Kevin Volans

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Kevin Volans (2015 at the "Kölner Musiknacht" in the art station Sankt Peter )

Kevin Volans (born July 26, 1949 in Pietermaritzburg ) is an Irish composer of South African origin. In his work, he reflects the influences of traditional African music and minimalism in the attitude of the new simplicity .

Live and act

Volans, whose parents lived in South Africa as the descendants of English settlers, received classical piano lessons from the age of ten. This soon led to the first attempts at composition. From 1968 to 1971 he studied music up to a bachelor's degree at the University of the Witwatersrand . In 1971 Volans' first graphically notated composition was performed and as a pianist he recorded for the radio with works by Chopin and Messiaen , and later Liszt . Volans continued his studies at the University of Aberdeen and then from 1973 to 1977, at the suggestion of Karlheinz Stockhausen , at the Cologne University of Music and Dance . There he studied composition with Richard Toop , Hans Ulrich Humpert and Stockhausen, who later entrusted him with a teaching assistant, as well as piano with Aloys Kontarsky , music theater with Maurizio Kagel . Since the late 1970s, Volans had an intense artistic friendship with Morton Feldman . He lived in Cologne until 1981.

On behalf of the WDR , Volans undertook four field research trips to Africa in 1976 and 1979 in order to record various styles of traditional music for radio. The encounter with this music was a decisive experience for Volans, which soon found compositional expression in works such as Kwazulu Summer Landscape (1979). Volans settled in South Africa in 1981, but the musical life of the time in this country did not offer him sufficient conditions for creative development. In 1984 his piece Mbira was recorded in Cologne , in which two harpsichords were used instead of the lamellophone called Mbira . In 1986 Volans took a lectureship at Belfast University .

In 1986 the cooperation with the American Kronos Quartet began , which performed Volans' work White Man Sleeps in the version for string quartet and works especially composed for the ensemble. He quickly became known through the Kronos Quartet's CD Pieces of Africa, recorded in 1987 , which begins programmatically with the first movement of White Man Sleeps . In 1991 Kronos played his second string quartet Hunting: Gathering ; The complete recording of White Man Sleeps took place in 1992. In the works of the 1980s, Volans experimented with models, melodies, intonations and rhythms of African music, which he transferred to the context of new music.

In the following years, Volans almost completely avoided any open reference to African music. The idea of ​​abolishing the musical experience of time, however, remained formative. Since then, his work has developed in various directions and includes both structurally oriented compositions that follow an abstract approach, such as the orchestral work One Hundred Frames, as well as more outward-looking pieces such as the very virtuoso Piano Concerto (2006) written for Marc-André Hamelin . He was also engaged in composing for dance. Collaboration with visual artists such as Jürgen Partenheimer and William Kentridge also became increasingly important .

Fonts

Kevin Volans (back 2nd from right) with Mary Jane Leach (comp) (left), Camilla Hoitenga (fl) and The Flute Projekt (at the "Kölner Musiknacht 2015" in the art station Sankt Peter)
  • Conversation with Walter Zimmermann . In Feedback Papers Reprint 1-16, 1971-1978 , [ed. Johannes Fritsch]. Cologne: Feedback Studio, 338–41.
  • Interview with John McGuire . Feedback Papers Reprint 1-16, 1971-1978 . Cologne: Feedback Studio, 347-349.
  • Monkey Music 2: Paraphrase . Feedback Papers Reprint 1-16, 1971-1978 . Cologne: Feedback Studio, 354–355.
  • Understanding Stockhausen . Feedback Papers Reprint 1-16, 1971-1978 . Cologne: Feedback Studio, 407–409.
  • Kevin Volans & Johannes Fritsch . Interview with Pauline Oliveros . Feedback Papers Reprint 1-16, 1971-1978 . Cologne: Feedback Studio, 352–53.
  • Summer Gardeners: Conversations with Composers . Durban: Newer Music Edition 1985.
  • A new note . Leadership [Cape Town], March 1986, 79-82.
  • Dancing in the Dark . New Observations , May 1989, 67, 4-5.
  • On Top Form: Minimalist John Pawson ’s Redesign of a Grand Dublin Residence… . Image , October 1994, 32-34, 38-39.
  • A Dialogue Between Collaborators . Dance Theater Journal 12 (4), 14-15.
  • ›White Man Sleeps‹: Composer's Statement . NewMusicSA: Bulletin of the International Society for Contemporary Music - South African Section, First Issue 2001/02, 5-7.
  • Inaudible Music . In Jürgen Partenheimer. Discontinuity, Paradox & Precision . Birmingham: Ikon Gallery 2008.
  • Kevin Volans & Hilary Bracefield. A Constant State of Surprise: Gerald Barry and “The Intelligence Park” . 1987, Contact 31: 9-11.

literature

Web links

Commons : Kevin Volans  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Field recordings by Kevin Volans
  2. ↑ 1991 published on CD Zimbabwe: Mbira by Network Medien .
  3. ↑ Volans has been an Irish citizen since 1995.
  4. ^ Volans biography (Berliner Festspiele 2010) , portrait (SWR)
personal data
SURNAME Volans, Kevin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Irish composer of South African descent
DATE OF BIRTH July 26, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Pietermaritzburg