Matouš Hejl
kaleidoscope
instrumental & electronic
Berg Orchestra, 27.10.2017, Továrna, Prague
Slovo kaleidoskop měl v roce 1817 poprvé použít skotský fyzik David Brewster, některými zvaný “otec moderní experimentální optiky”. Pojem odvodil ze starořeckého καλός (kalos) - krásný, krása - εἶδος (eidos) - to co je viděno: forma, tvar - a σκοπέω (skopeō) - dívat se, zkoumat. Kaleidoskop lze tedy přeložit jako “pozorování krásných forem.”
kaleidoscope (live)
kaleidoscope (live)
anamnesis
instrumental & electronic
vln, vla, vlc, fl, cl, pno, perc, prerecorded electronics
Norbotten Neo
April 2016, Stockholm
"Anamnesis means remembrance or reminiscence, the collection and re-collection of what has been lost, forgotten, or effaced. It is therefore a matter of the very old, of what has made us who we are. But anamnesis is also a work that transforms its subject, always producing something new. To recollect the old, to produce the new: that is the task of Anamnesis."
anamnesis (live)
anamnesis (live)
score
bio
composer, sound artist
composer, sound artist
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Matouš Hejl (*1989) is an author of mostly instrumental and electronic music. He has also been partaking in various theater, dance and other performances as well as multimedia projects. Across his compositional practice, he is interested in algorithmic procedures and the aesthetic possibilities of speculative computation within a holistic musical context. He studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. |
works
2017
Kaleidoscope - forchamber ensemble and electronics, Berg Orchestra, Prague
Chyba - scenic music, new circus / physical theater, Vít Neznal a kol., Jatka78, Prague
Havel, music essay (German version) - hörspiel, Kurzstrecke 59, Deutschlandradio Kultur
Exponentional Joys - electro-acoustic, PremEdition, Czech Radio
2016
At Land, music for a silent movie - for chamber ensemble, Berg Orchestra, Prague
Anamnesis - for Pierrot ensemble and electronics, Norrbotten NEO, Stockholm
A Group of Four - for chamber ensemble, KammarensembleN, Stockholm
Is But a Symbol of the Place - for jazz orchestra and voice, Concept Art Orchestra, Prague
Exponential Joys - multichannel electro-acoustic composition, Audiorama, Stockholm
Překlepy a přehmaty - radioplay, directed by Katharina Schmitt, Czech Radio
Výš - scenic music, physical theater / new circus, tYhle, Alfred ve dvoře, Prague
2015
The Next Long Loop - for string quartet, augmented piano, triangles, FAMA Quartet, Prague
Recasting - for shakuhachi, cello quartet, bass and electronics, Prague Shakuhachi Festival
Václav Havel, music essay - hörspiel, PremEdition, Czech Radio
Lost in Munich - film music, feature film, dir. Petr Zelenka, Lucky Man Films production
Mimo Provoz - scenic music, new circus, dir. Vít Neznal, Jatka78, Prague
Husí krky - scenic music, new circus, dir. Radim Vizváry, Cirkus TeTy, Jatka78, Prague
Vodník - scenic music, contemporary dance, dir. Monika Částková, Divadlo Ponec, Prague
2014
A Me. - electro opera / physical theater, with Ondřej Buddeus and Radim Vizváry
Tranzit Display Prague
Sine Pulses - for 12 musicians, Benedictine monastery at Bílá hora, Prague
Third Lie - scenic music, monodrama, dir. Aleš Čermák, Meetfactory, Prague
Folk You - scenic music,pantomime, dir. Radim Vizváry, Mime Prague, Prague
O tom se nemluví - scenic music, physical theater, dir. Radim Vizváry, Roxy/NOD, Prague
Slyším zvuky - audio-visual installation, with Martin Blažíček, GAMU, Prague
2013
Untitled - voice and live electronics, Stará čistírna museum, Prague
Solar Spaces - electro-acoustic, Museum Night 2013, GAMU, Prague
Moonlight Quartet -
Soudné sestry - scenic music, theater, dir. Mikoláš Tyc, Southern-Czech Theatre
Bardo - cello with live electronics, in a dance performance, Divadlo Ponec, Prague
2012
Klavierstück (Ruka), for piano, Martinů Hall, Prague
Princezna - film music, contemporary dance video, dir. Palo Kršiak
Allegeance - visual poem, with Tomáš Nečas (Garcy), UMPRUM, Prague
“Only the future exists” - electronic, Prague Writers Festival 2012
2011
Silence Dreams of Voices - song for tenor and piano, Berklee Recital Hall, Boston
Malí, velcí - scenic music, authorial play, Studio DAMÚZA, Prague
selected performancess
2017
Plastics and Vibrations - improvised, piano and bass, with Vilhelm Bromander, KMH, Stockholm
15pm - multichannel electronic set, GAMU, Prague
2015
Václav Havel, music essay - Ostrava Days, mini-marathon of electronic music
Baroque Revisited - Art's Birthday, live broadcast, Czech Radio
2014
Mladí ladí jazz 2014 - solo piano recital, opening act for Hiromi Uehara, Prague Crossroad
Why Don't You Waltz About It? - solo piano recital, Galerie HAMU
Prague Shakuhachi Festival - shakuhachi + live electronics
Situace - live electronics, together with Martin Blažíček, GAMU
2013
Patt & Hejl in Prague - series of concerts with Zack Nestel-Patt, original music
Crime and Punishment - dance performance, NANOHACH association, performances in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novgorod, Prague
Samé vody - improvised theater, 2006 - 2013
Berklee Men’s Gospel Choir - keyboards, 2011
Wunderbar Band (2006 - 2010) and (2006 - now)
occasionally performs as a soloist (piano, organ, electronics), accompanist or with various groups at ceremonies, beneficial events, and other occasions
writings and lectures
2017
Technics & Music, some remarks on the process of exteriorization in music - master thesis
2015
Solenoidofon - chapter in an article by a collective of authors, (To Touch The Sound) Opus musicum
Karlheinz Stockhausen & The Beatles - bachelor thesis
2014
Studio as a Musical Instrument (Stockhausen & The Beatles), - public lectures Ferenc Futurista, Černošice
recognitions
Czech Film and TV Academy Award for Best Music nominee
Lost in Munich, 2016
Generace 2016, Association of Musical Artists and Scientists 1st Prize
The Next Long Loop, 2016
Karel Krautgartner Contest for Best Jazz Orchestra Composition, Concept Art Orchestra in association with the Czech Radio
Is But a Symbol of the Place, 2016
a group of four
instrumental
cl, ob, vln i, vln ii, vla, vlc, cb, pno, perc
KammarensembleN
April 2016, Stockhom
"A note about Vollmer. He no longer describes the earth as a library globe or a map that has come alive, as a cosmic eye staring into deep space. This last was his most ambitious fling at imagery. The war has changed the way he sees the earth. The earth is land and water, the dwelling place of mortal men, in elevated dictionary terms. He doesn’t see it anymore (storm-spiraled, sea-bright, breathing heat and haze and color) as an occasion for picturesque language, for easeful play or speculation."
Don DeLillo, Human Moments in World War III
a group of four (live)
a group of four (live)
exponential joys
electronic
generative
exponential joys
exponential joys
is but a symbol of the place
big band & voice
big band & voice
a song
music: Matouš Hejl
lyrics: Olga Pek, Matouš Hejl
winner of the Karel Krautgartner Contest for The Best Jazz Orchestra Composition
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The piece is inspired by Emily Dickinson's poetry and photographs by Francesca Woodman. Selected Woodman's pictures formed the song's storyboard and fragments of Dickinson's poetry were reorganized to create the majority of the lyrics. Their initial material was chosen from a set of phrases found in Dickinson's anthology containing specific words such as the word "is". In a similar but much more loose fashion, the music also reshapes fragments from other sources, particularly from Iannis Xenakis, while for other parts, deterministic algorithms were used as a part of the compositional process. |
is but a symbol of the place
is but a symbol of the place
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Is But A Symbol Of The Place Introduction Is but a symbol of the place Is but a symbol of the place Is made a secret to unfold
Verse 1 And this is how the heart's mine bursts open:
Chorus 1 Moving am a point, Curve by curve, sweep by sweep (Like a child of repetition, |
Verse 2 Halts me mid-motion, pops words fed into me like coins,
Chorus 2 Moving am a point, Curve by curve, sweep by sweep (Like a child of repetition,
Pre Coda It's what you cannot reach adored with caution-
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dates
Hejl, Rataj, Tichý, Žárský Q
MATOUŠ HEJL amplified piano
MARTIN ŽÁRSKÝ electric guitar
PETR TICHÝ bass
MICHAL RATAJ live electronics
31.5. Atrium Žižkov, Prague, Czech Republic
31.5. 2018 Hejl, Rataj, Tichý, Žárský Q
improvisation, jazz, drone, noise
MATOUŠ HEJL amplified piano
MARTIN ŽÁRSKÝ electric guitar
PETR TICHÝ bass
MICHAL RATAJ live electronics
Atrium Žižkov, Prague, Czech Republic
past
2018
| 4.4. | So klingt die Gegenwart! |
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Dimmor i Stockholm (piano), Untitled#2 (electronic), Hejl, Tichý, Žárský Trio
Czech Embassy in Berlin, Berlin, Germany |
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| 25.3. | Vážný zájem - Matouš Hejl |
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Dimmor i Stockholm (piano), Untitled#2 (electronic), Hejl, Rataj, Tichý, Žárský Q
Střecha Lucerny, Prague, Czech Republic |
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| 25.2. | Zápisky z volných chvil, premier |
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alternative theater, DISK Theater, Prague, Czech Republic |
2017
| 16.10. | Kaleidoscope, premier |
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Orchestr Berg, 19:30, Továrna, Prague, Czech Republic |
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| 12.10. | Matouš Hejl & Martin Žárský |
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augemented piano and guitar experimental improvisation Atrium Žižkov, Prague |
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| 18.9. | Chyba, premier |
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physical theater / new circus Vít Neznal & kolektiv, Jatka87, Prague, Czech Republic |
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| 28.8. | anamnesis |
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Ostrava Days of New Music, 18:00, Triple Hall Karolina, Ostrava, Czech Republic |
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| 27.4. | Plastics & Vibrations |
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improvised prepared piano set with Vilhelm Bromander - bass Lilla Salen, KMH, Stockholm |
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| 27.2., 10.3. | Havel, music essay, German version |
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Deutschlandradio Kultur Kurzstrecke 59 |
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| 27.1. | Exponential Joys, premiere of a new electronic composition |
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Czech Radio Premedice |
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| 15.1. | Gallery AMU |
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15pm, multichannel electronic set |
2016
| 9., 10.10. | At Land, music for a silent movie |
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Berg Orchestra, Spanish Synagogue Prague |
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| 15.11. | Překlepy a přehmaty |
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Radio Vltava, radioplay premiere |
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| 21.4. | Is But a Symbol of the Place |
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premiere, Concept Art Orchestra, Jazz Dock, Prague |
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14.4. |
Exponential Joys, Audiorama, Stockholm |
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12.4. |
A Group of Four, KammarensebleN, Stockholm |
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6.4 |
Anamnesis, Norbotten NEO, Stockholm |
2016
at land
music for a silent movie
music for a silent movie by Maya Deren
Performed by the Berg Orchestra in the Spanish Synagogue in Prague, October 2016.
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at land
at land
sine pulses
instrumental
instrumental drone
fl, cl, cl / b.cl, hn, vib, perc, vln i, vln ii, vla i, vla ii, vlc i, cb
October 2014, Prague
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sine wave modulated poisson distribution
"So then, what is there outside of knowledge? I do not know, might as well cal it other. This other that science rejects, that it doesn't know or doesn't wish to know, that it will perhaps know one day - but what difference does it make? - this other known elsewhere as either disorder or chaos or chance - but what difference does its name make?" Michel Serres, Genesis |
sine pulses (live)
sine pulses (live)
score
václav havel, musikaufsatz
hörspiel
hörspiel
produced for Deutschlandradio Kultur - Kurzstrecke 59, 27.2.2017
based on a Czech/English version premiered at the Czech Radio Vltava
1. T H E A L P H A B E T O F M O D E R N S O C I E T Y -- O F M O D E R N M A N (from Anticodes)
2. „Once
you’re here, however, whether you want to or not, you have to ask the
question: does all of this have a meaning, and if so, what?
What, in
fact, is man responsible to? What does he relate to? What is the final
horizon of his actions?
What is the thing- he incessantly inquires after
What is the thing- toward which his actions are directed
What is the thing- he can trust in and strive for
And likewise, what is the most important witness or the secret sharer in his daily conversations with himself (- regardless of what situation he has been thrown into)
„Once you’re here, however, whether you want
to or not, you have to ask the question: does all of this have a
meaning, and if so, what?
Ultimately, I can only find an answer – a
positive answer – within myself, in my general faith in the meaning of
things, in my hope.
(from Letters to Olga)
3. S W E E T D R E A M S
Don't cry
Eat
Drink
Pee
Speak
Walk
Don't be naughty
Learn
Don't fight
Don't lie
Be ashamed
Work
Don't party
Love
Get married
Make money
Don't drink
Bring up
Don't fuck yourself up
Be of use
Eliminate
Retract
Confess
Don't be in the way
Leave
Wash yourself
Don't mumble
Pee
Drink
Eat
Don't cry
S W E E T D R E A M S
(from Anticodes)
4. Václav Havel - radio interview
5.Our greengrocer's attempt to live within the truth may be confined to not doing certain things. The greengrocer may begin to do something concrete, (something that goes beyond an immediately personal self-defensive reaction against manipulation,) something that will manifest his newfound sense of higher responsibility.
By breaking the rules of the game, he has disrupted the game as such. He has exposed it as a mere game. He has shattered the world of appearances, the fundamental pillar of the system. He has demonstrated that living a lie is living a lie. He has enabled everyone to peer behind the curtain. He has shown everyone that it is possible to live within the truth.(from the Power of the Powerless)
6. B A R R I E R
slova já slova ty já já slova ty ty
(I - words - you) (from Anticodes)
7.„I’ve
run away. I’ve run away to Hrádeček. I’m here alone and I feel uneasy.
Everything reminds me of the decades I’ve been through in this place. I
like it here. It’s my refuge, my existential home, but again and again I
realize there’s no going back, and that by now I’m not the same person I
was when I wrote my plays, prepared my experimental meals, threw
light-hearted parties, and organized secret dissident meetings. I’m
older, sicker, wearier.“
(diary entry)
8. N I C
N I C (nothing)
N I C
N I C
N Ě C (thing)
N Ě C O (something)
N Ě C O
N Ě K O (some)
N Ě K O
N Ě K O D
N Ě K D O (someone)
N Ě K D O
N Ě K O D
N Ě K O (some)
N Ě K O
N Ě C O (something)
N Ě C O
N Ě C (thing)
N Ě C
N I C (nothing)
N I C
N I C
N I C
the next long loop
string quartet, augmented piano
(augmented) pno, vln i, ii, vla, vlc, (augmented) triangles, solenoidofon
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A comet the size of a small mountain whizzed past Mars on Sunday October 19th 2014, dazzling space enthusiasts with the once-in-a-million-years encounter. The comet, known as Siding Spring (C/2013 A1), made its closest encounter with Mars on Sunday at 2:27 p.m. E.D.T. Before the comet passed, it could be seen in space racing toward the brightly illuminated Red Planet, trailed by a cloud of debris. Scientists said the comet’s passing offered a unique chance to study its impact on Mars’s atmosphere. “What could be more exciting than to have a whopper of an external influence like a comet, just so we can see how atmospheres do respond?” said Nick Schneider, the remote sensing team leader from NASA’s Maven mission to Mars. “It’s a great learning opportunity.” The comet, which is around one mile wide and is only about as solid as a pile of talcum powder, has traveled more than one million years to make its first pass by Mars, and will not return for another million years, after it completes its next long loop around the sun. Its flyby of Mars is not likely to be visible to sky watchers on Earth. |
the next long loop (live)
the next long loop (live)
Solenoidofon is a DIY instrument meant to expand the concept of augmented piano to augmented anything - it was designed primarily to perform a kind of granular synthesis on any sounding body. With a good tuning each of the solenoids can hit up to around 77 times per second. It was developed as a part of the Sensors as musical instruments research project at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
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(solenoidofon, photo: Michal Rataj)