03/28 @ 8:00pm - Chris McIntyre + Arthur Kampela

ARTHUR KAMPELA

“Navigating between Avant-Bossas-Novas, Atonal Sambas, and complex new music pieces…”

Kampela’s “chamber music band”:

Arthur Kampela on guitar, viola, vocal(s) and electronics
Margaret Lancaster on flute(s),
Stephanie Griffing viola,
Joanne Lin, Cello,
Danny Barrett, cello,
Jose Moura electric bass
Pradeep Ratanyake, Sitar

Arthur Kampela is an internationally acclaimed composer and guitar player, who has recently been commissioned by the NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC for a composition, scheduled to be conducted by Magnus Lindberg in December 2009.  In 2007, his “Elastics II” (for flutes, guitar, and electro-acoustic sounds) and “Percussion Study V” (for viola and-acoustic sounds) were premiered at Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg, by the Linea Ensemble; and in 2006, his “Antropofagia” (for electric guitar and large chamber ensemble) was premiered at the ISCM World Music Days 2006 Festival, by the Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin with Wiek Hijmans on electric guitar.

Today in New York, Kampela is also regarded as a Dionysian performer: in his review of Kampela’s performance at the 92nd Street Y, Tim Brookes stated, “[Kampela] played the most avant-garde music of the show,using tapping effects, using a spoon, playing with the strings bent off the side of the fingerboard: one of the pieces ended with a noise that sounded like a Geiger counter…he never lost a sense of joy, of surprise or that infectious rhythm.  It was clearly the work of a madman…a Brazilian madman.”

Pianist Jenny Lin just recorded his piano ‘tour-de-force’ “Nosturnos” opening her CD “The Eleventh Finger” released by by Koch label. Kampela’s compositions have been performed all over the world. Locally, at Weill Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Miller Theater, Mannes College, 92Y, Americas Society, at Satalla, The Cutting Room, etc.  He has toured with his band playing in places as diverse as Mexico City, São Paulo, Strasbourg and most recently the Outreach Festival, in Schwaz, Austria.

In the ’80s, Kampela was celebrated in Rio de Janeiro for compositions that fused popular Brazilian styles (Bossa Nova, Samba, Tropicália) with Free Jazz and contemporary textural techniques.  In Brazil, he was likened to Frank Zappa for his virtuosic musicianship and madcap performances, such as playing lead guitar while dressed as a hermaphrodite–his right side in drag, left in a suit–to portray two characters–one singing falsetto–in a short opera about a couple negotiating the perils of lovemaking in a Volkswagen.

Kampela holds a Doctorate degree (D.M.A.) from Columbia University, having been taught by such composers as Mario Davidovsky, at Columbia, and abroad,, by the British Brian Ferneyhough. A recent graduate from CUNY, partly wrote her dissertation (Rhythm in the Music of Brian Ferneyhough, Michael Finissy, and Arthur Kampela: a Guide for Performers) on Kampela’s music and a rhythmic system he developed: “micrometric modulation” based on commutative and associative properties that coordinate the unfolding of complex ratios and sub-ratios, expanding Elliott Carter’s work on rhythm.  In some compositions, Kampela employs ergonomic and motoric approaches to subvert traditional playing techniques. For example, in “Exoskeleton” for solo viola, a guitarist plays the viola, using guitar-playing techniques.

Kampela’s links:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=arthur+kampela+videos&aq=f  (VIDEOS YOUTUBE)

http://www.myspace.com/arthurkampela  (MUSIC MYSPACE)

http://www.kampela.com     (MY WEB SITE)