FILAMENTAL
Zeena Parkins (US), Rhodri Davies (UK): harp
Magda Mayas (DE): piano
Aimée Theriot-Ramos (MX/NL), Anthea Caddy (AU/DE): cello
Angharad Davies (UK): violin
Christine Abdelnour (LB/FR): alto saxophone
Michael Thieke (DE): clarinet

Comprised of a Who’s Who of the avant-garde, Filamental moves effortlessly between compositions by ensemble leader Magda Mayas and improvisation. In addition to Magda Mayas, the group consists of Christine Abdelnour on alto sax, Anthea Caddy and Aimée Theriot-Ramos on cellos, siblings Angharad Davies on violin and Rhodri Davies on harp, Zeena Parkins also on harp, and Michael Thieke on clarinet. The choice of instruments is extraordinary: six stringed instruments, including two concert harps, which, according to Zeena Parkins, are “sound machines with unlimited possibilities”. The piano could also be described as a cast-iron harp in a wooden body. The cello is also doubled, supplemented by a violin from the string family. The string sound is enhanced by two wind instruments, clarinet and alto saxophone.

The ensemble played its premiere at 2019 music unlimited festival in Wels, Austria, which Magda Mayas co-curated. The concert was released on Relative Pitch Records in 2021. Their second album, entitled Ritual Mechanics, has been released in May 2024. The name Filamental refers to filament, a filigree fibre, or a thread, a texture that is playfully explored, a psychologically embodied state and approach.

Magda Mayas is a pianist, composer and professor of improvisation at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Over the past 25 years she has developed a vocabulary that utilises both the inside and outside of the piano, using amplifiers, preparations and objects that become extensions of the instrument itself. Mayas has developed a series of techniques that draw on the history of prepared and inside piano vocabulary, but are highly individualised and extend the language for the inside piano.

“The ensemble is all powerhouse performers but, like a stream is one stream with one name below the confluence, though they may lend their distinctive voices, this is a singularly cohesive unit that subsumes individual style.” (Streams, Rate Your Music)

“The minimalist musical flowed organically with microtonal, transparent colors as if the whole ensemble was in a collective dream state, patiently gaining volume and power with minor eruptions that cemented its profound emotional power and delicate aesthetics.” (Eyal Hareuveni, The Free Jazz Collective, 2019)

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(c) exploratorium berlin

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