Morphologies is a collaboration between composer and cellist Rubin Kodheli and digital visual artist Cori O‘Lan that started as a result of the Corona-Lockdowns. Over the period of several months they exchanged files between New York and Austria – Rubin sent his music, Cori responded with visual ideas, they exchanged their impressions and feedback, and diving into each other’s art opened up new perspectives on their own work. So far three audio-visual compositions emerged from this collaboration: Sangue, Indian Summer and Mikados, which will be premiered at the Big Concert Night of Ars Electronica 2021 where the two of them will actually perform together in person for the first time.
While Rubins music can perfectly exist on its own, the speciality of Cori’s real time visualizations is that they are accompaniments to the music, generated, transformed and controlled by the sound signals that are derived in real time from digital sound analysis converted into parameters for the graphic software. And that’s something their work has in common, because also Rubin is not using prerecorded tracks or sequences to play along with, but engages live with all his electronic devices in real time while performing on his acoustic and electronic cellos.
Juilliard-trained composer Rubin Kodheli is a celebrated, genre-transcending creative rebel. Rubin crafts rapturous sonic collages which stir the soul and senses. His compositions teem with contemplative invitation and nuance, providing the opportunity to listen repeatedly, each time ripe with the possibility of hearing something that previously went unnoticed.
The inspirational tapestry of his work is intentionally woven from blended threads of rock, jazz and classical influences, a stylistic trademark that has afforded Kodheli a career rich in its diversity of output. From his compositions appearing in feature films such as Precious (2009), to his original symphonic rock compositions, to his collaborations as a performer with genre defining artists — including Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, Henry Threadgill, Christian McBride, Dennis Russell Davies, Meredith Monk, Joan Jett, Tom Harrell, and Snoop Dogg — Kodheli creates an intimate, masterful reimagining of the expressive capacity of his instrument.
