School of Music Visiting Artist
The talk will with start with Jerónimo García Naranjo´s gigantic instrument Huey Mecatl (ten string harp placed inside shipping containers) and move to his recent collaboration with Carlos Chinchillas (experimental luthier) in creating the Suspended Piano. They will discuss themes related to instrument functionality, new tunings, playing techniques, and composition.
Jerónimo García Naranjo studied composition at the National School of Music of the UNAM under the tutelage of Julio Estrada. Jeronimo’s repertoire consists on chamber music, electroacoustics and music for movies and theatre. Some of his most important works includes the invention of the "Huey Mecatl", giant instrument build on 10 ship containers, performed in Denmark (2013), Chile (2008) and Mexico (2010). In 2013 he also constructed a Giant Music Box for the Company "Scribe." In 2014 he opened an Arthouse in Mexico city called "Bucareli 69," a place for research and artistic creations where more than 200 artists have presented their concerts and expositions. Jerónimo currently maintains his research around long strings in works such as the Koto Oki and the Suspended Piano.
Carlos Chinchillas was born in Mexico City in 1978, has a degree as a luthier at the School of Music (Escuela de Lauderia of the National Institute of Fine Arts in Mexico), he has studied restoration of musical instruments in the workshops of Maetre Luthier Jean Frederic Shmitt, and Claude Macabre, in the city of Lyon, France. In 2008 he studied piano tuning and regulation at the Yamaha headquarters in Barcelona, Spain. Chinchillas finds the limits between classical musical, lutherie and sound sculpture. This has led him to collaborate with different Mexican artists in the production of pieces such as: Tania Candiani, String Loom-2018 commissioned by Kochi- Muziris Biennale 2018, India. Marcela Armas, Sideral-2016 commissioned for the Dual Year, Germany-Mexico, Gerardo García de la Garza, No Distance -2013, No outside-2015-2016, National System of Art Creators FONCA. From 2015-2018 Chinchillas was the artistic producer of “Bucareli 69” Casa de Artes (CDMX), an independent performance center were he developed new musical instruments in collaboration with the composer Jerónimo García Naranjo, KOTOOKI -2016, PIANO SUSPENDIDO-2016-2018.