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Irina-Kalina Goudeva

double bass
vocal
1966

The double bass player, singer, performer and creative artist Irina-Kalina Goudeva was born in Sofia, Bulgaria.

She studied double bass with prof. Todor Toshev at the Sofia State Conservatory (graduated in 1990) and later, with prof. Franco Petracchi at the Geneva Conservatory of Music (receiving the First Virtuoso Price in 1993).

While pursuing her activities as a principal player in orchestras such as, Sinfonietta Lausanne, Orchestre de Chambre de Neuchâtel (both in Switzerland) and the Orchestra of the Royal Danish Theater (Copenhagen), she also found great inspiration in chamber music and has collaborated with many ensembles such as, “Ensemble 415”, “Swiss Consort”, “Kordepan” in Switzerland; “Ensembel Midtwest”, “Danish Chamber Players” and “Esbjerg Ensemble” in Denmark; “Musica Vitae” in Växjö, Sweden and others.

Irina-Kalina’s eclectic nature inspires her to experiment with crossovers between different genres of music and with great intensity she has devoted herself to music from the Renaissance and Baroque, to modern tango, jazz and electro - acoustic music.

She very often uses her contralto voice as an integral part of her performance, in order to add new musical, artistic and theatrical dimension to her artistry.

Her passion for contemporary music, art and theatre brought her to work with ensembles such as “Contrechamps” (Switzerland), “Athelas Sinfonietta” (Denmark), “Ars Nova” (Sweden), Ensemble Modern (Germany) and since 1998 she is a solo double bass player at the Contemporanea Interactive Art Ensemble in Copenhagen (Denmark).

Apart from staging “traditional” concerts with contemporary music, the ensemble often includes visual and verbal aspects as theatrical performance and, in preference stages concerts in unusual surroundings. The musicians of the ensemble frequently take part in international experimental theatre projects, in which they participate both as musicians and actors, as a kind of integrated performance.

Irina Kalina Goudeva’s great passion for theatre and drama led her to the creation of her first solo multi-media solo performance “Lavarayaha”, (premiered in May, 2004) followed by the multimedia one-woman show “The Seventh Woman” in 2005.

In February, 2009, she has created (in collaboration with George Vassilev, Ejnar Kanding and Christophe Fellay) the multimedia music theatre quartet performance ”Landscapes”, for voice, double bass, guitars, drums and live electronics, which has been premiered & presented few times in Sion, Switzerland and performed again several times in Denmark in 2010, including at Wundergrund festival in Copenhagen.

In May, 2011 two new shows were created - the performance “Papilio Machaon”, in collaboration with the composer Ejnar Kanding and the Danish artist Nes Lerpa, premiered & presented few times in Pallazo Visconti, Bergamo, Italy and the spectacle - concert “Vodosvet”, for quartet (voice, double bass, guitars and drums and live electronics), premiered in Martigny, Switzerland.

In June, 2012, Irina-Kalina created the solo multi media music theater performance “Oracion Del Fuego” (The Fire Prayer), premiered in Copenhagen Music Theater and also presented in August, 2012 in Takkelloftet, Opera House - both venues in Copenhagen.

The performance integrates contemporary acoustic and electro - acoustic music for double bass and voice with live visual effects, theater, choreography and light design - all in interaction with the paintings, sculptures and installations, made by the Danish artist Nes Lerpa. It unites a great team of creators, such as Ejnar Kanding (composition & live electronics),Casper Øbro (video), Mikkel Jensen (light), Carina Raffel (choreography).

All these performances has been received with much praise and performed in many countries in Europe/Scandinavia and USA.

The creation of the above mentioned artistic works is giving Irina-Kalina the opportunity to explore and develop her full potential as a performer/creator - playing, singing, acting, writing and directing.

Her collaborations includes a large number of composers/artists such as: P. Boulez, G. Kurtag, H. Lachenman, H. Holliger, E. Pomarico, P. A. Valade, C. Lippe, I. Frounberg, Fuzzy, E. C. de Chizy, P. Jodlowski, E. Kanding, M. Olsen, L. Tornhøj, M. Christensen, W. Siegel, M. S. Danielsen, B. Jaeger, K. Helweg, L. Graugaard, L. Hegaard, M. Åm, Y. Acher, R. Yatzkan, J. Holmen, J. Tsenova, G. Gordon and M. Dresser- who, together, have written more than 35 pieces for her.

In 2004, Irina-Kalina released her first solo CD “Irina-Kalina Goudeva - voice and double bass”, with contemporary acoustic and electro - acoustic music.

She is now working on a Triptych CD/DVD project, to be released in June, 2013, in Rotchester USA, during the ISB World Double Bass Convention.

It will comprise of 16 pieces, 9 of which written especially for her by Julia Tsenova, Ejnar Kanding, Mark Dresser, Line Tornhøj, Morten Olsen, Jexper Holmen, Wayne Siegel, Bo Jæger, Rachel Yatzkan, as well as pieces from Giacinto Scelsi, Luciano Berio, Pierre Jodlowski.

In addition to the above mentioned activities, Irina-Kalina very often participate in master classes, workshops, conferences, cultural exchange projects and improvisation & experimental research projects with different composers from all over the world.

She has won several international and national competitions (among others Special Price of the Jury at “Giovanni Botessini”, Parma, Italy; First Price at “Svetoslav Obretenov”, Provadia, Bulgaria and First Prize at “Stefan Gougarev”, Kjustendil, Bulgaria) and has performed as a soloist in Bulgaria, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, Australia, South America, Cuba and USA.

  • Morten Olsen

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