instrumental & electronic
2017
chamber ensemble with electronics
fl, cl, hn, 2x perc, hp, 3x vln, 2x vla, 2x vlc, cb, sampler
Berg Orchestra, 27.10.2017, Továrna, Prague
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."
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 film, theater, dance and other performances as well as multimedia projects. He studied at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and Berklee College of Music in Boston. Recognitions of his work include the 2nd place in the Czech Philharmonics Composition Competition (2018), Trochu nižší C4 (2018), a contemporary music award, Karel Krautgartner Prize for the Best Composition for Jazz Orchestra (2016) or nomination for the Czech Lion for the Best Music (2016). |
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
electronic
generative
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 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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Jozef van Wissem in Soulkostel
w. Hans Brusee and Veronika Svobodová
15.2., Soulkostel, Vernéřovice, Czech Republic
Jozef van Wissem in Soulkostel
opening act w. Hans Brusee (NE) and Veronika Svobodová (CZ)
15.2. 19:30, Soulkostel, Vernéřovice, Czech Republic
selected past
2019
17.1. | Mraky |
Hejl, Tichý, Žárský Trio Art's Birthday, Prague, Czech Republic / Czech Radio live broadcast |
2018
23.10. | Kaleidoscope |
Berg Orchestra, Olomouc, Czech Republic
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12.7. | Hejl, Tichý, Stachelhaus, Žárský Q Válclav Havel, Music Essay |
Der Leipziger Hörspielsommer, Leipzig, Germany
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31.5. | Hejl, Rataj, Tichý, Žárský Q |
Atrium Žižkov, Prague, Czech Republic
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4.4. | So klingt die Gegenwart! |
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 |
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 |
alternative theater, DISK Theater, Prague, Czech Republic |
2017
16.10. | Kaleidoscope, premier |
Orchestr Berg, 19:30, Továrna, Prague, Czech Republic |
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12.10. | Matouš Hejl & Martin Žárský |
augemented piano and guitar, Atrium Žižkov, Prague |
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18.9. | Chyba, premier |
physical theater / new circus Vít Neznal & kolektiv, Jatka87, Prague, Czech Republic |
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28.8. | anamnesis |
Ostrava Days of New Music, 18:00, Triple Hall Karolina, Ostrava, Czech Republic |
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27.4. | Plastics & Vibrations |
improvised prepared piano set w. Vilhelm Bromander — bass Lilla Salen, KMH, Stockholm |
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27.2., 10.3. | Havel, music essay, German version |
Deutschlandradio Kultur Kurzstrecke 59 |
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27.1. | Exponential Joys, premiere of a new electronic composition |
Czech Radio Premedice |
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15.1. | Gallery AMU |
15pm, multichannel electronic set |
2016
9., 10.10. | At Land, music for a silent movie |
Berg Orchestra, Spanish Synagogue Prague |
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15.11. | Překlepy a přehmaty |
Radio Vltava, radioplay premiere |
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21.4. | Is But a Symbol of the Place |
premiere, Concept Art Orchestra, Jazz Dock, Prague |
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14.4. |
Exponential Joys, Audiorama, Stockholm |
12.4. |
A Group of Four, KammarensebleN, Stockholm |
6.4 |
Anamnesis, Norbotten NEO, Stockholm |
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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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 |
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
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. |
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)