Arturas Bumšteinas is Lithuanian composer and sound artist. Active in the field of art music since the end of the 90s, in the year 2012 he started performing under his Refusenik moniker.
Bio
Bumšteinas was born in 1982 in Vilnius, Lithuania. He is a composer of acoustic and electronic music, founder of international ensembles Works and Days, Zarasai, Wolumen and Quartet Twentytwentyone; conceptual artist with various projects presented in more than 30 exhibitions around Europe. The festivals where Bumšteinas participated with his music and audiovisual projects among others include the Holland Festival, Angelica, Sensoralia/Romaeuropa, Avanto, Sonic Circuits, Skanumezs, Full Pull, Cut & Splice, Wundergrund, Vilnius Jazz Festival etc. Since the beginning of his career he has collaborated with various musicians and visual artists. Amongst the publishers of Bumšteinas's music are such labels as Polish Bolt Records, Portuguese Cronica, Spanish con-v, Lithuanian Semplice Records; his exhibition-related work is represented by Galerie Antje Wachs in Berlin. His work is featured on UbuWeb, his work has been numerous times commissioned by the Deutschlandradio Kultur and various other international cultural institutions. In year 2013 he was awarded “Palma Ars Acustica” prize for radiophonic arts.
Selected projects
Antiradical Opera, experimental opera for radio with libretto by Jesse Glass.
Klavierkonzert. Die Schottische Symphonie by Joseph Beuys, solo piano performance presented in Palais de Wittgenstein and Konzerthaus Berlin on two different occasions, Duesseldorf and Berlin.
Quartet Twentytwentyone, quartet of experimental musicians devoted to performances of graphic scores.
Stockhausen Cocktail Bar Menu, book of experimental cocktail recipes, produced by Vilnius' Contemporary Art Center.
Works and Days, international ensemble of improvising musicians.
My Own Private Bayreuth, relational recording sessions in the gallery space based on Richard Wagner's music, produced by HotelMariaKapel art center, Amsterdam.
Organ Safari, an ongoing organ-field-recording and live music project produced by Orgelpark, presented by Holland Festival, Amsterdam.
Words and Musicsolo exhibition of interdisciplinary artworks, presented by Galerie Antje Wachs, Berlin.
Voicescapes, collaborative project with saxophonist Liudas Mockūnas based on the Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis's choir music, produced by Semplice Records, presented by the Vilnius Jazz Festival.
Sleep. An Attempt at Trying, fictional radio programme for insomniacs, produced by Deutschlandradio Kultur.
Gwizdały, site-specific sound installation and acousmatic concert, produced by Laboratorium CSW and IBPP, Warsaw.
Scattered Pages, site-specific performance piece for 6 pianos, voices and electronics, based on the music of Anton Bruckner, commissioned by OK Offenes Kulturhaus, Linz.
Epiloghi - Six Ways of Saying Zangtumbtumb, six epilogues of an imaginary Baroque opera for harpsichord and theater noise machines, composed in response of Luigi Russolo's "The Art of Noises" and René Descartes "Passions of the Soul", produced by Deutschlandradio Kultur.
Notable collaborators
Anton Lukoszevieze, Liudas Mockūnas, Peter "Pure" Votava, Piotr Kurek, Bartek Kalinka, Ilia Belorukov, Denitsa Mineva, Jesse Glass, Dominykas Vyšniauskas, Alina Orlova, Kyrre Bjørkås, Darius Čiuta, Antanas Kučinskas, Antanas Dombrovskij, Lys, Lina Lapelytė, Vladimir Tarasov, Laura Garbštienė, Gintaras Makarevičius, Janel & Anthony, Jeff Surak, Seth Josel, Max Reinhardt, Rhodri Davies, Borut Savski, Wojtek Ziemilski, Tadas Žukauskas, Mikas Žukauskas, Mieczyslaw Litwinski, Maarten Ornstein, Christian Frossi, Chordos Quartet, Johnny Chang, Emanuele Torquati, Gośka Isphording.
Discography
Floating Points Virpesys CDR
Retorta Nexsound MP3
Placido Zeromoon MP3
Johnny, One Note Drone and Polydrone Tone Cohort CDR
