Due to public health concerns on COVID-19, we will be cancelling this event and all public presentations until further notice. Thank you and be well!

“Berlin based pianist Maya Madas performs a solo set for both piano and clarinet. Don’t miss your chance to hear one of the most individualized sound explorers in contemporary music perform in the cozy confines of studio A. After the music, Maya will be joined by Option curator Tim Daisy for a discussion about her life and work.” – Option curators

Maya Madas, born 1979, is a pianist living in Berlin. Over the past 20 years she developed a vocabulary utilizing both the inside as well as the exterior parts of the piano, using amplification, preparations and objects that become extensions of the instrument itself. Mayas explores textural, linear sound collage, and has developed a set of techniques that draw on the history of prepared and inside piano vocabulary, but are highly individualized and expand the language for internal piano music making. Alongside the piano, Mayas performs on a Clavinet/Pianet, an electric piano from the 60s with strings and metal chimes, where she engages with noise and more visceral sound material, equally extending the instrumental sound palette using extended techniques and devices.

She is currently undertaking PhD studies at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden investigating timbre and instrumental techniques in improvised music performance. Since 2019, she has been teaching improvisation at Luzern University of applied Sciences and Arts.

Mayas performs internationally solo and in collaboration with a large number of musicians and composers. Current projects are “Spill”, a duo with drummer Tony Buck, a duo with Christine Abdelnour (sax) and the Splitter Orchester Berlin. She has performed and toured in Europe, the USA, Australia, Mexico and Lebanon and collaborated with many leading figures in improvisation and composers such as John Butcher, George Lewis, Andy Moor, Eddie Prévost, Phill Niblock, Zeena Parkins, Fred Frith, Hamid Drake, Joelle Leandre, Paul Lovens, Ikue Mori, Ken Vandermark, Nic Collins, Andrea Neumann and Axel Dörner. Festivals and exhibitions include Maerz Musik (2012,2015), Documenta (2012), the Berlin Biennale (2014) or Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (2015). She was awarded a residency at Villa Aurora, Los Angeles in 2016 and at the Montalvo Arts Centre, USA in 2017 and 2019. Additionally, she has been curating concerts in Berlin and recently at the festival “Music Unlimited” in Wels, Austria, producing radio pieces for ABC Australia and Deutschlandradio Kultur and released over 30 CDS to date.

Image credit: Peter Gannushkin

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Tags: CANCELLED: Option: Maya Madas, Chicago, COVID-19, Edgewater, Experimental Sound Studio, Maya Madas, Option