Composer and flutist Natacha Diels presents her new piece “Uncanny Valley,” performed by Ensemble Pamplemousse and Maria Stankova. “Uncanny Valley” is a monodrama exploring the region where robotic human replicas begin to emulate human characteristics too closely, causing revulsion in observers. The text, written by Dominique Ahkong, was inspired by the legend of Descartes' "daughter," Francine, and the story pursues the discovery and eventual destruction of this mechanical being.
Natacha Diels was born in Los Angeles in 1981 and spent most of her childhood in New Mexico. In 2002 Natacha founded the new music group Ensemble Pamplemousse (inc. 2004), with the purpose of commissioning and performing electroacoustic works for chamber ensemble. Her recent endeavors include collaboration with Jessie Marino in the performance duo On Structure (music + motion); flutist of Red Light New Music (virtuosic avant-garde chamber music); and Tall Brown Boots (improvisation with a theatrical edge). Natacha has participated as a performer and composer in new music and art festivals worldwide, including Ostrava Days, Soaring Gardens, Seedlot, Harold Arts, and summer school at STEIM. She is dedicated to helping others learn to incorporate technology and music, and has taught workshops at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; the Montessori School of Raleigh; the Upper Catskill Community Center for the Arts; and Hartwick College.
Composer/performer collective Ensemble Pamplemousse was founded in 2002 to provide a focal point for like-minded creators with a thirst for sonic exploration. The ensemble is a close-knit group of divergent artistic personalities, emergent from training in disparate musical fields. Their collective love for the exquisite in all sonic realms leads the ensemble to persistently discover new vistas of sound at the frayed edges of dissective instrumental performance technique. Compositions aggregate each member's unique virtuosic talents into extraordinary magical moments. In the flexible moments of performance, the ensemble weaves together shapes of resonance, clusters of glitch, skitters of hyper action, and masses of absurdity into impeccable structures of unified beauty.