Back to the future! Using contemporary musical and artistic methods to (re)interpret historical music
We are very glad to invite you to the Sound and Music Interaction Seminars with George Kentros and Matias Petersson.
Time: Tue 2022-10-04 15.00
Location: Room 1440 "Henrik Eriksson", Osquars backe 2, floor 4
Video link: Zoom link
Language: English
Participating: George Kentros & Mattias Peterson, KMH Royal College of Music,
Abstract
The way a musician interprets historical art music is traditionally based on using one’s playing technique to sound like a previously experienced version of the piece, taking for granted various standardized playing styles of more or less dubious provenance. While some new notated art music prefers to position itself as part of this presumed classical tradition, there is a parallel tradition of experimental music that takes as its starting point a blank slate, where aspects such as conventional tone production and attitudes towards authenticity are not assumed. Instead, the musician is asked to interpret the symbols on the page according to her own artistically informed predilections and contexts in order to produce new music emanating from the artwork itself. This collaborative and interdisciplinary art music project applies these and other interpretive techniques towards the recreation and performance of historical works of music. With the help of research methods adapted from e g feminist theory, hermeneutics, the ”new musicology” and translation theory, the research group is creating both interpretations and new artworks that explore the conventions surrounding the performance of notated historical art music as well as their artistic and social relevance, both at the time of composition and now.
Bio
The four participants in the project come from different backgrounds and have somewhat different roles in European musical life: Violinist George Kentros, the research leader, studied at Yale University, the Mannes School of Music and KMH and is a freelance experimental musician. The electronic musician Mattias Petersson is a senior lecturer in electronic composition at KMH and is pursuing his doctorate in Piteå. Ida Lundén is a freelance composer and musician who studied at KMH and the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg. The pianist Rei Nakamura studied at Hochschule für Musik Saar and Hochschule für Musik Freiburg and is a freelance musician specializing in new art music.
Profile page of George Kentros at KMH