Night Music Tour Announcement!

We are pleased to announce our June tour, "NATTMUSIK, en ljud- och naturresa under midnattsolen" is confirmed!! (...for all of you English speakers out there, it's called "Night Music, a sound and nature journey under the midnight sun") Thanks to all of our sponsors for helping us make this happen! Let's spread the word!!!

Join Ensemble Evolution and friends as they unite the serene natural landscape of Northern Sweden with exciting and imaginative percussive and melodious sounds. Occurring at unique venues, the group will create new music inside and outside, surrounded by nature and under the Midnight Sun.

Musical collaborators include Anna Larson (soprano - see information under "biography" tab), Angela Occhionero (see biography below), Henrik Wiman (our fantastic intern, and percussionist studying at Framnas Folkhogskolan), and Mikko Savela. 

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STORFORSEN 

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On June 7, Ensemble Evolution presents their first concert of the NATTMUSIK tour. The event begins at 21:00 at Hotel Storforsen’s idyllic Chapel. The group will perform a variety of works for percussion, clarinet, and voice inviting the audience into an intimate and enchanted environment. Following the indoor concert, journey outdoors with the musicians as they perform a large work under the midnight sun, accompanied by the powerful sounds of the rapids and natural resonances of the land. (Click here for the hotel's website)

 

PITEÅ

Badhusparken

To express their appreciation to the members of the Piteå community, Ensemble Evolution presents a special farewell concert to their home for the past two years. Beginning at 21:00 on June 8, at the Badhusparken Amphitheatre, the group will present a concert of exciting works, bridging classical, contemporary and jazz music. The concert will conclude with a large work in which the audience and surroundings become a part of the music. The musicians will spread out throughout the park and unite their music with the natural noises of the environment. (click here for more about the park and explore pitea.se for more about our town!

 

LULEÅ 
Dedicated to the creation of new music and innovative experiences, Ensemble Evolution and Kluster present a concert of self-composed and improvised music for percussion, clarinet, voice, nature, and guitar. Held at the “Lillan” in Luleå on June 9, at 19:00, the percussion trio welcomes guest artists Anna Larson, Angela Occhionero, and Mikko Savela. (click here for more about Kluster, our partner for this event

 

TREEHOTEL (click here to book a ticket for the concert and a tour of the amazing hotel!

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Bringing the awe-inspiring designs of the Treehotel to life through sound, join international percussion group Ensemble Evolution on an exciting musical journey. Joined by Anna Larson (soprano) and Angela Occhionero (clarinet), the group will create and perform new music composed especially for, and dedicated to each of the six structures at the Treehotel. This unique and unforgettable experience, occurring under the midnight sun, will unite untouched nature and stunning visual design with imaginative percussive and melodious sounds. The concert will begin at 23.00, and a tour will be offered beforehand. Also book a buffet dinner if you like! 

 

Welcome to Sweden, Angela! 

Angela_occhionero

Angela Occhionero is an active clarinetist and music educator in New York City. She has recently enjoyed performing with The International Opera Theatre Company, The Mobile Symphony Orchestra, and The Point Chamber Orchestra. Just last month she premiered a new work by American composer Seth Bedford entitled "Concertino for Clarinet and Orchestra" with The Chelsea Symphony of Manhattan, and will be a Fellow at the distinguished Perlman Music Program this summer.

Suomi

We've lived in Sweden for 2-3 years, and our Swedish is "bra" (good)...but if you drive just a few hours north and cross the border, we are once again dazed and confused foreigners in a land of multiple consonants and vowels, and entertaining inflection! 

Over the weekend we visited our neighboring country for the first time (Finland! "Suomi" in Finnish) We drove 10 hours to teach and perform at the Palmgren Conservatory in Pori. We've been in touch with our good friend, Toni Hietala, since our festival (he drove his students all the way over here, so we wanted to return the favor!) We had a great time with Toni and his students, and are happy that we could arrange the collaboration! 

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Here are a few videos from the gig! 

 

a thunder sheet and a bucket of water in the Baltic

Yesterday we premiered eight new pieces for percussion trio at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in Vilnius. As one of the two resident ensembles at a festival called The Process, young composers were able to try out some new ideas and sounds using us as their guinea pigs. It was quite fun to see what each composer came up with, and even more fun to try to figure out the concert logistically: none of the set-ups were the same, and with just three of us it was quite a feat to make the concert cohesive! It was great to experience a new city and meet some new people. Hard work becomes a little more tolerable when you are surrounded by energy, music...and free food :) 

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Trees and Drums

Bringing the awe-inspiring designs of The Treehotel to life through sound

 Join Ensemble Evolution as they create and perform new music composed and dedicated to each of the 6 structures at The Treehotel. This unique and unforgettable experience, occurring under the midnight sun, will unite untouched nature and stunning visual design with imaginative percussive and melodious sounds.

June 10, 2012
The musical journey begins at 11pm 

More info: www.treehotel.se

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Aussie Tour Week 2

The second week of our trip consisted of educational workshops and concerts at Canberra Grammar School and Australia National University. It was a rewarding week in regard to community outreach and exciting collaborations! We've never seen hundreds of young school boys so quiet and engaged, and working with the students and guest Thai ensemble at ANU was fantastic! Not to mention...we had two days at the beach to relax before heading back to the Northern Hemisphere! 

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Our concert at ANU was reviewed by The Canberra Jazz Blog

When discussing our pieces, he writes

"I could hear the representations in each tune. The Taxi was groove-based and rolling and lively with what sounded to be jazz-like improvisations over a repeating chord structure. The Lights were meditative, mystical, gently polyrhythmic and rich with tones like swelling cymbals and bowed metals. The band practices were endless and repeating, sometimes quiet and slow and searching, other times excited and confident. All spot on. The sounds were the thud of timber from the marimba, then ringing metal of the vibes, the crashes of cymbals and the drone of electronics. Attractive and so accessible that I wondered if it was radio-ready."