Viviane Houle and Stefan Smulovitz

Posted on | June 9, 2008 | No Comments

by Brian Nation

la belle et la bete
Cellar Live – NOW Orchestra Records – 02

Viviane Houle – Voice
Stefan Smulovitz – Laptop & Viola

1- tout le brise (3:05)
2 – pton (4:04)
3 – i stumble (3:41)
4 – creek life (7:47)
5 – claire (3:11)
6 – beauté obscène (3:14)
7 – paix (2:20)
8 – my heart (1:16)
9 – la belle (4:21)
10 – la bête (4:00)
11 – the whirling mind (1:54)
12 – crackle (2:12)
13 – beautiful gesture (3:02)
14 – inch (4:20)

Track 1 recorded live at Harvestworks, NY – Aug 7, 2007
Tracks 2,3,9-11 recorded live at The Cellar – Sept 24, 2007
Track 4 recorded live at The Cellar – March 19, 2007
Tracks 5,8,13 recorded live at SFU Electroacoustic Show – Nov 9, 2007
Track 6 recoded live at the Gumboot, Roberts Creek – March 8, 2008
Tracks 7,12,14 recorded live at Vancouver International Jazz Festival – June 29, 2007

Viviane Houle (voice)
Viviane Houle is a vocalist, improviser and songwriter who has an uncanny ability to mix musical styles as diverse as opera and avant-garde improvisation. In the opera house and concert hall she has performed with Vancouver Opera, Standing Wave Ensemble and pianist Leslie Uyeda. In the jazz world, she regularly performs with the lions of today’s improv scene, including such musicians as Ron Samworth, Peggy Lee, Clyde Reed, François Houle and Jesse Zubot. As a creator, she has released a CD of her original songs and improvisations with Existential Angst Party and collaborates with violist and laptop artist Stefan Smulovitz. Her voice has been heard in musical scores for film, documentaries, theatre, and dance. http://www.vivianehoule.ca/

Stefan Smulovitz (Laptop & viola)
A truly interdisciplinary collaborator Stefan has performed and composed for film, theatre (Radix, Rumble, Theatre Replacement), dance (Noam Gagnon, Barbara Bourget, Cheryl Prophet, Rob Kitsos), art installations (Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles), and DVD-ROMs (Confluences – work of Frank Gehry). As an improvisor using his own software – Kenaxis – he has performed with many of the world’s best including: Fred Frith, Evan Parker, Uri Caine, Peggy Lee, Paul Plimley and the NOW Orchestra. With his band Eye of Newt Stefan has created over 50 live scores for film. His electro-acoustic works have won a national Canadian award (JTTP). He recently won the 2006 Vancouver New Music Chamber Music Competition. Stefan’s compositions have been performed by the Vancouver SymphonyOrchestra, Turning Point, Ensemble Symposium, Chor Leoni, Elektra, and at the Sonic Boom Festival from 2002-2007. http://www.kenaxis.com