music
It was with LushRush (2006) that Midori Hirano first made herself known. Alternating piano and other string instruments with glitches and samples, the composer made her intentions clear from the outset. Consolidation came two years later with klo (2008). Released by Japan’s noble — the label responsible for releasing a significant part of the country’s experimental electronic music throughout the 2000s — this second work was widely acclaimed by critics. Time magazine described it as “familiar and strange at the same time, with the ineffable quality of a dream”.
Born in Kyoto and currently based in Berlin, Hirano began playing piano in childhood. She eventually arrived at analogue and modular synthesisers, and their infinite possibilities. Her music overlays the sphere of classical composition, which she studied, with an interest in electronic experimentation, synthesised sounds, sound processing and the fragmentation of field recordings.
OTONOMA (2026), the most recent album she presents in this concert, seems to be the culmination of all this practice. Released by Thrill Jockey in February this year, the album channels the composer’s entire solo trajectory, with releases on labels such as Sonic Pieces, Daisart and Dauw, as well as the rhythmic explorations she has developed under the pseudonym MimiCof. Across the ten tracks of OTONOMA, the composer uses modular synthesiser sequencers to create patterns that act as a counterpoint to the melodies. The emphasis placed on synthesiser textures, their interconnection with the piano and the variety of rhythms become the defining marks of the album’s atmosphere.
Drawing comparisons to pioneers such as Philip Glass and Suzanne Ciani, Midori Hirano comes to gnration this autumn to present OTONOMA, in her first appearance in Portugal in more than ten years.
supported by portuguese republic – culture, youth and sports / general direction of the arts / network of portuguese theaters and cinemas (rtcp). portuguese contemporary art network (rpac).
