“Artefact 2” for a Percussionist
“Artefact 2” is a piece for a bass drum performer. The drum: wood, natural skin, air within. Direct physical contact of the two bodies, skin to skin. Bringing it to resonance. Impact, contact, release. The percussionist: engagement of the body in its entirety. Breath, tension, movement of mental focus, interaction with ones own body. Gradually embodied concepts of music-making behavior into semi-choreographed actions, gestures and structures.
Internal Supervisors and External Advisors: Isabel Mundry and Jörn-Peter Hiekel (Zürcher Hochschule der Künste).
Faidra Chafta Douka
Composition
Faidra Chafta Douka (b. 1990 in Athens) is a composer based in Berlin. She studied composition and experimental music theater at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Hochschule für Musik Dresden and the Universität der Künste Berlin. Since 2019 she is a Doctoral candidate for artistic research at the Kunstuniversität in Graz and KHdK in Zürich, where she researches compositional methods starting from the body of the performer, the process of rehearsing, issues of notation as a visualization and expression of thought and the concept of ritual. Her artistic activity includes instrumental, music theatre and performance pieces often exploring process, repetition and the poetry deriving from the captured fictional frame of a live performance. In the recent years she focuses more on working in groups, as well as closely with performers creating the space for constant and immediate interaction and feedback.
Her pieces have been performed in workshops, festivals and other concerts among others by Ensemble Proton Bern, Ensemble Ascolta, Manufaktur für aktuelle Musik, Dissonart Ensemble, AuditivVokal Dresden, Dresdner Philharmonie and trio sostrenuto. She has held a scholarship from the Ad Infinitum Foundation (AIF) and the Deutschen Akademischen Austauschdienst (DAAD), as well as the Elsa-Neumann Stipendium des Landes Berlin, and she has been a resident artist at the Künstlerhof Schreyahn in Niedersachsen.
Manuel Alcaraz Clemente
Percussion
Manuel Alcaraz Clemente is a Spanish percussionist, specializing in the interpretation of contemporary music. He is mainly active as a soloist, chamber and ensemble musician, as well as an educator. Manuel is currently based in Graz, Austria.
As a soloist, his versatility ranges from playing classic contemporary music repertoire for percussion, to regularly working with young composers, who are recognized in the international contemporary music scene for the creation of new pieces and innovative interpretations.
Since 2016, he has been the percussionist of Ensemble Schallfeld (AT) and Noviga Projekto (PT/AT).
Besides his work in these formations, he freelances regularly with Contemporary Music Ensembles and Orchestras such as Klangforum Wien, Lucerne Festival Alumni, Ensemble PHACE, Ensemble Kontrapunkte, Recreation Grosses Orchester Graz and Munich Chamber Orchestra, among many others.
In addition, he has performed in several festivals including the Lucerne Festival (CH), Wien Modern (AT), Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik Darmstadt (DE), Klangspuren Schwaz (AT), Afekt Festival (EST), Impuls Festival and Steirischer Herbst (AT) and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (EN).
He offers regularly workshops and masterclasses for composers and percussionists in Universities all over Europe.
Manuel received his Bachelor Degree at ESMuC (Catalonia College of Music, Barcelona). In 2015, he completed his Master in solo performance at ESMAE (Oporto, Portugal). In January 2018 he completed the Master Program ‘PPCM (Practice and Performance of Contemporary Music)’, where he worked alongside the members of Klangforum Wien.
Since 2019 Manuel is Marimba One™ Educational Artist.
www.manuelalcarazclemente.com