FACE for voice and ensemble by Pierluigi Billone (2016, U.S. premiere)
Anna Clare Hauf, soprano
James Baker, conductor
"Face has a double meaning: light/star in Old Italian, and its typical English meaning. Both expressions 'Voice and ensemble' and 'Voice' must be clarified. The Voice – in a general sense – appears in all parts in different ways and according to a particular hierarchy. It deals with a main vocal part(the female voice) with two vocal satellites (Flute, special performer).
The solo voice has a rich, free and visionary part, with traces and accents of a pseudo old 'Greece tragic voice', a wide spectrum of spoken and sung moments, only inner vibrations, or instrumental like vibrations. The voice reaches its central moment of development by using only 'vocal acts': actions and gestures consisting of elemental body/voice acts of presence like 'belly – impulses', 'throat violent noises and vibrations' and so on."
— P. Billone
Born in 1960 in Italy, Pierluigi Billone lives in Vienna.
He studied composition with Salvatore Sciarrino and Helmut Lachenmann.
Billone’s music has been performed by relevant interpreters in festivals such as Wien Modern, Festival d’Automne Paris, Donaueschinger Musiktagen, Wittener Tagen für neue Kammermusik, Eclat-Stuttgart, Ultraschall-Berlin, Musica Viva München, TFNM Zürich, Ars Musica Bruxelles, Huddersfield NMF, World Music Days Wroclaw, Biennale Zagreb, Boston, New York, Monday Ev. Concerts Los Angeles, Bendigo Festival Sidney.
His works received international awards such as the Kompositionspreis der Stadt Stuttgart (Stuttgart 1993), the Busoni-Kompositionspreis (Academy of Arts Berlin 1996) the Wiener Internationaler Kompositionspreis (Vienna 2004), the Ernst-Krenek-Preis (Vienna 2006), and the Kompositionspreis der Ernst-von-Siemens-Musikstiftung (Munich 2010).
From 2006 to 2008 Billone has been guest professor for composition at the Music University Graz, in 2009 at the Music University of Frankfurt, and from 2010 until 2012 at the Music University Graz.
www.taleaensemble.org
