Two Grandes Dames of experimental music and sound art share recent work. Dutch composer and violist Ig Henneman discusses two new compositions for harp and marimba and improvising sextet, and first-generation sound artist Christina Kubisch speaks about her long-term work with electromagnetic induction.
The career of viola player, composer and bandleader Ig Henneman is a never-ending succession of logical conclusions, steps that on the face of it seem quite illogical. After training at conservatory, she shifted away from classical music to play viola and keyboards in the pop band F.C. Gerania. During the eight years that this group was together, from 1976 to 1984, she increasingly felt the need for a less restrictive musical straitjacket. In 1985, the 40- year-old Henneman took the bold step of embarking upon a new career as a bandleader and composer. Over the following 25 years, experience taught her how much control is required in order to be free. Henneman’s compositions have been performed by the Nieuw Ensemble, the Metropole Orchestra, and the Italian Instabile Orchestra, as well as her own ensembles, whose ranks have included such renowned improvisers as violinist Mary Oliver and cellist Tristan Honsinger. Currently, the main venues for her work as an improvising violist are her duo with Baars, her new Sextet and Queen Mab Trio, with clarinetist Lori Freedman and pianist Marilyn Lerner. Her work has been supported by grants and commissions from several Dutch funds and agencies.
Christina Kubisch was born in Bremen in 1948. She studied painting, music (flute and composition) and electronics in Hamburg, Graz, Zürich, and Milano, where she graduated. Performances, concerts and works with video in the seventies, subsequently sound installations, sound sculptures and work with ultraviolet light. Her compositions are mostly electroacoustic, but she has written for ensembles as well. Since 2003 she works again as a perfomer and collaborates with various musicians and dancers. Since 1974 solo exhibitions in Europe, USA, Australia, Japan and South America. Numerous participations in international festivals and group exhibitions.Her music has been released with various labels such as Cramps Records, Edition RZ, ampersand, semishigure, Die Schachtel, Olof Bright, AA Records. Christina Kubisch has been visiting professor in Maastricht, Paris and Berlin. She is a professor for sound art at the Academy of Fine Arts, Saarbrücken, Germany, since 1994 and a member of the Akademie der Künste Berlin since 1997. She lives in Hoppegarten near Berlin.