Nathan Felix - composer
Blog 2017 – Bus Opera : Aussie : BCN
* THURSDAY NOVEMBER 30TH 2017 – PECHA KUCHA
So apparently the video for my Pecha Kucha talk back in August came out. I stumbled upon it while looking up info. on the upcoming one. Here it is. Hope you enjoy.
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* TUESDAY NOVEMBER 21ST – EX NIHILO
I once wrote a chance piece that required 35 music stands, dice, Christmas lights, duct tape and scissors. Sheet music was cut up, shuffled and taped. Lights directed the performers. The Blanton Museum of Art let me premiere it. Brent Baldwin conducted it. Caleb B. Kuntz filmed it. Performed by Luis Corpus, Mark Ford, Wayne Myers, Scott Biggs, Aron Frank
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* MONDAY OCTOBER 29TH 2017 – MELBOURNE 6 PIANOS
What a whirlwind! A day after my bus-opera I jumped on a plane to Australia, for two concerts for my 6-Piano Project. I haven’t seen an ounce of Melbourne because it’s been so crazy with set up and rehearsals! But alas, they are complete and they were wildly successful. Time for a few days of relaxation. Here are a few photos and a short video and then a few videos from the past for reference on the beginning of the 6-Piano Project that has now spanned 3 different countries and 4 different cities (Austin, Barcelona, San Antonio, Melbourne)…
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* MONDAY OCTOBER 23RD – OPERA ON A BUS REVIEW
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* TUESDAY OCTOBER 17TH – DIY COMPOSER PRESENTS OPERA ON A BUS
Thanks to James Courtney at the San Antonio Current for the write up today! Please take a gander if you have a few moments. It’s been quite a process organizing it all and it wouldn’t be possible with the dedication from all the singers and contributors in the choir this entire year. Facebook event click HERE
SHOW DETAILS
◊ Saturday October 21st 2017 – San Antonio
When: Saturday 1 pm – 3pm
Where: To see the performance get on the 11A Culture VIA VIVA bus at McNay at 1pm or 2pm AND/OR at Bluestar also at 1pm or 2pm. Ride lasts 30 minutes.
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* MONDAY OCTOBER 16TH – SAN ANTONIO LIVING
Waking up early was worth it! Here is the interview and performance we did this morning on WOAI-TV for San Antonio Living to promote VIA VIVA Cultural Adventure with my choir, From Those Who Follow the Echoes on Saturday Oct 21. [Scroll down to see the poster with details on how to attend]
Waking up early was worth it! Here is the interview and performance we did this morning on WOAI-TV for San Antonio Living to promote VIA VIVA Cultural Adventure with my choir, From Those Who Follow the Echoes on Saturday Oct 21. [Scroll down to see the poster with details on how to attend]
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* THURSDAY OCTOBER 5TH – OPERA ON A BUS
Alas, here it is. I’m extremely nervous about this production. I’ve been talking about wanting to do something like this since I lived in L.A. back in 2014 and now I get the chance. I have no idea how I’m going to pull it off. Two performances will be going on simultaneously in different buses. We’ll run the entire show twice and hopefully it doesn’t fall apart! If you live in the central Texas or San Antonio area, this is the one you wanna catch. And if you can’t make it, I’ll take your prayers!!!
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* WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 11TH – BUS PROMO VIDEOS
This weekend I went out with my choir and filmed some videos to promote my Bus Opera.
Check one or all of them out. They are all short. One is a promo collage, one is a chant and the other a duet. Don’t forget the performance is on the 11A culture bus in San Antonio on Oct. 21st!
This weekend I went out with my choir and filmed some videos to promote my Bus Opera.
Check one or all of them out. They are all short. One is a promo collage, one is a chant and the other a duet. Don’t forget the performance is on the 11A culture bus in San Antonio on Oct. 21st!
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* WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 4TH – RAIN FALLS IN MAY
Here is the premiere of a piece I wrote for this library performance for Kristina Yoder.
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* TUESDAY OCTOBER 3RD – LIBRARY ON TO THE BUS
Here are some photos from the adventure at the library this weekend. Mark your calendar for our season finale on Oct. 21st: Opera on a Bus by From Those Who Follow the Echoes. FB event page and details coming very very soon…
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* THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 28TH – SINGING ON ESCALATORS
Join us this Saturday for our performance at the public library in San Antonio (600 Soledad) as we hope to take you on a story adventure throughout the 3 stories of the building they call the “pink enchilada” [click on pic for FB event]
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* TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 12TH 2017
6-Pianos is going abroad to Melbourne Australia. This will be the 4th installation What started as an experiment at my house in Austin Tex 3 years ago is still scratching and crawling it’s way across the world from San Antonio, Texas to Barcelona, Spain and now Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on October 28th at Collingwood Arts Precinct as part of the Six Piano Project.
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* THURSDAY JULY 27TH – SAN ANTONIO FILM FESTIVAL
I have 3 films that I did the music scores for that will be showcased at the SA Film Festival. The festival starts on August 2nd and goes for a week. Please go to my TOUR page for info on the screening dates and times or click HERE
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* TUESDAY JULY 18TH – 6 PIANOS IN BARCELONA
The performance for one of my pieces written for six pianos titled, The 6th Piano [The Nothingness], came out today. Please enjoy…
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* MONDAY JULY 17TH – HARD RESET OUT ON STEAM
Stoked to announce that the 3D Sci-fi film, Hard Reset, which I contributed the music score for, is being released on Steam tomorrow July 18th and later on Amazon VOD, iTunes etc. The soundtrack will then come out in August!
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* JULY 3RD 2017 – PIANO CANYON
7 months of brainstorming and preparation resulted in an hour of musical avant-bliss. A few photos are starting to trickle in and soon I’ll share the footage we filmed. Time to rest for a few hours before I start to dig in to the next grand production
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* SATURDAY JUNE 24TH – JERRY’S ARTARAMA
We just had the pleasure of being part of a Christie Blizzard’s performance art piece which will debut on July 13th for ArtPace San Antonio. Here you can see us as we are being filmed for the release.
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We just had the pleasure of being part of a Christie Blizzard’s performance art piece which will debut on July 13th for ArtPace San Antonio. Here you can see us as we are being filmed for the release.
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* THURSDAY JUNE 22ND – MCNAY to PIANO CAVERN
Here is a song in which we premiered at the McNay Museum last week. The song is titled, Alone in Stockholm. I wrote this movement while on tour last year. The lyrics are listed in the YouTube video and the full explanation of the piece will be explained when my third symphony is released. We will perform this concert in the canyon on July 1st so you don’t want to miss it.
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* MAY 31ST 2017 – RIVARD REPORT
I’m thankful and humbled by the eloquent preview by The Rivard Report. We’ve worked hard and are excited about our concert Performance: From Those Who Follow The Echoes at the McNay Art Museum Thursday at 6:30. We hope you can include us in your early evening tomorrow. [Update: The Rivard Report came to the performance and did a review that you can read HERE]
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* MAY 21st – PAINTING IN PROGRESS
This Saturday I experienced something new in my music career. I held a rehearsal in a museum during their hours of operation. The patrons at the McNay were completely unaware this was going to happen and the directors at the McNay Museum expressed their interest in us rehearsing in this capacity in an effort to show our art in the process of it’s creation. I could tell the choir felt the energy and importance of this process and what this particular concert means. I was happy they too experienced this and it reminded me of why I started this group that is now a family. It was to bring something fresh in our lives and the community and I’d say after 8 months we are right on track.
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* APRIL 10TH 2017 – PIANISSIMO
So here we are again. After an intense filled week of rehearsals and experimenting in search of the right tuning, the 6-piano concert was finally here. It brought me joy to see this special crowd in Barcelona closing their eyes and getting lost as the piano sounds from all corners enraptured them. I leave hoping everyone found something special from their viewpoint. My body as always gave everything in presenting a work and I’m burnt to a crisp but again filled with great emotion. It’s time to relax but my mind is already thinking of new grand ideas. The photos below show the process from meeting with the conductor, to rehearsing, to promoting on the radio, to partaking alone at the dress rehearsal and alas the concert. Thank you Fabricarte and thank you to all that flew in from Texas and Europe to share this experience with me. Until next time…
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* APRIL 2ND 2017 – BARCELONA
My first few days in Barcelona have been great. For the most part I have been adjusting to the time change and hanging with my friend Alfonso. Alfonso is my friend whom I met while on tour in China. We toured together for a month with our bands playing in China and Mongolia and it is he that invited me to premiere my 6-Piano concert in Europe. If you have followed my blog, you may have figured out that I actually don’t enjoy traveling without a purpose. A day on the beach and then I’m bored. Of course I’m traveling almost 3-4 months out of the year and I cherish every moment I’m abroad, as I know I’m fortunate. But for the most part I want to grind away on new projects or see the every day life of my friends, and this is a perfect insight full of meeting and connecting with artists.
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* FEBRUARY 21ST 2017 – FROM THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE ECHOES
I apologize for every blog post having a video! But this one is long overdue. Finally I was able to edit one of the videos from the premiere of my new choir, From Those Who Follow The Echoes, at Hotel Emma last fall. With our next performance looming, I wanted to pump this one out. Come see us on March 2nd at Blue Star Contemporary for the Contemporary Art Month Kick-Off Party in San Antonio. Click to watch “Fathers & Sons” by yours truly!!!
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* JANUARY 28TH 2017 – BLANTON MUSEUM OF ART
2017 is off to a great start. I wrapped up my first concert of the year with my most experimental composition to date. The concert was at the Blanton Museum of Art which I have been going to since I was a teenager. The Blanton curates unique and inspiring music in it’s gallery, so it’s wonderful to partake in the tradition. For this concert, I was asked to write a new piece to go alongside works I curated for my Keep Composers Weird residency in 2016. Btw, applications are still being accepted for the 2017 residency, so if you are composer please have a look HERE. For my piece, I experimented with lights as cues for the players with the goal of exploring music in motion. I tried various ways of mixing blinking signals and using colored lights for certain cues (as seen here in rehearsals). Ultimately I ended finding a switch controller where I could manipulate the speed of blinking lights and turn lights on and off. Each player reacted different to each signal as discussed before the performance. During the performance the audience actually went inside one of the layers! I was pleased with the performance as the audience participation meet my expectations of having this be an interactive piece that gave off the feel of an installation. Performance photos and videos coming soon…
2017 is off to a great start. I wrapped up my first concert of the year with my most experimental composition to date. The concert was at the Blanton Museum of Art which I have been going to since I was a teenager. The Blanton curates unique and inspiring music in it’s gallery, so it’s wonderful to partake in the tradition. For this concert, I was asked to write a new piece to go alongside works I curated for my Keep Composers Weird residency in 2016. Btw, applications are still being accepted for the 2017 residency, so if you are composer please have a look HERE. For my piece, I experimented with lights as cues for the players with the goal of exploring music in motion. I tried various ways of mixing blinking signals and using colored lights for certain cues (as seen here in rehearsals). Ultimately I ended finding a switch controller where I could manipulate the speed of blinking lights and turn lights on and off. Each player reacted different to each signal as discussed before the performance. During the performance the audience actually went inside one of the layers! I was pleased with the performance as the audience participation meet my expectations of having this be an interactive piece that gave off the feel of an installation. Performance photos and videos coming soon…
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* JANUARY 10TH 2017 – FINALLY!…
…the video was posted by Del Mar College for the commissioned work I did in the memory of Eddie Galvan. This piece was one of my favorite to work on. I was given 6-8 months but because of an international tour, I procrastinated a bit and crammed it all in a month. Needless to say, I got very sick after I turned it in. It has a latin/spanish flavor to it so if you feel like dancin’, give it a swirl
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