Join Kristin Norderval (NOR) & Miguel Frasconi (USA) at Studio LOOS for a concert, presentation & Q&A - VoxLAB OSLO presents!
Program:
Kristin Norderval (NOR, Oslo) solo interactive singing
Kristin Norderval's presentation on opera “Crane Reflects on a Favor” & her use of GENKI Rings. Moderator Leslee Smucker
Miguel Frasconi (USA, NYC) solo “Glass Orchestra”
Miguel Frasconi’s Q&A about his life and career during 1970s - 180s in Toronto and New York City, working with such names as James Tenney, Richard Teitelbaum, John Cage. Moderator Peter van Bergen
Duo Kristin Norderval & Miguel Frasconi
“Crane Reflects on a Favor” is Part Two of the operatic diptych “The Sailmaker’s Wife”, which premiered during the VoxLAB VårFEST 2023. It is a post-operatic allegory, a dream-like sonic performance installation, sung in three parts by three women, each representing one of the stages of the crane’s response to her offering. The performer-controlled interactive vocal processing interface used in this work was developed through a Ph.D. Research Fellowship at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts/Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo, Academy of Opera. This performance marks the final presentation of that artistic research. More on the opera.
As both a composer and singer, Kristin Norderval is inspired by hybridity, interactivity and the idea that everything we do is site-specific. In her operas, chamber works, sound installations, and music for dance and theater she blends acoustic and electronic sound, de-tuned instruments, voices, machines, and the acoustic resonance of space. In her solo works she processes her voice in realtime often combining it with prerecorded sounds to create complex sonic layers and unusual soundscapes. Custom controllers allow her to manipulate the processed sound with physical gestures. Her work with Pauline Oliveros over three decades was a primary influence in combining structural rigor with improvisation. Having trained in both composition and classical voice, Kristin first earned her living as a soprano soloist with a focus on contemporary music, particularly American composers from the New York School. She performed and recorded works by and often alongside composers such as Philip Glass, John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Steve Reich, Annea Lockwood, David Lang, Tania Leon, Anne Le Baron, Frances White, Christian Wolff, Carla Lucero, George Crumb and many others. Returning to composition after her 40th birthday, Norderval´s compositions have received international acclaim. Her solo CD Aural Histories was listed by The New Yorker music critic Alex Ross as one of “Ten Notable Classical Music Recordings of 2012”. Her opera The Trials of Patricia Isasa (2016) won Quebec´s OPUS prize in two categories: best contemporary music and best production. Kristin Norderval is currently a PhD Research Fellow at the Academy of Opera in Oslo.
Miguel Frasconi will present solo works using his unique collection of glass and “de-evolved” musical instruments. His glass instruments, which have been called “a beautiful menagerie of pealing contraptions” (Time Out NY), will be augmented by unusual acoustic and electronic sound making devices.
Miguel Frasconi is a composer and improvisor whose instrumentarium includes glass objects, analog electronics, and instruments of his own design. Frasconi is a sound artist who uses glass objects, electronics, keyboards, and devolved instruments to create music that sounds from a uniquely imagined tradition. His glass instruments are struck, blown, stroked, smashed and otherwise coaxed into vibration, while his unique approach to modular synthesis takes a similar approach in the sonic domain. He has composed numerous operas, chamber works, dance scores and performs in New York based ensembles, including the acoustic ensemble NewBorn Trio and the electric band Lampshade. Miguel has worked closely with composers John Cage, electronic music pioneer Morton Subotnick, Pauline Oliveros, James Tenney, Joan La Barbara, and Jon Hassell. His collaborations include new works with choreographer Alonzo King, and the new music ensemble Gamelan Son of Lion. His background includes studies ranging from the music of South India and Indonesia to the Dada and Fluxus movements. Past collaborations include new works with Balinese composer I Dewa Berata, operatic tenor John Duykers, and Tibetan songwriter Techung, with whom he has performed in concerts throughout India. Miguel has created over three dozen dance scores and has performed with modern dance pioneer Anna Halprin at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Miguel’s early work includes ten years as a founding member of THE GLASS ORCHESTRA, the internationally acclaimed new music ensemble featuring all glass instruments. His music has been released on New Albion, Porter, Clang, and independently through his own Bandcamp page frasconimusic
(sources frasconimusic and https://roulette.org/event/miguel-frasconi-2/)