event

Public Lecture: Design as a Variable: Crafting Music in the 21st Century

11

Dec

Public Lecture: Design as a Variable: Crafting Music in the 21st Century by Victor Gama on 11 December 2015

In this talk Gama describes his method of composition which includes creating the musical instruments for which the score is written. According to this method, a musical instrument is considered a formless container of meanings that constitute the narrative of a particular composition. Its design embodies the symbolic material the composer has collected to arrive at a specific musical lexicon.

Victor Gama (Angola/Portugal) is a composer, performer, designer of contemporary musical instruments as well as an electronics engineer. He holds a BSc in electronics engineering and an MA in Music Technology from Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design in London and has recently been visiting artist at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Accoustics (CCRMA) at Stanford University in 2014/15. His recent work includes collaborations and commissions with the Kronos Quartet, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Gulbenkian Orchestra, the Prince Claus Fund, the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts, the Royal Opera House in London and the National Museums of Scotland. 3thousandRIVERS is his new multimedia opera project, scheduled to premiere at the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon on May 2016.

About the Speaker

Victor Gama is a composer and designer of contemporary musical instruments for new music. He performs solo, with his trio or with ensembles playing his large pieces from small to big halls such as the Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall or Centro Cultural de Belém. He makes music for dance, film, theater and multimedia performances using his unique set of musical instruments as exclusive sound libraries. He’s been commissioned to compose for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra/MusicNOW, the Kronos Quartet or the Prince Claus Fund and has created instruments for collections  in museums such as the National Museums of Scotland. INSTRUMENTOS, his award winning interactive exhibition with workshops and concerts, has been installed at London’s Royal Opera House, Madrid’s Fundación Carlos D’Amberes, UK’s National Center for Design and Crafts and many more.

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