Destil is a multidisciplinary piece where Manel Salas Palau and Núria Andorrà show us the results of their process of distilling the interaction between the two arts.
The artistic process leading to the piece can be visualised as a form of ‘distillation’: finding the essence of each of the two art forms before fusing them to create one.
Destil comes from distillation: the process of separating chemical substances based on the various volatilities each one presents, thus purifying the components of a mixture.
The set consists of the elements that permit a flow between movement and sound, and that unite gesture with sonority. A mélange of sound objects that provide space for the music to dance and for movement to have sound.
This distillation process will be an open process to which guest artists will be invited, both on Friday and on Saturday nights, to share and experiment with new components and so obtain new essences. On Friday, the guests will be Aimar Pérez Galí and Almudena Pardo Teixeiro, while on Saturday the artists will be joined by Álex Reviriego and Tom Chant.
Núria Andorrà is a contemporary percussionist, improviser and composer. Her training spans the classic and the contemporary, but she has always sought inspiration from a multitude of sources. Nùria brings us a universe in which images, sound and the body come together to transmit the same emotions in equal measures, creating from an interdisciplinary standpoint.
Her interdisciplinary show Constel·lacions received the Puig Porret Prize at the Mercat de Música Viva, Vic (Catalonia) 2019, the Special Zirkólika Award 2020 and the ‘Alicia’ Award from the Catalan Academy of Music.
She has played alongside musicians Agustín Fernández, Fred Frith, Lê Quan Nihn, Joëlle Léandre, Zlatko Kaučič, Rafał Mazur, Mats Gustafsson, Pablo Ledesma, Nate Wooley, Ingar Zach, Frances-Marie Uitti, Joe Morris, Tom Chant, Yasmine Azaiez, Anne-Liis Poll, Nuno Rebelo and Christiane Bopp; and with dancers Julyen Hamilton, Manel Salas, Constanza Brncic, Andrés Corchero and Iris Heitzinger. She has also worked with Carles Santos, Hèctor Parra, Matmos and on a number of interdisciplinary shows.
She teaches improvisation at the Higher School of Music of Catalonia (ESMUC) and at the Reus Conservatory, as well as imparting workshops at various higher conservatories around Europe. She is the artistic director of the MontMusic Festival and the MontMusic Ensemble.
Manel Salas Palau (Barcelona, 1980). Having studied Physical Education, he kicked off his career dancing, teaching and choreographing hip-hop. His interest in dance led him to study butoh, acrobatics and improv. In 2008 he graduated in contemporary dance at Codarts, the Rotterdam Dance Conservatory; since then, he has taught and danced with a wide range of companies, projects and choreographers from around the world, such as Paper Tiger (China), Julyen Hamilton (UK), David Zambrano (Belgium), Àngels Margarit (Spain), Arno Schuitemaker, Edita Braun (Austria), CobosMika Company (Spain), Ramon Oller (Spain), Jasmine Morand and many more. He recently settled in Switzerland and continues to teach internationally, collaborating with other artists and developing his own work, with tours in China, Russia, Netherlands, France, Switzerland and Spain. He was awarded the city and canton prize for culture by Zurich in 2020.
Aimar Pérez Galí develops his artistic practice through composition, teaching, research and writing. He’s currently learning to garden and play the piano.
Almudena Pardo Teixeiro (Barcelona, 1982) started dancing when she was three and hasn’t stopped. Her training includes music and various types of dance. She is interested in real-time composition as a practice in movement.
Àlex Reviriego plays the double bass, organ and electronica. As a double bassist with a comprehensive command of extended techniques and exploration of the instrument’s timbre, he has been part of a great number of contemporary, experimental and free improvisation ensembles. He is a fixed member of formations Phicus, Inhumankind, Ràdium and Möhit, among others, and is one of the most active and sought-after musicians of the Spanish experimental music scene. His dry, spiky style can be heard on dozens of albums released by different international labels and as part of a huge range of live groupings, from solos to large ensembles and orchestras. His versatility has led him to work with such differing styles as black metal, contemporary composition, experimental folk and ambient electronica.
Tom Chant is a saxophonist, improviser and composer. He has been involved in the world of improv music for more than 25 years and has played with musicians such as Otomo Yoshihide, Eddie Prévost, Steve Beresford and Ferran Fages, among many others, particularly in London where he grew up and in Barcelona where he has resided for the past 15 years. He is mainly interested in listening and on how this can influence decisions on playing and expression.
