MATTI BYE SOLO

Matti Bye — Piano and electronics

PREVIOUS CONCERTS

Live at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress (Kulturnatten 2018), Uppsala, Sweden; August 9, 2018

Live at Rönnells Antikvariat, Sweden, November 3, 2017

Live at Fylkingen, Sweden, February 25, 2017

Live at Södra Teatern, Sweden, February 18, 2016

Live at Rönnells Antikvariat, Sweden, August 30, 2015

Live at Roland Violinateljé – Kulturnatt Stockholm, Sweden, April 25, 2015

Live at Vortex Room, San Francisco, USA, May 30, 2014 

Live at Café OTO, London, U.K, March 3, 2014

KIRI RA!

Kiri Ra! is comprised of Finish experimental artist and composer Laura Naukkarinen (Lau Nau), Finish horn player and jazz composer Linda Fredriksson and Swedish composer and pianist Matti Bye. The trio first found form in 2016 with a commission by Svenska Filminstitutet to create music to silent contemporary art films in the SFI archive. As the pictures began to be taken away, and with the music remaining as the sole narrator, tangible expression of space, light and time bloomed. Equal parts melodic and ambient, authentic and organic, their music provides the structure to invite listeners in whilst allowing for the space for each to colour it in with their own story. The result is lush, emotive and multidimensional music.

The track ‘Linnesonsdagen gynnas icke’ by the trio was featured on the compilation Here, When (2019) and will be followed by a debut album on OONA Recordings autumn 2020.

Laura Naukkarinen — Modular synthesizers, processed vocals
Linda Fredriksson — Saxophone
Matti Bye — Piano and electronics

PREVIOUS CONCERTS

Live at Reimersholme Hotel, Stockholm, Sweden; March 11, 2020

"Minnesbilder" at Göteborg Filmfestival, Göteborg, Sweden; March 3, 2019

Live at Telakka Jazz, Tampere, Finland; January 5, 2018

MAMBO NOIR TRIO

Mambo Noir Trio brings together the resonance of dark exotica and sway of 60´s latin jazz into the melodic timbre of the Swedish archipelago. The trio treats its source material with a tentative playfulness that allows vibraphone timbres time to diffuse and roll out, while double bass loops keep the musical movement grounded. This approach is somewhat reminiscent of the American composer and “father of exotica” Martin Denny, with the harmonic nuances and melodic accessibility of jazz pianist Jan Johansson. Rhythmically the record brings to mind the bluesy, freewheeling sound of the Ethiopian singer, pianist and nun Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guébrou.

Matti Bye — Piano and electronics
Dennis Egbert — Drums and percussion
Vilhelm Bromander — Double bass

PREVIOUS CONCERTS

Live at Reimersholme Hotel, Stockholm, Sweden; December 20, 2019

Live at Reimersholme Hotel, Stockholm, Sweden; December 19, 2019

Live at Rönnells Antikvariat, Stockholm, Sweden; September 13, 2019

Live at Candyland, Stockholm, Sweden; January 11, 2019

Live at Rönnells Antikvariat, Stockholm, Sweden; April 27, 2018

"The Unholy Three" at Frekvens Filmfestival, Visby, Sweden; April 20, 2018

Live at Rönnells Antikvariat, Sweden, August 30, 2015

MATTI BYE ENSEMBLE

The MATTI BYE ENSEMBLE is an orchestra that plays music for silent movie performances, both precomposed scores and improvised music, on traditional instruments as well as modern—using prerecorded tapes, sound effects, rare instruments (like the saw or the mellotron)—to be able to create both melody and atmosphere to match the shifting moods of the screen performance.

The ensemble's music—described by film critic Leonard Maltin as suiting the film "to a T"—has captivated audiences around the world, at cinemas, film festivals, cinematheques, museums, universities, film archives—from San Francisco and New York, and Paris to Dublin, Sodankylä and Tromsö.

They have performed at events as diverse as the Silent Film Festival in San Francisco, the Bergman Festival on Fårö, in the Baltic Ocean, at the Cinemarctic FF at Svalbard in the middle of the Polar Sea, at the Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna, Italy, and at the To Save and Project festival at the MoMa in New York City.

Equally at home with the classics of the Swedish Golden Age of Cinema—such as The Phantom Carriage, Terje Vigen, Häxan, and Saga of Gösta Berling—and the classics of the international silent cinema—notably and recently Pandora's Box, Greed, Metropolis, and Nosferatu—the MATTI BYE ENSEMBLE will stop at nothing to explore the endless possibilities of silent film accompaniment.

Matti Bye is widely considered as one of Sweden's most important composers of film scores and an extraordinary performer with his own, incomparable style of improvisation on the piano. He is also widely recognized for having written a series of innovative scores for such early Swedish silent film classics as Phantom Carriage by Victor Sjöström, Häxan by Benjamin Christensen, and Gösta Berling Saga by Mauritz Stiller, now included on a 6 DVD box set released by Svensk Filmindustri, SF, as well as countless other silent films. Last year he wrote the score for Academy Award nominee Jan Troell's latest feature Everlasting Moments and Stig Björkmans "Scenes from a playhouse" – a documentary about Ingmar Bergman.

Matti Bye's work is also concerned with the tension, which exists between moving image, sound and music. He has recently engaged with collaborative projects involving an esthetic and performative language proper to the contemporary visual arts. Beyond the medium, his work takes the viewer on a unique and lyrical journey of the world of dreams and illusions through a multi-sensorial experience of storytelling.

PREVIOUS CONCERTS

"Earth", "Herr Arnes pengar" and "L’Inferno" at the Silent Film Festival, San Francisco, California; May 1-5, 2019

"Herr Arnes Pengar" at the Kalbjärga Film Festival, Gotland, Sweden; July 3, 2018

"Gösta Berlings Saga" and "Silent Avant Garde Films" at the Silent Film Festival, San Francisco, California; June 1-2, 2018

"Gösta Berlins Saga" at the Swedish Film Institute, Stockholm, Sweden; February 8, 2018

"Terje Vigen" at San Francisco Silent Film Festival, San Francisco, USA; June 4, 2017

"Battleship Potemkin" at San Francisco Silent Film Festival, San Francisco, USA; June 3, 2017

"Erotikon" at the Wiener Konzerthaus, Vienna, Austria; February 27, 2017

"Terje Vigen" at the Göteborgs Film Festival, Göteborg, Sweden; February 5, 2017

"Häxan" at the Swedish Film Institute, Stockholm, Sweden; January 10, 2017

"Woman of Tokyo" and "Terje Vigen" at the Swedish Film Institute, Stockholm, Sweden; November 22, 2016

"Nanook of the North" and "The Strongest" at the Silent Film Festival, San Francisco, California; June 2-5, 2016

"Ingeborg Holm" at the Göteborgs Film Festival, Göteborg, Sweden; February 6, 2016

"Nanook of the North" at Capitol, Göteborg, Sweden; November 17, 2015

"Norrtullsligan" and "Flesh and the Devil" at the Silent Film Festival, San Francisco, California; June, 2015

"The Outlaw And His Wife" and "The Joyless Street" at the Midnight Sun Film Festival, Sodankylä, Finland, June 11-15, 2014

"The Extraordinary Adventures Of Mr. West In The Land Of The Bolsheviks", "The Girl In Tails", "The Navigator" and the masterclass "Variations on a Theme" at the Silent Film Festival, San Francisco, California; May 29-June 1, 2014  

"The Outlaw And His Wife" at the Bergman Week, Sudersands Biograf, Fårö, Sweden; June 26, 2013

"The Outlaw And His Wife" at the Cinema Ritrovato festival, Piazzo Maggiore, Bologna, Italy; July 4, 2013

"The Clown" at the Silent Film Festival, San Francisco, California; July 18-21, 2013

"The Joyless Street" at the Silent Film Festival, San Francisco, California; July 18-21, 2013

"The Outlaw And His Wife" at the Silent Film Festival, San Francisco, California; July 18-21, 2013

"Pandora's Box" at the Silent Film Days, Tromsø, Norway; September, 2013

"The Outlaw And His Wife" at the Swedish Film Institute, Stockholm, Sweden; October 18, 2013

"Häxan (Witchcraft Through The Ages)" at the Time Zone Festival, Bari, Italy; November, 2013

MATTI BYE + LAU NAU

With a contemporary musical approach to accompany silent films and abstract visual non sound films Matti Bye and Lau Nau renew the experience for the audience today. Making improvised and composed music using acoustic prepared, processed and electronic sounds blended in a sensitive and powerful way for these beautiful images. 

The music becomes so close to the visual expression, when Matti Bye and Lau Nau build an emotional full sound-image experience that is every time unique, a sensitive interaction only for this moment.

Matti Bye & Lau Nau perform music to silent films, documentaries and more abstract materials like found films, archive clips and live visuals. They enjoy the challenge to play to whichever film or moving image, even previously unseen ones.

Matti Bye — Piano, live electronics
Laura Naukkarinen — Live electronics

PREVIOUS CONCERTS

“Herr Arnes pengar” and “Arsenal” by Matti Bye + Lau Nau at Festival d’Anères, France; June 7—9, 2019

"Anna-Liisa" at Katrinaholm, Sweden; March 31, 2019

"Minnesbilder" at Göteborg Filmfestival, Göteborg, Sweden; March 3, 2019 (w/ Linda Fredriksson)

"Ingeborg Holm" at Tromsö Film Festival, Tromsö, Norway; January 19, 2019

Live at Malmö Live Konserthus, Malmö, Sweden; November 26, 2018

"Ingeborg Holm" at Silent Film Festival, Oslo, Norway; October 18, 2018

Live at Rönnells Antikvariat, Stockholm, Sweden; February 6, 2018 (w/ Helena Espvall)

"Berg-Ejvind och hans hustru" at Österreichisches Filmmuseum, Vienna, Austria; January 26, 2018

"Herr Arnes Pengar" at Cinemateket, Stockholm, Sweden; October 22, 2017

"Terje Vigen" at Nordiska Museet / Nordic Museum, Stockholm, Sweden; October 21, 2017

Live at Drone Festival — Malmö Live Concert Hall, Sweden; October 14, 2017

HYDRAS DREAM

Hydras Dream is a special collaboration between the Swedish musicians Anna von Hausswolff and Matti Bye. The concept behind this project is to interpret stories, movies and myths into musical landscapes. For their debut album "The Little Match Girl", von Hausswolff and Bye construed the beautiful and melancholic story by H.C. Andersen of the same title. Asked about the reason for this particular choice, the two musicians state: "It was her tragic faith in the winter's cold that inspired us. She is freezing to death with no money and no comfort, she is all alone, dreaming of a warmer place. When death strikes her she is filled with magical illusions and dreams. Oddly enough, hypothermia and death are the only two comfort zones we experience in this story. Sad but beautiful." The music of Hydras Dream is mostly made through improvisation and by using repetitious patterns and melodies.

Anna von Hausswolff — Vocals, organs & synthesizers
Matti Bye — Piano, organs & live electronics

PREVIOUS CONCERTS

Live at The Rewire Festival, The Hague, Netherlands; November 7, 2014

"The Passion of Joan of Arc" at Filmhuset, Stockholm, Sweden; December 5-6, 2014

FOOTAGE

UPCOMING CONCERTS

To be announced