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Arturas Bumšteinas (b. 1982)


  1. “My Own Private Bayreuth“ experimental opera [54:06]


    Art event and music by Arturas Bumšteinas Musicians: Lilith Verhelst (voice), Wynanda Zeevaarder (voice), Karsien van den Berg (voice), Vytautas Vepštas (voice), Emanuele Torquati (whistle), Inez Popko (flute), Paulius Gefenas (flute), Ieva Langaitė (flute), Leonardas Pilkauskas (flute, clarinet, sax), Mari Carmen Garzás García-Pliego (clarinet), Daniel Boeke (clarinet), Enric Sans i Morera (bass clarinet), Maarten Ornstein (sax), Dominykas Vyšniauskas (trumpet, flugelhorn), Arturas Bumšteinas (violin, voice), Kęstutis Pleita (viola), Florian Streich (cello), Jos Smolders (electronics).

    „My Own Private Bayreuth“ is a realization/documentation of the project that was inspired by a letter that Bumšteinas received from the ticket office of Bayreuther Festspiele where operas of great German composer Richard Wagner are performed each year. Upon his request to order ticket to one of the Festival's events he was sent a letter stating that a continuous ordering is required and due to a large number of visitors the waiting queue might take up to 9 years. This reply inspired Bumšteinas to organize his own event that would consist of an open-participatory agenda and which would use R.Wagner's music as a main material. For two weeks Bumšteinas (represented by Dutch gallery HotelMariaKapel) was hosting an open rehearsal/recording sessions in Amsterdam's Kunstvlai Art Fair which were attended by nearly twenty musicians. The meetings between musicians took place in public and consisted of free/subjective/loose interpretations of various Wagner's scores. From all the recorded sound materials eight untitled compositions were mixed, seven of which constitute the body of this version (which was prepared specialy for publication on Ubu-Web). The previous longer version of „My Own Private Bayreuth“ was released by HotelMariaKapel Gallery on an audio CD.

    All sound materials originate from various scores by Richard Wagner that were recorded by Arturas Bumšteinas in Amsterdam in year 2010 and mixed the same year in Warsaw. The version appearing on Ubu-Web was mixed in the year 2012 in Vilnius.



  2. “Organ Safari” experimental organ-sound archive [27:57]


    Concept and realization by Arturas Bumšteinas

    Performers: Arturas Bumšteinas (musical direction, live electronics, field recordings, sound installation), Goska Isphording (pipe organs), Anton Lukoszevieze (cello and kanklės), Antanas Dombrovskij (laptop), Algirdas Biveinis & Alexander Ivanov (additional organ sample material). Sound engineer: Clare Gallagher.

    “Organ Safari” is an ongoing project which was initiated by Arturas Bumšteinas in year 2008. Since then he is traveling around Europe and recording sounds of various organs in churches, concert halls, record stores, streets, music schools and other locations. From these collected recordings artist has built an extensive sound archive which serves as an important source for his various acoustic and electronic compositions, improvisations and collaborations that involve other musicians. This project's first version titled “Stories from the Organ Safari” was commissioned by The Holland Festival in 2010 and was specially prepared to be presented in Orgelpark - the unique venue in Amsterdam, home for various organ species. The recording of the event was published on audio CD later the same year by Lithuanian New Music Communication Center. The premiere performance consisted of composed organ parts, improvised sampler, synth and string instruments and a sound sculpture exhibited during the concert as sound installation. The version presented on Ubu-Web consists of several fragments of the live concert mixed together with a studio track titled “Refusenik” which was also composed using the same organ field recording materials.

    All music produced by Arturas Bumšteinas between years 2008 and 2012 in Amsterdam, Warsaw and Vilnius.



  3. Antiradical Opera” opera for radio [22:05]


    Music and realization by Arturas Bumšteinas (Lithuania) Libretto by Jesse Glass (USA/Japan).

    Virtual Choir: Ceyda Karamursel (Turkey), Grytė Pintukaitė (Lithuania), Jonas Sakalauskas (Lithuania), Kyrre Bjørkås (Norway), Juha Valkeapää (Finland), Tom Winter (Germany), Charles Krutzen (Germany), Hugo Maia (UK), Gosia Kus (Poland), Paco Balbuena (Spain), John Troyer (USA) and La La Band from the National Theater School of Canada.

    Musicians (Lithuania): Vaida Pasarevičiūtė (flute), Šarūnas Jankauskas (clarinet), Roman Repin (trumpet), Tadas Žukauskas (violin), Alexei Bliznin (guitar), Arturas Bumšteinas (piano).

    Recorded in various locations around the world between years 2001 and 2002; mixed by Arturas Bumšteinas between years 2001 and 2004 in Vilnius.

    For this project there was gathered a virtual group of vocalists (both professionals and amateurs) from all around the world. With the help of internet, amongst the vocalists there were distributed simple scores consisting of „number notation” and performance instructions. These scores were vocally interpreted, recorded and sent back to composer on CDs, mp3 files, mini-discs and audio cassettes. All these recordings were carefully selected, edited and mixed into a so-called “virtual choir” which became the main, most characteristic element of the whole „Antiradical Opera” project. Instrumental part was composed and recorded later as an accompaniment for the voices.

    Libretto of „Antiradical Opera” was written by American poet Jesse Glass and it brings us to the American Civil War era’s Newspaper Wars. The main story is on the editorial battle between Joseph Shaw, editor of the Carroll County Democrat , and Charles W. Webster, a columnist for The American Sentinel. Shaw had opined on April 6th, 1865, that the country would be much better if Abraham Lincoln (that time president) had died. Lincoln was shot on April 14th. The day later, when the news reached Shaw, he left his hometown - Westminster. That night a concerned citizens’ committee destroyed Shaw’s printing offices and on April 24th , when he returned to Westminster, he was killed the same day.

    Jesse Glass is professor of American literature and history at Meikai University in Japan. He is the author of The Passion of Phineas Gage (West House/Ahadada),Gaha Noas Zorge (Poetry/ Performance Texts) and Lost Poet (Plays).  Performances of his poetry are featured at UBU-Web and Penn-Sound, among other venues.

    All the documentation of the collaboration between Arturas Bumšteinas and Jesse Glass is part of special collection at the University of Maryland Libraries.

    Previous version of “Antiradical Opera” has been released by Bolt Records on a CD by Arturas Bumšteinas titled “Heap of Language”.


BIO

Arturas Bumšteinas (b.1982, Vilnius) is composer/performer of acoustic and electronic music, sound artist, founder-member of ensembles Quartet Twentytwentyone, Zarasai and Works and Days. His various projects were presented in numerous events around the world. The festivals where Bumšteinas participated with his music and audiovisual projects among others include The Holland Festival, Sensoralia/Romaeuropa, Angelica, Jauna Muzika, Sonic Circuits, Cut & Splice, Skanumezs, Kody, Full Pull etc… His work was commissioned by Deutschland Radio Kultur amongst other prominent cultural institutions. Since the year 2000 Arturas has collaborated with artists Anton Lukoszevieze, Laura Garbštienė, Jesse Glass, Seth Josel, Piotr Kurek, Alina Orlova, Jeff Surak, Borut Savski, Pure, Vladimir Tarasov, Liudas Mockūnas, Max Reinhardt etc… Amongst the publishers of Bumšteinas’ music are such labels as Bøłt, Zeromoon, Con-v, NUUN, Sangoplasmo, Cronica Electronica, Semplice Records Nexsound etc… His exhibition-related work between years 2006-2011 was represented by Galerie Antje Wachs in Berlin. Arturas lives and works in Vilnius.


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Edited for UbuWeb by Paul Paulun