A new venture marking the tenth year of the Metapraxis Ensemble, this, their seventh project presents a sonic collage for 6 musicians/performers, inspired by the personal stories of refugees on life-threatening journeys of unknown length and destination. In our story, a young person stuck in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, is reading what’s left from an old diary: re-membering/learning his/her own life story.
The project is curated by Gregory Emfietzis and devised by the musicians and collaborators of the Metapraxis Ensemble. As building material for the project, they will use/adapt a number of Franz Schubert’s lieders from the song-cycle Winterreise, and notions from Samuel Beckett’s works. Blending with the above will be existing and newly created compositions by Gregory Emfietzis and Daniel Fígols-Cuevas.
The Metapraxis Ensemble
The Metapraxis Ensemble is a London-based, flexible group of musicians and collaborators, first established in early 2009. Their productions focus on presenting contemporary music (often in conjunction with compositions from older eras), structured around a rendering of a tale, and reinforced by extra-musical elements. They adopt a theatrical approach for their projects: presented as single units, they often feature video / film projection, movement, text reading and staging / lighting effects. Metapraxis events have taken place in venues around London, such as IKLECTIK, Cafe Oto, LSO St Lukes, The Space, TripSpace, Iris and Chelsea Theatres, as well as in educational institutions (Brunel, Goldsmiths, Guildhall, Huddersfield, Leeds, Roehampton). – metapraxisensemble.com
Gregory Emfietzis
Gregory Emfietzis is a composer based in London. He grew up in Greece, playing the violin and singing in choirs, while developing an interest in music and theatre making. His music tends to be structured around narratives: timelines of acoustic landscapes, often superimposed by musical gestures and added dramatic elements that reinforce the plot. Some of his works seem written as much for actors as musicians. Others, tend towards a more instrumental or sonic theatre. He has engaged with numerous soloists and ensembles (such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble WIENBERLIN, London Sinfonietta, Greek National Opera, and Philip Thomas, Olly Coates) for performances in contrasting environments, often in collaboration with other artists. He has also (co-)devised a number of self-initiated multi-disciplinary projects (such as shadow theatre, puppetry, dance, video/film, design installations) for/with the Metapraxis Ensemble. – emfietzis.com
Daniel Fígols-Cuevas
Daniel Fígols-Cuevas was born in Barcelona in 1980. He studied cello, physics at the Universitat de Barcelona and composition at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya and at Freiburg Musik Hochschule. He pursued his composition studies at Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris with Stefano Gervasoni, orchestration and new technologies. He attended Cursus 1 at IRCAM, computer assisted composition course, and he is been granted with a Masters Degree at CNSMDP in october 2012. He is currently studying a Research PhD in composition at King’s College London. He participated actively in various summer courses as Voix Nouvelles by Foundation Royaumont (2009), Centre Acanthes (2010), Domaine Forget (2010), Manifeste Academy (2013). His works have been performed by Klangforum Wien, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Orchestre Nationale de Lorraine, BCN216 and Nouvel Ensemble Moderne. He has been supported by La Caixa, Fonds de Tarrazzi, Legs Jean Brizard, Foundation Meyer, Catalan Government and Caja Madrid.
