past news
22
Feb 2019
Press conference #jesuisnarcissiste
Presentation of our new opera buffa Je suis narcissiste at the Teatro Real. In this picture, from left to right: Helena Tornero (libretto), Raquel García-Tomás (composition), Joan Matabosch (artistic director-Teatro Real), Carme Portacelli (artistic director-Teatro Español) and Ignacio García-Belenguer (general director-Teatro Real). Not in this picture, but in the press conference: Marta Pazos (stage direction), Toni Marsol, Maria Hinojosa, Joan Ribalta and Elena Copons (cast)
©Javier del Real
02
Feb 2019
J.R. Olivé performs Chansons Trouvées in Stockholm, Lisbon and Köln
©Irene Serrat
Baritone Josep-Ramon Olivé and pianist Ian Tindale performed Chansons Trouvées at the Konserthuset Stockholm on the 2nd of February 2019, at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation on the 10th of Feb., and at the Kölner Philharmonie on the 17th of February.
This lied, which I composed especially for Josep-Ramon's Echo Rising Stars Tour, intends to seem a compendium of old songs which have been found -as its title in French suggests- after decades of being lost. The work combines many contrasting materials, which constantly change from one to another in a continuous musical flux. It explores the theatrical versatility of the baritone who, accompanied by a virtuoso piano language inspired by French Impressionism, sings in an invented language, the focus of which is in exploring the phonetic qualities of the syllables which create the textual discourse.
Click on the following links to know more about the past concerts in 2019 and 2018.
30
Jan 2019
PHACE - Austrian premiere of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
The Austrian premiere of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland -a work in collaboration with illustrator Ainhoa Sarabia (AKA Aisa)- will take place soon. The piece will be performed by the Ensemble PHACE in their concerts "Adventures in Wonderland", whose programme includes works by Alexander Schubert, Clara Iannotta and Olga Neuwirth among others.
Vienna
30. January 2019 // 19:30
Wiener Konzerthaus, Berio-Saal
PHACE Series 18/19 – N°2
08. Feb 2019 // 20:15
Hall i.T. / Musik+
Hall, Kurhaus
©AISA
26
Jan 2019
The Cosmos Quartet offers the German Premiere of Così mostraste a lei i vivi ardori miei in the Streichquartettfest of Heidelberg.
©Michal Novak
The Cosmos Quartet did the German Premiere of my last work for string quartet “così mostraste a lei i vivi ardori miei” in the Streichquartettfest of Heidelberg, on the 26th of January 2019.
They have included the piece in the following concerts:
16 August 2018 – V Festival de Música "Soria Clásica", Spain.
21 August 2018 – Quincena Musical de San Sebastián, Spain.
15 September 2018 – Gent Festival, Belgium.
26 January 2019 – Streichquartettfest, Heidelberg.
The work will be soon available on their new CD "Influences", edited by Seed Music, which will be released in the next weeks.
08
May 2018
Encuentros Sonoros 2017-18 (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)
On the 8th of May 2018, I participated at 'Encuentros Sonoros', showing some of my audiovisual works.
This happened at the Fine Arts Faculty of the Complutense University of Madrid.
25
Apr 2018
Sonido Extremo premieres Tiempo Suspendido at ENSEMS festival
Sonido Extremo ensemble offered a concert within the ENSEMS festival where they performed my new work Tiempo Suspendido – Estudio Sonomecánico nº 1 among others.
This work has been specially commissioned for this occasion and had its world premiere at the Palau de la Música de Valencia, on 25 April 2018.
14
Apr 2018
World Premiere of the monodrama Balena Blava at TNC (Barcelona)
Balena Blava had its world premiere on 14 April 2018 at Teatre Nacional de Catalunya (Sala Gran). This monodrama is a collaboration with writer Victoria Szpunberg and a co-commission by TNC and Esmuc.
The performance was given by actress Marta Angelat, conductor Edmon Colomer and the Esmuc Orchestra and Choir. The stage direction was in charge of Xavier Albertí.
Balena Blava had a further performance on 15 April.
12
Feb 2018
El Ojo Crítico awards
"El ojo crítico - Gala de entrega de los XVIII Premios El Ojo Crítico
Gala de entrega de los XVIII Premios El Ojo Crítico de RNE, que en esta ocasión han reconocido con su Premio Especial al director artístico del Teatro Real, Joan Matabosch. La gala ha estado presentada por el director de El ojo crítico, Luis Miguel Úbeda, y Luisa Segura Albert, copresentadora, y ha contado con las actuaciones de algunos de los galardonados. Junto a Matabosch, han recibido sus premios ocho jóvenes talentos en las distintas categorías. En Teatro ha sido premiado Kulunka Teatro; en Cine, la reciente ganadora del Goya a la mejor dirección novel, Carla Simón; en Danza, Alicia Amatriain; en Música Clásica, Raquel García-Tomás; en Poesía, Fernando del Val; en Narrativa, Aroa Moreno; en Música Moderna, Rosalía, y en Artes Plásticas, Paloma Polo."
Raquel receives the prize from Guillermo Pastrana and Eduardo Fernández's hands.
22
Nov 2017
Raquel is awarded the RNE's prize El Ojo Crítico de Música Clásica
"El Premio El Ojo Crítico de Música Clásica 2017 ha recaído en la compositora Raquel García-Tomás. El fallo del jurado hecho público este miércoles ha destacado "la originalidad de sus planteamientos y el uso y combinación del lenguaje compositivo". El galardón de Música Clásica es el cuarto de los premios que se da a conocer de esta XXVIII edición. […]
El jurado ha destacado "la originalidad de sus planteamientos y el uso y combinación del lenguaje compositivo con lenguajes tecnológicos y audiovisuales".
El jurado ha estado formado por Joan Matabosch, director del Teatro Real de Madrid; Teresa Catalán, compositora, Premio Nacional de Música 2017; Miguel Ángel Marín, director de actividades musicales de la Fundación Juan March; Eduardo Fernández García, pianista y premio El Ojo Crítico de Música Clásica 2016; Juanjo Guillem, percusionista titular de la Orquesta Nacional de España y del grupo Neopercusión; Alberto González Lapuente, colaborador de El ojo crítico de RNE; Carlos Sandúa, director de Radio Clásica; Luis Miguel Úbeda, director de El ojo crítico de RNE, y Berta Tapia, responsable del área de Cultura de los Servicios Informativos de RNE."
21
Nov 2017
World premiere of Pictures of the Floating World by Neopercusión and Xelo Giner
Neopercusión and Xelo Giner premiered Pictures on the Floating World, a multidisciplinary work for percussion duo, saxophone, electronics and video. The concert was on the 21st of November 2018 in Teatro Galileo (Madrid) within the concert season Ritmo Vital, organized by Neopercusión.
PROGRAM NOTES
Pictures of the Floating World es una obra multidisciplinar para dos percusionistas, saxofón, electrónica y vídeo inspirada en las “estampas del mundo flotante” (ukiyo-e), concretamente en el género shunga. Mediante la poesía sonora y visual, en esta obra se crean puentes estéticos y conceptuales entre el imaginario occidental y el del ukiyo-e, género artístico que describe un estilo de vida urbano de tipo hedonista que se desarrolló en Japón en el período Edo (siglos XVII i XIX).
14
July 2017
Presentation of Canciones de repente cuando ya estaba en la cama - World Premiere of Espiritual
On the 14 July, a bounch of musicians performed new songs composed after Canciones de repente cuando ya estaba en la cama, by artist Pere Ginard. This was on the presentation of his book, edited by Chiquita Ediciones.
"Canciones compuestas por varios artistas a partir de las letras y dibujos incluidos en el libro de Pere Ginard que se convirtió en disco de vinilo gracias a Chiquita Ediciones. La variedad de géneros y estilos de interpretación convierte la compilación en un ecléctico divertimento."
© Lydia Metral Ruiz
17
Jun 2017
5 channels installation liquid:speeches goes to Paris
5-channels installation liquid:speeches was adapted to monochannel version to be performed in La Obra, Bagnolet - Paris, in a concert within the SIRGA festival.
06
Apr 2016
tangible, this time performed by Lluïsa Espigolé at MIXTUR Festival
Pianist Lluïsa Espigolé performed tangible (for piano and electronics) in the concert that Ensemble DRAMA! offered in Mixtur Festival.
Lluïsa and Erica Wise performed works by other composers as Tomás Virgós, Iñigo Giner, Raf Mur Ros and Óscar Escudero.
© Itsaso Arizkuren
07
Dec 2016
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland goes to Madrid
Pianist Lluïsa Espigolé performed "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" at Fundación March – Madrid on 7 December 2016.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – for piano, tape and video-animation is a multidisciplinary work that is born out of the collaboration of composer Raquel García-Tomás and illustrator Ainhoa Sarabia.
Its creation has come from a very specific purpose: achieving an own audio-visual language that, on the one hand, relates the work with the cinematic context of the beginning of the XXth century and, on the other hand, counts on the current expressive and technical resources. All disciplines involved have been treated accordingly to such aesthetics: black and white illustration, intertitles within the video –as in silent movies–, a piano on stage which interacts in a extreme mimetic way with the projection and merges with the tape’s sonic microcosms, which make us travel more than a century ago… All of this has been done in this way to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the first publication of Lewis Carroll’s novel.
21
Sep 2016
logolepsy / lethologica was performed in Rosario, Argentina
My radiophonic work [logolepsy / lethologia] was premiered in Argentina at the Centre Català de Rosario. This work was commissioned by Catalunya Música and world premiered within the frame of the Art's Birthday 2016 (Euroradio Ars Acustica).
05
Jul 2016
World premiere of Büro für postidentisches Leben in the GREC Festival.
We had two wonderful performances of the Musiktheater piece Büro für postidentisches Leben in the GREC Festival, Barcelona, on the 5th and 6th of July 2016.
"Six young men and women - individualists, entrepreneurs, specialists and researchers - share an office. They are worried about their future. What options will be open to them, faced with new frontiers between nations, regions and societies, while other barriers have been overthrown without control due to the internet, networks and markets? What freedoms do individuals still enjoy? What has happened to the personal “I”? In this office everyone makes discoveries, invents dreams and examines depths in an amusing and poetic work with forays into philosophy and all too human weaknesses.
This will be an evening of musical theater reflecting Rebstock’s very personal and unique style of direction: tender, theatrical, humorous. Beethoven’s music (“Fidelio” and other pieces) provides the basis for the piece, with arrangements and new compositions and video-creation by Raquel Garcia-Tomás. The authors are award-winning Tilman Rammstedt and the well-known author and director Marc Rosich."
03
Jun 2016
World premiere of Mikroskop #1 at Fundació Miró, Barcelona
Mikroskop #1 was premiered within the concert Moulding Bass Clarinet, which took place at Fundació Miró as part of the Sampler Sèreies 2015-16.
Mikroskop #1 is an audio-visual work which is divided in five part that are inserted between the rest of the works of the concert 'Moulding Bass Clarinet'.
Raquel García-Tomás manipulated, transformed, reorganized and reinterpreted the recordings of the bass clarinet of Víctor de la Rosa with the aim of building a new work which explores the inaudible universe of the bass clarinet.
21
May 2016
World premiere of Blind Contours no.1 by the Oslo Sinfonietta at L'Auditori de Barcelona.
The Oslo Sinfonietta premiered my new work for ensemble, electronics and video Blind Contours no.1 tthe last 21st of May. Here an excerpt of an article by Bernat Puigtobella:
Blind Contours no.1, és una obra per a un conjunt de 16 músics, electrònica preenregistrada i vídeo-creació. “Blind contour és un terme que en anglès significa «contorn cec». S’usa per designar una tècnica d’il·lustració en què es dibuixa fixant la mirada exclusivament en l’objecte i no en el paper”, ens explica García-Tomás des de Londres, on resideix des de fa sis anys. “Es tracta d’una tècnica que normalment forma part del procés d’aprenentatge, ja que fa treballar la capacitat d’observació i evita la repetició de clixés sobre el paper. D’altra banda, és una tècnica que pot generar resultats expressius i fins i tot inesperats, i això fa que sigui un procés atractiu per als il·lustradors professionals”.
“L’obra Blind Contours no.1 s’inspira justament en la tècnica del contorn cec i en fa una aplicació al discurs musical”, ens diu García-Tomás, que ha construït aquesta peça a partir de l’enregistrament dels sons produïts amb un objecte tan quotidià com un bol de cuina metàl·lic. Aquest so, reestructurat en el temps i manipulat electrònicament és el pilar sobre el qual s’erigeix tot el discurs musical i audiovisual de l’obra. “Com si d’un“contorn cec” es tractés, el so provinent del bol, ple d’harmònics que salten dels uns als altres, dibuixa un recorregut sonor que, tot i haver estat manipulat i emmarcat en una estructura macroformal clara, no deixa de ser certament aleatori”, remata la compositora. L’ensemble i l’electrònica, coexisteixen en una obra de 13 minuts que es basa en l’evolució constant, gairebé imperceptible d’un so continu que viatja des del pianíssim més inaudible fins a un forte ple i robust, on l’ensemble, en aquest cas l’Oslo Sinfonietta, desplegarà tota la seva potència.
10
Apr 2016
Opening of the audiovisual installation liquid:speeches
The 5 channels' audiovisual installation liquid:speeches (2016) is going to have its opening on the 10th of April 2016 and it will remain until the end of June at L'Auditori de Barcelona (Foyer Sala 2).
This work has been done in collaboration with mezzo soprano Marta Valero and is a commission of the Sampler Series festival.
17
Jan 2016
World premiere of [logolepsy / lethologica] in Euroradio Ars Acustica
[logolepsy / lethologica] was world-premiered in Catalunya Música Radio Studios within the frame of the Art's Birthday 2016 (Euroradio Ars Acustica).
*This work has been commissioned by Catalunya Música Radio.
[logolepsy / lethologica]
Logolepsy
(n.) a fascination or obsession with words
Lethologica
(n.) the inability to remember a word or put your finger on the right word
[logolepsy / lethologica] is an acousmatic work inspired in the two concepts above defined. It explores the versatility of the human voice through the manipulation of a fragmented discourse and the incorporation of radiophonic and glitched sounds.
To listen [logolepsy / lethologica] click on this link and go to 01:33:15
08
Dec 2015
Conference on Gentrification in 21st-Century chamber opera
Raquel participated in the conference "Music on the Move: Sounds and New Mobilities" presenting her paper disPLACE: Gentrification in 21st-Century chamber opera.
This event was organized by CRAL/EHESS and the University of Cambridge and held on the 8 December 2015 in Paris.
14
Oct 2015
Invited composer of the Sampler Sèries 2015-16
Raquel García-Tomás has been chosen to be the invited composer of the Contemporary Music Festival “Sampler Sèries” (L’Auditori de Barcelona).
During this upcoming season, she will premiere a new five-channels audiovisual installation “liquid:speeches”, a new work for the Oslo Sinfonietta (for ensemble, electronics and video) and the video-creation “Mikroskop #1” which will be premiered within the project Moulding Bass Clarinet.
More information coming soon!
In this photo: Press conference with Santi Barguñó, Robert Brufau and Simon Steen-Andersen, 14 October 2015.