Keywords: Balanyà in Austria.jpg Josep-Maria Balanyà Piano Improvisation Composition Sound Art Conducting Austria 2010-05-02 Josep-Maria Balanyà own work Josep-Maria Balanyà was born in Barcelona Catalonia Spain on July 25 2010 At an early age he began playing piano experimenting with percussion instruments and singing in a church choir At the end of the 70s he moved to Switzerland where he studied piano composition and arrangements at the Swiss Jazz School with Vince Benedetti Fritz Pauer and Joe Haider Axel Jungbluth y Mladen Gutesha He also studied musical psycho-pedagogy at the High Conservatory of Music and Theatre in Bern Afterwards he attended a series of composition workshops led by Helmut Lachenmann Walter Zimmermann and Ivan Fedele Nevertheless his career has driven him into the field of improvisation and performance During his stay in Switzerland he made several radio broadcastings and recordings and in between a CD that reveals his inflexion from Jazz to Contemporary Music Between 1987 and 1994 he spent long periods in Mexico also visiting Costa Rica Venezuela and New York where he met Borah Bergman During these trips he carried out a very intensive work in the research of sounds of nature working with oceanographers and biologists like mastozoologist Bernardo Villa In 1994 Balanyà met the musician and sound engineer Walter Quintus Cologne Germany and a fruitful collaboration was established between them in the field of music with live electronics In addition he has created and performed a theatre play with Mimi Barthélemy France 1992-1993 More and more his works reflect his interest not only for the pure sound of the piano especially prepared or manipulated for example CD Un peu à gauche svp Laika Recs 2007 but also for the research of sounds made with objects normally used in fine arts In the field of experimental acoustic art and performance he has written works for sculptures engraving tools and various objects prepared or created by him He has worked with artists like Pierre Wéber and Uwe Geest He also works with phonetic poets and with several multimedia artists He creates projects with dancers Elena Albert Butoh dance and conducts ensembles and orchestras using his system of conducted improvisation His catalogue enshrines 115 works He has published 14 CD In his projects musicians like Claudio Pontiggia Hans Koch Joachim Kühn Walter Quintus Michiel Borstlap Ksenija Lukić das Neue Ensemble Hannover Ana María Rodríguez Franziska Baumann Gabriele Hasler Américo Rodrigues Carles Hac-Mor and others have played Balanyà is the recipient of diverse grants Goethe Institut in Berlin 1996 and in Düsseldorf 2006 Land Niedersachsen Worpswede Germany 1997 Land Schleswig-Holstein Eckernförde Germany 1999 Fondazione Marguerite Arp Locarno Switzerland 2003 He has recorded his works in Radio Genève and Radio Televisione Svizzera Italiana Switzerland Radio Nacional de España Spain Radio Mexico DF Radio Guadalajara Mexico and Radio Bremen Germany among others He plays in prestigious festivals and concert seasons in many cities in Spain Germany Switzerland France Belgium Holland Ukraine Bulgaria Mexico Costa Rica Colombia Peru and Cuba Pianists from Catalonia Music in 2010 Jazz musicians from Spain May 2010 in Austria |