Alison Isadora
Alison Isadora

Introduction

Short Biography

The Entangled Composer

CV

I am a composer/performer/educator/curator/host/producer/guide.

I celebrate the ephemeral magic of the live,

the intra-actions that occur as we listen and musick together.

 

“What would it mean to compose if all sound was invited to be equally present? If each of us could fully inhabit our sound and we worked together towards a sonorous outcome?(…)
Would there be a distinction between our composition and our performance? Would that difference feel like a break in continuity? Would it involve a different quality of listening or a different way of knowing?
How would we make intelligent to ourselves the complexity of all the human and nonhuman intra-actions? How would we visualise their social and material organisation? What, Isadora’s research makes me wonder, would constitute a composition or a performance and the relationship between them, if all of their attributes were open to reimagining?
As an established composer and performer, Isadora has long considered these questions from the other end of the spectrum: working from music as a given, from the containment of space and time, of bodies and instruments, departing from the pecking order of the orchestra with its differentiated roles for composers, musicians and conductors; from the norms of composition notation, from the rules and habits and traditions of performance. Her concentrated exploration into the structures and textures of music has led her to the limits of the field itself, to the fact that the boundaries of any phenomenon closely examined are permeable and unfixed. She has sought within this mutability the possibility to reimagine composition and performance so that they more openly embrace the wider creative matrix that enables them to come into being.”

Lucy Cotter in Fieldings. Propositions for 3rd Cycle Education in the Performing Arts1

 

My understanding of music has been enriched and informed

by performing and composing, by musicking in:

New music ensembles

Javanese gamelan

Punk bands

Symphony Orchestras

Baroque ensembles

Improvisation groups

String quartets

Live electronic ensembles

And many other hybrid forms.

 

My involvement with de-colonial activism and simultaneous participation in Western art music in Aotearoa in the 80s, created an understanding that we are always situated. That we need to open our ears to the silencing that continues to take place—to nourish dialogue.

 

What do we hold on to?

What do we let go of?

Why?

What might speculative music sound like?

What is the place of aesthetics, and its relations with ethics,

process-based philosophy and the ecology of a practice?

 

My practice encompasses fully notated chamber works, indeterminate scores, soundwalks, music theatre works and lately also explores the possibilities of the audience score and ‘lay’ participants.

 Many recent works can be seen as works in process, compositions-in-becoming. They are part of what Brian Massumi might call the anarchive. Scores can be responsive and flexible; they may adapt over time and create new iterations. In this website I have only included different iterations of works if they are significantly different – for instance versions for fixed or open instrumentation. I suggest, however, that whether a composition is fixed or has degrees of fluidity, the moment when a performance takes place is co-constituted by many actants – the audience, musicians, space, score and composer.

 

We are all in this together.

 

1Lucy Cotter ‘After a while, reflectively: Performing an ecology of a composition practice’, in Fieldings. Propositions for 3rd Cycle Education in the Performing Arts, ed. Sher Doruff (Amsterdam: DAS Publishing, 2021), 53-54.

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Alison Isadora

One of Alison’s early recollections of contextual music-making occurred when, as a 9-year-old, she was asked to play violin for the gang members who lifted weights in the family garage. Numerous incidences involving symphony orchestras, punk bands, gamelan groups, free-improv ensembles and new music outfits stimulated an appreciation of the myriad creative intra-actions possible between the composer, score, performer, audience, and place.

Isadora was born and bred in Aotearoa/New Zealand and has been based in Amsterdam since the late 80s. She studied political philosophy and music at the Victoria University of Wellington (NZ), violin and composition at the Koninklijk Conservatorium (NL) and theatre studies at DasArts (NL).

Her compositions are performed in diverse latitudes by groups such as Modelo62, Ensemble Klang, Array (Canada), Decibel Ensemble (Australia) and STROMA (NZ). As well as composing chamber music, Isadora creates music-theatre performances, audio walks and installations.

She has been a research fellow at DAS THIRD (NL) and has recently completed a PhD at Te Herenga Waka/Victoria University of Wellington, entitled Performing the Ecology of a Composition-Practice-in-Becoming, employing multi-layered texts, bird song and recontextualised scores to encourage attention to the materiality of sound and to invite active, embodied and situational musicking.

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Imagining:

an entangled composer who co-ordinates, initiates, co-creates, hosts and acts as guardian;
a recontextualized score which operates as an adaptive (notation) environment;
an implicated musician whose role may be expanded to include co-creator, teacher, and organiser;
an agential audience who may be an attuned listener, participant, and co-creator; and
a situated performance space.

In 2018 I began exploring the intra-relations between these 5 actants and the possible expansion of the roles. This has generated and continues to generate various forms of work. In 2022 I completed my PhD thesis Performing the Ecology of a Composition-Practice-in-Becoming in which I re-think the world of contemporary Western art music supported by ideas from process philosophy, feminist materialism, quantum physics and ecology, to name but a few.

Notions of situatedness, in the broadest sense, including Donna Haraway’s thoughts on situated knowledge, encourage us to attend to issues of an ethical nature. I suggest that who, where, what, and how, we do what we do, are questions we need to keep asking. Furthermore, historic habits require addressing.

We need to look at where we are and how we got here in order to allow ourselves to imagine what we might become.

The Together series (2018- ) is an evolving and expanding body of music which explores these ideas in practice, through co-constituted musical landscapes.

An expanded meaning of listening, incorporating the notion of ‘attending’, can be seen as a multifaceted tool capable of nourishing new relationships between actants. Agential, ecological, dialogic and diffractive listening are amongst the listening methods I propose to stimulate embodied co-constitutive relations.

The heartbeat has emerged as a potent tool for both situating actants and generating a recognition of connection.

In the Together series, multiple applications of situating the heartbeat for both musician and audience are explored as tools for expanding the actant’s field. In many works audience members are invited to attend to their heartbeat while listening to music which encourages shifting attention between personal and external systems and the development of complex listening skills. In Together#7, audience members ‘perform’ their heartbeats to the musicians, creating an autopoietic feedback loop, wherein the audience members embody the role of the conductor. By performing their own heartbeat or that of an audience member, the musicians create a polyrhythmic, indeterminate environment.

Together#5 was written for Ensemble Modelo62 and incorporates an indeterminate score based on the heartbeats of the musicians. Texts about the venue, which could be of a historic/geological/pre-colonial/mythological/or gossipy nature are created by the musicians who are also responsible for ordering these texts in the performance, stimulating awareness of the relationships that can occur between words and music.  The audience follows a own score that encourages different forms of attention through the performance – for instance attending to their heartbeat while listening to the music. After the performance, a moment for introspection is offered where both the audience and musicians can write about their experience.

I consider feedback to be a way of creating moments for new forms of intra-action between the audience and musician, of reflecting together (through writing or talking). In the Together series the form of the feedback is dependent on context: questionnaires, Gossip sessions, plenary discussions or informal chats, are amongst the palette of possible shared situations that could be activated.

My explorations into the expanded roles of various actants has also led to an interest in composing situations that support the participation of people with different levels of musical knowledge. This might be: rehearsing material with the audience before the performance (in Together#9 and Klankbord for instance), organising listening workshops with school children resulting in illustrations for audience scores (Together#11 and Klankbord), or workshops with amateurs and lay participants culminating in co-created performances with professional musicians (Together#6, Together#11, Klankbord etc).

Together#6 arose out of a discussion with Ezequiel Menalled, the artistic leader of Ensemble Modelo62, regarding the challenges of co-creation within a limited rehearsal time. Could I create an environment which incorporated my interest in working with ‘lay’ participants and professionals within the timeframe of one day?

In Together#6 ‘lay’ participants and Modelo62 meet each other on the day of the performance and work together for several hours in one of four groups: Text/Ambient, Listening, Melody and Rhythm Group, seeding and growing their material. The instructions for these groups may range from prescriptions for the number of people playing and possible points of connection –leaving the musical content to the discretion of the participants— to traditionally notated music scores. The score is organised in blocks of 5 minutes which may be further subdivided. After a break for tea the groups come together and discover how their work intra-acts with the other groups.

I am interested in expanding the role of the composer to include host and ask myself how we can create situations in which we support a sense of (temporary) community. In Together#6 the participants and musicians eat a meal together before the performance, preferably delivered by a local eatery which reflects or is in dialogue with the environs of the rehearsal/performance. After the performance, there is time for a drink before a collective feedback session.

This brings me to another area of focus - ecological situatedness.

Where are we when we do what we do.

I am attempting to be alive to the becomings—the becoming together— in contemporary Western art music that may arise between various actants, both human and other-than-human.

In Together#5 my attention rests on the stories that the performance space may hold, but in many other works the sonic environment is also addressed agentially (as an intra-active collaborator). Each place has a ‘sonic fingerprint’, and by attending to this we create the conditions for another kind of attunement with our environment.

In Together#6 the Listening group explores the sonic neighbourhood of the rehearsal/performance venue for their material. In Together#11 local residents record a sound from their milieu and ‘translate’ this into music. In the Klankbord series I record local audio material which became the sonic building blocks for a work for 3 improvisers, a HyperTheremin player and audience participation.

Our domestic sound-world can also offer inspiration. In the Together#7 series the audience are invited to bring a household object to play during the work, in an attempt to stimulate another kind of awareness towards our domestic sound-world.

Audio connections are also be made with other species. Several works, such as Together#8 (The Blackbird With Us) and Together#9 (Sounding the Tūī), directly involve an avian contribution. In Together#8, the song of the blackbird in the inner garden of my neighbourhood block in Amsterdam became the primary musical material for a community Covid work performed from balconies, windows and gardens. Slowed down field recordings of the song of the tūī, made in a bird sanctuary in the heart of Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington) provided the pitch material for Together#9 - a work in which choir members taught phrases of the birdsong to the audience before creating together a performance that spanned three floors of the sanctuary building.

I hope these works may stimulate discussions and practices within the new music community but also recognise that these considerations can have broader implications. In establishing the entanglement of actants within the composition-practice-in-becoming, I also acknowledge the ramifications this intertwinement may have for our intra-actions with humans and other-than-humans on a global scale. In the Together series we create music together through practising skills of ‘entendre’—attention—skills that I would suggest are not only beneficial for musicking, but also for the well-being of the planet.

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ALISON ISADORA (1962 AOTEAROA/NZ)

GENERAL EDUCATION

MUSICAL EDUCATION

  • Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington: PhD (2018–2022).
  • Royal Conservatory of The Hague: Composition Diploma (1989–94 with distinction) with Theo
    Loevendie, Gilius van Bergeijk and Klaas de Vries.
  • Royal Conservatory of The Hague: Violin Certificate (1986–89) with Vera Beths.
  • Victoria University of Wellington: B.Mus (1982–85). Composition (Jack Body, David Farqhar and
    Ross Harris) and Performance Violin (Gavin Saunders).
  • Wellington Polytechnic (1981) Violin (Elsa Jenkins).

AS EDUCATOR

  • Royal Conservatorium The Hague: Master Supervisor 2019–, Master Circle Leader 2019–, Tutor 2024–,
    Week-long workshop for composition students March 2020, 2023.
    Guest Composition Professor January–June 2019.
    External examiner 2006, 2010, 2011, 2019.
  • Utrecht School of Arts (HKU): Workshop leader Musician 3.0 students 2022,
    Music-theatre course with Jannie Pranger and Nirav Christophe 2006-2009.
  • We Live Here: Week-long workshop for theatre and dance-makers in Amsterdam, 2018.
  • Apeldoorn: Tutor at International Composers Meeting 2004, 2018, 2022.
  • Soundstream Emerging Composers Forum Adelaide: Mentor together with Gao Ping and Cat Hope, 2016.
  • Victoria University (NZ): Guest lecturer and composition workshops (graduate and post-graduate) 1996–current. Usually bi-annually.
  • ArtEZ: Music lecturer for dance and theatre students in Education Department at Arnhem 2012–15.
  • ArtEZ: Music lecturer for choreographers and dancers at Arnhem School of Dance with a specific focus on the translation of musical compositional methods and systems to choreographic tools (graduate and post-graduate) 2007–15.
  • Matangi Song Show: Workshops with high school students and string quartet (average of 2 per year) 2009–13.
  • Mime School Amsterdam: Workshop together with Jan Langedijk 2006.
  • Nelson (NZ): Mentor at Composers Workshop 2001, 2004, 2016.

AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS

  • Caselberg Creative Connections Residency 2023, Ōtepoti/Dunedin.
  • Wellington Doctoral Submission Scholarship 2021, Victoria University of Wellington.
  • Susan Rhind Award in Composition 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 Victoria University of Wellington.
  • Victoria Doctoral Scholarship 2018–2021, Victoria University of Wellington.
  • Creative New Zealand/Jack C. Richards Composer-in-Residence 2016/17, Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music, Wellington, New Zealand 2016/17
  • Wild Creations Residency, Bannockburn 2005
  • Mozart Fellow, Otago University, Dunedin 2001
  • Composition Prize, Royal Conservatory, The Hague 1994
  • Marian Rayward Memorial Scholarship, Victoria University, 1985

JURY FUNCTIONS

  • Chair of Open Oor Prize, 2020, 2022.
  • Open Oor Prize jury member, 2018.
  • Apeldoorn International Composers Meeting jury member, 2004, 2018, 2022.
  • ISCM Young Composers Award jury member Vancouver, 2017.
  • NZSM Composers Competition Wellington, 2016.
  • ISCM Dutch selection 2015.
  • Henriette Bosmansprijs 2008.

ORGANISATIONAL FUNCTIONS

  • Executive member Nieuw Geneco (Dutch Composers Union) 2023–
  • Executive member Stichting Trillende Lucht (Open Oor Prize) 2023–
  • Dutch delegate and co-ordinator for the ISCM 2016–
  • Advisor for the FPK (Dutch Performing Arts Fund) 2010–2016.
  • Member of the Exam Commission, Faculty of Theatre and Dance ArtEZ, 2011–2015.
  • Executive member C96 (Dutch Composers Union) 2005–2008.
  • Executive member NEAR (Dutch electro-acoustic repertory centre) 2002–2004.
  • Founder and artistic leader of Aardvark 1995–2001.
  • Co-programmer with Jack Body of NZ Music Festival in Amsterdam 2001.
  • Co-founder of SYNC 1996.

PRINTED PUBLICATIONS (OTHER THAN SCORES)

  • Isadora, A. Den invävda kompositören i den tillblivande kompositionspraktikens ekologi’. Nutida Musik #291(2023)
  • Isadora, A. Performing the Ecology of a Composition-Practice-in-Becoming. PhD diss. Victoria University of Wellington (2022).
  • Cotter, Lucy. ‘“After a While, Reflectively:” Performing an Ecology of Composition Practice’. In Fieldings, Propositions for 3rd Cycle Education in the Performing Arts. Amsterdam: Das Publishing, 2021, 52-57.
  • Isadora, A. ‘Performing the Practice of Composition’, in International Conference on Technologies for Music Notation and Representation Proceedings 2020.
  • Wallrafen, H. and Isadora, A. 'Langs de Amstel' in Soundtrackcity – 8 Geluidswandelingen in Amsterdam (Zwolle, Uitgeverij d'jonge Hond), 2009, 38- 45.
  • Wallrafen, H. and Isadora, A. 'Langs de Amstel' in Amsterdam Moet Je Horen (Amsterdam, Stichting Soundtrackcities), 2011, 10-13.
  • Isadora, A. 'Bannockburn, Central Otago' in Wild Creations, Kate Wells, (Auckland, Lopdell House Gallery) 2007, 28-31.
  • Isadora, A. 'The Necessity for Music' in World Music is Where We Found it, W. Pond and P. Wolffram, (Wellington, Victoria University Press) 2011, 64-66.
  • Isadora, A. 'Legacy' in Jack! Celebrating Jack Body, Composer, J. Shennan, G. Whitehead and S. Askew. (Wellington, Steele Roberts Publishers) 2015, 12.
  • Isadora, A. Interview in Art News (Auckland, N.Z.). V. Were, vol.27, no.2. Winter 2007, 93-94.

SPOKEN TEXTS/ INTERVIEWS

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SELECTION OF CHAMBER WORKS

  • Klankbord I, II, III, for HyperTheremin, cornet, tenor sax, percussion and audience participation. Audience-score illustrations from local school children. 2023–2024. With support from AFK.
  • Diffractive Readings, 3 ‘readings’ based on Wind Horse by Pauline Oliveros, one ‘tarot reading’, one with MAZE ensemble and one incorporating audio from the tarot reading and audience participation. Premiere with MAZE and Billy Mullaney in Orgelpark, Amsterdam 2024. With support from FPK.
  • Together#11 - Re-sounding the Peninsula, for local inhabitants and professional musicians. Premiere Dunedin Public Art Gallery, 2023. Made during a Caselberg Creative Connections Residency, N.Z.
  • Pulse (Together#7.2), for improvisers and audience participation, 2022. With support from Investeringsfondsmuziek Buma.
  • Together#6, for Modelo62 and participants. Try-out in Muiderkerk, Amsterdam, 2021. Commissioned by Ensemble Modelo62 with support from FPK.
  • Together#7.1, for improvisers and audience participation. Premiere in Muiderkerk, Amsterdam, 2021. With support from Investeringsfondsmuziek Buma.
  • Together#7, for improvisers and audience participation. Premiere in Audio Foundation, Auckland, then Pyramid Club in Wellington, 2021. Financial support from the Susan Rhind Award and FPK.
  • Together#9, Sounding the Tūī, for choir and audience participation. Premiere Baroque Voices in Zealandia Ecosanctuary, Wellington, 2021. Financial support from the Susan Rhind Award.
  • Together#5.2, for flexible instrumentation and audience. Premiere Adam Concert Room, NZSM, Wellington, 2021, then Christchurch Arts Centre. Also here. 
  • Merel, for amateur female choir, 2020.
  • Together#8, for local residents, featuring the neighbourhood blackbird. Premiere Amsterdam, 2020. With financial support from FPK.
  • Together#5, for ensemble and audience, 2019. Premiere Modelo62, Korzo, Den Haag, 2019. With financial support from FPK. Excerpts here.
  • That one man (shall not), for overtone singer, harp and electric guitar, Premiere Wellington, 2018.
  • Stemmen, for soprano, ensemble and participatory audience. With financial support from the Susan Rhind Award. Premiere Stroma Ensemble, Wellington, 2018.
  • 4 Dada Songs, for 4 adventurous voices. With financial support from Museum Drachten. Premiere Drachten Poetry Ball, 2018.
  • Point of Contact, for electric violin. Premiere Steim, Amsterdam, 2018. With financial support from FPK.
  • Node, for piano trio. Premiere Splendor, Amsterdam, 2018. With financial support from FPK.
  • Alt, for string quartet. Premiere Stroma Ensemble NZ, 2017. Also NAP Ensemble Nederland, 2023.
  • For John, for solo cello. Written during Creative NZ Residence. Premiere Wellington 2017.
  • For John on violin, for solo violin. Premiere Wellington, 2017.
  • Wetonan Cycle, for Cirebon Gamelan, written during residence, 2017.
  • 54 Events and their Offspring, for soprano and recorder, 2017. Premiere June 2017.
  • Songs of Remembering #1, for soprano and violin. Premiere Wellington 2017.
  • Blessing (in memoriam Jack Body), for mixed choir. Written during Creative New Zealand/Jack C. Richards Composer-in-Residence 2016/17 at New Zealand School of Music, Wellington.  Premiere Baroque Voices, May 2017.
  • Strike&Hold, for pianist with percussion, 2015. With financial support from FPK. Premiere Wellington, 2017, then in Summartonar festival, Faroe Islands.
  • Playtime, for violin and hi-hat, 2015. With financial support from FPK.
  • Point of Departure, for string quartet and foot-percussion. With financial support from FPK. Premiere Matangi Kwartet, Dag in de Branding, Den Haag, 2014. New Zealand premiere STROMA Ensemble, 2015. 
  • Earthbell, for bass clarinet and electronics. Commission from Marij van Gorkom, with financial support from FPK. Premiere Den Haag, 2012, then in New Zealand
  • De Atlantikwall, for mezzo-soprano and cello. Commission Cultuurcompagnie Noord-Holland, 2011.
  • Broke en Déshéritée, voor Renaissance fluitkwartet, mezzosopraan en gongs. Commission Attaignant Consort with financial support from FPK, 2011.
  • of a feather, for sextet. Premiere 2010. Commission FPK.
  • Cornish Pasty, for Ensemble Klang. Premiere Netherlands 2010. NZ premiere with Stroma 2013. Paris with Klang, 2023. Commission FPK. Stroma.
  • Shaken (not), for Big Band, 2009. Premiere Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam, January 2011. Radio recording. Commission NFPK+
  • eating up beijing, for violin, cello and accordeon, 2008. Commission AFK.
  • this dark ceiling, for 4 voices and percussion. Premiere Nederlands Vocaal Lab, 2008. NFPK+.
  • Stiletto Scream for 4 voices. Commissioned by the FvSTK for Voices Festival, Amsterdam, 2007. With Phil Minton, Jannie Pranger, Jodi Gilbert, and Catherine Jauniaux.
  • At the Core, new works for jazz quartet based on existing works from Guus Janssen, Mischa Mengelberg, Maarten Altena and Willem Breuker. Premiere Utrecht, 2007. Commission FvSTK.
  • De Zeis, for ensemble and live electronics. Text by Maria Barnas, 2006. Premiered by Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, tour in Holland. Radio recording.
  • The Celestials for midi-violin, sensors and live electronics. Film by Nathalie Latham. Premiere Muziekgebouw aan’t IJ, Amsterdam, 2006. Radio recording.
  • fronds (spira mirabilis), for string quartet. Premiere with the Zephyr Quartet, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, 2005. Radio recording. Commissioned by FvSTK.
  • The little baby jesus and the bee, for mezzo-soprano and ensemble. Premiere Wellington, 2004. Radio. Commissioned by Creative New Zealand and Stroma.
  • Two pieces for Accordion orchestra, for the Snitser Kokkebynkes. Commissioned by the Muziekschool Waterland, 2004.
  • Le Rêve, for vln, rec, pno, alto, trmb, el.gtr, cbass, cl, perc, conductor and video, 2001. Written while Mozart Fellow for MAE. Premiere Ysbreker, Amsterdam, 2001. Also in Den Haag and Utrecht. Radio recording.
  • Fabel van de Bijen, (de Mopperkorf) for male voice and harmonium, 1999. Numerous performances in windmills and concert venues in Holland.
  • Part 6, for mixed ensemble, 1999. For MAE, multiple performances throughout Europe, Canada and New Zealand. Commissioned by FvSTK.
  • Germ, for violin and piano. Premiere Rumori Festival, Amsterdam 1999. Radio recording. Subsequent performances in Italy, Canada. Commissioned by FvSTK.
  • Concerto for rhythm-man and electrical gadgets, DDT, No’s 1 & 3 for Aardvark, Performed in Middelburg, Utrecht, Amsterdam 1999. Commissioned by FSTK..
  • Cramp (a lullaby), for small gamelan ensemble, 1997. Commissioned by FvSTK. 
  • Condensation, for vln, bcl, recorder, pno, mezzo, synth, trmb, cbass, perc, dj and live electronics, 1997. Commissioned by the Maarten Altena Ensemble.
  • The (Mis)adventures of Amy Bock, for mezzo-soprano and piano, 1996. Commissioned by Tomoko Mukaiyama and Jannie Pranger. (Donemus)
  • En/Of II, for vln, bcl, rec, pno, mezzo, el. gtr., trmb, cbass and perc, 1995. Commissioned by FvSTK. Published by Donemus.
  • Fragments, arrangement of song from heavy-metal band Nerve for the Metropole Orchestra,1996. Commissioned by the Dutch National Broadcasting Corporation. Paradiso, Amsterdam 1996. TV registration.
  • America is Waiting, arrangement of Eno/Bryne song for Maarten Altena Ensemble 1995.
  • For Wiek, for electric guitar, 1994. Commissioned by FvSTK. (Donemus) 
  • Namasté (in memoriam Gavin Saunders), for string quartet, 1993. (Donemus)
  • The Fire Within, for HEX ensemble, 1992. (Donemus) Various performances including the International Gaudeamus Music Week 1993 and the International Youth Music Forum, Kiev. Radio recording.
  • Sgraffito, for Nieuw Ensemble, 1991.
  • Untitled, for violin and piano, 1991.
  • Sun Dance - A Summoning, for solo violin,1991. (Donemus) Selected as required work for contestants of the International Gaudeamus Performers Competition, Rotterdam, 1999.
  • Letter to Liz, for solo violoncello, 1990. (Donemus)

MUSIC-THEATRE WORKS (MUSIC PLUS TEXT AND/OR IMAGE) 

  • Critical State V1, cross-media performance work for midi violin, bass guitar and real-time image and sound processing. Collaboration with Jan-Bas Bollen under the name SYNC. Premiere in Amsterdam, STEIM, 2018.
  • Critical State, SYNC. Premiere in Pyramid Club 2017. Thereafter 5 times in NZ. Also here.
  • DROOM, multi-cultural community music theatre with directors Andreas Bachmair and Anne Rooschüz. Premiere May 2016, Amsterdam. 10 performances on location, then in International Community Arts Festival in Rotterdam, March 2017. 
  • Spin, short work for 13 spinning tops and 1 performer, collaboration with Hillary Blake Firestone for Come Together Festival, Frascati, Amsterdam 2017.
  • Cassandra's Ears, a headphone opera, for soprano, mezzo-soprano and 5 musicians, 2013. Commissioned by the FvSTK.
  • Wissel, for midi violin, bass-guitar, video and movement. Premiere  Dakota Theater, Den Haag 2013. With financial support from the FPK.
  • Trace. Cross-media performance work for midi violin, bass guitar and real-time image and sound processing. Collaboration with Jan-Bas Bollen under the name SYNC. Premiere in Dunedin Public Art Gallery NZ, 2008. Thereafter 5 times in New Zealand.
  • Zingmond, a capella opera for 4 voices. Libretto by Marcel van Brakel. Premiere in Theaterfestival Boulevard, Den Bosch, August 2007, 20 performances. Commissioned by Muzieklab Brabant.
  • 6 and a half hours, Music theatre work, for actor, countertenor, foley and 6 musicians. Text by Richard Huber. Video by Jan-Bas Bollen. Premiered in Amsterdam, May 2004, tour in Holland. Reprise in 2006, director Dirk Groeneveld. Commissioned by Gaudeamus with funding from FSTK.
  • Speaking Rites. Installation/audio-walk/participation rooms. Premiered in Amsterdam, 2003. . Commissioned by AFK.
  • Sweet Nothings, for 6 instruments and tape. Written for Ensemble Palmos. Premiere, Maastricht 2003. Subsequently in Eindhoven and Amsterdam. Commissioned by FvSTK.
  • The Deep South, collaboration with Jan-Bas Bollen using real-time audio and image processing. Premiered in Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 2002. Subsequently in Arnhem.
  • In the Wake of the Argo, performance for midi violin, live electronics and video. Performed in the Argo youth-centre using interviews with Maroccan youths as source material. Premiere 2002. Commissioned by the City Council of Amsterdam Old South.
  • Born and Bred, collaboration with Jan-Bas Bollen using live electronics and real-time image processing. Premiered in Dunedin Public Art Gallery, 2001. Later in Amsterdam, De Balie 2003.
  • Native Tongue, for flute and live electronics. Written for Anne La Berge, commissioned by AFK. Video by Sher Doruff. Premiere Korzo Theater, Den Haag then Amsterdam, Utrecht and Groningen, 2001.
  • Het land der Klaarheid, for 5 voices and 11 instruments. Written for Ensemble Royale. Premiere Posthoornkerk, Amsterdam then Rome in the Festival Donne in Musica, 2000. Commissioned by the FvSTK.
  • Nachtvlinders, 50 minute music-theatre piece for mezzo, alto, vln, rec, pno, trmb, el. guit, dbass, cl/bar.sax and perc. Commissioned by FvSTK, video by Sher Doruff, choreography by Eileen Standley. Performed by the Maarten Altena Ensemble. Premiered in Frascati, Amsterdam, also in Korzo Theatre, Den Haag and O42, Nijmegen. 1999.
  • The Big Shop, multi-media performance in collaboration with Jan-Bas Bollen. Performed by SYNC. Premiere Huis a/d Werf, Utrecht, as part of the Nederlandse Muziekdagen, 1998.
  • Hoofdwas, for MIDI-washing-machine, mezzo-soprano and live electronics. Premiere in Utrechtse School, 1995. Further performances in the Netherlands. Radio and tv registrations - (Waskracht, Reizeger in Muziek). Commissioned by the Utrechtse School.

INSTALLATIONS AND SOUND WALKS

  • Moet je Hoorn, soundwalk in Hoorn, collaboration with Ine te Rietstap. Premiere Karavaan Festival, 2015.
  • Overhoeks, soundwalk beside the IJ in Amsterdam, collaboration with Renate Zentschnig. Premiere 2009.
  • Down by the River Side, soundwalk beside the Amstel River in Amsterdam, in collaboration with Hannes Wallrafen. Première 2009. Running permanently.   
  • Re-Connections, sound and image installation in collaboration with Odelle Morshuis. Wild Creations Residency, New Zealand 2005. First shown in hulabaloo Art Space, Cromwell, 2005. Second showing in Lopdell House, Auckland, 2007.
  • Hayal Kutusu, (box of daydreams). Installation with interviews of 3 young Turkish women. Commissioned by the City Council of Amsterdam Old South. Presented in The Community School, Amsterdam, 2003.

Funding sources.
Over the years the funding organisations in the Netherlands have changed names. I use these abbreviations:
FvSTK – Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkust (no longer existing): Dutch Fund for Composers.
NFPK, NFPK+, FPK: Performing Arts Funds NL. AFK: Amsterdam Fund for the Arts.

ACTIVITIES AS PERFORMER

  • SYNC (co-founder) 1996–
  • Aardvark (founder) (electro-acoustic improvisation group) 1995–2001.
  • Maarten Altena Ensemble 1992–2000.
  • HEX Ensemble (co-founder) 1991–98.
  • Nieuw Ensemble 1993–1995.
  • Carduelis Carduelis (improvisation group) 1990–1997.
  • Ensemble Gending (new music gamelan ensemble) 1990–1995.
  • Basho Ensemble (new-music ensemble) 1993–1995.
  • Mondriaan Strings (Willem Breuker Kollectief) 1987–1997.
  • Baroque Players (NZ) 1982–1986.

As improviser performed with: John Zorn, Derek Bailey, Butch Morris, Roscoe Mitchell among others. As interpreter worked with many composers including John Cage, Messiaen, Jonathon Harvey and Luca Fransesconi.

DISCOGRAPHY – AS COMPOSER

  • Isadora, A.,  'Ancient Voices' (exc), in  Anthology of Dutch Electronic Music 1999-2010, Music Center the Netherlands and Basta 3093942, 2011.
  • Isadora, A.,  'Namasté', Utrecht String Quartet in Sounzfine Volume 5, Composing Women, 2003.
  • Isadora, A., 'No. 6 (from Nachtvlinders)', Maarten Altena Ensemble in MAE Journal: Generations X-OR CD 013, 2002.
  • Isadora, A., 'The (Mis)Adventures of Amy Bock', Jannie Pranger and Tomoko Mukaiyama in Muziekpraktijk:Music and Practice. Donemus CV 86, 2000.
  • Isadora, A., 'En/Of II', Maarten Altena Ensemble in Muziekpraktijk:Music and Practice. Donemus CV 69, 1996.
  • Isadora, A., Eno, B., Bryne, D., 'America is Waiting', Maarten Altena Ensemble in Working On Time. NM Classics 92063, 1996.
  • Isadora, A., Eno, B., Bryne, D., 'America is Waiting', Maarten Altena Ensemble in AngelicA 1995:Festival Internazionale di Musica, Bologna. Pierrot Lunaire A1. 1996.
  • Isadora, A., 'En/Of II', Maarten Altena Ensemble in Rumori 1995-1996.  CD 9596, 1996.
  • Isadora, A., Eno, B., Bryne, D., 'America is Waiting', Maarten Altena Ensemble in Vintage 1996. Music from Holland. NM Classics 96001, 1996.

DISCOGRAPHY AS PERFORMER (INCOMPLETE)

  • Willem Breuker Kollectief With Strings Attached. BVHaast 0203, 2002.
  • Isadora, A., Bollen, J.B., Beban, D., Henderson., Donaldson, A., Adu, L., Sync/Shed. Space cd  001, 2001.
  • Blonk, J., Splinks. (Blonk, J., Isadora, A., et al), Consensus. Kontrans 1545. 1999.
  • Breuker, W., Willem Breuker Kollectief, Trytten Strings, Koor Nieuwe Muziek et al Psalm 122. BVHaast CD 9803, 1998.
  • Maarten Altena Ensemble. Muziekpraktijk:Music and Practice Donemus CV 69, 1996.
  • Maarten Altena Ensemble, Working On Time. NM Classics 92063, 1996.
  • Maarten Altena Ensemble. AngelicA 1995:Festival Internazionale di Musica, Bologna. Pierrot Lunaire A1. 1996
  • Maarten Altena Ensemble in Rumori 1995-1996.  CD 9596, 1996.
  • Maarten Altena Ensemble in Vintage 1996. Music from Holland. NM Classics 96001, 1996.
  • Morris, Lawrence D. Butch, Maarten Altena Ensemble.Testament: A Conduction Collection. Conduction #35 and #36.  New World Records 80485-2, 1995.
  • Maarten Altena Ensemble, Jaar van de Ensembles (2). Polygram 454 058-2, 1995
  • Willem Breuker Kollectief, Sensemaya. WBK. BVHaast CD 9509, 1995
  • Maarten Altena Ensemble. Muziekpraktijk:Music and Practice Donemus CV 49, 1993.
  • Breuker, W., Willem Breuker Kollectief . De Onderste Steen. Entr’acte CD2, 1992
  • Willem Breuker Kollectief, Mondriaan Strings. Parade.BVHaast 9101, 1991
  • Willem Breuker Kollectief, Toby Rix, Mondriaan Strings. Metropolis. BVHaast 8903, 1989
  • Willem Breuker Kollectief, Vera Beths, Mondriaan Strings. Gershwin. BVHaast 8802, 1988

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