Music cycle TOMORROW: Kaja Draksler & Irena Tomažin Duo
Kaja Draksler & Irena Tomažin Duo Music cycle TOMORROW Friday, 5. February 2021 at 8 p.m. Web streaming (YouTube in Facebook) Irena Tomažin, voice Kaja Draksler, piano Szymon Gasiorek, camera and sound Kaja Draksler and Szymon Gasiorek, editing
A set of authors to be presented in 2021 as part of the MUSIC CYCLE TOMORROW: from tone to sound, brings a diverse and distinct range of sound creation. It will be introduced by the internationally established and rewarded and abroad living and performing pianist and composer Kaja Draksler and Irena Tomažin, vocalist, dancer, performer, and philosopher. Irena is undoubtedly one of the most original vocalists of the world format, not only in Slovenia but also on a broader scale.
The musicians have prepared a new, interdisciplinary program for the duo Kaja Draksler (keyboards, Irena Tomažin (voice, vocals), who will weave together new sound-performance compositions. Their musical repertoire is entirely author’s work and will also be presented for the first time in Maribor. The camera and sound were taken care of by Szymon Gasiorek, and Kaja Draksler performed the video editing.
A unique duet of artists is an impressive world premiere, as each of them specifically approaches the combination of composition and improvisation using different, intimistic structures and musical, composer, and performing logics. They are derived from different styles, places, and historical periods, inspired by a wide range of musical possibilities, harmonic revolutions, melody variations, and tonal permutations.
As Kaja Draksler composes, she crosses genre boundaries, discovers new sound turns, and provokes run-down forms. She follows the realization of some ideas about music, which she accumulated first while studying jazz and classical composition, and later as an active composer and artist. At the same time, Irena Tomažin takes her vocals into different space-time dimensions and feeds them from natural, human and cosmic sounds.
By exploring contemporary music and musical heritage, the authors, composers, and musicians are attracted to the idea of erasing stylistic and historical musical boundaries and discovering personal expression and language through composition and improvisation. Their duet is primarily dedicated to exploring a common, coherent whole – not only separate compositions but all parts of the concert, which in their case crosses genre definitions and transcends artistic fields. The result of these procedures is an audiovisual performance of subtle sound interventions and musical interactions, upgraded by video work transmitted across the Internet.
Kaja is interested in finding ways to combine composition and free improvisation using different structures and musical logic. In the spirit of Dutch jazz/improvised musical heritage, she is attracted to the idea of erasing stylistic and historical musical boundaries and discovering personal expression and language through composition and improvisation.
Kaja Draksler combines composition and improvisation, deriving from different styles, places, and historical periods, inspired by a wide range of musical possibilities, harmonic turns, melody variations, and tonal permutations. In the process of composing, she crosses genre boundaries, pushing away new sound turns and provoking run-down forms to follow the realizations of some of the thoughts about music she accumulated first while studying jazz and classical composition, and later as an active improviser.
Irena Tomažin, an award-winning vocalist, dancer, performer, and philosopher, began working in the theatre at Gimnazija Bežigrad, where she took part in the IHT group under the mentorship of Tomaž Štruč. At the end of secondary school, she started dancing in Studio Intakt. She perfected her dance education at the Ljubljana Dance Theatre, in the educational programs Laboratorij, Agon, and Emanat, and numerous workshops in Slovenia and abroad. She has released several CDs, independently and in collaboration with various ensembles, and received the Zlata ptica / Golden Bird Award for Performing Arts and the Gibanica Festival award for Choreography (2009) and best performance by the audience and best performance by expert jury (2015). She has collaborated with eminent artists in dance and theatre performances (Bara Kolenc, Dušan Teropšič, Mala Kline, Maja Delak, Kayo Mikami, Dragan Živadinov, Emil Hrvatin, Barbara Novakovich, Silvan Omerzu, Magdalena Reiter, Sebastian Horvat, Hanna Preuss, Eric Dean Scott, Josephine Evrard, Sergei Kovalevich, Jaka Andrej Vojevec, Tino Sehgal (Documenta 13), Anne Hirth, Christian Kesten, Mathieu Copeland...) , as well as in music creations (Tomaž Grom, Neža Naglič, Marko Karlovčec, Seijiro Murajama, Liz Allbee, Okyung Lee, Noid, Klaus Filip, Christof Kurzmann, Lee Patterson, Xavier Charles, Tetsuya Umeda, Christian Kesten...).
Kaja Draksler, a pianist and composer, moved to the Netherlands after studying at the Secondary Music and Ballet School (Jazz Department) and classical gymnasium. There she completed her undergraduate studies in jazz piano and postgraduate studies in classical composition. In Amsterdam, she became an active member of the rich scene of improvised music. Since her solo debut in 2013, she has performed extensively across Europe and the rest of the world with her copyright projects. In addition to solo programs, she leads her octet (with domicile in Amsterdam), is part of the trio Punkt.Vrt.Plastik (with domicile in Berlin), the International Quartet Hearth, and also plays in the duets Czajka & Puchacz, To Pianos, Feecho, Susana Santos Silva / Kaja Draksler, and Terrie Ex / Kaja Draksler. She is a member of the interdisciplinary group I/O and the Doek collective and co-curates the Suture Soven festival. She focuses on her ensembles, still occasionally composes for others: Looptail Ensemble, Sturi Quartet, EMJO, Doek/Tricentric Foundation, Metropole Orchestra, Big Band RTV Slovenia, Italian Instabile Orchestra, etc.
Production: X-OP Association Co-organization: KID KIBLA The music cycle TOMORROW is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the Municipality of Maribor.
