After having studied and played flamenco, African drumming, Berber music, jazz, and other 'more straight ahead' styles of music, my encounter with Jahnavi Jayaprakash, my main mentor, was the final point of a long lasting search to find a system that would satisfy my demands in fields like polyrhythms and microtonality. But, what I thought as a final point became, indeed, only the beginning of another adventure. When I started studying with her, I was only aware of the potential that this material had for me as a composer. But the more I learned, the more I understood my own music and the more I realised that if I could show only the bare bones of Karnatic music (in other words, if only the techniques and concepts were applied), their system could be used to perform and compose contemporary composed and improvised music with a more 'organic' attitude towards these areas (polyrhythms and microtonality)."

 

Biography summary

 

Rafael Reina was born in Equatorial Guinea, West Africa in 1961, moving to Madrid at the age of seven. He graduated with summa cum laude in composition from Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA.

 

Returning to Spain, he composed a lot of music for dance, including a piece featuring Marco Berriel and Joaquin Cortes for the 1992 Expo in Sevilla.

 

From 1993, when he moved to Amsterdam, Reina spent long periods in South India studying the theory of Karnatic music with Jahnavi Jayaprakash and N.G. Ravi. These studies led to the creation of the programme Contemporary Music Through Non-Western Techniques at the Conservatory of Amsterdam.

 

In 2004, Reina wrote part of the collective opera 1714 Mon de Guerres a co-production of Festival de Peralada and Barcelona Forum 2004.

 

Reina is currently working on an opera to be co-produced by the Axyz Ensemble (Amsterdam) and ‘Theater Rampe’ (Stuttgart) around the figure of Herman Hesse and the influence of Indian philosophy on his life and writings. The opera HesseIndia will be premiered in 2007 in Vienna and follows on from an earlier co-production with the Interval Chamber Amsterdam and Healing Theatre Cologne, in which Reina composed the opera, Wölfli – a journey into chaos, directed by Petra Weimer, now working with the Theater Rampe.

 

Reina’s extensive oeuvre of ensemble pieces has been performed all over Europe, the US,Taiwan and India. He is co-founder of the Axyz Ensemble.

 

Biographical details

 

Born in Ecuatorial Guinea in 1961, moved to Madrid at age of seven.                                                                                            

 

1975-83: Studied bass and harmony with Eduardo Medina and David Thomas. Toured with the flamenco fusion group 'Manuela de Jerez y los Canasteros'. Spent a summer in Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon and Nigeria studying different aspects of African music.

 

1984: Moved to Boston (USA) to study composition with a scholarship from 'Berklee College of Music'.

Special courses on film scoring and jazz. Private classes with Thomas McGah and John Bavicci.

1988: Graduated 'Summa Cum Laude'.

Commissioned by the 'National Ballet of Spain' to  write an orchestral piece ('Cain', choreographed by Ray Barra).

 

1989-91: Composed music for contemporary dance ('Punta de Estrellas' for Nacho Duato and 'Odiosamato' for Marina Donderis), symphonic ('Atmósferas Telúricas', 'Todos los fuegos, el fuego') and 'Recuerdos de un pretérito imperfecto' for piano and tape. Awarded the 'Special Critics Award' at the Contemporary Composition Competition in Madrid for the piece 'Oficio de Tinieblas'.    In 1990, spent two weeks in a Berber camp in the South of Morocco studying some aspects of this unusual music culture.

 

1992: Music for two choreographies: 'El cielo protector' ('The Sheltering Sky') produced by the  'Expo' in Sevilla for Joaquin Cortes and Merche Esmeralda, and 'Parthenopea', by Marco Berriel (former first dancer with Bèjart).

Commissioned by the Cultural Olympiads in Barcelona to write a piano piece ('Aniram') and by the 'Contemporary Music International Festival' in Alicante to compose a work for six percussionists ('Ubangi Djembe').

In October moved to Amsterdam, travelling to Cologne to study with Johannes Fritsch and José Luis de Delás.

 

1993-94: Guest professor at the Amsterdam Conservatory, writing a lot of chamber music performed in The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, USA, Great Britain, Taiwan and Spain.

-Percussion and tape pieces: 'Mekazé conun enana por jartarme de reí', (released on CD by Willibrord Classics), 'Timanfaya, a reflection about fire and earth' and 'Sistema Caos'.

-A piece for mezzo-soprano, bass clarinet and Moroccan percussion ('Cópula con un cuerpo muerto'), a flute cadenza ('Infimos contrastes en mares infinitos') an oboe solo ('Narciso en el acorde último de las flautas')  a sextet ('Renacimientos del fin de siglo'), musette and percussion ('Gotas de Duende') and a percussion quartet ('Las paredes sufren de astigmatismo').

-Wrote the music for the coreography  'Danza Cíclica de los Totem' by Marina Donderis, awarded with the 'Best Original Score for Dance 94' in Madrid.

-Spent long periods in 93, 94, 95 and 97 in Bangalore (South India), studying Karnatic music theory with Jahnavi Jayaprakash, N. G. Ravi and Chander Shaker.

-Extensive work for the ‘Amsterdam Percussion Group' and soprano with texts from Lorca’s 'Poet in New York',  produced by the Foreign Office of Spain and premiered in June 94 in Amsterdam. CD released by Willibrord Classics. This piece represented The Netherlands in the Autumn Festival of Madrid 94.

 

1995-96:  Became a permanent teacher at the Amsterdam Conservatory developing a 4-year programme for post-graduate  students, based on Karnatic music theory with applications for western contemporary classical and jazz idioms. Wrote a tenor recorder piece ('Liturgy of darkness 5') for Walter van Hauwe, premiered at the Vredenburg.

-Commissioned by the 'Foundation Huygens-Fokker' for microtonal music to present a monographic concert (April 96) writing  'La noche boca arriba' for bass flute, and 'Lamento de la Tierra' for soprano, Indian flute, cello and percussion (with a special 1/4 tone marimba) specially for the concert. Broadcast by the radio station KRO of Amsterdam. As a result of this concert, 'The Interval Chamber Amsterdam', under the direction of Josep Vicent, was founded.

 

1997-98: For the presentation of  'The Interval Chamber Amsterdam'  wrote the piece 'Drag on... Claustrophobia',  based on a poem by Vanessa Goad, for  soprano, flutes, musette/english horn, violin, viola, cello, contrabass and 2 percussionists.

In close collaboration with this ensemble, has worked on different pieces:  'Persistance of Memory, a Sonic Face to Dali's time'  written for the '2nd Blockflute Festival' for recorder, Indian flute, taragato (Turkish clarinet-like instrument), nagaswaram (South-Indian version of the oboe) and 2 percussionists, a version of 'Poet in New York', adding  flutes, oboe/nagaswram, cello, contrabass and live electronics, premiered at the 'Nits de la Mediterrania Festival' in Spain and conducted by Josep Vicent. A further composition  of this period is 'Mirrors in a Labyrinth' a double quartet for recorders and strings commissioned by the 'Loeki Stardust Amsterdam' and the 'Doelen Quartet'. As a teacher has held seminars and workshops in different countries.

 

1999-2001:  Completed the opera ' Wölfli, a Journey into Chaos' based on Adolf Wölfli’s book 'Von der Wiege bis zum Graab', a co-production of 'Healing Theater Cologne' and 'The Interval Chamber Amsterdam', premiered in the Alte Feuerwache (Cologne).

Wrote the piece  'El cambio de la relojeria del cielo' for the 'Nederlands Fluitorkest', of which the first performance took place in the 'International Contemporary Music Festival' of Alicante. Was commissioned by the recorder quartet Malle Symen to write 'Amor en tiempos de Colera' premiered in the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam.

 

2001-2003: A piece for fretless electric bass and 2 percussionists ('Men(tally) Cloned'), for the 'Amsterdam Percussion Group' with Jahnavi Jayaprakash and B.C. Manjunath as special guests (Sranang Tongo), a piece for Turkish Ud and ensemble ('Alquimia'), for a festival around the Ud organized by the Ijsbreker. His latest composition (‘A Brave new World’) was premiered in Bangalore (South India), for the ensemble 'Bhedam' and three Karnatic musicians (T.S. Seshagopalan, B.C. Manjunath and Udarj Karpur).  

Co-founder of the Axyz Ensemble, an ensemble of contemporary music made up entirely of graduated students of his conservatory programme and dedicated to perform contemporary music with non-western influences.

His programme 'Contemporary music through non-western techniques' became part of the Master's programmes offered at the Conservatory of Amsterdam.

 

2004-present: He was one of the composers of the collective opera for orchestra and mixed choir ‘1714, Mon de Guerres’ with libretto by Albert Mestres, co-produced by the  ‘Festival de Perelada’ and ‘Barcelona Forum 2004’. He wrote the parts called ‘La Violacio’ and ‘Les Missions 2’.

 

Recent projects include ‘The Doors of Perception’ for 13 instruments for the Axyz Ensemble with guest South Indian percussionist, B.C.Manjunath and A.R.A.K. Sharma, premiered within the ‘Karnatic Lab Festival’ 2005, and the opera HesseIndia referred to above.

 

Senior teacher at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, 2006.