Tag Archive for: choir

Labia Mea for 8 voices a cappella (2016) – Vahram Sarkissian

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Labia Mea (2016)

Vahram Sarkissian

8 mixed voices a cappella

Premiere: 2016, Vahram Sarkissian (alle Stimmen), online

In a groundbreaking artistic endeavour, Armenian-Canadian composer and vocal artist Vahram Sarkissian performs “Labia Mea”, his captivating composition for 8 mixed voices a cappella that pushes the boundaries of vocal possibilities to incredible heights. This experimental work is the result of three years of tireless research and meticulous experimentation with extended vocal techniques.

“Labia Mea” seem like an unbelievable achievement to me, as Vahram Sarkissian actually recorded all eight vocal parts, originally written for an 8-part mixed ensemble, on his own. The range of the composition is nothing short of spectacular, spanning seven octaves, approximately H1 (B0) to d5 (D8), and encompassing a breathtaking sonic palette. Such a wide range envelops the listener in a tapestry of sound that can hardly be attributed to earthly voices.

The work ventures into uncharted territory, using a wealth of unconventional techniques that defy traditional norms. From the haunting melodies of throat singing to the hypnotic harmonies of overtone singing, from the rhythmic intricacies of vocal percussion to extreme registers, Labia Mea pushes the boundaries of what the human voice can do.

Inspired by Psalm 50 (“Domine labia mea aperies”), the composition embarks on a journey of self-expression. As the piece progresses, a process of text accumulation develops, gradually moving from ethereal sounds to compound phonemes, then to words and finally to the full text.

“Labia Mea becomes a profound manifestation of the inner struggle for self-expression. Every facet of the human experience finds its voice in the composition, with intellectual perception, emotional depth and spiritual insight all vying for attention. As Vahram Sarkissian weaves these elements together, a symphony of self-discovery unfolds that resonates with the listener’s own search for authenticity.

At a time when music often follows familiar patterns, Vahram Sarkissian challenges convention and dares to redefine what is possible. Be captivated by the wonders of ‘Labia Mea’ and witness the transformative power of a single voice pushing the boundaries of artistic innovation.

 

A big thanks to Olaf Katzer, the director of AuditivVokal Dresden, who brought this composition to my attention. AuditivVokal has been working closely with me over the past few months to achieve a professional level in overtone singing. This enables the ensemble to master works with demanding extended vocal techniques and take on additional composition commissions.

If you are interested in efficient professional overtone singing training for your choir or professional ensemble, feel free to schedule an informal conversation, either by phone or using the appointment planner. I have specialized in working with singers for 40 years and am available to assist you.

To schedule an appointment, please visit Appointment Booking (mention in the comments that it’s for a free conversation).

What a sound! – Young Ensemble Dreden, Olaf Katzer, Jan Heinke

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Such sounds cast a spell over me. Those who know me know how much contemporary choral music touches me. And as an overtone singer, I have been trying to bring overtone awareness to choirs for almost four decades. I am all the happier when composers who know something about overtone singing write choral music.

Jan Heinke is an absolutely exceptional musician. We have been friends for many years now, and Jan never fails to impress me with his deeply reflective worldview. His music is unique in the world, his playing on the steel cello he built, his ultra low bass and the virtuosity of his overtone singing. The Junge Ensemble Dresden under the direction of Olaf Katzer is one of the top chamber choirs in Germany and one of the select ones dedicated to contemporary classical music at the highest level.

You find the CD here: https://jungesensembledresden.de/cd

CD „Licht über Licht“
Performer: Junges Ensemble Dresden
Artistic direction: Olaf Katzer
Soloist overtone singing: Jan Heinke
Total playing time: 61:30

Jan Heinke: http://www.janheinke.de/, http://www.stahlquartett.de/

Why Does Choral Music Sound So Good?

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I was very happy about this video from Barnaby Martin. It is a wonderful introduction to the basics of my → Choral Phonetics. In this video he shows why formants are so important for intonation.

Choral phonetics uses our hidden ability to perceive resonances in the vocal tract as pitches (→ hearing test). And it trains a special fine motoricity of the tongue to control these resonances and to adapt the timbre to chords. This know-how enables singers to tune resonances just as precisely as their vocal tones. This turns timbre into a musical instrument. Choir sounds, as they can be heard in the video, become controllable.

What otherwise requires many years of experience and voice training for choristers can be achieved much faster with the knowledge of choral phonetics. Choir singers and conductors usually learn the necessary vocal techniques in just a few days and can develop them into a retrievable skill set within half a year. This refines not only intonation and homogeneity in the ensemble, but also the carrying capacity and lightness of the voice.

Besides, Barnaby Martin has a great talent to explain complex musical phenomena in a simple and entertaining way. Be sure to subscribe to his YouTube channel “Listening In”, there are a lot of first-class videos about the effects of musical sounds.Among other things I recommend his video about the completely crazy intonation movements that Jacob Collier uses in his choir pieces. Guys, choral phonetics is slowly becoming mainstream :)!

Bernat Vivancos – Obriu-me els llavis, Senyor

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Obriu-me els llavis, Senyor

(2000, Oslo)

Recording: Latvian Radio Choir, Sigvards Klava, 2011.
5 choirs (17 voices):
4 mixed choirs (at least 32 singers, preferably 64)
with divisi and a male voice choir.

Obriu-me els llavis, Senyor is one of those a cappella works that I present in almost all of my lectures as a reference for completely new possibilities in choral music. It begins with a cluster that achieves an immense effect through its pure intonation alone, before a shimmering chorus of overtones rises from a dense chord of precise vocals as if it were not from this world. It is one of my favourite passages from one of my favourite CDs: Blanc. This CD is one of my most listened to and is an absolute recommendation. Latvian Radio Choir, conducted by Sigvards Klava, is one of the best in the world.

The fascinating thing about the overtones of the Latvian Radio Choir is that they maintain the lightness of the voice and the intonation of the fundamental notes without any obvious change in timbre when they change overtone technique. This is my sound ideal. The overtones seem almost unreal, one can hardly believe that the entire sound is sung exclusively a cappella. This skill unfolds the true magic of overtone singing. This is the future of professional overtone singing: the imperceptible, softly flowing transition from the classical voice to the world of overtones and back again.

Bernat Vivancos’ music is like a city of angels: blissful sounds populated by saintly spirits hiding between the notes as birds in a tree.
Lasse Thoresen

If you want to buy the CD, I recommend downloading it from the publisher’s website. There you can download a higher quality than the usual CD. And under the tab ”Scores” you will find a very special extra: free download of the sheet music.

Interview with the composer:

 

European Overtone Choir

28.02.19 – 22h – DLF Kultur Radio Broadcast about the Europa Obertonchor

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The Deutschlandfunk Kultur broadcasts on Thursday, 28 February 2019 from 22h to 22h30 a radio feature about the European Overton Choir. The EOC is an experimental project choir that once a year from Easter Monday invites interested singers for a week to experiment with the potential and new sound possibilities of overtones in choral music. Works will be sung by notes as well as improvisations developed with new methods.

DLF Kultur, Thursday 28. Feb 2019, 22:00 h

⇒European Overton Choir, next project week 22.-28. April 2019

CD From Sea to Sea - Aaron Jansen

Uvavnuk Dreams / The Great Sea – Aaron Jensen (2012)

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A composition by Aaron Jensen, Canada 2012, for mixed choir a cappella and overtone soloist.

SSAATTB + overtone singer soloist (khoomej style) 6’00″

Text by Uvavnuk – translation: Jane Hirshfield

Commissioned by The Toronto Arts Council

Premiere: 12.05.2013 — The Elmer Iseler Singers, conductor Lydia Adams

Guest overtone singer: Scott Peterson

More about the composition on Aaron Jensen’s website.

Cosmos – Sunrise – A Cappella from Latvia

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The Latvian a cappella group Cosmos (2002 – 2009,2015…) is characterized by extraordinary sounds and own arrangements, including overtone singing, as here in “Sunrise” (Saullēkts). Their shows are also remarkable. More on their YouTube-channel.

Young girls from Slovenia blast all choir dimensions – new vocal theatre

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Carmina Slovenica – TOXIC PSALMS / Ultimate collective experience

Carmina Slovenica is an exceptional girl choir from Slovenia, or, as they themselves call their performances: Vocal Theater. With overwhelming choreographic charisma the teenagers present here an incredible diversity of vocal techniques and choral traditions from Estonian ancient spells in setting of Veljo Tormis up to overtone singing from Sarah Hopkins. Toxic Psalms of Karmina Šilec was premiered in 2013 in Berlin. Absolutely thrilling.

In addition to the above-featured performance TOXIC PSALMS Carmina Slovenica sing and dance / play extremely different programs, including overtone singing. Presumably, the ensemble is better known for its spectacular performance of Karl Jenkins’ Adiemus (no overtone singing):

Carmina Slovenica - Adiemus (part 1)

Wolfgang Saus’ first overtone project 1986 – Bootessteg by Günther Beckers

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In October 2014 the composer surprisingly sent me the link to this video. “Der Bootssteg” by Günther Beckers was my very first production with overtone singing in 1986. I hadn’t heard of it since then and, to be honest, I had even forgotten that I had already made music with overtones back then.

In 1983 I was on stage with Roberto Laneri for the project “Nada Brahma – Die Welt ist Klang” by Joachim Ernst Berendt. For the first time in my life I heard overtone singing and was deeply moved so that I immediately realized that overtones would change my life. I taught myself how to sing overtones with many experiments, without the slightest idea of how it worked, only from the memory of the sound, without the possibility to listen to recordings. And I couldn’t find out Roberto Laneri’s phone number. It’s amazing how contemporary the work still sounds today, then an experimental innovation.

→More about the composition

In the recording: Marie-Dagny Wennberg from Sweden – alto, Wolfgang Saus – baritone overtone singing, members of the Collegium Byzantinum Aix la Chapelle, studio mix by Miki Meuser, acoustic rooms of the Institute for High-Frequency Engineering at Aachen University. Digital artificial head recording (also new at that time).

1986 was a year of extraordinary music projects for me. After an intensive with a professional ensemble in a master class of the Swedish exceptional choir leader and later successor of Eric Ericsons, Anders Eby, it became even clearer to me that the secret of professional choral sound lies in the overtones.

I had just received a solo contract at the Municipal Theatre Aachen for the premiere of the opera “Chimäre” by the Munich composer Hans-Jürgen von Bose and rehearsed the difficult score including polyphonic tape recordings. At that time I loved avant-garde and experimental music and was able to easily sight read scores, so that I rehearsed new music with much joy.

Anna - Ein Neuer Mensch, Günther Beckers 1984At the same time, Günther Beckers, painter and composer, approached me with his composition “Der Bootssteg – Hallkammer und schalltoter Raum” (“The jetty – reverberation chamber and anechoic chamber”). It was my part for overtone singing. It was played as a media production on the occasion of an exhibition at the Venice Biennale. In 1984 I had already worked with Günther Beckers and performed “Anna – ein neuer Mensch” (video), a co-production of Günther Beckers with Miki Meuser (no overtone singing yet). I found the project so exciting, because it fit exactly to my question about the sound secret of choral music.

Back then I had no idea if you could make purposeful music with overtones at all. My overtone technique was still uncertain. There were no teachers or I knew nobody except Laneri. In 1986 I had not yet heard of Michael Vetter or David Hykes. That was a challenge, because I studied chemistry at the same time and sang in six choirs and had rehearsals every day. Young and unstoppable when it came to sound. Except “young” not much has changed ;).

I am happy that this rarity has now emerged.

 

 

Overtones in Canon | Mundwerk

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The Munich a cappella group Mundwerk sings Brother Jaques not only with voices in canon, but also with overtones. My student and master class graduate Oliver Zunker (now no longer with the group) sings together with his colleague Jens Ickert the canon exclusively with overtones. Oliver himself is an excellent overtone teacher, as you can hear. I think the whole choral arrangement is superb!

All tones of the melody are already contained in a single keynote (harmonic 6 to 13, cf. composing with overtones). So you can sing them on one fundamental note.

Here you can download the sheet music for free →

Sources & Links

https://www.facebook.com/oliver.zunker?fref=ts

http://www.mundwerk.biz/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A8re_Jacques

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