MIA ZABELKA
SOLO CD "M"
Release: 30 October 2011, monotyprecords, mono045

PRESS INFORMATION

"Mighty mistress of the contemporary violin takes you further into the sound with Malstrom"
Pauline Oliveros

Mia Zabelka, an Austrian pioneer of electro-acoustic performance and composition, has developed a unique musical language based on the de- and reconstruction of the sonic possibilities of the violin, expanding the instrument with live electronic effects and innovative performance techniques. The violin, and Zabelka's voice and her body, are transformed into sonic objects that are at once primal and organic, screaming, lyrical, explosive and composed.
Mia Zabelka's "automatic playing" is a continuous exploration of sound and music as physical phenomena, constantly pushing back the boundaries in radical and provocative performances and compositions.
"M" stands for Mensch (human being), Machine, Music, and for the primal human sound that forms the basis of music and language. Elementally and etymologically, M stands for water.
Composed, performed and recorded by Mia Zabelka at Amann Studios, Vienna 2011
The instruments played on this album are electric violin, voice, contact microphones, live electronics.
Produced by Zahra Mani
Mastered and mixed by Christoph Amann
Supported by PHONART, part-funded by the EU Culture Programme 2007-2013.

SHORT BIOGRAPHY

Mia Zabelka, composer, electric violinist and vocalist from Vienna, lives in the Austrian region of southern Styria and in Vienna.
Along with Jon Rose and Laurie Anderson she has an international reputation as one of the most innovative freestyle violin players in the World.
She studied music and composition with Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, Dieter Kaufmann, Kurt Schwertsik and Alexander Arenkov in Vienna, creating a foundation on the basis of which she continues to construct and explore the limits of sound and music in a language entirely her own.
Mia Zabelka has given concerts and performances throughout Europe, America and the former USSR. She is three-time winner of the Prix Ars Electronica and was a guest of the DAAD's (German Academic Exchange Service's) international artists' programme in Berlin.
In 2007 Mia Zabelka founded the klang.haus, a centre for sound and interdisciplinary art at her house in southern Styria. The klang.haus is a meeting point for local and international artists and hosts the wein.klang festival four times a year.
In 2009 Mia Zabelka became the artistic director of phonofemme Vienna, an international Festival of Sound Art.
2010/ 2011 Mia Zabelka is the artistic director of the international network project "PHONART- the lost languages of Europe", funded by the EU Culture Programme 2007-2013, in cooperation with curatorial partners in the Czech Republic, Croatia and Serbia.
Mia Zabelka is currently collaborating in Duos with Lydia Lunch and Zahra Mani, with Video Artist Mia Makela and in Trios with Pavel Fajt/ Johannes Frisch and John Russell/Maggie Nichols.

PRESS VOICES

"Mia Zabelkas violin sounds like a seismograph"
Västerbottens Kuriren, Made Festival UMEA Sweden, May 2011

"Austrian Violinist Mia Zabelka brings us a fascinating Solo Project. Possibly the biggest discovery the 27th FIMAV has to offer"
Festival International Musique Actuelle, Vicoriaville Canada, May 2011

"Laurie Anderson is a great story teller. Mia Zabelka tells great stories with her music."
Time Out New York Feb 2011

"Mia Zabelka is the Spearhead of the Austrian Music Avantgarde"
MICA, Music Information Center Austria, Jan 2011