Anton Silaev & Zoomra: avant-garde electronics

Moscow Department of Culture

Manege Association

Project “Up Above Moscow”, program “Electronic Thursday”

“Up Above Moscow” is a cycle of music nights at a venue offering unique views of Moscow. In warm seasons, the performances are staged on the rooftop of the Worker and Kolkhoz Woman pavilion, at the footing of the iconic 24-meter sculpture, a world-renowned symbol of the Soviet Union. At all other times and depending on the weather conditions, the concerts are held on the fourth floor with admission to the rooftop during the break. Music nights at the Worker and Kolkhoz Woman are conducted in two formats, with ‘Rooftop Jazz’ performances on Wednesdays and ‘Electronic Thursdays’ given to electronic musicians and sound designers. The organizer of the project is the Manege Association.

20.00 – arrival of guests

20.30 – performance

Another “Electronic Thursday” at the Worker and Kolkhoz Woman Center will feature a program of avant-garde electronic music bringing together two musicians with different styles of performance. Vladimir Ratskevich, an avant-garde electronicist of the turn of the 21 century, prefers electronic instruments and techno rhythms, while composer Anton Silaev creates his tunes on the trumpet, modifying the timbre to create more mechanical sound. His minimalist tunes smoothly absorb folk patterns, and the musical construction is shaped in the ways of jazz improvisation.

Anton Silaev is a film composer and multi-instrumentalist, primarily a trumpeter. In his masterful experimenting with the instrument, Anton has decomposed its sound and modified it completely with the use of electronic devices and equipment. Anton Silaev is the author of music for many well-known documentaries and features.

His work in Marina Razbezhkina’s “Yar” (“The Hollow”) was awarded the prestigious Tariverdiev prize of the Kinotavr film festival for the Best Music. Silaev has recorded and released two solo albums: “Mixing point Moscow” (2003) and “Imaginary Landscapes with Wind” (2012). He has performed with many famous musicians including Han Benning (the Netherlands), Jun Kawasaki (Japan), Vladimir Volkov, Sainkho, Rada & The BlackThorn (Russia), Saadet Turkoz (Switzerland), Sergei Starostin (Russia), Spooky Action (the USA), Alaxey Borisov, Yuri Yaremchuk.

Zoomra is an experimental art project of Vladimir Ratskevich working successfully with both sound and video art and defying strict categorization as a particular musical or art genre. The project’s main goal, as its author sees it, is “the search of new audio-visual palettes for the avant-garde electronic scene and the creation of a whole range of fundamental creative technologies”.

Vladimir Ratskevich is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, founder of the first Russian studio of computer music and inventor of a whole range of artistic technologies.

Ratskevich’s stage experience dates back to the late 1960s when he created the “Ruby Attack” band. They became successful quickly; versions of the famous rhythm & blues hits in “psychedelic” arrangements catapulted the band to fame in the Moscow rock scene. Living by the laws of underground, Ratskevich created “Visokosnoe Leto” (“The Leap Summer”) and then “Citadel” and “Tennis”. Never confining himself to rhythm and blues, he experimented with sound, styles and image. Some of his ideas broke new ground in modern music. In 1984, Ratskevich created a new project, “Vector”, and composed tracks in the DJ break dance style, while also promoting eclectic and minimalist music. In the 1990s, he became a leading sound designer of TV programs “Vzglyad” and VID. After that, he recorded unconventional music with elements of radical design at the Melodia recording studio and became passionate about electronics and experimental avant-garde.

Tickets are available in the box offices of the Worker and Kolkhoz Woman Center and online at voxxter.ru and the website of MEA Manege. The ticket price of 300 rubles includes admission to exhibitions on the day of the performance.

Media accreditation:
Manege Association | +7 (495) 645 92 76 | pr.manege@gmail.com

Head of PR Department Elena Karneeva | e.karneeva@moscowmanege.ru, +7 (926) 576-40-53