Marcus Alessi Bittencourt
Marcus Alessi Bittencourt, an American-Brazilian composer and pianist born in Garland-TX, USA, is an Associate Professor of Music Theory and Composition at the State University of Paraná at Maringá, in Brazil. He studied music with composers such as Willy Corrêa de Oliveira, Fred Lerdahl, Joe Dubiel, Jonathan Kramer, and Tristan Murail, and Computer Music with Brad Garton and Thanassis Rikakis. As a composer, he is prolific both as an instrumental and an electroacoustic composer and his music has been played in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Brazil. His list of compositions includes works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, choir, solo instruments (specially the piano), operas, as well as several electroacoustic works. He has been performing widely as a pianist, conductor, and sound-projectionist, often taking those tasks simultaneously, as in the case of his piano concerti with live electronics. Among the awards he has received are the 2012 and 2010 FUNARTE Classical Composition Prizes given by the Brazilian Ministry of Culture, the first prize at the Projeto Nascente V (1996), a seven year scholarship at Columbia University for graduate studies, and a residency at the Centro Studi Ligure of the Bogliasco Foundation in Genoa, Italy. His academic credentials include a Bachelor's degree in Piano Performance from the Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil, and Master's and Doctoral degrees in Music Composition from Columbia University in the City of New York. He has taught Music at Columbia University, at Lehman College of CUNY, and the College of William and Mary in Virginia. He currently teaches Composition, Theory, and Computer Music at the Universidade Estadual de Maringá (State University of Paraná at Maringá) in Brazil, where he created and also directs the Laboratório de Pesquisa e Produção Sonora - LAPPSO (Laboratory for Research and Audio Production).
His music possesses an experimental character marked by a varied pallete of musical sound materials and techniques, which reflects his interest and investigation in the domains of form, polyrhythm and simultaneities, timbre, sound spatial perspective, microtonality, and orchestration of sound objects. His works are published by Vultur gryphus publishing house and some of his discography is available through the Electric Music Collective label.
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Panayiotis Kokoras
Kokoras is an internationally award-winning composer and computer music innovator, and currently Professor of composition and CEMI director (Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia) at the University of North Texas. Born in Greece, he studied composition with I. Ioannidi, K. Varotsi and A. Kergomard and classical guitar with E. Asimakopoulo in Athens, Greece. In 1999, he moved to England to undertake postgraduate studies at the University of York where he completed his MA and PhD in composition with T. Myatt with funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB) and an Aleksandra Trianti Music Scholarship (awarded by the Society of Friends of Music), Hellenic Foundation of Culture, Greek Ministry of Culture, Vinson York among others. As an educator, Kokoras has taught at the Technological and Educational Institute of Crete, and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) among others.
Kokoras’s sound compositions use timbre as the main element of form. Panayiotis Kokoras’s sound compositions develop functional classification and matching sound systems written on what he calls Holophonic Musical Texture. His music eschews from melody, harmony and classical instrumental sound. His concept of “holophony” describes his goal that each independent sound (phonos), contributes equally into the synthesis of the total (holos). In both instrumental and electroacoustic writing, his music calls upon a “virtuosity of sound,” emphasizing the precise production of variable sound possibilities and the correct distinction between one timbre and another to convey the musical ideas and structure of the piece. His compositional output is also informed by musical research in Music Information Retrieval compositional strategies, Extended techniques, Tactile sound, Augmented reality, Robotics, Spatial Sound, Synesthesia.
His music appears in 54 album compilations by Sub Rosa Records, Miso Records, SAN / CEC, Independent Opposition Records, ICMC2004, LOSS, ost Artists Group, Musica Nova, Computer Music Journal (MIT Press) and others.
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Lilian Maria Tonella Tüzün
Brazilian by nationality and Turkish by citizen, Lilian Maria Tonella Tüzün is pianist focused on contemporary music, researcher, Director of the International Istanbul Ceren Necipoglu Harp Festival, Department Coordinator of Erasmus+ and Director of the State Conservatory of Anadolu University. Author of History of the Piano in Brazil (USA) and Piano in Brazil (Turkey), coauthor of Music Therapy in Turkey (UK) and Latin America in World Politics (Turkey), besides other articles related to refugee and immigrant problems in international journals. She recorded for Callisto label Virtuoso, Ministry of Culture of Brazil Willy Corrêa de Oliveira piano music, Çagsav Empathy in the Sky and the album New Music for Kanun and Piano.
Winner of several piano competitions, she was awarded by Anadolu University Art Prize (2017), honored by Council at the Order of Rio Branco of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Brazil with the Ordem do Rio Branco at level of Official in recognition of the excellence of services rendered to Brazil (2018) and honored by Cagfen Association in the Artist Category of the city with the tribute Woman's Hand (2020).
Currently she investigates the principles and opportunities of collective digital piano classes shaped in favor to the community, specially Alzheimer's patients, Autism, Down Syndrome, children and elderly people from peripheral groups, the refugees and excluded population. Besides that, she is focusing on cross-cultural areas and projects of adhesion of contemporary art in the post-pandemic and challenging world of global climate change
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