Mexican-dutch composer Juan Felipe Waller (1971) was brought up in
Mexico in a blend of cultures from his parents’ mixed backgrounds. He
first studied music in Mexico City at the Music Study and Investigation
Centre (CIEM). From 1994 on he studied composition at the Rotterdams
Conservatorium with Klaas de Vries and electro-acoustic music with Rene
Uylenhoet, where he graduated with honourable mention in 1999. Further
studies took place at the one-year course on electronics and
computer-aided composition at IRCAM in Paris. He has obtained diverse
scholarships and stipends.
Some his compositions include Teguala a percussion quartet for 120 ceramic tiles and electronics, Chemicangelo an odyssey for organ solo, Calumnia for large orchestra, for which he received the first price in the NOG Jonge-componisten concourse in Holland, Fulminata which examines aspects of velocity and instrumentation present in rare folkloric music from Oaxaca, Reconnaissances for ensemble with metallic- percussive means, exploring complex patterns against a -repetition vs. recognition- framework, and Eye Masking
for ensemble and soprano, which concentrates on specific aspects of
psychoacoustics. Most of his works are published by Donemus.
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His
pieces have been widely performed in The Netherlands, Germany, England,
Austria, France, Mexico, Taiwan, Australia and the USA, by reknown
orchestras, ensembles and performers including as Nederlands Ballet
Orkest, DoelenEnsemble, Schoenberg-Ensemble, Asko Ensemble, Offspring
Ensemble, Ear Massage, Orkest de Volharding, Zephyr Quartet, MAE
Ensemble, Insomnio Ensemble, New Trombone Collective, Slagwerkgroep Den
Haag. In Mexico by Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, Orquesta Filarmónica de
la Universidad Nacional de México, Orquesta de San Luis PotosÃ,
Ensemble de Percusiones Tambuco, Trio Neos, Ensemble Kalisphereon. Has
had the priviledge to work wtih soloists including Irvine Arditti, Claire Edwardes, Barbara Hannigan, Katerina Chrobokova, Diego Espinosa, Jan Hage, Julija
Hartig, Alexis Descharmes, Mieko Kanno, Alexander Bruck and Tatiana
Koleva
Through music collaborations he has worked with
choreographer Chrstina Gehrig Binder (Coeur du Savon, Chimera),
Jasmine Morand from Prototype Status dance Company (Marvin) and in
experimental film projects with involving the likes of Frank Scheffer
(Blow), Karel Doing (Visual- Audible) Camilla Milena Fehér (Fossils of
the Future) as well as with animation film eccentric Martha ColburnÂ
(Secrets of Mexuality), point from which he has begun himself
experimenting with Super8 film animations.
Various Festivals
have embraced his works including Festival de Mexico en el Centro
Historico, Maerz Music, Radar Festival, Big-Bang Percussion Festival,
Gadueamus Concours, Nweamo Festival, The Taipei International
Percussion Convention, etc.
In defining his music, two forces
are always active in his works: In some, like El Culto for 4 voices and
big ensemble and En El Allure Del Frenesà there is an evident
influence of mexican instrumentation, colour and style. While in other
pieces such as Neurotica Luminosa, and Jeu de Dames, the source of the
musical discourse comes fro m a darker and psycological inspiration.
Both cases reflect a surrealistic enviroment. His music often involves
a ‘lens of deformation’ as an integrative ingredient,  which reflects his interest in harmonic 'imperfection', and disturbing previously presented clean sonorities; a pre-existing
musical reality. Juan Felpe Waller’s interest in intervining
instruments is rooted in a seach for unorthodox sounds, or what he
calls sound-specific-generators, which often involves intrument
‘extensions’. Through these techniques, revealing sonorities often
come to surface. Such case is the use of 120 ceramic tiles in Teguala,
or building a self-made midi-ratchet with rhythm control in La
Raganella Elettrizzante, as well as in using video tape attached to
stringed instruments in Ziehen und Sehnen, and masking tape pasted on
all strings of a piano to filter the sound to the likes of an equalizer
in Reconnaissances.
Upcoming engagements include writing a
chamber opera comissioned for the mexican bicentenial by the Festival
de Mexico en el Centro Historico, a project which involves live image
and sound triggering through the use of a midi-ratchet as a musical
prop.
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