Extracts from select Compositions by Karen Power
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Music Theatre/ Wordless Opera
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language, land, sea (2023) - for Human: Lore Lixenberg + Nature: Environments
by Karen Power Performance + early materials devised in collaboration with Lore Lixenberg Commissioned by Lore Lixenberg with generous funds by Arts Council of Ireland Commissions Award TOUCH - a Micro Opera for Video - for MS + B, 10-piece Orchestra, Soundscape + Imagery - 5'48''
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...Nature Calls... (2022) - for orchestra + blackbird (composed field recordings) - 7'00''
Commissioned + Premiered by National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jessica Cottis. no chaos only organised panic (2012) - for orchestra + live electronics (field recordings) - 12'40''
Premiered by RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Ireland. |
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Performance Installation/Wordless Opera
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...adrift, yet somehow tethered... - for ensemble, composed quadraphonic environments, video, 3 connected spaces and spatially diffused sound
Commissioned and premiered by ensemble mosiak Invitation to Wander - for ensemble, quadraphonic soundscapes, 4-roomed building, singers, projections + sound choir - 90'00''
Imagery by John Godfrey + Karen Power (Arctic only) Commissioned by Cork MidSummer Festival Performed by Quiet Music Ensemble, Ute Wassermann, Michelle O' Rourke + Amateur Sound Choir created/led by composer. |
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Voices from Hidden Places - for ensemble soloists, 2-roomed building with outdoor connecting space, quadraphonic soundscapes + projections - 80'00''
Photography/Imagery by John Godfrey + Karen Power Commissioned by BAM Festival + ensemble mosiak |
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Large Ensemble
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cold or hot bean slurper - for large ensemble - 13'00''
Premiered and written for Ensemble MiseEn |
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veiled babble - for large ensemble + quad River Spree - 28'40''
5 minute extract of 28'40'' work. Composed for Ensemble Mosaik + Premiered @ Ultraschall Festival 2016. |
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pink fluffy alarmetts still sound - for large ensemble - 10'00''
pink fluffy alarmists still sound (2010) by Karen Power - for large ensemble written for and workshopped by Alarm Will Sound, UC Davis, USA. Duration: 10'00'' |
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Small Ensemble
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Instruments of ice - for small ensemble, quad arctic ice + photographs - 40'00''
Created as part of the DAAD Artist-in-Residence Program for Quiet Music Ensemble |
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...when one duck leaves the row... (2020) - for ensemble, composed field recordings + 3 videos
Commissioned, premiered and recorded by ensemble mosaik Duration: 19'00'' Bog Songs (2021) - for Amplified 6-piece ensemble, quadraphonic playback (based on field recordings) + motor objects/ instrument sculptures
Motors and speaker Concept by Karen Power / Design and Build by Mick O’ Shea Commissioned and Premiered by LUX:NM Ensemble with funds from Irish Arts Council hearing leaves (2013) - for string quartet - 13'30''
Commissioned and Premiered by ConTempo Quartet as part of Music for Galway 10th Birthday residency |
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sonic pollinators - for small ensemble + quad bees/pollinators - 40'00''
Commissioned by Creative Ireland + Offaly Arts for Quiet Music Ensemble |
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...where foreigners meet... - for synthesiser trio + quad natural soundscape - 15'00''
Commissioned and performed by Lange//Berweck//Lorenz, with funds from Musikfonds e.v |
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here not here - for string quartet + quad soundscape - 25'00''
Commissioned and performed by Sonar Quartet, with funds from Irish Arts Council |
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...let the current take us... - for trio, quad sea location + video - 20'00''
Commissioned and performed by Retro Disco, with funds from Irish Arts Council |
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Solo/Duo
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human nature series - (2020) - 18 duets between any solo instrument + natural sound
...on location...is a performance video series of 5 pieces from Karen’s Human Nature Series performed + videoed on-location in 5 different types of places that expand the original field recordings and bring an additional site-specific element into these short duets between human + nature. human nature series (2020): 18 new compositions by Irish composer Karen Power, which are tied together through the singular concept of pairing human with nature: 1 musician with 1 un-processed field recording. In 2020 Karen invited 18 musicians from 7 countries across the globe to each remotely listen to and explore musically an un-processed field recording. This has resulted in a CD of 18 new performed compositions recorded in isolation and realised during Covid 19 lockdown. For human nature she chose 18 field recording extracts from thousands of recordings, which she recorded throughout the world between 2012 - 2019. This series features sounds from very special places and the creatures within, some of which you will recognise and others whose sounds are inaudible to the naked ear. For more on the complete series: human nature Digital CD Release: 04/09/2020 - composerkarenpower.bandcamp.com quack moo sigh - for voice + tape - 16'00''
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bats of namibia (2020) performed by John Godfrey on location @ Lackendarra Farm, Co Waterford, Ireland.
if trees had bellies (2020) performed on location by Jane Rigler in Black Forest, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA. Video recording: Clay Bowen
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where lost weight is found - for piano, tape + live electronics - 16'30''
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loaded silence - for piano + ice - 14'30''
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outside voice inside - for oboe + Amazon rainforest - 13'30''
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sonic cradle - for amplified violin, photographs + Arctic Ice - 12'30''
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Radio Art
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HearSpace - interactive radio art with set and live components - 32'00''
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Is This On??? - site-specific Radio Art piece @ Cork City Gaol - 36’00''
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Installation |
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wondrous worlds within/without: interspecies gossip (2024) - 8 channel sound installation based on sonic connectivity of our world (stereo extract only, from 6 minutes into work)
location location location - 8 channel sound installation with multiple projected photographs by John Godfrey + light - 60'00''
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once below - site specific inner/outer 10 channel installation @ Kapelle der Versöhnung, Berlin with 4 solo instruments - 60'00''
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sounds like the amazon... - 8 channel surround + 6 small portable sound - 38'00''
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shaped by place and time - 6 channel sound installation for inside + outside - with live performance component if outside - 40'00''
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Cross-Arts Collaboration
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Gorging Limpet - sound, film, projection and performance collaboration with Max le Cain - 60'00''
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Once Upon a Space - a sound + movement/dance collaboration with Mary Nunan - 25'00''
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Dreamlives of Debris - a text (extract from novel), sound + video collaboration with writer Lance Olsen + video by Andi Olsen - 24'00''
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Karen Power: …we return to ground…
Available July 12, 2024 as a CD and Digital Download…we return to ground… contains three of Karen Power’s large-scale pieces that pair natural sounds with musical instruments, which have been written for and with Quiet Music Ensemble, over an 8-year period. These 3 works are uniquely shaped by QME and written knowing and trusting their ears and interpretative skills. https://othermindsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/we-return-to-ground Album press:
Best Contemporary Classical Album, July 24 - https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-contemporary-classical/the-best-contemporary-classical-music-on-bandcamp-july-2024 Best Field Recording Album, Aug 24 - https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-field-recordings/the-best-field-recordings-on-bandcamp-august-2024 Journal of Music Review: https://journalofmusic.com/reviews/it-s-time-listen human nature by Karen Power - online release only by Karen Power - 18 micro duets between human and nature - released 04/09/2020
PURCHASE HERE composerkarenpower.bandcamp.com/album/human-nature Irish Times TOP FIVE CLASSICAL ALBUMS of 2020: human nature NO. 3 https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/karen-power-human-nature-review-a-kind-of-magic-carpet-1.4355311 - 5 STARS is it raining while you listen by Karen Power - 1st solo CD of acoustic and electroacoustic compositions released by Farpoint Recordings in 2014
Purchase Here www.farpointrecordings.com/product-page/karen-power-is-it-raining-while-you-listen |
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Field Recording based works:
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hidden life in Carlingford Lough (2024) - extract of stereo tape piece made entirely from listening above and beneath the life in Carlingford Lough. (Part of Shifting Tides Project)
Duration: 8'40'' |
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