DARA String Festival
DARA String Festival presents a wide variety of innovative multi-genre music for string instruments, ranging from early contemporary to experimental and freely improvised. DARA transcends genre boundaries, uniting highly renowned international artists from diverse musical backgrounds, in a series of encounters to inspire new thoughts and ideas towards the advancement of individual and collective artistic work. In the longer term DARA aims to present guest editions in collaboration with different partners/curators internationally and expand into electroacoustic and staged multi-media concert performances.
DARA String Festival presents a wide variety of innovative multi-genre music for string instruments, ranging from early contemporary to experimental and freely improvised. DARA transcends genre boundaries, uniting highly renowned international artists from diverse musical backgrounds, in a series of encounters to inspire new thoughts and ideas towards the advancement of individual and collective artistic work. In the longer term DARA aims to present guest editions in collaboration with different partners/curators internationally and expand into electroacoustic and staged multi-media concert performances.
The second edition of the festival presents the world premiers of Catherine Lamb / string trio, Frances Marie-Uitti / This for solo cello and Biliana Voutchkova / Words I’d have never known for string sextet, alongside improvisations by the artists and works by Carola Bauckholt, Seffen Krebber, Jonathan Harvey, Alvin Lucier, Yannis Xenakis, Giacinto Scelsi, Rebecca Saunders and Luigi Nono. The program this year includes electro-acoustic and site specific works.
You are warmly invited to DARA 2020!
Festival artists
Akiko Ahrendt - violinist, composer-performer, improviser (Germany)
Catherine Lamb - composer, violist (USA / Germany)
Yodfat Miron - violist, performer (Israel / Germany)
Lucy Railton - cellist, composer, electronic musician (Great Britain / Germany)
Frances - Marie Uitti — cellist, composer, improvisor (USA / Holland)
Biliana Voutchkova - violinist, composer-performer, improviser (Bulgaria / Germany)
Photo collage and design by Boryana Pandova. Photo credits from top left:
Karel Šuster, Cristina Marx, Camille Blake, Sabine Hilscher, Philip Frowein, Svetlana Selezneva
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Artists biographies
Akiko Ahrendt
Akiko Ahrendt studied violin and new music in Berlin, Frankfurt and Budapest, since 2016 media arts at the KHM in Cologne. As a soloist and in ensembles she plays the violin mainly in an experimental, space-related or freely improvised way. She also uses her voice and electric/electronic extensions therefore. Akiko Ahrendt took part in the International Ensemble Modern Academy. She is a member of Contrechamps in Geneva, Ensemble Garage in Cologne and the Rundfunktanzorchester Ehrenfeld. She also performs in her own formations radikal translation, PRAESENZ, TONTRÆGER and the Trio „orange Gruppe“.
https://sabineakiko.net/
Catherine Lamb
The Berlin based Catherine Lamb is an internationally active composer and violist exploring the interaction of elemental tonality and their summation of shapes, the long introduction form, points of phenomenological expansions, and the architecture of the liminal. Catherine is the recipient of the Ernst von Siemens Composition Award 2020, Grant for Artists by the American Foundation for Contemporary Arts 2018, and a fellowship from Akademie Schloss Solitude 2016.
https://sacredrealism.org/catlamb/
Yodfat Miron
The violist and performance artist Yodfat Miron was born into an Israeli-Yemeni family of musicians. She was a multiple scholarship holder of the America Israel Foundation and played as solo viola in the West Eastern Divan Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim. After completing her instrumental studies in Tel Aviv and Berlin, she founded the Miron-Quartett in 2003. Since 2013 she has been a permanent member of the Berlin based Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop, in the framework of which she was able to develop as a crossover artist between acting and instrumental performance. In 2016 she embodied Joseph Beuys in Tom Patchett's and Georg Nussbaumer's play “Jeder Hase ein Künstler. Eine Beuys Fabel”. In 2017 and 2018 she appeared as Theodor W. Adorno in Clara Gervais's melodrama „Über den Fetischcharakter in der Musik und die Regression des Hörens”. She recently acted and performed in the premiere of Ulrike Ruf's innovative concert production "Viola Solo" (Berlin, January 2020).
https://www.berlinerfestspiele.de/de/berliner-festspiele/programm/bfs-kuenstler/bfs_kuenstler_detail_58658.html
Lucy Railton
Emerging from a long-term engagement with contemporary music the British, Berlin based musician Lucy Railton is active as both a performer in new music and improvisation, and writes her own music for cello, electronics and field recordings, releasing solo records on the labels Editions Mego/GRM and Modern Love, and in collaboration with Peter Zinovieff on PAN. She has been involved in countless projects over years, most recently on those lead by Rhodri Davies, Kit Downes, Blank Forms, Beatrice Dillon and Kali Malone and as a member of the Ever Present Orchestra, focusing specifically on the work of Alvin Lucier, Ensemble Contrechamps in Geneva and the Harmonic Space Ensemble helmed by Berlin's Just Intonation composers. Originally from London, she established the 10 year long series Kammer Klang at Cafe Oto and co-founded the London Contemporary Music Festival in 2013. Residencies include EMS, Sweden and Dark Ecologies/Sonic Acts Norway and commissions by Somerset House, London and INA GRM, Paris.
http://lucyrailton.com/
Frances-Marie Uitti
Composer and cellist Frances-Marie Uitti is known for her performances of contemporary classical music, recently praised by the Guardian as "the world's most influential avant-garde cellist.” She is the dedicatee of close to 100 composers including Jonathan Harvey, Louis Andriessen, Giacinto Scelsi, György Kurtág, and has closely collaborated / recorded with Scelsi, Nono, Xenakis and Cage.
Frances has invented a radically extended technique using two bows simultaneously in one hand, being the first to transform the cello into a 4 part chordal instrument. She has also invented resonators, and designed electric instruments including her stringless "12 string" double bridged cello at CNMAT, University of California, Berkeley. Published by Contemporary Music Review, Cambridge University Press, Granta, and Arcana among others, she has given master classes for composers and string players worldwide (Yale, Stanford, Juilliard, and Harvard among many others) and teaches advanced students privately.
http://uitti.org/
Biliana Voutchkova
See the "About" page
The premiere festival edition 2019 included open talks and long concert evenings at the fabulous open boat gallery Hošek Contemporary. Each of the DARA artists presented their solo work and played in different group combinations. The whole festival program was purely acoustic and interwoven into a symbiotic presentation of the composed / improvised pieces.
Documentation video from August 30
Edwards/De Heney/Voutchkova - Trio improvisation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feKxrFPdCg4
Festival artists
Séverine Ballon - cellist, composer (France)
Isidora Edwards - cellist, composer-performer, improviser (Chile)
Daniella Strasfogel - violinist, perforar (USA / Germany)
Nina de Heney - bassist, composer-performer, improviser (Sweden)
Nurit Stark - violinist, violist (Israel / Germany)
Biliana Voutchkova - violinist, composer-performer, improviser (Bulgaria / Germany)
August 30/31.2019
Hošek Contemporary
Motor Ship HEIMATLAND
Fisherinsel 3, 10179 Berlin
Program
August 30
17:00
festival opening and artist talk
18:00
Isidora Edwards - Solo improvisation WP/UA
Chaya Czernowin - Adiantum Capillus Veneris no. I / Songs of the muted one arr. S.Ballon
Steingrimur Rohloff - Magic Number for solo cello
19:30
Martin Iddon - Λεύκη for solo cello WP/UA
Iannis Xenakis - Mikka for solo violin
James Dillon - Selections from duos for two violins
Séverine Ballon - Chant mécanique for solo cello
Morton Feldman - For Aaron Copland for solo violin
Cassandra Miller - For Mira for solo violin
21:00
Edwards/De Heney/Voutchkova - Trio improvisation WP/UA
August 31
17:00
artist talk
18:00
György Ligeti - Sonata for solo viola
Edwards/De Heney - Duo improvisation WP/UA
19:30
Nina de Heney - Solo improvisation WP/UA
Tristan Murail - C'est un jardin secret for solo viola
Peter Ablinger - Ohne Titel 1 - 10 string trio version
21:00
Liza Lim - The Su Song Star Map for solo violin
Sofia Gubaidulina - Rejoice! duo for violin and cello
The festival is kindly supported by INM/Initiative Neue Musik Berlin and
Chilean Ministry of the Culture and Arts
https://www.facebook.com/events/2069885826464672/
https://www.hosekcontemporary.com
On side catering provided by Korean restaurant Dal Tokki
https://www.facebook.com/daltokkiberlin/
Media partners
Digital in Berlin, ASKHELMUT, INM/Filed Notes
Photo collage and design by Boryana Pandova. Photo credits from top left
Yves Tremorin, Peter Purgar, Susanna Drescher, Alberto Duarte, Uwe Neumann, Alberto Duarte
Documentation video from August 30
Edwards/De Heney/Voutchkova - Trio improvisation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feKxrFPdCg4
Festival artists
Séverine Ballon - cellist, composer (France)
Isidora Edwards - cellist, composer-performer, improviser (Chile)
Daniella Strasfogel - violinist, perforar (USA / Germany)
Nina de Heney - bassist, composer-performer, improviser (Sweden)
Nurit Stark - violinist, violist (Israel / Germany)
Biliana Voutchkova - violinist, composer-performer, improviser (Bulgaria / Germany)
August 30/31.2019
Hošek Contemporary
Motor Ship HEIMATLAND
Fisherinsel 3, 10179 Berlin
Program
August 30
17:00
festival opening and artist talk
18:00
Isidora Edwards - Solo improvisation WP/UA
Chaya Czernowin - Adiantum Capillus Veneris no. I / Songs of the muted one arr. S.Ballon
Steingrimur Rohloff - Magic Number for solo cello
19:30
Martin Iddon - Λεύκη for solo cello WP/UA
Iannis Xenakis - Mikka for solo violin
James Dillon - Selections from duos for two violins
Séverine Ballon - Chant mécanique for solo cello
Morton Feldman - For Aaron Copland for solo violin
Cassandra Miller - For Mira for solo violin
21:00
Edwards/De Heney/Voutchkova - Trio improvisation WP/UA
August 31
17:00
artist talk
18:00
György Ligeti - Sonata for solo viola
Edwards/De Heney - Duo improvisation WP/UA
19:30
Nina de Heney - Solo improvisation WP/UA
Tristan Murail - C'est un jardin secret for solo viola
Peter Ablinger - Ohne Titel 1 - 10 string trio version
21:00
Liza Lim - The Su Song Star Map for solo violin
Sofia Gubaidulina - Rejoice! duo for violin and cello
The festival is kindly supported by INM/Initiative Neue Musik Berlin and
Chilean Ministry of the Culture and Arts
https://www.facebook.com/events/2069885826464672/
https://www.hosekcontemporary.com
On side catering provided by Korean restaurant Dal Tokki
https://www.facebook.com/daltokkiberlin/
Media partners
Digital in Berlin, ASKHELMUT, INM/Filed Notes
Photo collage and design by Boryana Pandova. Photo credits from top left
Yves Tremorin, Peter Purgar, Susanna Drescher, Alberto Duarte, Uwe Neumann, Alberto Duarte
Artists biographies
Séverine Ballon
Deeply engaged in the development of her repertoire, Séverine Ballon's practice draws as much on key works from the repertory as on her numerous collaborations with composers, working in the intimacy of the fabric of sound. Séverine Ballon particularly enjoys working with contemporary composers and has worked with Helmut Lachenmann, Chaya Czernowin, Rebecca Saunders, Liza Lim, Mauro Lanza. She has premiered a number of solo works which have been written especially for her and has given masterclasses for composers worldwide (Harvard University, Stanford University, the Hochschule für Musik in Stuttgart, the University of Huddersfield etc.) Her solo-CD 'Solitude' is published on the label AEON/ outhere music’ and her new debut Cd as a composer ‘Inconnaissance’ is published on All That Dust.
http://www.severineballon.com
Isidora Edwards
Isidora’s work is based on the investigation of the sound possibilities of the cello, thought as a geography full of fissures and hidden retreats, transforming the instrument into a poetic body that looks for a story in sound. Her interests are focused on searching in the spectrum of improvised music, and in the fields of dance, movement, human voice and its philosophical relations with space, time and audience. She has been part of diverse ensembles such as Ensamble Taller de Música Contemporánea U.C and the Goethe Institut Project “Ensemble Nuevo” and has taken part in festivals such as Ars Nova Festival, Ravensburg; Ende Tymes Festival of Noise, New York; Acéfalo Festival, Valparaíso; Mopomoso Concert Series, Iklectik Ballistik, London; Multiversal, London; Danca a Deriva, Sao Paulo among others.
https://www.isidoraedwards.com
Nina de Heney
Born in 1962, Nina grew up in Switzerland. She studied with Miroslav Vitous at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston from 1981 to 1983. Nina moved to Sweden in 1983, where she again studied from 1988 to 1993 at the Göteborg Conservatory of Music, where she also achieved a Soloist Diploma 2004 to 2006.
She started doing solo performances in 1992, often working with dancers and in 2008 she founded the festival Dance 'n' Bass alongside dancer and choreographer Anna Westberg. Her three solo albums Archipelago, 2 and Three have all been met with critical acclaim and she has, on several occasions, been nominated for the Swedish Jazz Celebration and received the 2012 Jazz Musician of the Year Award. In addition to this she has been awarded funds from the Swedish Arts Grant on several occasions. Nina has been working in the jazz and improvisation scene in Sweden for many years with a number of groups and is currently working in duo with pianist Lisa Ullén and in trio with Karin Johansson, piano, and Henrik Wartel, drums.
https://www.ninadeheney.com
Nurit Stark
Nurit studied music with Haim Taub, Alban Berg Quartet and Ilan Gronich. She is a laureate of international competitions and was awarded the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik for her Kurtag recording (2016). Nurit is a solo and chamber musician performing regularly on the international stages, among her activities are concerts with the Munich Radio Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Bremen Philharmonic and festival participations at Schleswig - Holstein, Lockenhaus, Mozart, Rheingau, West Cork, Donaueschinger Musiktage and Vienna Modern festivals. CD releases of her recordings include works by Busoni, Enescu, Messiaen, Suslin, Gubaidulina, Schumann, Bloch and Kurtag.
http://www.westcorkmusic.ie/chambermusicfestival/artists/bio/nurit-stark
Daniella Strasfogel
Through her years of development as an artist, she has consistently sought to deepen her understanding of her body as a vessel for interpretation, through the instrument and the voice as well as through physicality of movement and gesture. She is a founding member of the Solistenenesemble Kaleidoskop Berlin and was artistic director of the ensemble from 2010-2015. Daniella also plays with ensembles such as Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Resonanz and musikFabrik. In 2018 she founded the production company LOUDsoft with the aim of creating multidimensional musical experiences for and with families, young people and amateur musicians.
https://www.daniellastrasfogel.com
Biliana Voutchkova
See the "About" page
Séverine Ballon
Deeply engaged in the development of her repertoire, Séverine Ballon's practice draws as much on key works from the repertory as on her numerous collaborations with composers, working in the intimacy of the fabric of sound. Séverine Ballon particularly enjoys working with contemporary composers and has worked with Helmut Lachenmann, Chaya Czernowin, Rebecca Saunders, Liza Lim, Mauro Lanza. She has premiered a number of solo works which have been written especially for her and has given masterclasses for composers worldwide (Harvard University, Stanford University, the Hochschule für Musik in Stuttgart, the University of Huddersfield etc.) Her solo-CD 'Solitude' is published on the label AEON/ outhere music’ and her new debut Cd as a composer ‘Inconnaissance’ is published on All That Dust.
http://www.severineballon.com
Isidora Edwards
Isidora’s work is based on the investigation of the sound possibilities of the cello, thought as a geography full of fissures and hidden retreats, transforming the instrument into a poetic body that looks for a story in sound. Her interests are focused on searching in the spectrum of improvised music, and in the fields of dance, movement, human voice and its philosophical relations with space, time and audience. She has been part of diverse ensembles such as Ensamble Taller de Música Contemporánea U.C and the Goethe Institut Project “Ensemble Nuevo” and has taken part in festivals such as Ars Nova Festival, Ravensburg; Ende Tymes Festival of Noise, New York; Acéfalo Festival, Valparaíso; Mopomoso Concert Series, Iklectik Ballistik, London; Multiversal, London; Danca a Deriva, Sao Paulo among others.
https://www.isidoraedwards.com
Nina de Heney
Born in 1962, Nina grew up in Switzerland. She studied with Miroslav Vitous at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston from 1981 to 1983. Nina moved to Sweden in 1983, where she again studied from 1988 to 1993 at the Göteborg Conservatory of Music, where she also achieved a Soloist Diploma 2004 to 2006.
She started doing solo performances in 1992, often working with dancers and in 2008 she founded the festival Dance 'n' Bass alongside dancer and choreographer Anna Westberg. Her three solo albums Archipelago, 2 and Three have all been met with critical acclaim and she has, on several occasions, been nominated for the Swedish Jazz Celebration and received the 2012 Jazz Musician of the Year Award. In addition to this she has been awarded funds from the Swedish Arts Grant on several occasions. Nina has been working in the jazz and improvisation scene in Sweden for many years with a number of groups and is currently working in duo with pianist Lisa Ullén and in trio with Karin Johansson, piano, and Henrik Wartel, drums.
https://www.ninadeheney.com
Nurit Stark
Nurit studied music with Haim Taub, Alban Berg Quartet and Ilan Gronich. She is a laureate of international competitions and was awarded the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik for her Kurtag recording (2016). Nurit is a solo and chamber musician performing regularly on the international stages, among her activities are concerts with the Munich Radio Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Bremen Philharmonic and festival participations at Schleswig - Holstein, Lockenhaus, Mozart, Rheingau, West Cork, Donaueschinger Musiktage and Vienna Modern festivals. CD releases of her recordings include works by Busoni, Enescu, Messiaen, Suslin, Gubaidulina, Schumann, Bloch and Kurtag.
http://www.westcorkmusic.ie/chambermusicfestival/artists/bio/nurit-stark
Daniella Strasfogel
Through her years of development as an artist, she has consistently sought to deepen her understanding of her body as a vessel for interpretation, through the instrument and the voice as well as through physicality of movement and gesture. She is a founding member of the Solistenenesemble Kaleidoskop Berlin and was artistic director of the ensemble from 2010-2015. Daniella also plays with ensembles such as Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Resonanz and musikFabrik. In 2018 she founded the production company LOUDsoft with the aim of creating multidimensional musical experiences for and with families, young people and amateur musicians.
https://www.daniellastrasfogel.com
Biliana Voutchkova
See the "About" page
