Orchestral music in new electronic surroundings

“The Electroacoustic Experience – orchestral music in a newly developed electronic context” is an artistic development project at RAMA which professor of composition and big band arrangement Jens Christian “Chappe” Jensen has worked on for several years.

This week the project will be completed by three concerts, with the mega-big band Blood Sweat Drum + Bass playing with the classical ensemble Randers Chamber Orchestra, trumpet player Palle Mikkelborg and vocalist Turid Guldin. In addition, pre-recorded sounds (samples) and surround sound are included, giving the audience a particularly spatial experience. The concert venues will be at “Værket” in Randers on February 19, in Music Hall Aarhus on February 21 and in House of Music in Aalborg, February 22.

The concerts include a new suite by Jens Christian “Chappe” Jensen and a number of “Oldies and Goodies” from many years of collaboration between Palle Mikkelborg and Blood Sweat Drum + Bass. Before the concert in Aarhus, RAMA holds an internal clinic with Mikkelborg, where the students can hear about his life as a musician and composer.

An equal meeting

The goal of the artistic development project “The Electroacoustic Experience” is to bring the big Jazz Orchestra and the electronic live musician together in an equal meeting by experimenting with new strategies for composition, improvisation, arrangement and instrumentation for large orchestra and advanced electronic sound processing.

Prior to the three final concerts, there were a large number of very different concerts in which Chappe has composed, arranged, instrumented and experimented with the technological possibilities, in close collaboration with a number of experts in e-music.

These concerts included a ToneArt concert in the Concert Church in Copenhagen: “Moving Circles”, in collaboration with Danish lyricists; Winter Jazz 2019: “Per Carsten in retrospective” with Palle Mikkelborg and cello professor Henrik Brendstrup; concerts and CD recording of music by Stravinsky for big band including Stefan Pasborg, Fredrik Lundin and others; as well as a concert with the Aarhus Jazz Orchestra and Athletic Progression, which mixes jazz, hip-hop and soul, with music by Athletic Progression and by Academy students.

Later, the project will be compiled in the form of scores, audio, video and writing and will be available online.

The three final concerts are arranged in collaboration with the Jazz Society Aarhus and RAMA and with the support of the municipality of Aarhus, the Danish Arts Foundation, DMF and DJBFA.