Chiyoko Szlavnics was born in 1967 in Toronto, Canada, to visual artist parents. She graduated from the University of Toronto Faculty of Music in 1989 (Flute Instructor: Douglas Stewart); joined Hemispheres Music Projects in 1992 (Flute, Soprano & Alto Saxophone); and co-founded the 40 fingers saxophone quartet in 1994. She composed for these ensembles, as well as for contemporary dance projects, from 1993-7. She studied privately with James Tenney, and attended seminars at his home, from 1994-7. Szlavnics spent her first year in Germany as a Fellow at the Akademie Schloss Solitude (Juror: Christian Wolff) in September, 1997, then relocated to Berlin, where she attended seminars by Walter Zimmermann at the HdK (now called the UdK), and began working with musicians and ensembles based in Germany.
Since 2004, Szlavnics has been producing line drawings as the basis for her compositions. She writes for ensembles ranging from small chamber groups to chamber orchestra, with, or without sine tones. She has developed a kind of microtonality that is derived from Just Intonation ratios, but which incorporates equal tempered pitches, using glissandi and bundles of frequencies (clusters) to bring out acoustical phenomena such as beating and difference tones, and to create a surprising layer of rhythmic activity and counterpoint in the music. She uses octave-equivalence for the ratios, so her music is not bound to absolute overtone series, rather, is concerned with relative harmonic relationships, and the idea of a continuum through a Harmonic Lattice in Harmonic Space (concepts proposed by James Tenney).
Szlavnics has composed works for Arraymusic, Ensemble Zwischentoene, ERGO Music Projects, 40 fingers, Hemispheres Music Projects, Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra, New Music Concerts, Ostravska Banda, Quartett Avance, Quatuor Bozzini, Surplus, Wandelweiser Komponisten Ensemble, and various individual musicians.
Her works have been presented by Maerzmusik, Ostrava New Music Days, Interface Festival, Klangraum, Moments Musicaux, Haus 19, Freunde Guter Musik, among others, and has been recorded by Deutschland Radio, SŸdwestdeutscherrundfunk, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Together with choreographer Bill James, Szlavnics created a bi-annual performance series featuring new music and dance works commissioned for public artwork sites in downtown Toronto. The series was held in in 1995, 1997, and 1999, under the names Art in Open Spaces and Water Sources.
She has collaborated closely with Regina-based choreographer Robin Poitras since 1995, composing various kinds of soundscores for Poitras' projects, including compositions, soundscapes, and installations.
Szlavnics writing has been published in Musicworks (Toronto), MusikTexte (Cologne), and Filigrane (Editions Delatour, Paris).
See Szlavnics Main Page for links.
Contact: chi at plainsound dot org