“Sister and brother Mercedes and Ali Helnwein have attracted a young and culturally astute following in L.A. — Mercedes with her literary and artistic pursuits and Ali with his avant-garde forays into classical music as a composer and musician.”
– LA Times, Jessica Gelt
To read full article, CLICK HERE
“Ali Helnwein is the Sonic Youth of Classical Music. He reformats the music scene of Los Angeles in Chinatown alleys, skateboarding parks, and downtown lofts. This summer, find him in an art gallery with artist Vanessa Prager whom we interviewed here. They collaborate on Love You Too. . .”
- Tommy Tung, Juxtapoz Magazine
READ FULL INTERVIEW HERE
“But the music is equally important to the color. The composer I work with is a really old friend named Ali Helnwein, and he’s always made this dark classical music. We collaborate really closely. I’ll give him a bunch of temp tracks for each scene and then I’ll sit with him each day for a few hours going over everything together.”
- New York Magazine, Alex Prager interview by Stella Bugbee
READ FULL INTERVIEW HERE
(ENGLISH VERSION)
“. . . There’s someone out there who is very aware of this and that’s Ali Helnwein who’s been connected to the world of classical music since he was 9 years old, composer and conductor has worked around people like Has Zimmer and David Campbell. In 2006 he founded his own orchestra, Traction Avenue Chamber Orchestra which seeks to bring classical music to the ears of people in the most random places you can think of, last year he presented his Rain Concerto under the commission of Kat Von D, it was a complete success. I’m pretty sure Ali will be responsible for returning the magic to the world of classical music and for creating the next masterpieces that would be played by the existing and new orchestras all over the world.. . .”
- Mayra Alba, Prison For Young Offenders (online magazine)
READ FULL INTERVIEW HERE
(SPANISH VERSION)
“Hace algunos días, mientras veía Fantasía…si, si, si…esa película de Disney con flores e hipopótamos bailarines recordé lo divertido que me resulta escuchar música clásica, creo que disfrutarla va más allá de un escenario, un horario o un dresscode y si alguien entiende esto a la perfección es Ali Helnwein quien, desde los 9 años está conectado con el mundo de la música clásica, compositor y director de orquesta ha trabajado con personajes como Hans Zimmer y David Campbell. En el 2006 creó su propia orquesta llamada Traction Avenue Chamber Orchestra, con la que busca llevar la música clásica a oídos de las personas en los lugares más random que puedas imaginar, el año pasado presentó su Rain Concerto bajo comisión de Kat Von D, todo un éxito. Estoy segura que Ali será el responsable de regresarle la magia a la música clásica y de crear las piezas que se unirán al repertorio de las orquestas alrededor del mun. . .”
- Mayra Alba, Prison For Young Offenders (online magazine)
READ FULL INTERVIEW HERE
“Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling, Rooney Mara and 10 of the year’s best actors look to their “evil” side for the New York Times Magazine’s annual Hollywood Issue.
The video series, fittingly called “Touch of Evil,” showcases he finest evil grins, glass smashing, wicked stares. Of course, evil is not complete without haunting music, courtesy of a young Austrian composer by the name of Ali Helnwein.”
- International Business Times
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“In unserer Playlist könnt ihr euch alle Videos ansehen. Aber Vorsicht: Es könnte gruselig werden, wenn zu der Musik des österreichischen Komponisten Ali Helnwein Käfer über Viola Davis krabbeln oder sich Brad Pitts Mund zu einem stummen Schrei des Grauens verzieht. Wer sich danach etwas beruhigen will, kann mal in die Video-Reihe des Vorjahres unter dem Motto Fourteen Actors Acting reinsehen und unter anderem James Franco dabei beobachten, wie er sich selbst einen Zungenkuss gibt.”
- MoviePilot
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“Well, the New York Times Magazine is at it again this year, this time calling on director Alex Prager, composer Ali Helnwein, cinematographer Ross Richardson, and thirteen more actors to update and recreate some of most iconic villainy in Hollywood film history.”
- The Urchin Movement
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“. . . composed by the up-and-coming young classical music virtuoso Ali Helnwein (son of artist Gottfried Helnwein).”
- LA Times
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“When my brother Ali gave me the music, which was shockingly perfect and maybe my favorite piece he composed for me so far, it was really easy to put it all together,” says Mercedes.
Together she unites them, these tangles of time in which women collapse and twist and corner themselves, all separately but in the same spaces, their consciousnesses bound by Ali’s sonorous score of violin, cello, clarinet, guitar, and other pieces. This is their third collaboration for an art exhibition.
Whistling Past the Graveyard (2008) began the habit with Ali Helnwein’s cyclical chord progression, the banjo pervasive among the merged instruments. The visuals of Whistling were arranged as modestly as the sound mix.
Livelier, East of Eden (2009) danced on vignettes and accelerated editing, for teamwork met reward. While Mercedes manipulated motion, Ali punctuated the soundtrack. Scales climbed and tumbled. Instruments ran back and forth and around each other. The outcome was charmingly comical and capricious.
- Forth Magazine, Tommy Tung
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
“If you saw our Katie McGrath film – left, you will have heard a super sneak preview of the music of Ali Helnwein.
Ali is breaking ground in LA by introducing a diverse audience and young people to classical in unique ways. Here we talk about Traction Avenue Orchestra, which he founded, Stray Dogs, a company he runs with his sister which promoted arts in LA and his idea film score…”
- We Are Blag
READ FULL INTERVIEW HERE
Music also plays a larger role as brother Ali Helnwein has composed classically haunting music for an accompanying video projection, which will provide further clues to her mysterious characters. Musician Beck, for whom she has previously contributed album art, will be hosting.
- Huffington Post
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“The idea for the story came to me while listening to a piece of music composed by Ali Helnwein.”
- Actress/ Director Beth Riesgraf for WESC
Original music was composed exclusively for the film by Mercedes’ brother Ali Helnwein (www.alihelnwein.com)
- W Magazine
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Composer/conductor Ali Helnwein played with his new string quartet Zero Machine while ballet dancers performed choreography by Andrews as part of The MOVEMENT Movement.
To read full article, CLICK HERE
- LA Record
“Hun har med seg et internasjonalt lag i prosjektet: Den amerikanske komponisten Ali Helnwein skal stå for musikken sammen med rockeren Ronni Le Tekrø, som skal spille live på scenen.”
To read full article, CLICK HERE
- nrk (Norwegian)
“Aesthetically this short film is other worldly and dream like with a hauntingly ethereal soundtrack written by, Ali Helnwein.”
- B Headed
“THE SERIES is a monthly theatrical experiment slash party on the Standard, Downtown LA’s rooftop. Producer Nicole Disson fuses her talents as mover and shaker, putting on a social event and dancing in it. We’ll call it a dance because overall, during the last one, movement played a part in every stop at this party theater . . .
“The performers included Disson, Hecuba’s Isabelle Albuquerque, and multiple pieces by her choreographer-dancer sister, Jasmine, guest director Mecca Vazie Andrews, and Ali Helnwein and the Traction Avenue Chamber Orchestra, among others.”
- LA Record
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“I love his string quartet stuff. I have it on my iPod and I think it’s great. It’s soothing because it’s classical, but it’s got some kind of peppy bit that I’m into. I like that. It’s got a modern twist to it, so it’s more relatable to me….”
- Juxtapoz
READ FULL INTERVIEW HERE
“A Standard Story is the title of the short film written and directed by Beth in Portland during risprese leveraged, with the background of a song by Ali Helnwein, who has become the soundtrack.”
- Italian Vogue
“Ali Helnwein’s ‘Destroy your Beautiful Life’ brings the album to a close and provides a touch of musical levity, while losing nothing in depth. It is probably the clarity of the mix, and the careful, considerate re-rendering of the original composition on lush piano and/or synths that makes this such a cathartic moment, and a highlight in terms of music and mood. The surprising clarity of Wolfgang’s guttural, growled vocals is juxtaposed expertly with the almost-ambient musical canvas here – more so than in any existing beauty/beast metal dichotomy that springs to mind.”
- Jamie Janakov, Playlouder.com
“… it’s called ‘insect’ and it’s on the same CD. I just fell in love with it, it’s so bizarre and circus-like. It could be on ‘Sargent pepper’ someplace…
“Ali Helnwein is the name of the composer and he is the proprietor of Strayed Dogs. He is involved in broadening the audience of classical music…”
- Martin Perlich (classical station Program Director/Host, KCSN)
” . . . with the collaborators list consisting of all envelope-pushers from LA’s East Side arts scene—including composer Ali Helnwein and the Traction Avenue Chamber Orchestra . . . ”
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
- Foam Magazine
“The flip side from the 2010 first issue is a wonderful children’s story ‘The Violin That Played by Itself,’ with a beautiful score by the great young composer Ali Helnwein, my good friend.”
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
- Record Collector News
“Sept. 14: The Series featuring new works by Ali Helnwein + Anna Oxygen + Diaz + Ian Ross + Isabelle Albuquerque Croissant + more . . . ”
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- LA Record
The artist’s brother, composer Ali Helnwein, contributed the music.”
- Curbs and Stoops
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” . . . pen drawings on vintage sheet music and a performance by Ali Helnwein’s string quartet. . .”
- LA Weekly
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[Regarding Branden Daniel & The Chics Album]
“. . .A string section (arranged by noted LA composer Ali Helnwein) adds a rich dose of grandiose decadence on “Feel Real,” and the compelling, impenetrable album closer “Not Like Anything. . .”
[regarding Draco Rosa's album "Amor Vincit Omnia" that Ali wrote the string and orchestral arrangements for]
“…used an instrumental string background, with violins as the protagonists, over percussion in an attempt to cathc the essence of his musical origins.”
- Fernando Mexia, Revista Aplausos
“A serendipitous meeting with visual artist C. Gregory Gummersall provided Baker with the idea and the means to produce the Scordatura Music Society’s latest commissioning project. Gummersall agreed to donate six brand new works on canvass to six composers including George Heathco, Jordan Kuspa, Alexandra T. Bryant, Federico Garcia, Paul Dooley and Ali Helnwein, who will each compose a piece of music inspired by the gifted art. The new compositions will be presented, alongside the respective paintings, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. at Memorial Drive Methodist Church. Six paintings, one visual artist, and six composers gave the project its name: 12 x 7.”
- Houston Culture Map, Chris Becker
to read full article, Click Here
KIND OF LIKE A BRILLIANT ACCIDENT
An essay on the String Quartet No.1 in E Minor composed by Ali Helnwein.
First of all, do people still compose string quartets these days? In this gym-going, latté-drinking, hummer driving, brave new word of 2006, does anyone still sit down with a pad of paper and a pen and write out a string quartet?
Well, you’d be surprised.
Ali Helnwein, 23, is a classically trained violinist, living in Los Angeles. He currently plays in two L.A. based bands as well as the Jr. Philharmonic Orchestra of California – but first and foremost Ali is a composer. A composer who was stuck in Ireland for three months last year and came back with the String Quartet No.1 in E minor.
He had left L.A. for his family’s home in Ireland last April and remained there for the remainder of the summer. The first few weeks his life consisted mainly of checking his emails (a lot) and barging in on his younger brother and his teenaged friends to see “what’s up” about five times a day. In the electric green of this island, the peace and quiet is supreme, the air is shockingly good and if you live in the countryside, you won’t be able to take two steps without stumbling over a cow. In other words, coming from L.A. you might not know where to put your hands for the first few days. It is genuinely a different planet over there and you almost feel the need for instructions on how to breathe. But once you figured out how to coexist in this overpowering wholesomeness, you begin to understand what a privilege it is to be there.
Having recently studied the laws of composition and listened to a lot of Dvorak, Ali Helnwein approached the piano in the entrance hall one morning with a pad of paper and a pen and went to work. The piano, by the way, was about as in-tune as a Japanese business man singing karaoke at 2 am, so I’m really not sure on how he did what he did. But in the course of a couple of months he had amassed a bunch of musical notations that he thought might sound good when played by two violins, a viola and a cello. “I couldn’t play the four parts together, but I could play two parts at a time – slowly – and then just think of what would logically sound good together” he explains, as though that makes the birth of a string quartet any easier to understand.
Back in L.A. he discovered he had made a $960 profit off of some penny shares that he purchased for $60 about a year earlier. With this money he hired the cream of L.A. studio musicians, put them in a recording studio together and heard for the first time what his quartet actually sounded like. He won’t admit it, but I’ll say it for him: he thought he had one hell of a quartet.
“I was surprised that the musicians were reading through it so easily and not only sight-reading it properly but also interpreting and phrasing it well. It gave the piece real life. The first and second movement went so smoothly that I could have used the first take. In fact, the second movement actually is all just the first take – first run through,” he says.
Ali Helnwein’s quartet is a journey through a set of ineffable moods – classical and honoring all traditions of classical structure but made for a new millennium. It is excellent proof that classical music has no reason to play dead. And neither does modern classical music have to exist purely of dissonant and intellectual sounds that you need a college degree to listen to. “Modern art” of whatever shape, form or size should not be concerned with being an erudite celebration of things that only a few people can feel snug about because they’re holding a martini glass and made some sense out of some metal stick protruding from the wall of a gallery. Art has only one purpose: to move. To move on all levels. You should never walk away from a true piece of art and be left the same –
un-dented, un-changed, with nothing new floating about in your head.
Moderm classical music, just like any category of art, still has the power to blow your mind and splatter it against the wall behind you. I think Ali Helnwein is one of the few composers who knows this to be true.
You might be sitting somewhere in the sweltering heat of midday Los Angeles – maybe in traffic, under billboards and advertisements that remind you that this is the era of cheap subsititutes – blunt, cynical, clumsy. But you are also sitting in a town whose underground sometimes produces genuine products of a new romantic movement.
The String Quartet No.1 in E Minor starts like a windswept landscape – overcast and abandoned. A strong current of all four instruments introduces the theme with an unexpected immediacy and pulls you into a story of which you are about to be the author.
From the headstrong first movement you’ll soon be dropped into five minutes and thirty-four seconds of someone’s bleeding heart – the second movement. Starting with a minimalistic plucking that sounds like the last raindrops of a storm, the music gracefully gives way to the slow and lulling depths of the cello. By the way, you’d be surprised how something that sounds like velvet can cut like a razor. But whatever dreams you might have lost yourself in, the third movement will wake you up. This is probably my favorite one. It starts with a perfectly planned turmoil of a rhythm. The rhythm attacks you without much of a warning and then lets off into a swaying dance through which you can sense the tension trembling. When the melody is at it’s most vulnerable the wrath of all four instruments climaxes again into chaos.
The music ends as abruptly as it begins – like a brilliant accident – and you are left by the side of a road with nothing but the world that has been scraped up in your mind, still throbbing.
And there you have it. The String Quartet No.1 in E Minor composed by Ali Helnwein, who fifteen years ago walked into the music room of a new school in order to choose an instrument to learn. He chose the violin, because it looked the best.
- Mercedes Helnwein
