Cycling for solo flute has proved to be one of the most popular FNMC contest works. FNMC members have performed Cycling at the Florida Flute Association Convention, Great Plains Regional CMS Conference, and the Kentucky Flute Society Flute Fair. In this week’s Composer Spotlight we learn more about the composer of Cycling, Panayiotis Kokoras. Greek born and raised, Kokoras now lives in Denton, Texas where he is an Assistant Professor of Composition at the University of North Texas.
 
Q&A with Panayiotis…
 
Who/What are your favorite “new” music composers or pieces and why?
There are several pieces and composers I like a lot. However, my favorite ones are these that offer an uncompromising, imaginative, intellectual yet emotional listening experience that transcends my consciousness and changes me a bit after listening to it. I like music that pushes the boundaries of musical expression and experience, introduces new ways of music appreciation, it is mysteriously beautiful, creates high impact drama, and discovers unknown musical worlds that seem familiar to me. Fortunately, there are plenty of pieces that fulfill my likes.
 
What advice can you give to flutists about approaching new music in practice?
In sound-based compositions like Cycling, where the flutist "makes sounds" and doesn't "play notes", the relationship between performer and instrument is deliberated upon from the limitations of the traditional classical constraints of “idiomatic” playing or writing. When performing sound, one explores sound possibilities of the instrument beyond its classic sound. It establishes a musical culture where traditional flute training in the West has been forgotten or ignored. The flute is challenged out of its long historical context, its repertoire and its traditional training methods. For a flutist to touch the essence of sound composition, one should totally deliberate oneself from the past and completely redefine the relationship between performer/instrument, present/past, right/wrong, beautiful/ugly, stable/unstable, predictable/unpredictable.
Do you have any upcoming events that you would like our friends and followers to know about?
I just completed a piece for flute and electronics written for flutist Elizabeth McNutt to be premiered in 2017. For full score preview, please visit: http://panayiotiskokoras.com/en/works.html
 
I am also looking forward to the performance of my piece Connotations for string orchestra and electronics. The piece will be performed in France in 2017 by l'Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier.
https://youtu.be/2yIkL1kYozY
 
More about Panayiotis…
 
Kokoras is an internationally award-winning composer and computer music innovator, and currently an Associate Professor of composition at the University of North Texas. Born in Greece, he studied classical guitar and composition in Athens, Greece and York, England; he taught for many years at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki. Kokoras's sound compositions use timbre as the main element of form. His concept of "holophony" describes his goal that each independent sound (phonos), contributes equally into the synthesis of the total (holos). In both instrumental and electroacoustic writing, his music calls upon a "virtuosity of sound," emphasizing the precise production of variable sound possibilities and the correct distinction between one timbre and another to convey the musical ideas and structure of the piece. His compositional output is also informed by musical research in Music Information Retrieval compositional strategies, Extended techniques, Tactile sound, Detuned Systems, Robotics, Sound and Consciousness. More information at http://www.panayiotiskokoras.com
 
If you liked Cycling, check out these other works for flute…
 
Conscious Sound
Instrumentation: flute, clarinet, piano, and cello
Year of Composition: 2014
 
Crama
Instrumentation: flute, clarinet, piano, violin, viola, and cello
Year of Composition: 2006
 
Delirium
Instrumentation: flute, piano, and cello
Year of Composition: 2008
 
Friction
Instrumentation: flute, bass clarinet, piano, and cello
Year of Composition: 2001
 
Metasound
Instrumentation: flute, trombone, percussion and double bass
Year of Composition: 2002
 
Morphallaxis
Instrumentation: flute, percussion, cello, and electronics
Year of Composition: 2008
 
Mosaicing
Instrumentation: flute and electronics
Year of Composition: 2016
 

Hui Tak-Cheung was a finalist in the newly composed category in 2015 for his solo work A Gleam Again, for solo flute doubling on singing bowl. A Gleam Again, under its final title, In Between II-Lu Chai, was premiered by its commissioner Chen-Yu Wu on July 16, 2015 at the Themes Star Theatre in Shanghai. Lu Chai is the second work in his In Between series. In Between II-Lu Chai has not yet been premiered in the United States. FNMC members, maybe one of you would like to give the American Premiere?!
 
Q&A with Tak…
 What about new music for the flute appeals to you?
Color. Like ink wash painting, a single black stroke can has a whole spectrum of color within, ranged from white, to gray.
 
Who is/are your favorite “new music” composer/s and why?
Too many to name one. Sciarrino comes to my mind at this moment (probably because I am listening to it right now).
 
Describe your musical background and current activities.
I am a composer. I love flute. I really love flute.
 
More About Tak…
 
HUI, Tak-Cheung is a Hong Kong-born composer. Over the course of his career, Hui has been awarded numerous prizes including the Atlas Ensemble Composition Competition 2014, Sound Icon BU/SI  Composition Competition 2015 and Inter-Sections Fellowship with commission prize. His recent collaborations include 10/10 Ensemble at the Huddersfield Cotemporary Music Festival, Nieuw Ensemble at the Muziekgebouw aan’t IJ’s An Evening of Today and Looptail Ensemble at the Gaudeamus Muziekweeks. He was also the residence composer of the Ligeti Academy by Asko Schoenberg in 2011 and European Composers’ Professional Development Programme by HCMF in 2012.
 
Hui started self-learning guitar and played in a rock band before he started his formal education of music at Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and completed his masters’ degree in Composition at Conservatorium van Amsterdam under the supervision of Richard Ayres, Willem Jeths, and Wim Henderickx. During his academic years, he was awarded the Heng Seng Bank Scholarship and The Lions Music Foundation Scholarship. Currently, he was given a fellowship from Boston University Center for New Music to pursue a Doctoral degree under the supervision of Alex Mincek and Joshua Fineberg.
 
Hui’s compositions range from a variety of solo instrumental music to orchestral works, small and large ensemble music for western or traditional music, as well as multi-media work and Chinese Opera arrangement. His works have been published by Huddersfield Contemporary Record and Hove Record.
 
Learn more at www.huitakcheung.com
 
More works for flute by Hui Tak Cheung…
 
Lu Chai
Instrumentation: flute
Commissioned by flutist Chen-Yu Wu
 
In Betweeen II
Instrumentation: flute and video
Commissioned by World  within Gallery
 
Cracks between the reflections
Instrumentation: 2 fl, 2 ob, clarinets, perc, hp, pf, 2 vn, va, vc, db
Commissioned by the Nieuw Ensemble
 
Frozen In
Instrumentation: Shakuhachi, flute, alto sax, cello, double bass
 
As a fallen Leaf, on a waving stream
Instrumentation: flute, oboe, clarinets, guitar, mandolin, harp, piano, percussion, violin, viola, cello, contrabass
Composed for the Nieuw Ensemble
 
Tale of an old picture
Instrumentation: flute, clarinet, piano, percussion, violin, cello
Commissioned by Looptail
 
Way to the other Shore
Instrumentation: woodwind quartet, brass trio, piano, and string quartet
Composed for the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
 
Magnified II
Instrumentation: pipa, sheng, zheng, flute, alto saxophone, and horn
Commissioned by the New Wind traditional music ensemble
 
The Mist inside
Instrumentation: recorder, flute, oboe, 2 clarients, bass clarinet, alto sax, horn, 2 violins, cello, harp, piano
Composed for the Ligeti Academy
 
Urban Hakka
Instrumentation: violin, flute, oboe, clarinet piano, percussion
Commissioned by the KHAPA Contemporary music ensemble
 
Magnified
Instrumentation: violin, contrabass, flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, piano
 
The Mist
Instrumentation: harp, vibraphone, alto flute, bass clarinet
 

Argentinian composer Alex Nante was a finalist in the 2015 FNMC Composition Contest for his delightful work for solo flute, Garuda. FNMC members have performed this piece at the Kentucky Flute Fair and Great Plains Regional CMS Conference. Alex recently sent us his bio and answered a few questions to help our members get to know him better.

Q&A with Alex.....

Who is/are your favorite “new music” composer/s and why?
I don't have one favorite composer, I love Wolfgang Rihm's music, Michael Finnissy's and of course, Stefano Gervasoni's music, which is now my teacher. These three composers are totally different, and have found a personal, authentic musical voice.

Describe your musical background and current activities.
I'm an Argentinian composer living in Paris, continuing my studies in the Conservatoire de Paris. I write chamber, orchestral and solo music that is played in France and abroad. at the moment I'm co-directing the ensemble "Écoute" of the Cité Universitaire de Paris.

Do you have any upcoming events that you would like our friends and followers to know about?
If you'd like to see my upcoming events, please take a look at my website : www.alexnante.com

More About Alex.....
Alex Nante (1992, Buenos Aires, Argentina) holds a bachelor’s degree in Musical arts, oriented in composition, from the National University of Arts of Argentina (UNA), where he studied composition with Santiago Santero and orchestral conducting with Luis Gorelik. He also studied guitar with Antoliano Rojas, piano with Mónica Opansky and composition with Marcelo Delgado and Luis Mucillo.
Since 2014 he lives in Paris. He obtained a Master’s degree in Musicology in Université Paris 8 of Saint Denis, where he took composition lessons with José Manuel López López. He also obtained a “prix de perfectionnement” in Reims Conservatoire where he studied with Daniel D’Adamo. Currently, he continues his studies in composition with Stefano Gervasoni in the Conservatoire National de Paris. He participated in composition workshops, such as the “Writing for Vocal Ensemble” of the Britten Pears Programme, with Michael Finnissy and Exaudi and “Noirlac Academy” with Quatuor Diotima.
His compositions have been awarded with several prizes, particularly in three orchestral composition competitions: “Daegu Contemporary Music Orchestra” in South Korea, for his piece “Fulgor” (2010), “Guillermo Graetzer” (SADAIC) in Argentina, for “Tres Sueños Lúcidos” (2013) and “Île de Créations” in France, for “La pérégrination vers l’Ouest“ (2015).
His works were interpreted by Víctor Torres, Enrico di Felice “ Accroche Note”, “Parma Ensemble”, “Ensemble Itinéraire”, “Excelsis Percussion”, “Compañía Oblicua”, “Ensemble SpazioMusica”, “Exaudi”, “Flame Ensemble”, “Orchestre National d’Île de France”, “Daegu Contemporary Music Orchestra”, among others.
His interest in contemporary music has lead him to co-found in 2010 with Gonzalo Argüello and Juan Miceli the orchestra OANM (Orquesta amigos de la nueva música) which premiered many pieces from argentinian composers. In 2014 he co-founded with Fernando Palomeque and Gabriela Czerednikow the contemporary music ensemble “Écoute”, composed by musicians from the  Cité Universitaire of Paris.
Alex Nante received the scholarship “Gisela Timmermann” from the Mozarteum Argentino and the Ibermúsicas grant for composers.

Did you enjoy Garuda? Alex has many other works for flute

Canto da perda
Instrumentation : soprano, flute, soprano/alto saxophone, violin, viola, accordion, harp, piano
Duration : 8'
Year :2015

Himnos
Instrumentation : Flute/alto flute, percussion, organ, three narrators
Duration : 30’
Year : 2015

Quattro Melodie
Instrumentation : flute, piano
Duration : 12’
Year : 2015

Tempi Arcani
Instrumentation : flute, vibraphone, piano
Duration : 8’
Year : 2014

Excepto el amor intenso…
Instrumentation : flute, viola, harp
Duration : 7’
Year : 2013

Trueno : Intelecto perfecto
Instrumentation : actress, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, percussion (glockenspiel, tom-tom, gran-cassa, tam-tam), harp, soprano, alto, tenor, bass, violin, viola, cello, double bass
Duration : 14’
Year : 2013

Kosmeo
Instrumentation : flute, clarinet, piano, violin, cello
Duration : 4’ 30’’
Year : 2012

Hermes
Instrumentation : flute, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, horn, trumpet, trombone, euphonium, tuba, double bass
Duration : 9’
Year : 2012

Aleph
Instrumentation : flute, soprano saxophone, clarinet, cello, piano
Duration : 4’
Year : 2012

De anhelos y sombras
Instrumentation : flute, clarinet, piano, violin and cello
Duration : 10’
Year : 2012

Garuda
Instrumentation : flute
Duration : 5’
Year : 2014

Three mysteries
Instrumentation : Flute
Duration : 3’30’’
Year : 2010