Nina Fukuoka is musician who graduated from the Grażyna and Kiejstut Bacewicz Academy of Music in Lódź under Zygmunt Krauze and the Royal Conservatory in Brussels under the direction of Peter Swinnen. She comes from a Polish-Japanese family and has lived in Łódź and Osaka.
She started her education in the field of electronic music in Łódź with Krzysztof Knittel and then continued in Brussels with Katarzyna Głowicka. She is currently a PhD student at the Faculty of Composition at Columbia University in New York. She has taken part in numerous contemporary music courses, including at Impuls Academy (2015) in Graz, Synthetis (2016) in Radziejowice, Ferienkurse für Neue Musik (2016 and 2018) in Darmstadt, the Young Composers Meeting (2017) in Apeldoorn, and Champdaction LAbO (2018) in Antwerp. She also studied under ICTUS in cooperation with the University of Ghent and the P.A.R.T.T.S. contemporary dance school in Brussels.
Her works have been performed by the Symphony Orchestra of the Lódź Philharmonic, Koninklijke Muziekkapel De Gidsen, orkest de ereprijs, and Hashtag Ensemble as well as the Wrocław Improvising Orchestra and early music orchestra il fondamento. Fukuoka’s compositions premièred at the Brussels opera De Munt/La Monnaie, Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ in Amsterdam. Her work has been presented at many national and international festivals, including Musica Moderna, Musica Privata in Łódź, Musica Polonica Nova in Wrocław, Codes in Lublin, and Norwegian-Cuban theatre days in Havana, as well as during the Summer Courses of New Music in Darmstadt and the Manufactuur residence in De Bijloke Muziekcentrum in Ghent.
She also collaborates with numerous newly-formed ensembles of new music, such as Ensemble Kompopolex, Down the Rabbit Hole, the Nemø ensemble, The Third Guy, and Erämaa Trio. Fukuoka taps into popular and independent culture, Internet reality, multilingualism, horror literature and science fiction, hence the Internet objets trouvés (found objects) and references to mass culture which frequently appear in her works. She communicates with the audience not only through music but also through video and performative actions. One of the most important themes of her work is the interdisciplinary activities which she develops in cooperation with visual artists and choreographers.
In 2018, she premiered two new songs at Polish festivals: uncanny valley (Musica Polonica Nova in Wrocław) and Yuggoth with a video layer prepared by Izumi Yoshida (Musica Privata in Łódź). The first track was inspired by both the Messenger app and the idea of dystopia, in a world in which androids too closely resemble humans, evoking unpleasant feelings, and where people are unable to communicate with each other. The second composition was an attempt to transpose the horror film genre into the language of music.
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Nie wszyscy mają pełne wykształcenie i doskonały warsztat, ale po to jest się młodym, żeby móc popełniać błędy.
List of works:
- Four Haiku (2009) for vocals (mezzo-soprano), flute and marimba. Lyrics: Matsuo Basho, Yosa Buson, Kobayashi Issa,
- The Last Judgement (2010), a triptych for soprano, alto, tenor and amplified harpsichord saxophone. Based on a triptych by Hieronymus Bosch,
- No name (2010) for violin, viola, cello and double bass,
- Witchcraft (2011) for vocals (mezzo-soprano), harp and bassoon. Lyrics: Simon Simon Simonovic,
- Concerto for marimba and orchestra (2011) for solo marimba and orchestra,
- Entropy (2011) for drum quartet,
- Quatuor (2012) for clarinet, violin, cello and piano,
- Quartet for Strings (2012) for koto, guzheng, guitar and piano,
- Musique est que des nuages (2013) for 14 solo wind instruments,
- Efflux (2013) for symphony orchestra,
- Mållös Mångata (2014) for violin, cello and piano,
- Mångata (2014) for vocals (mezzo-soprano), cello and piano,
- Concert for marimba and orchestra (2014), version for solo marimba and tape,
- 13< x&x<11 (2014) for solo clarinet,
- Belgian rare groove & breakbeat (2015) for marimba and electronics,
- BCHPbVNF (2015) for solo piano,
- De Tempelberg (2016) for baroque orchestra,
- SINGLE PLAYER (2016) video score for 6 improvisers,
- Almost.EVERYTHINGHAPPENS (2016) project created in cooperation with choreographer KlaasFreek Devos for 5 musicians (flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano) and five dancers.
- And Elsewhere. (2017) for 15 performers,
- SINGLE PLAYER v.2 co-op (2017) for two performers (drums, synthesiser) and video
- Almost.EVERYTHINGHAPPENStwice (2017) was created in cooperation with choreographer KlaasFreek Devos, for two musicians (clarinet, piano/synthesiser), two dancers, and electronics
- The Final Girl (2018) for harpsichordist, video and electronics
- uncanny valley (2018) for video and four performers (flute, accordion, drums and electronics)
- Horror Project: Yuggoth (2018) for electronics, live video and three performers (version for clarinet, cello and drums). Video made in cooperation with Izumi Yoshida,
- 5 Secrets to Making New Music (2019) for video, electronics and four performers (violin, flutes, saxophones, Hammond organs),
- SINGLE PLAYER v.3 Tree for All (2019) for video and two performers (electric guitar, snare drum),
- Still Life #31 (2019) for electronics, four performers (flute, clarinet, harp, percussion/electronics) and objects,
- howto jouïssance (2019) for video, electronics and harpsichord.