Camilo Mendez: Peripheral Spaces

Description

The music of Camilo Mendez is a melting pot where a seeming gallimaufry of disparate influences coalesces into harmonious, cohesive works of monumental proportions. It draws inspiration from literature and the visual arts, from geography and philosophy, and from experiences lived on multiple continents. While Mendez's soundworld has an unquestionable affinity with that of European composers like Helmut Lachenmann and his mentors Pierluigi Billone and Rebecca Saunders, the conceptual underpinning of his works is filled with allusions to composers, writers, and visual artists from his native Latin America, and with subtle references to his own professional pursuits and artistic collaborations in North America and Southeast Asia. Just as the works meld together myriad influences, they sonically fuse instruments in continually surprising ways, defamiliarizing them through "preparations" and unconventional playing techniques, blurring their boundaries, and combining their sounds to startling and delightful effect.

Camilo Mendez (*1981) completed a Doctorate and a Master's Degree in advanced Composition at the Royal College of Music in London. He has also studied privately with Rebecca Saunders and Pierluigi Billone. In 2017, Mendez was appointed as the Rieman and Baketel Fellow for Music at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. He is currently assistant professor of the Academy of Music at Hong Kong Baptist University.

Violinist and researcher Roberto Alonso is based in Hong Kong, where he works as an assistant professor at Hong Kong Baptist University. Throughout his international performance career, Roberto has explored a wide repertoire, ranging from early baroque to contemporary music, as a soloist and chamber. Roberto released a recording of the Archon project with NEOS in 2022. He is a member of the Vertixe Sonora Ensemble.

Vertixe Sonora Ensemble is a flexible collective of European soloists that specializes in performing challenging and virtuosic contemporary experimental music. The aim of the collective is to provide an open space for reflection, discussion and exchange to audio-visual artists, jazz musicians, classical performers, theatre and dance practitioners. The members of Vertixe Sonora are committed to develop musical projects of the highest quality with a global perspective. Over the years, the ensemble has commissioned hundreds of new works to established and emerging composers, and has premiered them at concert halls and contemporary music festivals around the world.