VOICE FRAGMENTS
Stephanie Aston / Davíð Brynjar Franzson
Premieres January 29, 7pm PST via YouTube
FREE Stream access – (Donate if you can)
Commissioned by Stephanie Aston, wasteLAnd is proud to present the world premiere of Davíð Brynjar Franzson's evening-length work, voice fragments, for soprano and live electronics in a special video directed by wasteLAnd.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Stephanie Aston is “fearless” in her pursuit of new repertoire (Steve Schick). She has participated in numerous American and world premieres including Luigi Nono’s Guai ai Gelidi Mostri, Michael Gordon’s What to Wear, and George Aperghis’ Sextuor: L’Origine des espèces. She has appeared on L.A. Philharmonic Green Umbrella, Noon to Midnight and Chamber Music Series, (Re)Sounds at Stanford University, and at REDCAT. Ms. Aston is an original member of Kallisti, and a founding member of ROMP Ensemble, ASTRALIS DUO and Accordant Commons. She has performed with Los Angeles Philharmonic, wasteLAnd, Long Beach Opera, The Industry, Red Fish Blue Fish, Gnarwhallaby, Chamber Cartel, 18-squared, and ad-hoc ensembles at Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, Norfolk Contemporary Music Festival, UC San Diego, Stanford University, Chatter and Los Angeles. Stephanie is an affiliated artist with San Diego New Music. Noteworthy performances include Brian Ferneyhough’s Etudes Transcendantales, John Zorn’s Rituals, Jason Eckardt’s Tongues, John Adams’ A Flowering Tree (Kumudha), Edgard Varese’ Offrandes, Igor Stravinsky’s Les Noces, and Alberto Ginastera’s Cantata Para America Magica. Stephanie can be heard on the soundtrack for the movie Downsizing. Ms. Aston holds a D.M.A. from University of California San Diego, an M.F.A. from California Institute of the Arts, and a B.M. from University of North Texas and currently teaches at Moorpark College and Mount St Mary’s University.
Davíð Brynjar Franzson is a freelancing composer based in Los Angeles.
Projects include an Urban Archive as an English Garden, developed in collaboration with Halla Steinunn Stefansdottir (Nordic Affect), Russell Greenberg (Yarn/Wire), Julia Mogensen, and Matt Barbier (wasteLAnd); the Negotiation of Context, developed in collaboration with Yarn/Wire--described as "engagingly tactile" by the NY Times, "compelling" by the Wire which selected the release as one of their top 10 modern composition releases of 2014, and as "sonic art that is clearly going places" by Gramophone; the cello concerto on Matter and Materiality, commissioned by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Icelandic National Radio's commissioning fund--described as "strikingly static" by the Guardian; and the Cartography of Time, an ongoing exploration of the experience of time, developed in collaboration with Gnarwhallaby, Vicky Chow (Bang on a Can), Mariel Roberts, Matt Barbier and Weston Olencki (RAGE thrombones), Rusell Greenberg (Yarn|Wire), Matthias Engler, and Ingolfur Vilhjalmsson (Ensemble Adapter).
A new recording of the monodrama longitude was released on Bedroom Community in Fall 2019. It made multiple year-end lists, and was described as "gorgeous and somewhat terrifying in equal measure." by 5:4.
Davíð co-runs Carrier Records--a label for new and experimental music--with Sam Pluta, Katie Young, and Jeff Snyder.