Cologne-based composer Marcus Schmickler presents two recent works this evening, including the World Premiere of Fokker Bifurcations (2014), a new piece for piano/percussion ensemble Yarn/Wire. Marking a departure into microtonal works for keyboards and mallets, this score maintains the composer’s penchant for juxtaposed fixed pitches with pitch continua. Schmickler also presents the eight-channel computer music piece Copula E/Semiotic Chora (2014), the first of a series in which parallels between linguistics and sound become thematic, here through formalization of grammars.
Marcus Schmickler is a key figure in German experimental music. While rooted in electronic music, Schmickler has a background in contemporary composition, having also studied under the prominent Stockhausen collaborator Johannes Fritsch in Cologne. Since then has worked in the most diverse fields of composed and improvised music. Many of his works are informed by scientific subjects as well as methods. He has won numerous prizes and honours and is closely associated with the Cologne label a-Musik, as well as with Editions Mego and has released on Mille Plateaux and erstwhile records. As a composer along with his many works of electronic music, he works with the ensemble recherche, musikFabrik, Paragon Ensemble, Ensemble zeitkratzer and many more. As a musician he works with musicians such as John Tilbury, Thomas Lehn and MIMEO. His interest in forms of popmusic is reflected in his activity with the Pluramon project in which he collaborated and toured with Julee Cruise. His discography so far consists of over 50 titles, and he has been performing on the world’s stages and at international festivals for years. He also works as an author in the field of theatre, radio plays and film. Schmickler has been part of the faculty at Bard College in Music/Sound MFA program as well as being a guest faculty at Calarts in the first half of 2014.
Yarn/Wire is a chamber quartet specializing in the performance of 21st century music. A unique instrumental combination of two percussionists (Ian Antonio & Russell Greenberg) and two pianists (Laura Barger & Ning Yu) allows Yarn/Wire to interface with both traditional performance practice and emergent stylistic trends with ease. Founded in 2005, Yarn/Wire is admired for its "spellbinding virtuosity" (Time Out NY) and the energy and precision it brings to performances of today's most exciting music. Yarn/Wire were ISSUE Project Room Artist-In-Residence in 2012.
