmus in 2013. He contributed two pieces, Miniatures and "Cicadas" to the Asia-Europe New Music Festival held in Vietnam in 2014. In 2016, he received the "Certificate of Participation Manila Composers Lab", for attending the workshops in the University of Philippines, organized by the Goethe Institute, with other young South-East Asian composers. Nhat is currently an undergraduate, studying composition in the Manhattan School of Music with Dr. Reiko Fueting, attempting to earn his Bachelor of Music degree. He has also previously studied with Dr. Susan Botti, and took lessons with Professor P.Q. Phan from the Jacobs School of Music, for a short period of time. His works have been performed by the Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Ripieno Ensemble, Ajax Quartet, confluss duo and players from the Contemporary Performance Program of Manhattan School of Music.

STATEMENT:

There is a famous Burmese saying “ Don’t let a leave cover the stalk”. When it comes to traditional music or culture, Burmese people use this saying to remind not to destroy your own culture by new creativity which is not suited to the original one. However, most of Burmese people including me, have been trapped with that saying and do not dare to do anything. Being afraid to be called the one who destroy the traditional music has weakened our exploration of possibilities to create new ideas and musical atmosphere. Creating a new music might not be good as old one: it might not be smooth or neat; it might not sound similar or not even similar. However, it is one of the processes of the arts. For those people who studied music rather late, they might not be great like others who were grew up with it. Still, we have to try to express ourselves on our own ways through the music we are close to. Let the leaves cover the stalk for the sake of exploring a new possibility. It might not be as good as the old one. Maybe it is better. But since the leaves cannot survive without the stalk, it will eventually get back to its root.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Ne Myo Aung holds a MA degree (Ethnomusicology) from the University of Washington, Seattle. He was born in Tamu, Myanmar, in the far northwestern region of the country, and made his way to studies in Yangon, where he gained a diploma in Computer Art. He was employed as a 3D animator in Yangon, working with the prestigious post-production company of young artists called Hepta Digital Art to create animation advertisements for Myanmar Radio and Television Broadcasting. His interest in Sandaya (playing western piano in Myanmar Traditional music) studies led him to U Moe Naing and Kit Young, with whom he studied piano and other areas of musical knowledge at the Gitameit Music Center; he credits his development of technique and repertoire also to studies with Sandaya U Khin Hla and Sandaya U Thet Oo. He has performed as a pianist, composer and singer locally or internationally. His interest turned toward the archiving and preservation of traditional music in Myanmar in various ways, including the transfer with Chris Miller of almost 3000 Myanmar 78 rpm records into digital format, and as interviewer, cameraman and editor of the music and dance of over 40 elderly musicians in Yangon and across the Burmese countryside. Just prior to receiving the Fulbright award for study at the University of Washington- the first recipient of the award from Myanmar for study in the arts - he was teaching piano at the Gitameit Music Centre and working as librarian in the first music library of Myanmar. Recently, he has been selected as a musical advisor of Myanmar traditional music for C ASEAN Consonant, a traditional orchestra which founded by 10 ASEAN musicians. Ne Myo Aung is currently working as Dean at Gitameit Music Institute and is also a coordinator of Teaching Artist Program (TAP), a joint program which is conducted by Gitameit Music Institute and University of Washington, Seattle.

ABOUT TRẦN MẠNH HÙNG:

STATEMENT:

The Six Tones are working on a double CD which explores the musical traditions of Nhạc Tài Tử and approaches this practice through a long-term collaboration and experimentation together with master performers from the south of Vietnam. The concert performance presents traditional Vietnamese music in states of transformation, driven by the conviction that the preservation of tradition can only be achieved through continuous change.

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

The Six Tones is a platform for an encounter between traditional and experimental cultures in Asia and the west. The core of this practice is, since 2006, an ongoing process of mutual learning between musicians from Vietnam and Sweden. This has entailed a deep engagement with the traditional music(s) of Vietnam, as well as a strong presence on the emerging scene for experimental music in Hanoi. However, since 2010, the group has developed an interdisciplinary practice, inviting playwrights, choreographers, filmmakers, as well as composers and improvisers across Europe, the US and Asia into collaborations that have resulted in a range of different artwork, drawing out the political nature of intercultural collaboration. The Six Tones are Nguyễn Thanh Thủy (who plays đàn tranh) and Ngô Trà My (who plays đàn bầu), two Vietnamese performers, and the Swedish guitarist Stefan Östersjö. Since the project started, we have been collaborating with the composer and improviser Henrik Frisk, who has both composed works for the ensemble as well as toured with the group as a laptop improviser.

STATEMENT:

'Hurl and Curl' is collaborative multimedia work by composers Alicia de Silva, Hoh Chung Shih and Joyce Beetuan Koh, involving violist Christoven Tan. It surveys the physical space by hurling and curling musical cells spatially in various speeds and diverse density zones. These musical cells are made up of sounds recorded and collected from the surroundings and environments of Singapore, and layered to create an immersive experience for the listener as s/he navigates through a body of pointillistic texture guided by the sonorities of the viola.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Hoh Chung Shih studied at King's College London, and completed a PhD in Composition at the University at Buffalo, where he also studied computer music at the Lejaren Hiller Computer Music Studios. For more than 10 years, he also studied the guqin (Chinese 7- string zither) with Master Ji Zhiqun. His international presence as composer, through works by commissions and requests from Asia, Europe and America have led him to collaborate with some of world’s premier musicians. His interest can be described as an exploration of a double intersection: one between the avant-garde and the experimental, and the other between the international contemporary and traditional Chinese literati cultures.

Joyce Beetuan Koh writes concert music, works in dance collaborations, and creates sound installations and multimedia productions. Underpinning her creative impulse is a fascination with architectural structures and scientific theories. Nuanced by her Asian sensitivity, the result is a language that is abstract, self-contained and never sentimental. Two piano works, "la pierre magenta" and "Piano Peals" are published by the ABRSM (UK). Her music is featured at international festivals notably Biennale Musiques France, Birmingham Frontiers Festival and performed by Nieuw Ensemble, Reconsil Ensemble, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Hungarian SO, Singapore SO and Stavanger SO. Highlights of her multimedia works include "On the String" (multimedia, 2010, Lindborg, Khiew at Singapore Arts Festival), "The Canopy" (sound installation, 2011/2013, Lindborg, Yong at 2013 World Stage Design, UK), "Fire Monkey" (site-specific dance, 2016, Arts Fission Company at Mapping Melbourne Festival), "Hearing Lines" (audio-visual, 2017 Asian Computer Music Project, Seoul) and "Sounding Body" (dance-music, 2017, Raw Moves Company at Sydney InsideOut Festival). Since 2014, she is Vice Dean (Interdisciplinary Studies) at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore.

Alicia enjoys discovering the music and sounds of various cultures, as well as its cultural significance and context, of both past and present. As such, some of her compositions reflect juxtaposition of such sounds and even performance aesthetics of these cultures. This has also developed Alicia's keen interest in collaborating with artists of other art forms to create works that may be considered multi/inter-disciplinary and thus, providing a multi-sensory performance that could create new experiences and perspectives towards Music and the Arts. She has collaborated with choreographers, dancers, writers and film-makers, and is continuing more of such collaborative efforts in upcoming projects. Alicia currently heads the Gamelan Ensembles in both the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and the National Institute of Education. Her dual role as composer and conductor of the various Angklung Kulintang ensembles in Singapore has allowed her to develop new repertoire that explores varying sonorities from this unique ensemble. This has also led these ensembles to constantly achieve Distinction awards during the annual Singapore Youth Festival Arts Presentation over the past years.

ABOUT OTTO SIDHARTA:

Otto Sidharta (Born in Bandung, November 6, 1955) is an Indonesian Composer. He is known for his electronic music. Otto Sidharta finished his post-graduate study in composition and electronic music composition at Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam under the guidance of Professor Ton de Leeuw, and later on he gained his doctoral degree at Institute Seni Indonesia Surakarta. Sidharta's interest in using environmental sounds to express his musical ideas developed when he was a student at the Jakarta Institute of Arts (Institut Kesenian Jakarta). He performed his first electronic music piece, Kemelut, based on water sounds in the First Indonesian Young Composer Festival (Pekan Komponis Muda) in 1979. In 1979 he collected some nature and animal sounds in Nias island in the Borneo (Kalimantan) jungle, Riau islands, and some other remote places. These sounds were used as material for some of his works such as Ngendau, Hutan Plastik and East wind. And some others. Beside being a composer, Sidharta used to be a Chairman of both the Music Committee of Jakarta Art Council (Komite Musik Dewan Kesenian Jakarta) and Indonesian Composers Association (Asosiasi Komponis Indonesia). He teaches at Jakarta Institute of Arts (Institut Kesenian Jakarta), Sekolah Pascasarjana IKJ ( IKJ Graduate School) and in Cantus (Music Education and Information Center, Jakarta). Furthermore, he used to be the Music Director for the Nusantara Symphony Orchestra (Orkes Symphony Nusantara) for several years. And now is again elected as a member of Music Committee at Jakarta Arts Centre, and active on setting up a programs for young composers.

STATEMENT:

“The Usual Nexus” is set in an experimental laboratory situation in a not too far away future. It conjures up a scenario where human beings serve its own creation - Artificial Intelligence (AI). Humans’ aim to overcome their deficiencies, such as imprecision, fallibility and time-inefficiency, is likely to result in the replacement of human labour by blue-and-white collar machines. While science fiction scenarios very often involve an active conflict between human and machine, who see each other as threat, „the usual nexus“ depicts a scenario where humans comply with the control of AI over human society. As the performance is an obvious low-fi setup of a fake-intelligent commander that is in fact written by the artists themselves, it raises the question why the artists put themselves in this situation, and more generally speaking, why we create at all. What are our roles as humans and how do we feel within the system created by ourselves? Will we be enslaved by machines, that we in the first place created or has AI the potential to save us from ourselves and enable us to pursue deeper self-reflection and a more human life?

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Duo Siedl/Cao https://siedlcao.com Siedl/Cao is a Vienna-based composer-performer and sound artist group. They work in the field of contemporary electronic and instrumental music, music theatre and sound art. They are Cao Thanh Lan from Vietnam and Gregor Siedl from Austria. Siedl/Cao is one of 5 groups from Austria that received the award New Austrian Sound of Music 2018-2019 in the category Contemporary Music. Their works have always been centered on the physical experience of sound the inherent link between visual and audio elements. Hanoi traffic noise, clarinet, Vietnamese hubble bubble smoking pipe, saxophone, air pump, servo motors, precompressed spring, modular synthesizer, crackers, text-to-speech, marxophone, plastic plants, gaffer tape, infusion bags... are their sound sources for diverse works and performances for sites such as opera house, bowling alley, theatre, living room, university auditorium, vinyl shop, gallery, etc. For their projects and cooperations, they have received grants from – Austrian Federal Chancellery (BKA) for Art and Culture, Austrian Cultural Forums in Tokyo, Brussels, Bangkok, Tehran, Hanoi and Warsaw, Cultural Department of Lower Austria, Austrian Embassies, ON-Neue Musik Cologne, Ministry for Culture in Nordrhein-Westfalen (MFKJKS-NRW), Rhein-Energie Stiftung. Duo works of Cao Thanh Lan and Gregor Siedl have been featured at international festivals and concert venues around the world, amongst others – Operadagen Rotterdam 2018, Musiktheatertagen Vienna 2018, Festival „Krieg singen“ im Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin, FIME – Festival Intern. de Musica Experimental Sao Paulo, Frischzelle Festival für Intermediale Performance Köln, Strom Festival Köln, Opera Hanoi, Festival Ankunft Neue Musik Berlin, Ftarri Tokyo, Nomart Osaka, WIM Zürich, CHELA Buenos Aires, Institut Francais Hanoi, etc. They have been touring in Europe, Japan, Brazil, Iran, China, Taiwan, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Finland, Vietnam, Australia and Indonesia. Duo Siedl/Cao has also given workshops on contemporary composition and improvisation at Monash University Melbourne, BoxHill Institute Melbourne, National University of Hsinchu Taiwan, Sungshin Women's University Seoul, Mahidol University Bangkok, Äänen Lumo Helsinki, Universidad de La Serena Chile, Universidad de Montevideo Uruguay, Meridian Space Beijing, DOMDOM Center for experimental music Hanoi, etc.

Kai Lam, Nghệ sỹ, Singlish Punk, Singapore

Kai Lam, sinh năm 1974, là nghệ sỹ biểu diễn thuộc Singlish Punk, B.O.A & BoA. Sự lựa chọn phương tiện của nghệ sĩ là thông qua việc sử dụng các bản ghi tại thiwkc đoka, máy bẻ cong âm thanh bằng mạch điện (circuit bended machines); tiếng ồn điện tử tự tạo & một loạt các nhạc cụ có sẵn để tạo ra tác phẩm cận điện tử, âm thanh sống như sự khám phá đa ngành bằng các phương tiện nghệ thuật âm thanh. SG Punk là một biệt hiệu nghệ thuật biểu diễn được nghệ sĩ đa ngành Kai Lam khởi xướng vào năm 2005 như một phương tiện để chống lại khuynh hướng chủ nghĩa tiêu thụ và nhất thể hóa văn hóa trong cuộc sống đô thị; Singlish Punk tôn vinh sự pha trộn trong ngôn ngữ và văn hóa; tìm kiếm sự tự chủ trong tự do văn hóa và chính trị thông qua việc thực hành nghệ thuật số nhiều.

https://soundcloud.com/singlish-punk
https://soundcloud.com/bo_abby

STATEMENT:

I have been interested and researching into sound with concentration on vibration, so most of the works are differently experimental and relative to vibration in order to search for the value of vibration derived from connected things, such as human beings, objects and society. The works are involved in a specific space and audience’s participation. They are also connected with the mode of listening/hearing/seeing in a social situation.

“Poem from Nowhere” is a new set performance of sound and moving images 2018 (expanded cinema). This expanded cinema is combining moving images of noise and lighting also sound generated from DIY analog’s stuff that combines of Arnont’s performing during 2014-2017. The screening lasts 50 minutes.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: 

Arnont works and lives in Chiangmai. Arnont is working with various and different media includes sound, video, installation, site specific, public art etc. Arnont’s work is engage with his interest in vibration; he works on diverse art experimental projects, vibration-related. Some of his selected exhibitions include solo exhibition “Another Sound” co-work with Khvay Loeung, Sa Sa Art projects, Phnom Penh, Cambodia (2018). “Unstable(ry) Life”, 2016, Manif d’art, Quebec, Canada. 16th Media Art Biennale WRO 2015: Test Exposure, Wroclaw, Poland, TRANCE at Gallery VER, Bangkok, Thailand (2014), Imaginarium, (Water Cave) at Faculty of Fine Arts, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand (2012), DRIFT A series of experimental sound project Project #1 : Duration at Bangkok Art and Cultural Centre, Bangkok, Thailand (2014).

STATEMENT:

I have been fascinated by the myth of Echo for a long time. The origin of mythological Echo is quite confusing and full of contradiction. Ovid portrayed her as a nymph who distracted Hera from discovering Zeus’ amorous affairs Echo was therefore cursed so that she could only repeat the words spoken to her. Disappointed by Narcissus’ rejection, Echo withered away; only her voice remained. Longus recounted how the god Pan, falling in love with Echo yet envious of her musical ability, made the shepherds mad, who then tore her to pieces. The fragments of Echo, hidden in the earth, still echoes every sound, mocking Pan’s pipe.

My fascination with Echo soon led me to discover Alvin Lucier’s music, specifically his Vespers. Relatively unknown and less performed compared to his other works, Vespers is nevertheless one of Lucier’s best works that captures his genius in demonstrating the physics of sound in the most poetic way. My work here is an homage and a reinterpretation of Lucier’s Vespers by concentrating not on the physical quality of echo but more on the social context. Additionally I am also in debt to John Hollander’s wonderful book "The Figure of Echo" that traces the history of Echo both in the physical world and the mythological one.

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Jiradej Setabundhu studied music with Bruce Gaston at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand and worked as a guitarist and composer with the Fong Nam Ensemble. He attended the University of Southern California for his master’s degree, studying with composer Donald Crockett. He received his doctoral degree in composition from Northwestern University. His teachers include M. William Karlins, Marta Ptaszynska, Amnon Wolman, Michael Pisaro and Stephen Syverud. Currently he is Vice President for Academic Affairs at Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music. Jiradej Setabundhu has been the recipient of the Michael Mason Scholarship, the NSCO Composers Award, the William T. Faricy Composition Award, the Yoshiro Irino Prize and the Composers Guild Award. His composition has been performed in China, Croatia, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Poland, Slovenia, Thailand, and the United States.

STATEMENT:

Two foxes (Nguyet Co) meet in the forest. They tell each other about their lives.

Nguyet Co 1: I have been training for 1000 years, had the pearl and become a human. Now that I have been tricked and my pearl taken away, I am so hurt that I have to be a fox again.

Nguyet Co 2: I have also been training 1000 for years, had the pearl, become human. When I realize that being human is not happy, not free with too many rules. I threw away the pearl to be back to the wilderness. I am happy because I am a fox again.

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Nguyen Xuan Son (SonX) was born into a family practicing traditional arts for many generations. Having studied traditional music and percussion from an early age, SonX has the privilege to receive instruction from the last masters in traditional arts, namely Bui Trong Dang, Nguyen Dac Han, and Do Tung. Graduating from Hanoi University of Theatre and Cinema, SonX was one of the first Vietnamese musicians to reach out into contemporary music in the early 1990s. SonX thus has a sound understanding of traditional Vietnamese arts, while being extensively exposed to the flow of world music and contemporary arts. Constantly questioning on social and individual issues in the past, present and future, SonX seeks answers through his art.

SonX has composed music for many dance pieces directed by the famous choreographer Ea Sola Thuy, namely Requiem, Drought and Rain Vol.2, Air Lines, Le Corps blanc, and Drought and Rain Vol.1 (2011 version). SonX also wrote music for Life in the Box by choreographer Tran Ly Ly.

SonX is also author of various multimedia works, namely Going Out, Hell, A Face N.2, N4, A Broken Tale, and Falling Asleep. Son X has travelled his music to renowned international music festivals and opera houses worldwide.

STATEMENT:

Concept, script, music and director: Kim Ngọc.

Video: Nguyễn Trinh Thi.

Cinematography: Jamie Maxtone-Graham.

Tuồng actresses: Mẫn Thị Thu and Nguyễn Thi Lộc Huyền.

Musicians: Nguyễn Thiện Minh/violin, Nguyễn Trọng Bằng/Flute, Nguyễn Quốc Bảo/Clarinet, Đoàn Lê Phan Anh/Piano, Lữ Mạnh Cường/Percussions, Conductor: HONNA TETSUJI.

I have an ongoing concern with concepts of femininity.

Hồ Nguyệt Cô Hoá Cáo is an ancient tale of Tuồng, a Vietnamese opera, and is the story, again, of a woman: Hồ Nguyệt Cô.  In the tale, a female fox obtained, after thousands of years of cultivation, a magical “human” gem, and was able to become human, a woman. Then, being infatuated with human love, she was tricked into losing the gem and was transformed back into a fox and ultimately killed.

I would like to retell the story in correlation with different layers of time and languages ​​of art; between the tones of the ancient Tuồng and the nature of western classical instruments, between film and music, between live performance and recorded performance, between the ancient legend and the fates of people in the present time.

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Born and raised in Hanoi, Tran Kim Ngoc started to study piano at the Hanoi Conservatory of Music at the age of 7. When she was 14, she wrote her first compositions under the instruction of her father, composer Tran Ngoc Xuong. She finished her university degree at the Hanoi Conservatory of Music, majoring in compositions, before going on a study tour to Cologne, Germany by DAAD scholarship. In Germany, she studied composition with Professor Johannes Fritsch, improvisation with Paulo Alvares and attended two summer courses with Karlheinz Stockhausen. Before and after going to study in Germany, Kim Ngoc studied and practiced Vietnam traditional music.

Her music works for ensemble and orchestra have been performed by orchestras such as Ensemble Modern, Musik Fabrik, Aterlier-Musique de Ville d'Avray, Ensemble d'Autorium Oliver Messiaen, Trio D'Argent, Baseler-Symfonieorchester, Freiburge Ensemble, PPO Chamber Orchestra, Hanoi Conservatory Orchestra. They have also been broadcasted by numerous European radio stations, such as Deutschland Radio Berlin, Westdeuschland Radio (WDR), Deutschlandfunk, Neue Musik Radio, Radio France, RFI Schweizer Radio, Radio Monalisa.

Kim Ngoc is known not only for chamber and orchestra music but also for her music-theatre compositions.  Her recent works include The Absence which was commissioned and produced by 10th Munich Biennale Festival 2006; What Makes The Spider Spin Her Web - Euro-premier at Ultima Festival, Oslo, Norway in October 2008; Together Alone – at Mehrklang Festival, Freiburg, Germany in May 2010; Movement - a commission of (Re)-thinking Festival 2011 at Malmoe, Sweden.  

Kim Ngoc now lives and works as an independent composer/musician in Hanoi. Since November 2012 Kim Ngoc has founded and operated DomDom- the first ever NGO in Vietnam devoted to the development of contemporary experimental music and art.

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