Composer William Kuo is among a number of younger composers who seem to take European avant-garde aesthetics as a point of departure, yet disregard the concomitant doctrine in favour of cultivating their own personal idioms. In Kuo’s case, this translates to a dark, almost industrial variant of these ideals that push Lachenmann’s musique concrete instrumentale tactics to a gory break point (figuratively, of course). Kuo has composed for a number of leading ensembles and these pieces teem with anomalous menace, pushing the physicality of his instrumentation to the foreground with superimposed layers of friction. A number of recent works take these churning gestures and instrumental techniques and augment them with electronics—which only enhance the visceral dimension of his work. We’re delighted to be unveiling a brand-new acousmatic work from this singular talent.
synth-pulse-voice is a binaural recording. We suggest listening on headphones where possible!
William Kuo is a Taiwanese-Canadian composer working with instruments, electronics, and audio recordings. His work explores the possibility of perceiving overlapping sonic realities through a heightened awareness of listening contexts.
His music has been presented at the C-LAB (Taiwan Sound Lab), Twenty Alpha (Hong Kong), Gaudeamus Muziekweek (Netherlands), Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik (Austria), Cluster New Music Festival (Canada), Festival Voix Nouvelles (France), and ManiFeste Festival (France).
Notable collaborators in recent years include TAK Ensemble, Ensemble Nikel, Quasar Quatuor de Saxophones, Ensemble Klang, Asko|Schönberg, Ensemble Multilatérale, Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Ensemble InterContemporain, Ensemble Paramirabo, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Heather Roche, Eva Zöllner, Juliet Fraser, Juliette Adam, and Karen Yu.
He received his Bachelor’s in Composition from McGill University in 2013 and his Master’s in Composition from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal in 2015. In 2018-19, he participated in the Cursus computer music program at IRCAM in Paris, France. He was a finalist for the Gaudeamus Award in 2018. Photo Credit: Steve Gerrard
CMC Presents Multilocation is generously supported by The Canada Council for the Arts, the Department of Canadian Heritage, The SOCAN Foundation, FACTOR, The Ontario Arts Council, The Toronto Arts Council, and the Ontario Arts Foundation. This presentation is also supported by The McLean Foundation and the Canada Arts Presentation Fund.
