String Quartet N.1 (Imago)
for 2 violins, viola and violoncello
“String Quartet N.1 (Imago)” refers to the process of listening to and mediating sounds from a sonic space, isolating and reconfiguring sonic figures in a non-hierarchical approach, where a drop of water can be more audible than a waterfall. In this piece, five sonic figures were isolated based on its context and location: the sound of the wind on the bamboo canes, the sound of the wind turbines, the sound of manual work on the looms, the sound of the wind on a metal structure and the sound of a water course. Characteristics of resonance, timbre and texture are involved as forms of transformation, gradual construction of sounds and contemplation of the represented subject, questioning the limits of audible phenomena. The work's discourse also addresses models of approximation and deviation of sonic figures, where the approximation intends to have a function close to mimesis and the deviation takes on an auratic meaning.
Internal Supervisors and External Advisors: Gerhard Eckel (KUG) and Isabel Mundry (ZHdK).
Hugo Vasco Reis
Composition
Hugo Vasco Reis (Lisbon, 1981) is a composer and researcher based in Zurich and Porto. His artistic practice extends to acoustic music, electroacoustic music and sound installations, making collaborations with musicians, fine and visual artists, who regularly perform his works throughout Europe.
He released six monographic albums which have been nominated by SPA and GDA for best work of classical music. His pieces have been awarded or selected in several national and international competitions.
His recent compositions include an investigation into the edge of audible phenomena within a sonic space, approaching agencies of listening to and tmediation, with the aim of including apparently silent noises in artistic practice.
He is currently a PhD candidate at the Kunstuniversität Graz (Austria). He studied composition with Isabel Mundry at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (Zurich, Switzerland), as holder of Fondation Nicati-de Luze, with Mark André and Stefan Prins at the Hochschule für Musik Dresden (Dresden, Germany) and with António Pinho Vargas, Luís Tinoco and Sérgio Azevedo at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa (Lisbon). He had private classes and masterclasses with composers Toshio Hosokawa, Chaya Czernowin, Hans Tutschku, Dieter Ammann, Franck Bedrossian, Barry Truax, Zigmunt Krauze, Åke Parmerud, Carola Bauckholt, Klaus Lang, Peter Ablinger, among others.
His works have been supported by the Ministry of Culture of Portugal, DGArtes, Antena 2, Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, SPAutores, GDA, Coro Setúbal Voz, Síntese GMC, Musicamera, Borealis Ensemble, MPMP, Duo Sigma, Arte no Tempo, ZHdK Foundation, Momento Foundation, Graf-Fonds, Gaudeamus, KWDS, Trio Elogio, GMCL, Vertixe Sonora, Collective Lovemusic, QCC String Quartet, Trio Piazzolla Lisboa and Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana.
His scores are edited by the MIC.PT – Portuguese Music Research & Information Center.
He also studied portuguese guitar at the Conservatory of Music in Porto and in the private class of Pedro Caldeira Cabral. He is a civil engineer, although he does not currently assume this profession.