Henry Vega (born 1973) is a composer and Electroacoustic musician from New York City, currently living in The Hague, Netherlands. He founded The Spycollective in 2006, a now defunct music, theater and dance group, and is a founding director of Artek Foundation.[1] Vega has been composing and performing internationally since 2001 and is also a founding member of The Electronic Hammer trio with Diego Espinosa and Juan Parra Cancino. He is married to Polish composer Kasia Glowicka.
One of Vega's influences came from working with American composer Earle Brown, who was a modern proponent of the Open Form style of composition and a father of aleatoric music. This inspired Vega to compose pieces with the idea of "blocks of music," where performers had the freedom of interpretation (not improvisation) to play a block repeatedly until cue'd to another block. Vega said, ""This makes an impression of synchronicity between the performers, even though while they are in the block, they are completely unsynchronised."[3]
In writing about performances during Gaudeamus Week in Amsterdam, Peter Grahame and Alexa Woolf praised Vega as a composer, "who is dedicated to the creation and promotion of electro-acoustic music; the three female singers (in Idoru in Metals) creating 'an idolized computer-programmed singer, whose imaginary capabilities are infinite'... Great sounds, and splendid dissemination of them in Amvest Zaal (Room in Beurs van Berlage).[4]
In a 2012 interview, Vega noted several influences on his composition Wormsongs, including the futurist writings of philosopher Max More and a text from the artist Georg Hobmeier. He also noted the musical inspiration coming from composers such as Kenneth Gaburo, Philip Glass, and György Ligeti. The use of text and the musical style combine to inspire Vega in the potential of technology as a force in musical performance and composition. He said, "One of the themes that More talks about is overcoming the fear of technology, learning to coexist with it and internalize it."[5]
Another work Vega composed from philosophical influence was Fogpatch, in collaboration with German media artist and architect, Daniel Fetzner and performance artist Georg Hobmeier (The SpyCollective). Vega's electronic compositions accompanied a theatrical performance based on an experience of German philosopher Max Bense. The project explored the fundamental conflicts between art and technology by reconstructing a traumatic body experience Bense had in San Francisco.[6]
Residency at STEIMedit
During his Artistic Residency at the Studio for Electro Instrumental Music (STEIM) in Amsterdam, Vega developed, composed, rehearsed and collaborated on projects such as the electronic-music theatre piece Iminami, his work Wormsongs and also the piece "Slow slower."[7]
Awardsedit
April, 2005 - Confluencias 3rd Intl. Competition of ElectroAcoustic Music - Finalist "The White Pieces" (Spain)
November, 2006 - Musica Nova - 1st prize for "Idoru in Metals" (Prague, Czech Rep.)
November, 2006 - International Biennale of Modern Art Crash - 1st prize for "Idoru in Metals" (Sczezin, Poland)
June, 2007 - Dragon's Den at Queen's University Belfast - 1st prize for Iminami: From Mother to Smother with The Spy Collective (UK)[8]
December, 2012 - Cage 1, 2, 3 Composition Competition - 1st place for "The Infinite Land" from Wormsongs (Lublin)
"Liquidus" (2004), for percussion and 2 computers. Developed at the Institute for Sonology.
"Idoru in Metals" (2004), for 2 sopranos, alto and computer. Composed for the Netherlands Vocaal Laboratorium (Vocaallab)
"The Vapor Collisions" (2006), for mixed ensemble and computer. Composed at the Sonic Arts Research Centre, Belfast. Commissioned by Yannis Kyriakides and Roland Spekle from Ensemble MAE.[10]
"Izumi" (2007), for percussion and two computers. Created at Sonic Arts Research Centre, Belfast. Premiered at Musica Electronica Nova festival, Wroclaw Poland. Performed by The Electronic Hammer.
"Iminami" (2007), interactive blend of drama, electronic music, dance and live video. Performed by The Spycollective. Commissioned by the Dutch Fund for the Creation of Music and ARGEkultur in Salzburg[11]
"The Hallelujah Drones" (2008), for six voices and computer. Performed by VocaalLab Nederlands at Gaudeamus Music Festival, Amsterdam[12]
"Music in still parts" (2009), for violin, cello, saxophone, clarinet, percussion, piano, electronics. Performed by Ensemble Integrales[13]
"Stream Machines and the Black Arts" (2010), for electronic violin, electronics and video. Commissioned & Performed by Barbara Lunenburg[14]
"Slow slower" (2011), for recorder, viola da gamba, harpsichord and computer. Commissioned & Performed by the Roentgen Connection[15]
"The motion of arrayed emotion" (2011), for string quartet and computers. Performed by Ragazze String Quartet[16]
"A Thousand Tones" (2012), for electronics. Commissioned by Juraj Kojs for On Silence: Hommage to Cage[17]
^"henry vega . . ". www.henryvega.net. Archived from the original on 17 December 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
^"Jon Nelson". University of North Texas College of Music. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
^Cotton, Ross. "Henry Vega in Conversation". Network Music Festival. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
^Woolf. "Gaudeamus Week Amsterdam September 2004". MUSICAL POINTERS. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
^Wen, Dana (13 December 2012). "Exploring Futurism With Henry Vega's Wormsongs". I CARE IF YOU LISTEN. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
^"CONCEPT". www.fogpatch.de. Archived from the original on 17 February 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
^Preslmayr, Karin. "The Roentgen Connection > Realizations of new works by Yannis Kyriakides and Henry Vega". Studio for STEIM. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
^"Theatre of Business Dreams" (PDF). Queen's University Belfast. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
^Vega, Henry. "Ssolo". www.henryvega.net. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
^"Repertoire". Ensemble MAE. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
^"Iminami". www.spycollective.com. Archived from the original on 2 February 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
^Bishop, Jarred. "Henry Vega | The Hallelujah Drones". Contemporary Classical Music Database. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
^"Utopia". Ensemble Integrales. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
^Lueneburg, Barbara. "violin solo". barbara-lueneburg.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
^"Slow slower". listen & watch. The Roentgen Connection. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
^"The motion of arrayed emotion". Henry Vega. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
^Kojs, Juraj. "On Silence: Hommage to Cage". www.kojs.net. Archived from the original on 16 August 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
^"Victory Over the Sun, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam".
External linksedit
Official site of Henry Vega
Official site of The Spy Collective
Official site of The Electronic Hammer
Interview with Henry Vega on Wormsongs at www.icareifyoulisten.com