Morphologies is a collaboration between composer and cellist Rubin Kodheli and digital visual artist Cori O’Lan that started as a result of the Corona-Lockdowns. Over the period of several months they exchanged files between New York and Austria – Rubin sent his music, Cori responded with visual ideas, they exchanged their impressions and feedback, and diving into each other’s art opened up new perspectives on their own work. So far three audio-visual compositions emerged from this collaboration: Sangue, Indian Summer and Mikados, which were premiered at the Big Concert Night of Ars Electronica 2021 where the two of them actually performed together in person for the first time.
While Rubins music can perfectly exist on its own, the speciality of Cori’s real time visualizations is that they are accompaniments to the music, generated, transformed and controlled by the sound signals that are derived in real time from digital sound analysis converted into parameters for the graphic software. And that is something their work has in common, Rubin as well doesn’t use prerecorded tracks or sequences to play along with, but engages live with all his electronic devices in real time while performing on his acoustic and electronic cellos.
Morphologies I – Sangue
Morphologies II – Indian Summer
Morphologies III – Mikados
Juilliard-trained composer Rubin Kodheli (US) is a celebrated, genre-transcending creative rebel. Rubin crafts rapturous sonic collages which stir the soul and senses. His compositions teem with contemplative invitation and nuance, providing the opportunity to listen repeatedly, each time ripe with the possibility of hearing something that previously went unnoticed.The inspirational tapestry of his work is intentionally woven from blended threads of rock, jazz and classical influences, a stylistic trademark that has afforded Kodheli a career rich in its diversity of output. From his compositions appearing in feature films such as Precious (2009), to his original symphonic rock compositions, to his collaborations as a performer with genre defining artists— including Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, Henry Threadgill, Christian McBride, Dennis Russell Davies, Meredith Monk, Joan Jett, Tom Harrell, and Snoop Dogg—Kodheli creates an intimate, masterful reimagining of the expressive capacity of his instrument.
Developed for the Home Delivery Concerts in 2020, these visualisations play with the idea to bring the characters and figures of the operas story alive as a kind of dance company choreographed by the live music itself. (The recordings you can see on this page are from the concert in March 2021.)
performed by Maki Namekawa and Dennis Russell Davies arranged for piano four-hands by Alexander Zemlinsky
Video of live performance by Yazdan Zand and the team of Ars Electronica Home Delivery
Act I – Bei Männern welche Liebe fühlen
Act II – Marsch
Act II – Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen
Act II – In diesen heil’gen Hallen kennt man die Rache nicht
Act II – Finale
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Visualizations only
Music from the CD-recording of Maki Namekawa and Dennis Russell Davies for Klavierfestival Ruhr 2006
Performed live by Maki Namekawa and Dennis Russell Davies, 7. 3. 2021
Realized for the second season of Ars Electronica’s Home Delivery Concerts. Video of live performance by Yazdan Zand and the team of Ars Electronica Home Delivery.
Three very nice and playfull pieces originally composed for piano four-hands by Ludwig van Beethoven in
The realtime visualization was created for the Home Delivery Concerts at Ars Electronica Center – first season 2020. The live recording you can see on this page is from the conert in the second season in 2021.
Performed by Maki Namekawa and Dennis Russell Davies
Video from Live Performance: Yazdan Zand and the team of Ars Electronica Home Delivery
Visualizations only (with music recorded from the rehearsals)
Performed live by Dennis Russell Davies, 21. 2. 2021
Realized for the second season of Ars Electronica’s Home Delivery Concerts. Video of live performance by Yazdan Zand and the team of Ars Electronica Home Delivery
Cori O'Lan 