Friday, November 22nd, 2013, 19.30
SHUT UP AND LISTEN! AWARD 2013
Helga Arias Parra (E/CH): Cellolar Synthesis
Cellolar Synthesis
The form of this piece is based on the general idea of a continuum or sound stream, which
is roundly built by the addition of the different cello strings. In this sense, the different
“fermatas” do not correspond to sections but to the addition of a higher string. The initial
gesture starts to build a whole structure in which the direction is purely circular. The
electronics are conceived in order to merge together with the instrument and create a
perfect symbiosis between the two of them. The artificial resonances are intended to
extend the sounds of the cello and leave place to a “meta-instrument”. All the samples
used in the electronic part come from real cello recordings, transformed by a wide range of
techniques such as granular synthesis, filters, stretching, resonators, etc. This piece was
premiered by the Spanish cellist Mery Coronado (Ensemble Taller Sonoro) at the RCSM
Victoria Eugenia of Granada and by the Italian cellist Marco Simonacci at the EMUFEST
festival of Rome.
Helga Arias Parra
Born in Bilbao, Spain. She obtained her piano diploma in the city of Granada, Spain. After
that she began her composition studies in the same city, with the composer Juan Cruz
Guevara and later in the conservatory Giuseppe Verdi of Milan, where she studied with
Mario Garuti and Javier Torres Maldonado. Besides, she has received lessons from other
composers such as Georg Friedrich Haas, Mark André, Alberto Posadas, Dániel Péter Biró,
Ken Ueno, Cristóbal Halffter, Dominique Schafer and Javier Álvarez, among others, and
participated in master classes with Helmuth Lachenmann, Philippe Manoury, José María
Sánchez Verdú or Daniel Teruggi. She has recently been awarded in the international contest
“Città di Udine” as well as in the RCSM Victoria Eugenia de Granada contest for Symphonic
Orchestra. Her music has been played in festivals such as EMUFEST of Rome, the
Klangwerkstatt in the Konzerthaus Berlin, Festival Mixtur in Barcelona, Atlantic Music
Festival in Maine, USA, Foro Internacional de Musica Nueva (Mexico), Domaine Forget
(Nouvelle Ensemble Modern) Canada, Casa del Suono in Parma (Italy) or Etchings Festival
(France). In October 2013 she participated in the Experimentalstudio Academy of the SWR
Freiburg. Currently she lives and works in Switzerland and is taking Master's Degree in
Computer Music in the Conservatory of Parma at the same time, with the composer Javier
Torres Maldonado.
https://soundcloud.com/helga-arias-parra
is roundly built by the addition of the different cello strings. In this sense, the different
“fermatas” do not correspond to sections but to the addition of a higher string. The initial
gesture starts to build a whole structure in which the direction is purely circular. The
electronics are conceived in order to merge together with the instrument and create a
perfect symbiosis between the two of them. The artificial resonances are intended to
extend the sounds of the cello and leave place to a “meta-instrument”. All the samples
used in the electronic part come from real cello recordings, transformed by a wide range of
techniques such as granular synthesis, filters, stretching, resonators, etc. This piece was
premiered by the Spanish cellist Mery Coronado (Ensemble Taller Sonoro) at the RCSM
Victoria Eugenia of Granada and by the Italian cellist Marco Simonacci at the EMUFEST
festival of Rome.
Helga Arias Parra
Born in Bilbao, Spain. She obtained her piano diploma in the city of Granada, Spain. After
that she began her composition studies in the same city, with the composer Juan Cruz
Guevara and later in the conservatory Giuseppe Verdi of Milan, where she studied with
Mario Garuti and Javier Torres Maldonado. Besides, she has received lessons from other
composers such as Georg Friedrich Haas, Mark André, Alberto Posadas, Dániel Péter Biró,
Ken Ueno, Cristóbal Halffter, Dominique Schafer and Javier Álvarez, among others, and
participated in master classes with Helmuth Lachenmann, Philippe Manoury, José María
Sánchez Verdú or Daniel Teruggi. She has recently been awarded in the international contest
“Città di Udine” as well as in the RCSM Victoria Eugenia de Granada contest for Symphonic
Orchestra. Her music has been played in festivals such as EMUFEST of Rome, the
Klangwerkstatt in the Konzerthaus Berlin, Festival Mixtur in Barcelona, Atlantic Music
Festival in Maine, USA, Foro Internacional de Musica Nueva (Mexico), Domaine Forget
(Nouvelle Ensemble Modern) Canada, Casa del Suono in Parma (Italy) or Etchings Festival
(France). In October 2013 she participated in the Experimentalstudio Academy of the SWR
Freiburg. Currently she lives and works in Switzerland and is taking Master's Degree in
Computer Music in the Conservatory of Parma at the same time, with the composer Javier
Torres Maldonado.
https://soundcloud.com/helga-arias-parra
