Dániel Péter Biró
Kilkul (Breakdown)
Udvarim Achadim
Dániel Péter Biró is Assistant Professor of Composition and Music Theory at the School of Music at the University of Victoria.
In July 2004 Dániel Péter Biró completed his Ph.D. in Composition at Princeton University. He first started his musical studies at the Bartók Conservatory in Budapest, Hungary. From 1991-1992 he was a Fulbright scholar in Frankfurt, Germany where he studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Frankfurt. He later studied in Bern and Vienna . In 1995, he did folk music research at the Academy of Science in Budapest. His works have been performed at the Alte Oper-Frankfurt , at the Konzerthaus in Vienna , at the Bartók Festival in Szombathely, Hungary and have been broadcast on Swiss, Austrian, German, and on Italian public radio. He received an opera commission from the Neue Horizonte Bern/ Schlachthaus Theater in Bern, Switzerland in 1998. In 1999, he was awarded the Hungarian Government's Kodály Award for Hungarian Composers. In 2000, he received grants from Center for Near Eastern Studies and the Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni for purposes of Hebrew study and dissertation research at Haifa University, Israel . In 2001, his piece The Crossing (Daf), was performed as a commissioned piece of the Stuttgart Opera. In 2002, he was a fellow at the Atlantic Center of the Arts . In 2003 he recieved a dissertation research grant from the Princeton University Program in Judaic Studies.
In the summer of 2003, he was awarded a Summer Research Grant from the Princeton Council on Regional Studies , enabling him to take part in the Sommerakademie at the Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany. There he worked with the Ensemble SurPlus , which performed the first part of his composition Mishpatim (Laws). In 2004 he presented his work at the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt, Germany. Mishpatim (Laws) was also performed by the Aventa Ensemble at the University of Victoria in February 2006. In August 2006 the second version of Mishpatim (Laws) was performed by the ensemble recherche at the Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music: The composition was commisioned by the Internationale Musikinstitut Darmstadt. In Darmstadt he lectured on his music. In 2006 Dániel Péter Biró was a faculty fellow at the University of Victoria Centre for Studies in Religion and Society: there he researched early Jewish and Christian chant traditions. In 2007 his composition Simanim (Signs/Traces) was performed by members of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra : this composition was commissioned by the German Radio (HR). Dániel Péter Biró was recently commisioned by Vancouver New Music to write a piece for solo viola, three voices, seven instruments and electronics. This new composition, supported through a grant of the British Columbia Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts will be premiered in their 2008/2009 season.
Kilkul (Breakdown)
for alto saxophone solo
Kilkul (Breakdown) was written in 2008-2009. The Hebrew term “Kilkul”
can also refer to spiritual problems or disorder. In the beginning
motivic elements “break down” aspects of their harmonic spectra and
microtonal basis come to the forefront. In this process the player
slowly “recovers” from a state of panic to discover once again the
basic source of sound production – the breath. I am very grateful to
Matthieu Leclair for his assistance and inspiration in the creation of
this piece.
Udvrarim Achadim (et les mêmes mots)
Version 1 : For saxophone quartet
Versio 2 : For saxophone quartet and 2 percussions
Version 3 : For saxophone quartet and live electronics
The melodic material of Udvarim Achadim (et les même mots) is based on four chants: Qu’ran recitation (Surah al Qadr), Jewish Torah trope (Genesis 1:1-2), a Hungarian lament (from the Somogy region) and St. Gallen plainchant (Codex Einsiedeln 246). Each saxophone transforms melodic fragments from a given chant; these sometime intertwine, sometime exist in counterpoint and always breathe together. In the course of the piece, phonetic elements of the chants push beyond their melodic shadows, finally articulating translations of the Hebrew text from Gen. 11:1: “All the world had one language and the same words.”
Udvarim Achadim (et les même mots) was commissioned by the Quasar Saxophone Quartet and was assisted by a Canada Council Composer Commissioning Grant. It is dedicated to Zsófia Surján. I am very grateful to the members of the Quasar Saxophone Quartet for their assistance in writing this piece.
The electronics for Udvarim Achadim were created in conjunction with Kirk McNally. I am extremely grateful for his help in this project.
The version for saxophone quartet and percussions has been premiered in Victoria on January 28 2010 by Quasar and Uvic percussion ensemble under Bill Lindwood's direction.
The version for saxophone quartet has been premiered in Winnipeg on February 2 2010.
Finally, the version for saxophone quartet and electronics has been premiered in Montreal on March 31 2010 as part of the concert Les Mutations dynamiques. |
