Ngo Tra My studied at the Hanoi National Conservatory of Music, where she received her diploma in 1994 and a pedagogical exam in 2007. Since 1994 she teaches the Dan Bau at the conservatory in Hanoi. She has performed at festivals in China, Spain, Korea, Scandinavia and Vietnam and has recorded one CD as soloist with orchestra: Loi ru que huong (Lullaby of the Native Land) – 2001. Since 2008 she is Board Member of the Asian/Korean Orchestra.
Stefan Östersjö: guitars and other stringed instruments.
Stefan Östersjö is one of the most prominent soloists within new music in Sweden. Since his debut CD (Swedish Grammy in 1997) he has recorded extensively and toured Europe, the US and Asia. He writes articles on contemporary music and is frequently invited to give lectures and master classes at universities, festivals and academic conferences. His special fields of interest are the interaction with electronics, and experimental work with different kinds of stringed instruments other than the classical guitar. His great interest in chamber music has resulted in the founding of flute, viola and guitar-trio HOT 3 and collaboration with most chamber ensembles and important soloists in Scandinavia such as Jonny Axelsson, Geir Draugsvoll, KammarensembleN, Ensemble Gageego and Ensemble Ars Nova. He is continuously working with composers both in Sweden and abroad on the task of extending the repertory of solo works and chamber music with guitar. As a soloist he has cooperated with conductors such as Lothar Zagrosek, Peter Eötvös, Pierre André Valade, Mario Venzago, Franck Ollu and Tuomas Ollila. He has recorded extensively for the Swedish National Radio and also for Swedish TV as well as in many other countries.
http://www.myspace.com/stefanostersjo
http://www.youtube.com/user/ostersjo
Education and research
Dr. Stefan Östersjö studied with Gunnar Spjuth and Prof Per-Olof Johnsson at the Malmö Academy of Music (1987-1992) and also with Peder Riis and Magnus Andersson in Stockholm and Darmstadt. He continued his studies with a PhD project within the field of artistic research, carried out in 2002-2008. His thesis SHUT UP ‘N’ PLAY! Negotiating the Musical Work is published by Lund University. He is at present engaged in artistic research on improvisation in different cultural contexts at the Malmö Academy of Music.
CD's
In 1995 he made his CD debut as soloist on Ensemble Ars Nova's second CD (nominated to a Swedish "Grammy -96" for best classical album).
- His first soloCD, with works by E Carter, J Dillon, F Donatoni and T Murail, recieved a Swedish "Grammy Award" in the category of "Best Classical Album" in 1998.
- In summer -99 he recorded Kent Olofsson's "Il Liuto d'Orfeo", a recording which is released by GMEB in Bourges and by dB Productions (Sweden).
- His second soloCD, Impossible Guitar Parts, with works by Swedish composers, was released in spring 2001 on dB Productions, Sweden
- Portrait CD with the music of “Fredrik Ed”, soloist in ’Leash’, dB Productions, Malmö
- He recorded the lute works of JS Bach on the 11-stringed alto guitar, released on dB Productions (Sweden) in 2003.
- In 2003 “Trio con Forza”, a constellation of Swedish works for flute, viola and guitar, with HOT 3 was released on Phono Suecia.
- His fourth solo CD on dB Productions, “Play Time” with works for guitar and electronics was released in 2004.
- In 2005 “Rhizome”, a portrait CD with works for guitar and chamber ensemble by Swedish composer Christer Lindwall was released on Phono Suecia (Sweden).
Portrait CD with the music of Johannes Johansson, recordings with HOT 3 and Ensemble Ars Nova), dB Productions, Malmö
- His recording of Kent Olofsson’s Guitar Concerto “Corde” with the Gothenburg Symphony and Mario Venzago was released on Phono Suecia in 2008.
- He has also recorded the complete guitar works by Danish composer Per Nørgård, released on Caprice records in autumn 2008.
Henrik Frisk: computer
Ever since the start in 2006, The Six Tones have been collaborating with the composer and improviser Henrik Frisk. He is an active performer (saxophones and laptop) of improvised and contemporary music and composer of acoustic and computer music in Sweden and abroad. With a special interest in interactivity, most of the projects he engages in explores interactivity in one way or another. Though his education from the Rhythmic Conservatory in Copenhagen, Denmark, is in music he also works with software development within the framework of his artistic practice. His artistic Ph.D. Dissertation ..Improvisation, Computers, and Interaction' was presented at Lund University, Malmö Academy of Music in October 2008.
Henrik has performed in Belarus, Canada, Czech Republic, China, Cuba, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, India, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States and Vietnam, including prestigious festivals such as the Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival, NYC and Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland. As a composer he has received comissions from the Swedish Broadcasting Company, NOMUS, Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, Dave Liebman Big Band, Copenhagen Art Ensemble, Ensemble Den 3. vej, Statens Kunstfond, Ensemble Ars Nova and several big bands, soloists and ensembles in Scandinavia. He has made numerous recordings for American, Canadian, Swedish and Danish record labels and is currently a member of the collective Kopasetic Productions (www.kopasetic.se) which is a independent label owned and run by improvising musicians.
Henrik Frisk is also a renowned teacher, currently at the Malmö Academy of Music, Lund University. As a visiting lecturer he has given lectures at several schools and universities, mainly in Scandinavia.
(In Vietnamese a word can be repeated with any of six tones to indicate six different meanings)
The Vietnamese language is a tonal language, using six tones or intonations. The Six Tones is a Swedish/Vietnamese project that works on a long-term basis on the amalgamation of art music from Vietnam and Europe. The ensemble works by means of transcriptions of traditional Vietnamese music for Western stringed instruments and traditional Vietnamese instruments, also in combination with live-electronics, and with new commissions to composers both from the West as well as from Vietnam. The Six Tones are Ngo Tra My, two Vietnamese performers, and the guitarist Stefan Östersjö. Since the project started, the trio has been collaborating with the composer and improviser Henrik Frisk, who has both composed works for the ensemble as well as toured with the group as a lap top improviser. The main ambition with The Six Tones is to create a foundation for a meeting between two distinct musical cultures on equal terms. Another ambition has been to reach beyond a mere collage-like superimposition of elements and strive for a more complex and experimentally oriented sound.
Vietnam and Sweden in cultural encounter.
One of the most important conditions for the creation of new art has for a long time been the way in which the languages and cultural codes in the world are blended and merge one into the other. But this is just as much a matter of human listening, about an understanding of how life today consists of difference and ruptures. The collaborative project The Six Tones is an attempt to approach this multi-cultural situation with equal measures of curiosity and respect. It is a meeting between the Swedish guitarist Stefan Östersjö, the composer and laptop improviser Henrik Frisk, and the two traditional Vietnamese performers Nguyen Thanh Thuy, who plays the Vietnamese zither dan tranh, and Ngo Tra My who plays dan bau, a monochord that both in timbre and functionality reminds a bit of the theremin. Together they perform traditional music from Vietnam and five new compositions for the ensemble, composed by Henrik Denerin, Love Mangs, Malin Bång, Kent Olofsson and Henrik Frisk. The first thing that strikes the listener is the rich sonorities and the contemplative beauty of the Vietnamese instruments. Both Thanh Thuy and Tra My appear as true virtuosos and their is a continuous dignity in their performance which is truly impressive. Out of the new works there is especially one that stands out and creates something indeed new and unexpected from the various sonic constellations: Malin Bång’s Fireworks and Silver Birds. In this piece, the sounds are on the one hand of everyday life and democratically on equal terms, and on the other hand both rough and refined in a manner that is lacking in the other works. I appreciate the tangible in Bång’s music. It takes the actual sounds of the world as point of departure, and also makes use of field recordings (a football game in Hanoi, new year’s celebration in Malmö, the train line in Gräfsnäs, the composer told me). The music tells us that the differences are everywhere, the purl in the midst of the plain, and if we pay notice to the deviations, reality becomes richer, denser and even more beautiful.
Hey how's it going? I havent forgotten about ya..wanted to stop by and show some love! Got some new music up, check this page soon for newer music :) Hope to talk to you soon :)
“Love is of all passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart and the senses.”
~ Lao Tzu ~
“You can close your eyes to the things you do not want to see, but you cannot close your heart to the things you do not want to feel.”
“If what you see by the eye doesn’t please you, then close your eyes and see from the heart. Because the heart can see beauty and love more than the eyes can ever wonder.”
4 droppin by!
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