The last concert of the year by defunensemble, will feature the power of collaboration, as Kenyan composer and sound artist Nyokabi Kariũki will visit the band for the second time on 2023. The collaboration, will bring new and old jointly workshopd material to the concert at WHS Theatre Union on 2.12.2023 at 7pm, which will be combined with Kariũk's previously released and upcoming new album repertoire.
Information and tickets 10€/20€ from Teatteri Union website >>
Musica nova Helsinki is a longstanding, international festival of contemporary art music, where defunensemble has had the pleasure of performing in several editions. Musica nova Helsinki will take place from the 1st to the 12th March in Helsinki and Espoo.
This year, defunensemble will perform at the Musica nova Helsinki festival in the club night on the opening day and on March 9–10, 2023 with the Unity Switch installation. Soprano Tuuli Lindeberg will open her season as the artistic director of the festival this year.
WORLD PREMIERE OF THE FIRST COMMISSION OF THE INTERNATIONAL NORTHERN CONNECTION PROJECT AT THE OPENING CLUB OF MUSICA NOVA HELSINKI
Defunensemble is involved in the Northern Connection project, which builds sustainable networks and connects Finnish, Norwegian and Scottish contemporary music composers, ensembles and festivals. The project will also expand to other Nordic countries in the future. There is one contemporary music festival, one ensemble and one composer involved from each country. Composers selected from the participating countries will compose new works that will be premiered at the participating festivals. At a later stage, the works are supposed to tour all the project's festivals.
Defunensemble has the honor of launching the premiere of the Northern Connection project with a new piece by Scottish composer Lisa Robertson, which will be performed at the Nova Connection club in Helsinki's G Livelab on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. The club will also include music from Lauri Supponen and Norwegian Tine Surel Lange. Supponen and Lange are also involved as composers in the Northern Connection project: Supponen is composing a work to be premiered in Norway, Lange's work in Scotland. In addition, the program includes Adam Vilag's work GAS. Ilpo Väisänen, a pioneer of experimental electronic music, will take the stage for the second half of the club evening.
The Northern Connection project also includes the Norwegian Ensemble Temporum and the Scottish Red Note Ensemble. In addition to Musica Nova Helsinki, the festivals include Ultima festival from Norway and Sound festival from Scotland. The main coordinator of the project is Music Finland, and in their corresponding countries the project is coordinated by Music Norway and the Scottish Music Center.
UNITY SWITCH, A PARTICIPATIVE INSTALLATION WORK WITH UNIQUE PERFORMANCE TECHNOLOGY WILL BE EXPERIENCED AT AALTO UNIVERSITY FOR THE SECOND TIME IN FINLAND
In Unity Switch (2019) by composer Alexander Schubert, the audience is invited to literally look at the world through the eyes of different people. The experience is made possible by VR glasses and cameras connected in real time. Changes in perspective explore corporeality, body image, virtual distance and digital emotions. The highly personal experience evokes is designed to evoke a plethora of emotions: empathy, a sense of control, cooperation and isolation among others. The joint commission of Defunensemble and Viitasaari's Time of Music festival will now have its second performance in Finland.
The work will be performed in Aalto University's Space21 space in Otaniemi, March 9–10, 2023. The work, about 20 minutes long, is performed nine times each day. The audience of each show can accommodate four people.
Info and tickets from Musica nova Helsinki website >>
Defunensemble's album "Hyperrealistic Songs", released on 18 March 2022, is among the Emma nominees in the Classical album of the Year category. The record is published by Alba Records and it is the band's second release.
The album “Hyperrealistic Songs” includes works commissioned and premiered by the group from composers Christian Winther Christensen, Asta Hyvärinen, Hikari Kiyama, Sami Klemola and Perttu Haapanen. The album's works reflect on the relationship between the current digital age and the tradition of classical music. Use of electronics as a part of instrumentation expands the sound image in many different directions and blurs the boundaries of different genres of experimental music. The compositions form a line in which synthetic as well as intimate, subtle sounds meet crackling and dense masses of noise. The album is a picture of the rugged and barren (sound) world in which we live, not forgetting, however, the playful optimism and the strong basis in tradition with its architectural foundations.
The album has been praised in reviews especially for the precise work, the playful attitude and the supporting whole; appreciative comments have been read from, among others, Gramophone's Andrew Mellor ("The electroacoustic Defunensemble reimagine metal music – with tongues in cheeks and amusing results . . . Wonderful stuff"), HS's Jukka Isopuro (⅘, "Acoustic instruments play just on the surface, random triplets amusing, unpredictable rhythms click needle-sharp"), Kompositios Jari Kallio ("A peculiar spectrum of sounds pops through defunensemble's Hyperrealistic Songs album..."), Rondo's Santeri Kaipiaisen ("A brilliant, addictive and concise whole") and YLE's Kare Eskola (". ..the playing is extremely accurate and the sound processing is hyperrealistic”).
You can order the album directly from the ensemble via email from petra@defunensemble.fi (20 eur + postage)
The year 2022 for Defunensemble ends in our very own d(XII)e Festival in the historical Kalliosali in Helsinki. After two years of pandemic hiatus we're over the moon to invite you to connect with the most interesting electroacoustic music of our time, live in person! In 2020 the festival was cancelled and in 2021 experienced via stream.
This years festival is a cross section of some of the most interesting electroacoustic art music at the moment, this time focusing in Finnish works, a "Finnish retrospect". We've included six premiers, some second hearings and old favourites. The four short gigs can be combined as you please or attended as a whole for the full picture.
Read more from concerts -page
Tickets available from Holvi online store in advance or from the door (card only)
The electroacoustic music group defunensemble releases it´s second album 18.3.2022. Formed in 2009, defunensemble has astonishingly fast established ifself as one of the most important contemporary music groups in Finland. Defunensemble gives premieres of the most essential electroacoustic repertoire both classic and current, while simultaneously actively commissioning new works incorporating the latest technologies. The musicians and sound designers of defunensemble are some of the most active personalities in the Finnish contemporary music scene. The album “Hyperrealistic Songs” includes works commissioned and premiered by the group from composers Christian Winther Christensen, Asta Hyvärinen, Hikari Kiyama, Sami Klemola and Perttu Haapanen.
The album's works reflect on the relationship between the current digital age and the tradition of classical music. The use of electronics as part of instrumentation expands the sound image in many different directions and blurs the boundaries of different genres of experimental music. The compositions form a line in which synthetic sounds, as well as intimate subtle sounds, meet crackling and dense masses of noise. The whole is a picture of the rugged and barren (sound) world in which we live. Not forgetting, however, the playful optimism and the strong knowledge of tradition with its architectural foundations.
The album is released by Alba Records.
You can order the cd from: heidi@defunensemble.fi (20 eur + postage)
Exciting news!
New album release ”Hyperrealistic Songs” by defunensemble out on 18th of March, 2022! Stay tuned!