Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri
Greek composer born in 1974 in Ptolemaida.
Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri was trained in rhythmic gymnastics at a young age, an experience that she says introduced her to the idea of synchronizing movement, objects, and space. After an accident, she turned her attention to music. At the age of 20, she went to London to study and became interested in improvisation. She collaborated there with, among others, the band AMM and Eddie Prévost between 1999 and 2009. She continued her studies in music and composition at Goldsmiths College, London, and then at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. In 2008, she defended her doctorate at the University of California, San Diego. From there she embarked upon a long and prolific collaboration with the Swiss artist Pe Lang. In 2016, she joined Cornell University, New York, as Assistant Professor of Composition and Sound Art.
Papalexandri-Alexandri has been honored with several residencies, notably at the Elektronmusikstudion (EMS) in Stockholm in 2008 and at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart in 2011-2012. In 2017, she was sound-artist-in-residence at the International Artists’ House Villa Concordia in Bamberg, Germany, and at St John’s College, University of Oxford. In 2019, she was nominated for a residency with the International Instrument Inventors in The Hague, Netherlands.
Her works have been commissioned and premiered by Neue Vocalsolisten, Klangforum Wien, Ensemble SurPlus, Ensemble Mosaik, Curious Chamber Players, Yarn/Wire, Ensemble Dal Niente, Scenatet, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Wet Ink Ensemble, Quartet New Generation, the London Improvisers Orchestra, the Hellenic Ensemble of Contemporary Music, dissonArt ensemble, Karin Hellqvist, Ross Karre, Steven Schick, Justin DeHart, Rhodri Davies, Ernst Surberg, Erik Drescher, and Séverine Ballon, and performed at such festivals as ISCM World Music Days in Stuttgart, Ultraschall, ZK/U (Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik), impuls in Graz, Archipel, ECLAT Festival Stuttgart, Darmstadt, Gaudeamus Festival, ISSUE Project Room in New York, Wien Modern, and MATA in New York. Her piece chesSound (2014) was commissioned and developed in collaboration with the chess grandmaster Vera Nebolsina.
Papalexandri-Alexandri’s work lies at the crossroads of composition, sound art, visual arts, and performance, as she searches for elements that link these art forms. She also explores the possibilities of sounds generated through performers or motorized objects. She is economical with her resources, but nonetheless attaches a significance to the visual, using apparently simple devices to hide the complex mechanisms behind her compositions. For example, Speaking of membranes (2014), commissioned for the Chapelle Saint-Joseph in Montfort-sur-Meu, employs 136 loudspeakers that generate a complex body of sound evoking rainfall. Many of her minimalist kinetic and sound installations were conceived in collaboration with Lang, including Solo for Motors and Wind Resonators (2019), Contact Points (2018), Distanz (2017-2018), Sound Sculpture I, II,III (2015), Operator (2010), Reciprocal (2008), and Warten (2008).
Prizes and awards
- Ernst Von Siemens Foundation Commission, 2016
- Berlin Senate Sound Art Grant, 2016
- Swedish Arts Council Composition Grant, 2015, 2016
- Humboldt-University of Berlin: Cluster of Excellence International Fellowship, 2015
- Berlin Senate Composition Grant, 2011
- International impuls Composition Award, 2009
- Dan David Prize for Contemporary Music, 2007
- Darmstadt Stipendienpreis, 2006
- Erickson Composition Fellowship, 2004
- Kurt Weill Composition Fellowship, 2004
- Gluck Art Fellowship, 2004
© Ircam-Centre Pompidou, 2021
Sources
Cornell University, Jegens & Tevens.
- Solo (excluding voice)
- Between for prepared harp solo (2001), 7 mn
- Cold Hands for solo prepared piano (2001), 10 mn
- The Poet for double bass (2001)
- N 45 immense for percussion and everyday objects (2002), 9 mn
- 20% for trombonist and stage lighting (2004), 10 mn
- b as I eye us be for double bassist and imaginary performer (2005), 6 mn
- Warten for percussion, sound machines and objects (2008), 8 mn
- Untitled II solo for sound object (2009), 13 mn
- Untitled III performance / installation for prepared piano and sound devices (2011), 10 mn
- Solo for Motors and Resonant Body for piano (2012), 12 mn
- Solo for Motors and Strings (2016), 7 mn
- Chamber music
- gaze for bass clarinet, violin, guitar and prepared piano (2000), 7 mn
- stage The letter musical theater for six instrumentalists (2002)
- Still Life for recorder quartet (2003), 8 mn
- Low Air performance/installation for two trumpets, trombone and bass trombone (2004), 12 mn
- elec No Name performance/installation for pianist, trombonist, table and tape (2004), 10 mn
- Models for prepared bass flute, violin, percussion (objects) and piano (2006), 9 mn
- Kein Thema trio for ceramic bowls, marbles, handkerchiefs and Chinese wood-blocks (2007)
- Yarn for prepared flute, piano, percussion, two violins, viola and cello (2008), 15 mn
- Untitled I for prepared bass, alto flute and sound device (2009), 15 mn
- Untitled IV for prepared recorder quartet and mechanical sound device (2011-2012)
- Quartet for Motors and Resonant Body for prepared piano, percussion and sound devices (2013), 15 mn
- Instrumental ensemble music
- Reciprocal for eleven instrumentalists and sound machines / devices (2008), 17 mn
- Operator for nine instrumentalists and sound machine-devices (2010), 14 mn
- Generator/Operator sound composition for an animated film by Andrea Schneider (2019)
- A cappella vocal music
- Untitled VI for three male voices, sound objects and motors (2014), 10 mn
- Electronic music / fixed media / mechanical musical instruments
- Sta Skalia sound installation (2003)
- Untitled II sound sculpture - installation (2010)
- Connector sound sculpture - installation (2011)
- Extensions sound installation adapted to a site (2012)
- Solo for Motor, Wood and Sand Paper sound sculpture (2013)
- Sound Object I sound sculpture (2013)
- Untitled V sound sculpture (2013)
- Speaking of Membranes kinetic sound sculpture (2014)
- Sound Sculpture I, II, III (2015)
- Duo for Motors and Sound Panels (2016), 7 mn
- modular | nº 2 sound sculpture (2017)
- Solo for Motor, Serpent and Brain Model sound installation (2017)
- Contact trio for prepared motors, prepared foam board and 100 glass pins (2018)
- Contact Points kinetic sound installation, adapted to a site (2018)
- Distanz performative kinetic sound sculpture (2017-2018)
- Solo for Motors and Wind Resonators performative sound installation (2019)
- Untitled | nº 7 kinetic sound sculpture (2019)
- Unspecified instrumentation
- stage 'Me' performance for solo dancer (2002), 12 mn
- Tea Pot sound installation (2002)
- Three visual, sound and performance pieces (2002)
- stage As we close their eyes concept / sound design and installation for dance production (2006), 55 mn
- elec Kita interactive audiovisual installation (2007)
- Confession for sound object (2013)
- elec chesSound sound and video performance, for prepared chess (2014)
- Square sound composition adapted to a site (2019)
- 2019
- Generator/Operator sound composition for an animated film by Andrea Schneider
- Solo for Motors and Wind Resonators performative sound installation
- Square sound composition adapted to a site
- Untitled | nº 7 kinetic sound sculpture
- 2018
- Contact trio for prepared motors, prepared foam board and 100 glass pins
- Contact Points kinetic sound installation, adapted to a site
- Distanz performative kinetic sound sculpture
- 2017
- Solo for Motor, Serpent and Brain Model sound installation
- modular | nº 2 sound sculpture
- 2016
- 2015
- 2014
- Speaking of Membranes kinetic sound sculpture
- Untitled VI for three male voices, sound objects and motors, 10 mn
- elec chesSound sound and video performance, for prepared chess
- 2013
- Confession for sound object
- Quartet for Motors and Resonant Body for prepared piano, percussion and sound devices, 15 mn
- Solo for Motor, Wood and Sand Paper sound sculpture
- Sound Object I sound sculpture
- Untitled V sound sculpture
- 2012
- Extensions sound installation adapted to a site
- Solo for Motors and Resonant Body for piano, 12 mn
- Untitled IV for prepared recorder quartet and mechanical sound device
- 2011
- Connector sound sculpture - installation
- Untitled III performance / installation for prepared piano and sound devices, 10 mn
- 2010
- Operator for nine instrumentalists and sound machine-devices, 14 mn
- Untitled II sound sculpture - installation
- 2009
- Untitled I for prepared bass, alto flute and sound device, 15 mn
- Untitled II solo for sound object, 13 mn
- 2008
- Reciprocal for eleven instrumentalists and sound machines / devices, 17 mn
- Warten for percussion, sound machines and objects, 8 mn
- Yarn for prepared flute, piano, percussion, two violins, viola and cello, 15 mn
- 2007
- Kein Thema trio for ceramic bowls, marbles, handkerchiefs and Chinese wood-blocks
- elec Kita interactive audiovisual installation
- 2006
- stage As we close their eyes concept / sound design and installation for dance production, 55 mn
- Models for prepared bass flute, violin, percussion (objects) and piano, 9 mn
- 2005
- b as I eye us be for double bassist and imaginary performer, 6 mn
- 2004
- 2003
- Sta Skalia sound installation
- Still Life for recorder quartet, 8 mn
- 2002
- stage 'Me' performance for solo dancer, 12 mn
- N 45 immense for percussion and everyday objects, 9 mn
- Tea Pot sound installation
- stage The letter musical theater for six instrumentalists
- Three visual, sound and performance pieces
- 2001
- Between for prepared harp solo, 7 mn
- Cold Hands for solo prepared piano, 10 mn
- The Poet for double bass
- 2000
- gaze for bass clarinet, violin, guitar and prepared piano, 7 mn
Liens Internet
- Site de la compositrice : www.marianthi.net
- Cornell University : www.music.cornell.edu
- Entretien avec Cathleen Owens pour Jegens & Tevens, 2019, à lire ici.
(liens vérifiés en avril 2022).
Bibliographie
- Anthonia CARTER, Marianthi PAPALEXANDRI-ALEXANDRI, Guy HOFFMAN, « Lessons From Joint Improvisation Workshops for Musicians and Robotics Engineers », Frontiers in Robotics and AI vol. 7, février 2021.
Discographie
- Marianthi PAPALEXANDRI-ALEXANDRI, Reciprocal, dans « Secret Thirteen Mix 046 », 1 CD Secret Thirteen Journal, 2012, STJ 046.
- Marianthi PAPALEXANDRI-ALEXANDRI, Still Life, QNG Quartet New Generation, dans « etheReal », 1 CD edition zeitklang, 2006, ez-24026.
- Marianthi PAPALEXANDRI-ALEXANDRI, Gaze, Black Jackets Company, dans « Chamber Music From Flanders - Kamermuziek Uit Vlaanderen - Musique De Chambre De Flandres », 1 CD Flanders Music Centre, 2003, FMC 2003-01.