Northwestern University - Full-time professorship application (Composition and Music Technology)

Selected Works

suggested affinities

(2018)
concerto for piano, large ensemble (13 musicians), and electronics

SCORE / mp3 (downloads)

suggested affinities is a concerto for piano, accompanied by 13 musicians and electronics. The gravitational center is the piano sound itself, which is ramified and given new plasticity through its interaction with the ensemble, electronics, and an obbligato trio of timbrally related instruments (harp, vibraphone, and digital keyboard). The narrative of the composition explores affinities and differences between the piano and its related family members, between the acoustic and digital domains, and finally, between mechanized and animate sound.

The electronic component features realistic sounding meta-instruments—instruments with an unusually expanded palette for articulation, microtonal inflection, tessitura, resonance, and noise elements. Through the use of hardware “prosthetics”—localized speakers, keyboards, and/or pedals—the solo pianist and obbligato trio trigger digital instrumental simulations (with its new vocabulary of estranged possibilities) that blend in real-time with their acoustic counterpart.

suggested affinities is the culmination of research carried out over a series of works using meta-instruments written between 2014-17. It combines previous instrumental expansions and further develops the project by interacting with nonlinguistic vocality. Murmurs, breaths, groans and other emulations, are also included in the orchestration and electronics in an attempt to fashion a piano with a physical—organic—body. Thus, as the machine-like properties of the piano amplify, so does its dream of becoming a biological being.

Instrumentation: Flute/Piccolo/Bass Flute, Oboe, Clarinet/Bass Clarinet, Horn in F, Trumpet in C, Trombone, Percussion (1 player), Harp, Solo Piano/Solo Synthesizer, Synthesizer 2, Violin, Viola, Cello, Contrabass.

Duration: 23 minutes

Premiere Performance: May 04, 2018; Logan Center for the Arts; Ensemble Dal Niente, Winston Choi–soloist, and Michael Lewanski– conductor. Chicago, IL

anima

(2019)
for harp and percussion

(live performance, Sept. 2019)

SCORE / mp3 (downloads)

"Voice is a particular sound made by something with a soul; for nothing which does not have a soul has a voice”

-Aristotle, De Anima (Book II)

anima highlights the anthropomorphic properties of both harp and percussion through an interplay between instruments and performer vocalization. For each non-linguistic utterance and articulation there exists an instrumental equivalent, and a continuum between voice and instrument is established at every point. Orchestrated as such, the piece dramatizes the instruments as entities with physical—organic—bodies, in a quest for some kind of “soul”.

The work is written and dedicated to friends Ben Melsky and Kyle Flens.

Instrumentation: prepared harp, percussion (1 player).
Duration: 13 minutes.
Premiere Performance: Sept. 28, 2019, Ensemble Dal Niente Season Opener, DePaul University, Chicago, IL.

portrait IO

(2020)
for sampler and large ensemble (18 musicians)

(performance with Ensemble Modern / Enno Poppe, conductor)

^{(performance by Talea Ensemble, Time:Spans Festival 2022)}

SCORE / mp3 (downloads)

portrait IO is music about the interaction of everyday sounds (played by an obbligato sampler) with a large instrumental ensemble, in a relationship of both imitation and commentary. The work is a kind of sonic self-portrait that uses recordings from my daily routine, physical surroundings, and sounds that trigger past memories. This personal library of samples ranges from quiet and intimate elements (such as scribbling a pencil on paper ) to loud and public experiences (crowd noise, traffic, rehearsal with musicians, etc.).

All of the sounds are structured and organized through techniques of variegated repetition, and a simple logic of “input-output”: breathing in/out, indoors/outdoors, open/close, private/public, and question/answer.

The work is written for Ensemble Modern and conductor Enno Poppe, and is musically dedicated to composer Hildegard Westerkamp.

Instrumentation: Flute in C/Piccolo, Oboe, Clarinet In Bb, Bassoon, Horn in F, Trumpet, Trombone, Keyboard 1 (sampler), Keyboard 2 (Max Patch), Accordion (bayan), Percussion (2 players), 2 Violins, Viola, 2 Celli, Double Bass (w/ C extension).

Duration: 15 minutes.

Premiere Performance: March 01, 2020 with Ensemble Modern and Enno Poppe, conductor; cresc... – Biennale für Moderne Musik, Frankfurt, DE.

offering [ocean]

(2022)
for piano and video

Water Triptych - part II

(selected excerpt)

Link to full work

SCORE

The ocean, in offering, is used as a vehicle to talk about migration, to invoke ancient myths and symbols, and to celebrate cross-cultural and transnational ‘contaminations.’ I also take the opportunity to also bring forth and make sense of my own mixed background, both ethnical and cultural. These concepts and ideas, along with the sculptures and other visuals of the work, were made in collaboration with the visual artist William Villalongo during our residency at the American Academy in Rome.”

offering makes use of found footage, found sounds, quotations of ocean-inspired works, and water-like pianistic gestures, all joined in a mimetic cycle—constantly navigating between video, sound, and live performance, as well as back and forth in historical time.

Composition, Video, and Sound Design: Igor Santos
Performance: Igor Santos
Sculptures: William Villalongo
Video documentation: Tina Tallon and Antonio Demma
Audio mastering: Murat Çolak
Premiere Performance: June 09, 2022. Open Studios at the American Academy in Rome, performed by the composer.

living to fall [rain]

(2022)
for two pianists, two percussionts, and video

Water Triptych - part III

(selected excerpt)

Link to full work

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living to fall is a work centered on music and rain, and is the third work in a series exploring the relationship between water and music. In these multimedia works water is explored sonically, but is also used as a vehicle to address larger and personal themes. living to fall, for example, brings together quotations from both canonical and popular music, and anchors on thunder and rain as metaphors for violence and healing.

My general approach for this piece (and for the entire Water Triptych) is to create connections between found materials and instrumental forces in a complex mimetic cycle—constantly navigating between sound, performers, and video, as well as back and forth in historical time.

The work was commissioned by the Earle Brown Charitable Trust, and written for Yarn/Wire for the TIME:SPANS festival in 2022.

Instrumentation: piano, keyboard, two percussionists, and video.
Duration: 17 minutesComposition, Video, and Sound Design: Igor Santos
Performance: Yarn/Wire
Video and Audio Documentation: Thomas Fichter, Caley Monahon-Ward and Time:Spans production team.
Audio Mixing: Igor Santos
Audio Mastering: Murat Çolak
Premiere Performance: Time:Spans Festival at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music, Mary Flagler Cary Hall, August 24, 2022.

ADDITIONAL PORTFOLIO ITEM

body_no_thing [fountains]

(2021-22)
for piano and video

Water Triptych - part I

(short excerpt)

Link to full work

SCORE

body_no_thing is a live performance multimedia work centered on the theme of fountains and its relationship to the piano. The piece showcases sounds and images from fountains in Rome, quotes and deconstructs fountain-related works from the canonic music literature, and engages with the rituals and labor of live performance. My general approach is to create connections between these worlds in a complex mimetic cycle—constantly navigating between the piano, performer, and real-life samples, as well as back and forth in historical time.

The work dresses the pianist and the piano in white cloth, allowing images to be projected onto them while also emulating the marble and travertine of fountains, and the folds of baroque ornamentation. The design for the outfit and piano were made in collaboration with Philip Guston Rome Prize Fellow Eric N. Mack.

Instrumentation: piano and video
Duration: 15 minutes
Premiere performance: Jan. 27, 2022. Open Studios at the American Academy in Rome, performed by the composer.

IGOR SANTOS

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