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Tag: Lucie Vítková

Spotlight On: Jessica Cook

Spotlight On

Roulette catches up with artist Jessica Cook for a quick Q+A. 

Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do.

I am a choreographer living in Brooklyn for 12 years; grew up in Durham, North Carolina. I studied Dance at SUNY Purchase and moved to Bushwick in 2005, where I made costume-based performance and worked with a slew of choreographers in the city. I have collaborated with various Roulette-affiliated artists over the years including Matt Mehlan in UUMANS, Jessica Ray, Stephe Cooper in EAGLEAGER, and Kyli Kleven. I drink a lot of coffee, collect a lot of garbage, and take a lot of videos. Becoming a real New York rat!

Describe the project you are developing for Roulette.

I’m creating a sound score using repetitive movement patterns paired with found objects and materials that become layered, amplified, and distorted over time. It’s a trio with Katie Dean, Ayano Elson, and myself. I am figuring out how to create various sculptures with sound, bodies, objects / architectures that all incrementally warp and recontextualize atop an island made of paper and foam.

What is your first musical memory?

My Dad playing a busted zildjan cymbal around the house.

What is your favorite Roulette memory?

Playing next to Greg Fox and his metal band in MUSICIRCUS. I did a soft / sad / quiet duet — it was a good combo.

What’s your absolute favorite place in the city to be and why?

McGolrick Park in Greenpoint. Lots of coffee options, Romanesque columns, good dog / owner combos, and shameless squirrels.

What artists are you interested in right now?

Eva Hesse, Alma Thomas, Alice Coltrane, Whitney Houston, and my sister Sheryl Cook — she does it all.

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Jessica Cook performs Dog Flats alongside Ayano Elson and Katie Dean during Roulette’s ongoing [DANCEROULETTE] series, taking place February 6-7, 2018.

Spotlight On: Lucie Vítková

Spotlight On

Roulette catches up with residency artist Lucie Vítková for a quick Q+A. 

Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do.
I am a composer, performer and improviser of accordion, Japanese hichiriki, synthesizer, harmonica, voice, and dance, originally from the Czech Republic. My work consists of broad range of activities and activisms. I like to explore a perception of everyday life through musical analysis and analyze music through the lens of social relationships. In the past years, I have been focusing on the environment as a new way to educate myself in music. I have been transcribing sounds of environments into scores, and that way following and absorbing its aesthetics. I have worked musically on cityscapes, domestic space, and on sounds of things, especially researching trash. I have traveled and moved a lot, studying in Brno in the Czech Republic, The Hague in the Netherlands, CalArts in Valencia, Berlin, and New York.

Describe the project you are developing for Roulette.
A year and a half ago, I began to play in the Japanese Gagaku Ensemble at Columbia University. This summer I was chosen for the master / protégé residency in Tokyo, which was transformative for me. In the Gagaku Ensemble, I play Japanese hichiriki, a straightforward double reed instrument, which has became one of my solo instruments. For my upcoming project at Roulette, I decided to devote my musical research to the hichiriki, and I am preparing an evening of pieces related to this instrument. In those pieces, I am merging the construction and physicality of the hichiriki, habits around its use and making, and Japanese Gagaku notation with research on ethnomusicological methodology, the influence of continuity and discontinuity in Michael Jackson’s work, my environmental performance practice, dance, and accordion playing. I am preparing scores for lights, choreographies for sounds, scenes focused on things, and playing with water and wind.

What is the best way to spend an afternoon in New York City?
I live in Washington Heights and I love to go to Fort Tryon Park, which is just a 15 minute walk from my place. With that little botanical garden right at the entrance and stunning views, sometimes it feels like a very luxurious backyard. There seems to be a lot of people that have a similar relationship with that place. It’s a common thing to do, even if we don’t really talk or engage — just being in that space together brings a peaceful experience.

What is influencing your work right now?
Classes at Columbia University such as Music, Memory and Migration of ethnomusicologist Alessandra Ciucci and the Ecofeminism class of Branka Arsić, my involvement in Japanese and Raaga Ensembles, and working with my NYC Constellation Ensemble.

How did your interest in your work begin?
Probably when I was four and began to take dance and piano lessons, or listening to my mom and uncle playing guitars by the fireplace, or my father introducing me to The Wall by Pink Floyd at a very early age.

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Lucie Vítková performs Spectacle as part of Roulette’s artist-in-residency program on January 27, 2018. Tickets + Info

[RESIDENCY] Lucie Vítková: Spectacle

What: Lucie Vítková‘s solo performance incorporates lights, choreography, and manipulation of water and wind for sonic effect.
When: Saturday, January 27, 2018, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $15 Online $20 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org // (917) 267-0368

Brooklyn, NY – For Roulette’s first residency performance of 2018, rising Czech composer Lucie Vítková presents Spectacle, a one-hour solo piece incorporating sound, noise, music, movement, and show specific to Roulette’s theatre space. Drawing inspiration from the construction and physicality of hichiriki (double reed Japanese flute), Japanese Gagaku notation, ethnomusicology, Michael Jackson, and environmental performance practice, Vítková will incorporate scores for lights, choreographies for sounds, and manipulation of water and wind for sonic effect. In April 2017, Roulette commissioned Vítková’s OPERA, a piece for instrumentalists singing about utopian concepts in the language of Morse code.

Lucie Vítková is a composer, improviser and performer (accordion, hichiriki, voice, tap dance) from the Czech Republic. During her studies of composition at Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno (CZ), she was a visiting scholar at Royal Conservatory in The Hague (NL), California Institute of the Arts (USA), Universität der Künste in Berlin (DE), and most recently at Columbia University in New York City with Professor George E. Lewis. Her compositions focus on sonification (compositions based on abstract models derived from physical objects), while her improvisation practice explores characteristics of discrete spaces through the interaction between sound and movement. In her recent work, she is interested in the musical legacy of Morse Code and the social-political aspects of music in relation to everyday life. She has been nominated on 2017 Herb Alpert Awards in Arts in category of Music and she has put together two ensembles – NYC Constellation Ensemble (focused on musical behavior) and OPERA ensemble (for singing instrumentalists). During the Mentor / Protégé Residency in Tokyo (JP), she studied hichiriki with Hitomi Nakamura and has been a member of the Columbia University Gagaku Ensemble. As an accordion player, she collaborated with New York based TAK Ensemble, S.E.M. ensemble, String Noise, Du.0 , Argento Ensemble, Ghost Ensemble, and Wet Ink.

Spectacle /ˈspek.tə.kəl/ – an unusual or unexpected event or situation that attracts attention, interest or disapproval.

Lucie Vítková – Composer, Performer, Choreographer; Hichiriki, Voice, Accordion, Synthesizer, Wind, Water, Movement, Tap Dance

[COMMISSION] Lucie Vítková: OPERA

What: Lucie Vítková presents OPERA, a utopian whole evening piece realized by singing instrumentalists.
When: Wednesday, April 12, 2017, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $25/20 Online $20/15 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – Rising Czech composer Lucie Vítková prepares OPERA, a new evening piece for singing instrumentalists with visuals. The piece will take the traditional musical form of opera filled by contemporary and experimental music materials, written for singing musicians playing harp, saxophone, flute, theremin, accordion and oboe. OPERA is based on utopian thinking and its environment includes sound, visuals, fashion and movement. The libretto of the piece is based on theoretical texts concerning voice, expressed via Morse code.

Lucie Vítková is a composer, improviser and performer (accordion, harmonica, voice and tap dance) from the Czech Republic. She is a 2017 Herb Alpert Awards in Arts nominee in category of Music and an emerging artist of Thomas M. Messer Bohemian Creative Hub at the Czech Center New York. Her compositions focus on sonification (compositions based on abstract models derived from physical objects), while her improvisation practice explores characteristics of discrete spaces through the interaction between sound and movement. In her recent work, she is interested in the musical legacy of Morse Code and the social-political aspects of music and art in relation to everyday life.