Biography
Magda Mayas, born 1979, is a pianist and composer/performer living in Berlin.
She studied Jazz Piano at Universität der Künste Berlin 1999–2000, at the Conservatorium in Amsterdam with Misha Mengelberg, 2001 and graduateed at Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" Berlin, 2002–2004. She holds a PhD in artistic research from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and works within the filed of contemporary improvised music performance.
Over the past 20 years she developed a vocabulary utilizing both the inside as well as the exterior parts of the piano, using amplification, preparations and objects that become extensions of the instrument itself.
Mayas performs internationally solo and in collaboration with a large number of musicians and composers. Current projects are "Spill", a duo with drummer Tony Buck, a duo with Christine Abdelnour (sax) and the Splitter Orchester Berlin.
She has performed and toured in Europe, the USA, Australia, Mexico and Lebanon and collaborated with many leading figures in improvisation and composers such as John Butcher, Andy Moor, Eddie Prévost, George Lewis, Phill Niblock, Zeena Parkins, Fred Frith, Hamid Drake, Joelle Leandre, Paul Lovens, Ikue Mori und Nic Collins.
Festivals and exhibitions include Maerz Musik (2012,2015), Documenta (2012), the Berlin Biennale (2014) or Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (2015).
She was awarded a residency at Villa Aurora, Los Angeles in 2016 and at the Montalvo Arts Centre, USA in 2017 and 2019.
Additionally, she has been curating in concerts in Berlin and recently at festival “Music Unlimited” in Wels, Austria, producing radio pieces for ABC Australia and Deutschlandradio Kultur and released over 30 CDS to date.
