STEPHEN O’MALLEY & CONTRECHAMPS

Stephen O'Malley & Contrechamps
FOCUS Stephen O'Malley
Avaeken / But Remember What You Have Had II
Museum Auditorium
13 September 2026 | 7:00 PM

But Remember What You Have Had II (2024; 2025, arr. Simon Aeschimann), 35 min

But Remember What You Have Had II is an arrangement for instrumental ensemble of Stephen O'Malley's original electroacoustic work But Remember What You Have Had, created in 2023 for the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM). Commissioned by Contrechamps and orchestrated by Simon Aeschimann, this new version transposes O'Malley's distinctive compositional language into an acoustic setting while preserving the immersive and spatial qualities of the original.
Drawing on O'Malley's extensive experience as a composer, performer, producer, and mixing engineer in projects such as SUNN O))), KTL, and his solo work, the piece explores the complex relationships between polyphony, intonation, timbre, and melody. Inspired by his unmistakable sonic world of amplified textures, sustained instrumental tones, and raw physical energy, the work unfolds through rhythmic and cyclical motifs that gradually evolve across four movements, tracing a path from harmonic abstraction to melodic emergence.
This version reinterprets these compositional principles for an ensemble including flutes, bass clarinet, tuba, horn, double bass, keyboard, and four electric guitars. Conceived as an immersive spatial experience, the performers surround the audience on two levels, continuing O'Malley's long-standing exploration of amplification, resonance, and collective listening. Rich in layered textures and subtle harmonic transformations, the work reveals the depth and versatility of O'Malley's musical language, marking a significant development in one of his most ambitious and compelling recent compositions.

Avaeken (2020) 20 min

Avaeken is a work for four electric guitars commissioned by the Belgian electric guitar quartet ZWERM. Dedicated to organist Kali Malone and composer Alvin Lucier, the piece takes its name from the ancient Avaeken oak on the Swedish island of Fårö, one of Europe's oldest oak trees, with a history spanning more than a millennium.
Inspired by the tree's extraordinary longevity, O'Malley conceived the work as a meditation on time, memory, endurance, and the physical presence of sound. As the composer explains, Avaeken was "designed to test the mental and physical memory of compositional structure and sound pressure, as well as the flexible sensation of the passage of time, familiarity, and the evaporation of sound."
These ideas unfold through a highly refined exploration of microtonality and just intonation. Each guitarist performs using an independent tuning on standard electric guitars, e-bows, and slides. Sustained tones are played with exceptional precision, avoiding accidental mechanical noises so that the natural harmonic colour shaped by the amplifiers can fully emerge.
Each performer is assigned a dedicated amplifier positioned within the performance space, allowing the subtle beating patterns created by the interaction of precisely tuned harmonics to unfold architecturally throughout the venue. Rather than relying on conventional melody or pulse, the work generates rhythm through harmonic interference, transforming the listening environment into a dynamic field of resonances that envelop both the space and the audience's bodies.
Throughout its twenty-minute duration, Avaeken creates an immersive sonic experience in which slowly shifting structures circulate through the room with contemplative restraint and quiet intensity. Characteristic of O'Malley's broader artistic practice, the work investigates the relationships between amplification, resonance, spatial perception, and the physicality of listening, inviting audiences to experience sound as a living, temporal phenomenon.