OPEN CALL: Bring your own pillow!!
Yuval Avital and the Styrian Improvisers Orchestra
Avital’s sound landscapes – “Massive Sonic Works” or “Crowd Music” – are living organisms. His scores draw on a variety of musical traditions – from ancient chants to classical and contemporary electronics – and invite participation. They are suitable for both professional and non-professional musicians alike. The result is a sound carpet: countless threads, each unique, contribute to a shared experience – a collective breath. It is a celebration of complexity and diversity that appreciates the beauty of the interplay of different elements. With the large sound body of the Styrian Improvisers Orchestra, the concert evening is intended to be an experience that invites everyone to linger in the sonic space created by Yuval Avital – a chain of events – in the premises of the Schaumbad, to engage with it, and to experience “sonic movements and moving sounds” amidst the power and beauty of improvisational expression.
Styrian Improvisers Orchestra (STIO)
STIO was founded in 2012 by V:NM Graz and is directed by Annette Giesriegl, Seppo Gründler and Josef Klammer. It consists of musicians from the Graz and Vienna improvisation scene and a number of fluctuating musicians, guest musicians and conductors who are familiar with the language of improvisation. The number of participating musicians varies between 15 and 35. The instrumentation of the orchestra varies drastically and has so far included wind instruments, string instruments, keyboard instruments, voices, percussion, electronic and computer-controlled instruments, self-prepared or self-built instruments and also “ethno” instruments.
Yuval Avital is a multimedia artist, composer, and guitarist based in Milan, Italy.
Yuval Avital is a Jerusalem-born composer, guitarist, and multimedia artist based in Milan. Renowned for his expansive sonic creations and immersive “icon-sonic operas,” Avital seamlessly blends contemporary music with traditional cultures, visual arts, and cutting-edge technology.
His large-scale works, such as Mise en abîme and GARON, involve hundreds of performers and incorporate diverse elements like accordions, tubas, choirs, and live electronics. These compositions often explore themes of cultural identity and collective memory. In his icon-sonic operas, including Kolot and Fuga Perpetua, Avital integrates music, video, and live performance to create multisensory experiences that challenge conventional artistic boundaries.
Avital’s innovative approach has been showcased at prominent venues and festivals worldwide, including the Warsaw Autumn Festival, MiTo SettembreMusica, and the Brighton Festival. His work continues to redefine the intersection of music, art, and human experience
Styrian Improvisers Orchestra:
Alyona Pynzenyk, Alvaro Vallejo Larre, Ana Ostoici, Anna Grenzner Matheu, Annette Giesriegl, Claudia Cervenca, Dena Derose, Denovaire, Dominik Kreuzer, Felix Martl, Fredi Lang, Georg Wissa, Hana Kuncic, Harald Hofmeister, Jean Christophe Mastnak, Josef Klammer, Kerstin Türtscher, Keyvan Paydar, Leon Erdödy, Madeleine Dietrichstein, Margarete Maierhofer Lischka, Michael Laab, Nick Acorne, Oskar Mörth, Patrick Wurzwallner, Richie Herbst
