“I have never known a closeness like that”
Joris Beets (delta harp), Tim Ward (live electronics), Dora Panagopoulou (piano), Vassilis Tzavaras (guitar, loops) and Panos Kanellopoulos (mandolin) return to KET for an open musical encounter, where sounds are interwoven and deconstructed in real time.
Without predetermined rules, music is formed through interaction and listening. The instruments become voices in a living dialogue: Beets’ delta harp, an instrument that reinvents our relationship with the harp; Ward’s electronic treatments that transform sound into fluid textures; Panagopoulou’s piano, where elements of electroacoustic and improvisational music come together; Tzavaras’ guitar and loops, which create soundscapes; and Kanellopoulos’ mandolin, which seeks its role in this free conversation.
The exploration is collective. The musicians come together in a constantly changing field, where memory and the moment shape the outcome. Improvisation is not only a technique, but a way of being together, of listening and responding, of discovering our “together”, our “close”, our “within”.
The title of the concert refers to the work “Nox” by Anne Carson (New Directions Publishing, 2009).
Joris Beets – delta harp
Tim Ward – live electronics
Dora Panagopoulou – piano
Vassilis Tzavaras – guitar, loops
Panos Kanellopoulos – mandolin
● Joris Beets plays the harp and improvises. He is the designer and inventor of the Delta Harp, a musical instrument that redefines the way we perceive the harp. He is a member of the improvisational music ensemble Orchestra Elastique, performs frequently at improvised music venues in London and in recent years has spent his summers in Serifos, improvising with mandolinist Panos Kanellopoulos.
● Tim Ward is a sound artist with a background in electroacoustic music composition and live electronics. He is involved with a wide range of projects, most recently focusing on soundscapes, mapping and their relationship to electroacoustic composition. He is a member of the Medea Electronique collective as well as Spiza and teaches music at Deree College, Athens.
www.medeaelectronique.com/member-tim-ward
● Vassilis Tzavaras is a singer, composer, improviser and music educator, active in the Athens music scene since 1993 as a member of Occasional Dream, Take the money and run, Project 37, 4+1, The Storyville Ragtimers, and Dear Lou. He composes music for the theatre and has published seven solo albums.
● Dora Panagopoulou is a pianist and composer of acoustic music who has increasingly incorporated electronic elements in her music. Much of her recent compositional activity has been linked to Spiza, an artistic society bringing together diverse artists to work on common larger-scale projects. She has a keen interest in the intersection between compositional and educational work and teaches music at Pierce College.
● Panos Kanellopoulos studied the mandolin with Alison Stephens (London) and Vivi Geka (Athens). When he is not practicing, he is researching and teaching creative music education focusing on the possible conjectures between education, philosophy, political philosophy and creative music practices.