Curriculum Vitae
Magda Mayas - Piano, clavinet, composition
Magda Mayas, born 1979, is a pianist living in Berlin.
Over the past 20 years she developed a vocabulary utilizing both the inside as well as the exterior parts of the piano, using amplification, preparations and objects that become extensions of the instrument itself.
Mayas explores textural, linear sound collage, and has developed a set of techniques that draw on the history of prepared and inside piano vocabulary, but are highly individualized and expand the language for internal piano music making.
Alongside the piano, Mayas performs on a Clavinet/Pianet, an electric piano from the 60s with strings and metal chimes, where she engages with noise and more visceral sound material, equally extending the instrumental sound palette using extended techniques and devices.
She is currently undertaking Phd studies at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden investigating instrumental techniques, the real-time orchestration of timbre and spatiality in improvised music performance.
Mayas performs internationally solo and in collaboration with a large number of musicians and composers. Current projects are "Spill", a duo with drummer Tony Buck, a duo with Christine Abdelnour (sax) and "Great Waitress", a trio with Monika Brooks (acc) and Laura Altman (cl).
Magda Mayas has performed and toured in Europe, the USA, Australia, Mexico and Lebanon and collaborated with many leading figures in improvisation and composers such as John Butcher, George Lewis, Andy Moor, Eddie Prévost, Phill Niblock, David Sylvian, Zeena Parkins, Fred Frith, Hamid Drake, Joelle Leandre, Paul Lovens, Ikue Mori, Andrea Neumann and Axel Dörner.
She has performed at festivals and exhibitions such as Maerz Musik (2012,2015), Documenta (2012), the Berlin Biennale (2014) or Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (2015).
She was awarded a residency at Villa Aurora, Los Angeles in 2016 and at the Montalvo Arts Centre, USA in 2017. Additionaly, she has been curating, producing radio pieces for ABC Australia and Deutschlandradio Kultur and released over 20 CDS to date.
Academic Studies
Mayas studied Jazz Piano at “Universität der Künste” Berlin 1999-2001, followed by an "Erasmus" exchange year at the “Conservatorium van Amsterdam” under Misha Mengelberg, 2001. Further Studies and Diploma in Jazz piano performance at “Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler" Berlin under Georg Gräwe, 2002-2004.
Since 2015, she is undertaking Phd studies at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden in Music Performance and Interpretation, investigating instrumental techniques, timbre and spatiality in improvised music performance.
Performances/Collaborations (selection)
Mayas performs internationally solo and in collaboration with a large number of musicians and composers.
Magda Mayas has toured in Europe, the USA, Australia, Mexico and Lebanon and collaborated with many leading figures in improvisation and composers such as John Butcher, George Lewis, Andy Moor, Eddie Prévost, Phill Niblock, David Sylvian, Zeena Parkins, Fred Frith, Hamid Drake, Joelle Leandre, Paul Lovens, Ikue Mori, Andrea Neumann and Axel Dörner.
2018 September with Christine Abdelnour at Ultima Festival Oslo 2018 September, at Willisau Jazz Festival with Spill 2018 August at Meteo Festival France with Splitter Orchester 2018 July at Kopenhagen Jazzfestival with Lotte Anker and Fred Frith 2018 July at Kongsberg Jazzfestival with Christian Wallumröd 2018 June, International Jazzfestival at the Sydney Conservatorium with Spill 2018 May, at Akademie der Künste Berlin, with Next International Ken Vandermark, Mette Rasmussen, Nate Wooley, Mats Äleklint, Jasper Stadhouders, Emilio Gordoa, Steve Heather 2018 April, with Susanne Abbuehl and Marylin Mazur at Lyon Opera 2018 March,Borealis festival with Stephan Meidell’s Metrics 2018 February, Solo at the Berlin Berlinale, in a project with Georges Méliès movies 2017, November, New York, Stone mit Ikue Mori, Tony Buck, Ned Rothenberg und Billy Martin 2017, November, New York, duo mit Zeena Parkins, Columbia University 2017, October at Dom, Moscow, with Spill 2017, August, Méteo Festival Mulhouse, with Spill 2017, August, A l’arme Festival Berlin, with Okkyung Lee, Chris Corsano and Christine Abdelnour 2017, July, Konfrontationen Nickelsdorf, mit Mazen Kerbaj, Mike Majkowski, Tony Buck 2017 July, Kopenhagen Jazz festival with Lotte Anker and Tony Buck, 2016, November, Bimhuis Amsterdam, Necks 30th Anniversary Festival, with Tony Buck and John Butcher 2016, November, at “Music Unlimited” Wels, Austria, with Zeena Parkins, Carla Kihlstedt and Bob Ostertag 2016, September, LA Duo with Maja Ratkje 2016 May, The Empty Gallery, Hong Kong, with Spill 2016, April, “Geiger”, Gothenburg, with Eddie Prévost, Palle Dahlstedt and Per Anders Nilsson 2015 November, at the Huddersfield Festival for Contemporary Music, with Berlin Splitter Orchester 2015 November, at Jazzfest Berlin, with Berlin Splitter Orchester 2015 July, Kongsberg Jazz Festival wit Spill 2015 June , Art of improvisation Festival, Wroclav, with Tony Buck and John Butcher 2015 May , El nicho Festival Mexico City, Spill 2015 March, Maerzmusik Festival, Berlin, within a project of Zeena Parkins 2015 March, Solo at Monash University Melbourne, Australia 2015, Februar, Solo at “Te Uru” Gallery Auckland, New Zealand, as part of the Michael Parekowhai Piano Artwork Exhibition
2014 November, with John Butcher and Tony Buck at Cafe Oto, London 2014 October, Festival Densites, France with Laura Altman and Monika Brooks 2014 October performance within a project of Tarek Atoui at the Louis Vuitton Foundation Paris, with Ikue Mori, Jim Black, Zeena Parkins, Keith Rowe, Burkhard Beins, Axel Dörner, among others 2014 May/June performance within a project of Tarek Atoui at the Berlin Biennale, at the Museum for Music Ethnology in Berlin Dahlem 2014 May, „ausland“ Berlin, with Jon Rose 2014 January, Göteborgs Konstmuseum, with Laura Altman and Monika Brooks 2014 January, Cave 12, Geneva, with Laura Altman and Monika Brooks 2014 January, „All ears festival“ ,Oslo with Laura Altman and Monika Brooks 2013 November, “Suddenly Listen” Music series, Halifax, Canada 2013 October, “Dream Machine” Festival, Beirut, solo performance with “N+M” sound and video installation by Phill Niblock 2013 September, Baltimore, USA, “High Zero” festival, solo 2013 September, “Roulette” New York, Solo 2013 September, “Walcheturm” Zurich, with Daniel Studer, Peter Frey 2013 August, “Concepts of doing” Festival Berlin, with Chris Burn 2013 July, “Konfrontationen“ Festival, Austria, with Paul Lovens, Tony Buck, Hamid Drake, Joelle Leandre, Liz Albee, Christoph Kurzmann.. “Butch Morris Memorial Band” 2013 April,”If you say so” Festival, Bydgoszcz, Poland, with Tony Buck 2013 January, Sydney, “505” with Laura Altman and Monika Brooks 2013 January, Canberra, Australia,“Sound out Festival”, with Laura Altman and Monika Brooks 2012 November, “Sound of Stockholm” Festival with Laura Altman and David Stackenäs 2012 November, “Fri Resonans” Festival, Trondheim, with Tony Buck and Laura Altman 2012 November, “Unlimited Festival” Wels, Austria, with Laura Altman and Monika Brooks 2012 October, “Rendez vous contemporains de saint merry”, Paris, with Laura Altman 2012 October, London, “Cafe Oto” with Laura Altman and Phil Durrant 2012 October, Sibiu, Romania, “Jazz and more Festival” with Tony Buck, James Welburn and Brendan Dougherty 2012 September, San Francisco, CNMAT Berkley, with Gino Robair and Tony Buck 2012 September, Seattle,USA, ”Nonsequitur” concert series, solo 2012 September,Interdisciplinary project with writer Carla Harryman (USA) presented at “Dokumenta 2012” 2012 July Arhus, Denmark Jazz festival, with Mike Majkowski and Chris Heenan 2012 May , “Muse ruole Festival”, Bolzano, solo 2012 April,”Soddjazz “ Festival, Trondheim, with Tony Buck 2012 April, “Smalt” concert series, Rjukan,Norway, with Tony Buck 2012 April, “Frim Syd” Malmo, with Anders Lindsjo and Tony Buck 2012 February, “Hurta Cordel Festival, Barcelona, with Tony Buck 2012 January, “Zwei Tage Zeit” Festival Zürich, with Tony Buck 2011 November, “Sound trips” Tour in Munster, Cologne, Wuppertal, Germany,with Christine Abdelnour 2011 October, “Densites” Festival, France, with Jim Denley 2011 September, “I beam”, New York, with Nate Wooley and Tony Buck 2011 September, “Hallwalls” Buffalo, with Tony Buck 2011 September, “Roulette “ New York, with Tony Buck 2011 August, “Meteo festival”, Mulhouse, France, with Christine Abdelnour 2011 July, “Konfrontationen” Austria, with Laura Altman and Monika Brooks 2011 May, “Codes” Festival, Lublin, Poland with Christine Abdelnour 2011 May, “Freedom of the city” festival, London with John Butcher and Tony Buck 2011 March, Collaboration with Phill Niblock on the video installation piece “N+M” which was premiered in Berlin at the festival “Maerzmusik” and presented at the Elysee Lausanne as part of his 80th anniversary retrospective 2011 February, New Zealand tour, with Tony Buck 2011 January Festival “Mona Foma”, Hobart, Australia, with Tony Buck 2011 January, “Soundout” Festival Canberra, with Tony Buck 2011 January, “Bennets Lane”, Melbourne, solo 2010 November, “ÄÄNEN LUMO” Festival Helsinki, with Tony Buck 2010 October, Oslo, “Nasjonal Jazzscene”, with Tony Buck 2010 September, “Echtzeitmusik” Festival, Berlin, Solo 2010 September,Ystad, “Modern Art Museum” with poets Ida Borjel and Uljana Wolf 2010 May, “Ring Ring” festival , Belgrade with Tony Buck, James Welburn and Brendan Dougherty 2010 May, “Cafe Oto” with John Butcher and Tony Buck, 2010 April, “Fylkningen”, Stockholm with Christine Abdelnour, 2010 April, “Irtijal” Festival Beirut, with Tony Buck 2010 March, WIM Zurich, with Anthea Caddy 2010 March, “Borealis” Festival, with Tony Buck 2010 January in San Francisco (Out sound), with Tony Buck 2009 December, “Next” Festival, Bratislava,with Andy Moor, Christine Abdelnour, Tony Buck 2009 November, “Fri Resonans” Festival, Trondheim, Solo 2009 October, “Jazz and more” Festival, Sibiu, Romania, with Tony Buck 2009 October, “City of Women” Festival, Ljubljana, with Tony Buck 2009 October, “Approximation” Festival Dusseldorf, with Tony Buck 2009 October, “cave 12”, Geneva, with Tony Buck 2009 July, “Konfrontationen” festival, Austria, with Andy Moor, Christine Abdelnour, Tony Buck 2009 April, “Fylkningen” Stockholm, with Tony Buck 2009 March, “Exposition of New Music”, Brno,Czech Republic with Sabine Vogel and Michael Renkel 2009 February, Boston, Goethe Institute,with Annette Krebs and Anthea Caddy 2009 February “Princeton University” with Annette Krebs and Anthea Caddy, 2009 February, “Bowerbird Series”, Philadelphia, with Annette Krebs and Anthea Caddy 2009 January,USA Tour with Annette Krebs and Anthea Caddy, “Stone”, New York 2009 January, “Now now festival “ Sydney, with Tony Buck 2008 November, “Labor Sonor Berlin” with Okkyung Lee and Tony Buck 2008 September, “Douglas Street Music Collective”, New York, Trio with Tony Buck, Nate Wooley 2008 September, “Hideout” Chicago, with Tony Buck 2008 September, “Roulette” New York, Solo 2008 August, Issue Project Room, New York, with Andy Moor 2008 June, “Museum of modern and contemporary art”, Strasbourg, with Sabine Vogel and Michael Renkel 2008 May, “Moers Festival” with Robin Fox, Anthea Caddy, Clare Cooper, Clayton Thomas 2008 May , “Biegungen “ at ausland Berlin, with Andrea Neumann, Tisha Mukarji and Christoph Schiller 2008 April, “Jazz in E. Festival”, Eberswalde, with Tony Buck 2008 April, “Irtijal Festival” Lebanon, Quartett with Christine Sehnaoui, Sharif Sehnaoui, Heddy Boubaker 2008 February, “Intersonanzen” Festival Potsdam, performing ensemble and solo works by Alex Nowitz 2007 December, “Doek Festival “ Amsterdam, with Tony Buck 2007 November, “November music” Festival, Essen, with Kim Myhr, Nils Ostendorf and Toma Gouband 2007 July, “Konfrontationen” Festival , Austria, with Tony Buck 2007 June, concert at “Stralau 68” Berlin, with John Russel, Harry Sjostrom, 2007 May, “Tasten - Berliner Klaviertage Festival “with Sabine Vogel and Michael Renkel, Sophiensaele Berlin 2007 February, Klangwerkstatt Festival, Project with Sven Ake Johanson, Fernanda Farah, Sabine Vogel and Michael Renkel 2006 September, “Exploratorium” Berlin, with Jenny Walsh and Jeremy Woodruff 2006 May,“Housemusik” Festival organized by Kammerensemble Neue Musik, Berlin,Duo with Alex Novitz 2006 May, “ Tasten - Berliner Klaviertage Festival” with Koen Nutters and Morten Olsen 2006 April, “Irtijal Festival” Beirut, Lebanon, solo 2006 March “Jeunesse Musicales” Austria, tour with Tony Buck 2006 March, “Exploratorium” Berlin, with Tony Buck Berlin,Duo with Axel Doerner 2006 February, tour in Greenland with Hypno Theatre Group 2005 May,“Housemusik” Festival organized by Kammerensemble Neue Musik, 2005 March, Bimhuis, Amsterdam, with Koen Nutters and Morten Olsen 2005 November, “Worm” Rotterdam with Koen Nutters, Morten Olsen 2005 February, tour in Iceland with Hypno Theatre Group (Berlin/Sheffield)
Radio Work
2013 Documentary for ABC Australia, “Inside Piano” the history of playing the piano with extended techniques and modern practitioners today, including research regarding historic keyboard instruments, composers ( Cage, Cowell, Bertoncini) as well as interviews with pianists using extended techniques today (John Tilbury, Anthony Pateras, Reinhold Friedl, Andrea Neumann)
2014 Documentary for ABC Australia, “Real Time Music Berlin” approaches and styles of improvised music, particularly the “Echtzeitmusik” scene in Berlin, interviews with practitioners and curators
2014 Feature for Deutschlandradio Kultur, “Dream Machine Beirut”
2014 September “Dream Machine Beirut” adapted for ABC Australia
2015 sound essay for ABC, Australia, Creative Audio Unit, “Home is where the heart is”
Curatorial Projects
Magda Mayas has been curating experimental music events and festivals in Berlin since 2005. As part of her ongoing research, Mayas founded “Tasten-Berliner Klaviertage” festival, running from 2005-2009, during which contemporary and innovative approaches for the piano were presented, (www.tasten.org), featuring pianists and composers such as John Tilbury, Anthony Pateras, Chris Abrahams and Ian Pace ( with support from “Ernste Musik Projektförderung ” Berliner Senat)
2009 artistic director of “Biegungen” together with Clare Cooper, at “ausland”, Berlin including concerts with Andy Moor, Sven Ake Johansson, Annette Krebs, Joe Williamson, Rhodri Davies, Andrea Neumann, David Watson, Christine Abdelnour
2013 artistic director of “COMPASS” Festival together with Tony Buck, an exchange between leading Lebanese and Berlin musicians and sound artists. http://www.ausland-berlin.de/compass (with support from Goethe Institut and Bezirksamt Pankow Berlin)
Teaching
Masterclasses / Artist Talks / Workshops Magda Mayas has been giving workshops and masterclasses at Universities and festivals all over the world.
Europe 2010 Musikhögskolan, Malmö, , Workshop on approaches in improvised music with Tony Buck 2014, Göteborgs Universitet, Workshop on approaches in improvised music with Tony Buck 2010, Brno/Czech Republic, „Exposition of New Music Festival“, Lecture on styles and approaches in improvised music with Tony Buck 2012, Lublin/ Poland „John Cage Year 2012“ at the Faculty of Arts MCSU 3 day symposium on Cage and the history and modern approaches of inside piano playing 2016, Universität Bern, Improvisation Strategies in Ensemble playing, with Daniel Studer and Frantz Loriot Since 2015 – to date, various masterclasses and courses at Gothenburg University in the composition and improvisation department
USA 2017, Columbia University, mit Zeena Parkins, Artist talk Mills College, 2012 lecture and workshop on contemporary improvised music approaches with Tony Buck Wesleyan University 2011 lecture and workshop on contemporary improvised music approaches with Tony Buck University of Berkeley California, 2012, teaching Myra Melfords class on contemporary improvised music approaches with Tony Buck Bard College 2011 concert and lecture on improvised music approaches with Tony Buck Cornell University 2011 concert and lecture on improvised music approaches with Tony Buck
Singapur La Salle College 2013 Approaches in Improvised music, with Tony Buck SOMA, 2014, Prepared and Inside piano in history and modern practice
Australia Brisbane, 2012, Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University Approaches in Improvised music, with Tony Buck Brisbane, Queensland University of Technology, 2012, Approaches in Improvisation, with Tony Buck Sydney Conservatory 2012 , Solo Recital and artist talk, composition class on inside/prepared piano playing, 2015 with Tony Buck on Approaches in Improvised Music Monash University Melbourne, 2015, Solo concert and workshop 2018 Western University of Sydney 2018 Conservatorium of Sydney, Approaches in Improvisation with Tony Buck
Musicschool
2007- 2017, co-founder and director of „Neue Musikschule Berlin“, www.neue- musikschule-berlin.de offering instrumental lessons at 10 different schools all over Berlin, as well as interdisciplinary projects, higher education courses and workshops incl teachers and guest artists such as Marc Sabat, Barre Philips, Axel Doerner, Peter Ablinger, Tony Buck and Burkhard Beins. Teaching piano since 2007.
Discography:
2003 “n-collective - News from Holland vol.1”, x-or records with Koen Nutters, Morten Olsen, Carlos Galvez 2003 n collective, news from Holland volume 1, one track with “Mayas Nutters Olsen Galvez 2005 “Mayas Nutters Olsen Galvez – Dirty in the different tradition”, with Koen Nutters, Morten Olsen, Carlos Galvez, fmr, London 2007 Trio Cd “phono phono”,with Sabine Vogel and Michael Renkel, Absinth Records, Berlin 2008 “Mayas Nutters Olsen Galvez”, Creative Sources, Portugal 2009 "Gold", with Spill, Creative Sources, Portugal 2010 "Heartland" Solo, Another Timbre, England 2010 "Teeming" Duo with Christine Sehnaoui (alto sax),Olof Bright, Sweden 2011 “Schatten” Duo with Anthea Caddy (cello), Dromos Records, Portugal 2012 “Stockholm Syndrom” with SPILL (Duo with Tony Buck) on Beirut label “al maslakh” 2012 “Thread”, with Annette Krebs and Anthea Caddy, Another timbre, England 2012 “Myriad”, Duo with Christine Abdelnour, unsounds, Netherlands 2012 “Lucid” with “Great Waitress”,Monika Brooks and Laura Altman, splitrec, Australia 2013 “Fluoresce”,SPILL (Duo with Tony Buck) monotype, Poland 2013 “Plume”, trio with Tony Buck and John Butcher, unsounds, Netherlands 2013 “Fukushima!” compilation, Solo, on presqu'ile records, Switzerland 2013 “Gardener” Duo with Chris Abrahams, relative pitch records, New York 2014 “Flock” with Great Waitress, Monika Brooks and Laura Altman, creative sources, Portugal 2014 “Echtzeitmusik” berlin on microtone, one track with Spill 2014 “Radiation”,Transmit, with Tony Buck, Brendan Dougherty, James Welburn on Monotype 2015 “Spill plus“ with Tony Buck and Damon Smith, on nuscope, USA 2015 Studer Frey, one track on Leo Records 2016 Solo Terrain, Gaffer Records 2016 Album Splitter Orchester/Felix Kubin – Shine on you crazy diagram, mit Splitter Orchester, beim Label Gargarin Records 2016 Album George Lewis & Splitter Orchester – Creative Construction Set, mit George Lewis and Splitter Orchester, beim Label mikroton recordings 2016 “Hue”, Great Waitress on Another Dark Age 2017 “Tempe Jetz” Jim Denley Duo 2017 “Boule Spiel” with Eric Normand and Pierre Yves Martel on tour de bras 2017 “The afterlife of trees” mit Ernesto Rodrigues, Biliana Voutchkova, Guilherme Rodrigues, creative sources, Portugal
Press
"Mayas has an ingenious way of using both the inside and keyboard of the piano to create sparse tiny fragments of motion that are compatible with multiple layers of the musical context (..) she is definitely a leading light of the next generation of improvisers.” Michael Anton Parker, Downtown Music Gallery, NY, 2005
“..Magda Mayas has expanded the language for internal piano music making” Peter Margasak, Downbeat Magazine, 2010
About the Solo Album "Heartland" on Another Timbre January 2010
"...it's hard to believe that it's a recording of solo piano music. Mayas' training as a classical musician has helped her develop a highly attuned sense of touch for the keyboard, which is still in evidence but now extends to the percussive treatment of strings, arresting control of attack and resonance, and the real-time orchestration of timbres. Like Cor Fuhler, Andrea Neumann and Sebastian Lexer, she's developed an approach to the piano that grapples with the entire instrument, from strings to soundboard, keys to frame..." Michael Rosenstein - Paris transatlantic magazine
"This is a great CD, very powerful and intense.The piano is the piano throughout, but Mayas knows how to pull out so many more of the instrument, the scraping, bowing and plucking that this fifty minute release is a breathtaking work” Frans de Waard - vitalweekly
"But even though she turns the piano into a steel drum band, a box of rocks, and an amplification chamber for precipitation, she never lets go of the piano’s essential self. (..) she is most in touch with the piano as a miniature orchestra." Bill Meyer, Signal to Noise
"It is one of the widest and deepest adventures into the sonic heart of the piano, including its entire cardiovascular system attached to it.(...) It is so powerful that it's captivating." Stef Gijssels
"Put together, it's an exhilarating sonic brew: after her introductory drones disperse, the music flies with cartoon-like velocity. Metrically intricate, brittle patterns ricochet against the instrument casing like it's a pinball machine, strings twanging together like the expressive tuning of a blues guitarist. Towards the finish, keyboard harmonies get more empathically struck – Mayas began with the future and has worked back to the instrument we already know." Phillip Clark, The Wire
“Each improvisation flows organically from one episode to the next, with the pianist balancing a keen sense of investigation and on the fly compositional logic” Peter Margasak, Downbeat Magazine, NY
"The real success of Heartland lies not just in the sounds that Mayas produces, but in the way that they are put together into a coherent and compelling performance. Across its two extended tracks, the energy and invention of the album never flags. It maintains a forward momentum that draws the listener in. (...) On occasions here, she generates such a variety of sounds that it is difficult to believe they all emanate from one woman plus one piano." John Eyles : All about Jazz
About the Trio „Great Waitress“
"If spiders have musical dreams while spinning webs, they might sound like the fragile wisps of sound created by Great Waitress....Sometimes the individual instruments become blurred in a sonic mystery that is both enthralling and disorienting. Almost invariably, the sounds are tiny and delicate - just the faintest engraving upon silence - and as intricately connected as that spider's web" John Shand There’s a blurring of instrumental identities in a collective exploration of timbral and textural possibilities, from the gentle “Breath” to the death rattle and icy calm of “Drifting Needles”. All three instruments are totally defamiliarised – accordion in particular sounds almost like an electronic sound source. This is music – or rather, I’d argue, sound-art – that results from careful, minute attention to production of individual sounds, and demands the same attention from listeners.
A.J. Hamilton
„In the end, Flock creates an uncanny listening experience... For this reason, it’s both exciting and unsettling: we know that these three musicians created what we hear, that it is a direct product of their considerable talent, and yet we are haunted by a sense that there’s some other element at work, something we won’t ever be able to unmask. This isn’t to suggest some mystical or divine hand was lent to Great Waitress—it is solely the work of three impressive musicians—only that the result of their collaboration transcends our ability as listeners to fully grasp how everything comes together just so. And so it is.“
Dan Sorrells
"Great Waitress" is a trio, with Magda Mayas on piano, Monika Brooks on accordion and Laura Altman on clarinet, and their music is featherlike, with soft sounds cautiously weaving a calm but intense silenscape. ... Fragile and solid at the same time. Like touching the wings of a butterfly, it is almost as risky and daring to listen to this music, as your personal volume and sound could harm what you hear. all about jazz
"It’s lucid improvisation that doesn’t revel in compulsive freak-outs or stagnant passages. The effect is partially hypnotic and largely unsettling…" Bobby Power
"...the contemplative trio of Magda Mayas, Monika Brooks and Laura Altman. It’s very, very quiet, the overlapping of soughing and sighing from Brooks’ accordion and Altman’s clarinet creating a sustaining environment for the rattles and moans coaxed from the piano by Mayas, who without ego leads this concentrated exploration. This trio exemplifies what I find most interesting about improvised music: each musician equally in the moment, equally open to discovery, listening at the very deepest level and choosing their techniques in relation to each other, to create an absorbing, cohesive whole." Gail Priest, Realtime Arts
About the Duo SPILL, with Tony Buck
Andrew Choate 2012
...The friction they generate is instead the result of being so continuously and seamlessly intertwined that conflagrations of star- burning intensity naturally appear at every other twist. Mayas has a spectacularly gifted ear for timing, and translates it into her hands on the keys, giving Buck the freedom to create more and more unusual combinations of melody and rhythm. This duo is one of those rare groups where not only is the instrumentation perfectly matched, but the style with which the musicians approach their instruments is so personal that it's astonishing how well it all comes together.
Tony Osborne: the now now festival 2011
The next night’s highlight was the duet by Tony Buck (percussion) and Magda Mayas (prepared piano). Harmonics seeped from all that they struck, scraped and wrung out producing a luscious ebb and flow of complex layers. Lost in the evocations of this piece, I imagined at one point that I was hearing the everyday sounds of a small town, notated and reproduced in musical form. Eyes closed, I lost track of instrument identity sometimes and had to look back at the stage to understand exactly what was creating these sounds so full of cadence, resonance and melody.
THE WIRE , Reviewed by Brian Morton April 09
There’s just 36 minutes of music here, but every second of it is interesting. Pianist Mayas plays chunky, bell-like clusters that seem to observe a slowly evolving musical logic, neither obviously melodic nor conventionally harmonic. Drummer Buck for the most part works a parallel path, working busily but delicately round his kit. The opening minutes of “mercury machine” are full of light, skittering figures on the metal parts and big, damped clusters on the piano, some of them hand- damped inside the sound box, I suspect. It opens out thereafter, but there’s no attempt here to emulate the iconic piano and drum duos of the past – Coltrane and Ali, Taylor and Roach. Mayas and Buck create their own intimate languages and in the process deliver something very special and exactly the right length. www.magdamayas.com