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2015 concerts jan 9-11, 2015 - the san francisco tape music festival jan 21, 2015 - $Ɛ∨ƐR!ℵƐ ℬa||0∩ feb 11, 2015 - mazen kerbaj feb 17, 2015 - joana holanda & ignaz schick mar 9, 2015 - marco fusi mar 18, 2015 - carl ludwig hübsch & radical 2 mar 28, 2015 - robert ashley tribute apr 10, 2015 - uc santa cruz festival apr 15, 2015 - florent collautti apr 18, 2015 - james tenney's "spectrum iv" may 9, 2015 - david bithell & satie/clair may 22, 2015 - mooncake & happy valley band jun 13, 2015 - margaret lancaster & elliot simpson perform larry polansky jul 2, 2015 – james falzone jul 15, 2015 - christopher burns & weston olencki jul 28, 2015 - $Ɛ∨ƐR!ℵƐ ℬa||0∩ aug 30, 2015 - stefano scodanibbio, in memoriam @ o1c sep 18, 2015 - sfSound @ presidio sessions sep 22, 2015 - scott miller & pat o’keefe sep 29, 2015 - rafael toral / angst hase pfeffer nase / erick glick rieman / horaflora oct 6, 2015 – eric mandat oct 13, 2015 - daniel corral & brendan lai-tong nov 1, 2015 - nakamura/kahn/akiyama/eubanks nov 22, 2015 - sfsound & splinter reeds: dual cd release party :: view entire concert history here :: |
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The San Francisco Tape Music Festival 2015 America's only festival devoted to the performance of audio works projected in three-dimensional space, The San Francisco Tape Music Festival features three distinct evenings of classic audio art and new fixed media compositions by 20 local and international composers. Hear members of the SF Tape Music Collective, along with guest composers, shape the sound live over a pristine surround system consisting of 24 high-end loudspeakers while the audience is seated in complete darkness. It's a unique opportunity to experience music forming - literally - around you. The 2015 Festival begins with two concerts showcasing the entire range of the “fixed media” artform. It concludes with two special concerts: one featuring SFSOUNDGROUP musicians performing electroacoustic works by French and American composers. |
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$Ɛ∨ƐR!ℵƐ ℬa||0∩ French cello virtuoso $Ɛ∨ƐR!ℵƐ ℬa||0∩ returns to the Bay Area with a concert of new solo works written by local composers Franck Bedrossian, Erik Ulman, and Stanford Graduate Composers. PROGRAM $Ɛ∨ƐR!ℵƐ ℬa||0∩'s work focuses on regular performance of key works of the cello repertoire, as well as numerous collaborations with composers; in addition, her researches as an improviser have helped her to extend the sonic and technical resources of her instrument. She studied the cello at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin and in Lübeck with Joseph Schwab and Troels Svane. In 2004-2005 she was ‘academist’ at the Ensemble Modern (Internationale Ensemble Modern Akademie). She perfected her contemporary cello technique with cellists Siegfried Palm, Pierre Strauch and Rohan de Saram. In 2005-2006 she was solo cellist of the Toulouse Chamber Orchestra, but subsequently decided to concentrate on contemporary music and on the premiere of new works. Currently she is working on developing extended techniques for her instrument and finding an appropriate notation. $Ɛ∨ƐR!ℵƐ ℬa||0∩ particularly enjoys working with contemporary composers and has worked with Helmut Lachenmann, Chaya Czernowin, Rebecca Saunders and Liza Lim. She has premiered a number of solo works which have been written especially for her, including those from Rebecca Saunders, Mauro Lanza and Franck Bedrossian. She has also worked with many of the best known contemporary music ensembles including Klangforum Wien, musikFabrik, Ensemble Intercontemporain and Ictus. She is a member of the Elision ensemble(Australia) and of Multilatérale (Paris). $Ɛ∨ƐR!ℵƐ ℬa||0∩ gives masterclasses for composers at Harvard University, the Hochschule für Musik in Stuttgart, at the University of Huddersfield, the University of California Berkeley, and at the Tzlil Meudcan composition course (Israel)… In 2008-2009 she was resident artist at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart. Thanks to the Harvard French Scholarship Fund and an Arthur Sachs grant she is a fellow at Harvard University during academic year 2014-2015. Her Solo-CD "Solitude" will be released on AEON Label in the spring 2015 |
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Mazen Kerbaj Beirut improviser Mazen Kerbaj performs a trumpet duo with local Tom Djll and ensemble improvisations with Gino Robair, Matt Ingalls, and Kyle Bruckmann. MAZEN KERBAJ, born in 1975, lives and works in Beirut. His main activities are comics, paintings and music. Kerbaj published more than 15 books and many short stories and drawings in anthologies, newspapers and magazines in Lebanon, Europe, and the USA, and exhibited his work both in solo and in collective exhibitions in Lebanon, France, England, Spain, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, Dubai, Malaysia and the USA. Mazen Kerbaj is also one of the founders of the Lebanese free improvisation scene, both as a trumpet player and as an active member in the MILL association that organizes the annual Irtijal festival in Beirut since 2001. In 2005 he launches Al Maslakh, the first label for this music in the region. In 2009, after fructuous collaborations with Lebanese cult punk rock band Scrambled Eggs he launches a new sub-label, Johnny Kafta’s Kids Menu to produce alternative and experimental rock music from Lebanon. Between 2000 and 2014, Mazen Kerbaj played in solo and with various groups in the Middle East, Europe and the USA. Regular and occasional partners includes: Sharif Sehnaoui, Christine Abdelnour, Raed Yassin, Franz Hautzinger, Lê Quan Ninh, Stéphane Rives, Mats Gustaffson, The Scrambled Eggs, Guillermo Gregorio, Gene Coleman, Michael Zerang, Jim Baker, Jack Wright, Michael Bullock, Vic Rawlings, David Stäckenas, Martin Küchen, Axel Dörner, Ricardo Arias, Jason Khan, The Ex, Thomas Lehn, Joe McPhee, Raymond Boni, John Butcher, Martin Blume, Tony Buck, Magda Mayas, Peter Evans, Nate Wooley… |
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Ignaz Schick & Joana Holanda Brazilian pianist Joana Holanda presents a program of new music for piano solo and with electronics by composers born in Brazil. Its music illustrates the diversity and richness of contemporary Brazilian music, encompassing a large variety of aesthetics and presenting composers of different generations. P R O G R A MsfSoundGroup performs compositions by electroacoustic composer/improviser from Berlin, Ignaz Schick. P E R F O R M E R S JOANA HOLANDA earned her bachelor degree in music from State University of Campinas- UNICAMP (1997), her Master in Arts from Iowa University (2000) in USA and her doctorate in Music from Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (2006). During the doctorate, she staged at City University,in London. She studied with Ney Fialkow, Ksenia Nosikova, Christian Tarla,Fúlvia Escobar and Jorge Gomes. Faculty member of the Federal University of Pelotas Art Center, she is also a member of NuMC- Núcleo de Música Contemporânea of the same institution. She researches and performs contemporary Brazilian music, having performed lecture-recitals in conferences in Brazil and abroad. In 2012 Holanda was one of the coordinators of the 1st Latin American Festival of Contemporary Music of Pelotas, and in 2013 released her first album, Piano Presente, by label SESC-SP. Music Critic Irineu Franco Perpétuo writes about Piano Presente: “On approaching music that escape the traditional clichés for the instrument, Holanda demonstrates to master a varied repertoire of pianistic resources, which she makes use to characterize, in a peculiar and unique way, each peculiar and unique sound worlds of different composers." Turntablist, sound artist, performer & composer IGNAZ SCHICK studied the saxophone and performed in free jazz and avant rock bands. At the same time he was getting obsessed with multitrack tape machines, record players and effect boxes and he started experimenting with many different instruments and sound making devices. After college he briefly studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and worked for several years as an assistent for contemporary composer Josef Anton Riedl. Since the late 1995 he works and lives in Berlin where he became an active and integral force of the so-called "Berlin Nouvelle Vague" and the blossoming "real time music" scene. From the middle of the nineties onwards his interest and activities almost completely shifted towards live-electronics and after testing various instrumentations (hard- & software samplers, signal processing, contact mics, field recordings, ...) he developed his own and quite unique electro-acoustic set-up which he calls "rotating surfaces". Various objects and materials (from wood, metal, plastic, paper or violin bows and cymbals) are played directly on the rotating metal plate of the turntable and the vibrations are simply amplified with a small condensator microphone. With this set-up he covers many different styles of contemporary experimental music - ranging from extreme reductionism via ambient, industrial, musique concrete, electronica to harsh noise. Besides his favorite setting, the direct duo-confrontation with the likes of Chris Abrahams (AUS), Alexei Borisov (RUS), Sebastian Buczek (PL), Phil Durrant (GB), Gunnar Geisse (D), GX Jupitter-Larsen/The Haters (USA), Dawid Szczesny (PL), Martin Tetreault (CAN) or Marcel Tuerkowsky (D) (...) he is member and founder of many different ensembles like Perlonex, Snake Figures Arkestra, Phosphor, Blind Snakes, Decollage, N.I.E., .... |
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Marco Fusi Italian new music specialist Marco Fusi visits the bay area with a program of contemporary violin and viola works by some of the most innovative Italian composers working today. P R O G R A MMarco Fusi's appearance is made possible in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco 
MARCO FUSI, violinist, violist and composer, has studied with Dimitrios Polisoidis, Ernst Kovacic and Jeanne-Marie Conquer. Marco has performed with conductors and soloists including Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel, Peter Eotvos, Beat Furrer, Susanna Malkki, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Gustav Kuhn, Jurg Wyttenbach, Jean Deroyer, and Marco Angius. He has premiered new works by Ferneyhough, Eotvos, Sciarrino, Billone, Scelsi, Cendo among others. Marco has had the opportunity to perform concerts in renowned halls such as the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, KKL Konzertsaal in Lucerne, Royaumont abbey Paris, Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome ,Beyond Baroque in Los Angeles, Experimental Intermedia in NYC, Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, and the Bela Bartok Concert Hall in Budapest. Marco has collaborated with Ensemble Linea (Srasbourg), Interface (Frankfurt), Proton (Bern), Phoenix (Basel), l’Arsenale (Treviso), MotoPerpetuo (NYC), Ecce (Boston), Algoritmo (Rome) and Handwerk (Koln) His complete recording of John Cage’s Freeman Etudes was released by Stradivarius; he has been invited to present this project, giving concerts, masterclasses and lectures at University of Southern California, Columbia University, Arizona State University, Basel Musikhochschule, and the Milan Conservatory. During August 2012 he was part of the “Haas 3rd string quartet project”, working with the composer on his 3rd string quartet, performed in Lucerne and NYC. Incoming projects are devoted to Pierluigi Billone's ITI.KE.MI (concerts in Milano, Barcelona, Boston, London, Paris, Strasbourg, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York); a recording of Salvatore Sciarrino complete works for violin and viola and a recital in Milano Musica, featuring Romitelli's Ganimede, alongside with works by Scelsi and Xenakis. Thanks to his collaboration with Pierluigi Billone, in 2015, November 15th, Marco will give the world premiere of a new work by Billone for solo violin; the concert, celebrating Helmut Lachenmann 80th birthday (in this occasion Marco will play as well Toccatina for solo violin), will be part of a special edition of Eclat Festival, Stuttgart. Marco was a member of Lucerne Festival Academy from 2007 to 2012, under the artistic and musical direction of Pierre Boulez. |
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Carl Ludwig Hübsch & Radical 2 German composer/tubist Carl Ludwig Hübsch performs a duo with clarinetist Matt Ingalls and a selction of his compositions for improvisers with members of sfSoundGroup. P E R F O R M E R S Brooklyn-based percussion duo RADICAL 2 performs a program of theatrical compositions for percussion and electronics. P R O G R A M Born in Freiburg, CARL LUDWIG HÜBSCH grew up playing clarinet in the local brass band and drums in punk bands. Around 1983 he exchanged the clarinet for a tuba. Influenced by Frank Zappa, King Sunny Ade, and The Dead Kennedys, he has performed all kinds of music including a wonderfully-mediocre dance music trio. The discovery of jazz and improvisation led to studies in improvisation with M.A.Fataah. Hübsch received certification at the Pedagogic College in Freiburg in singing, theory, drums. He studied electronic music with Klaus Weinhold. In Cologne he studied as guest in the composition class with Johannes Fritsch. Since 1990, Carl Ludwig Hübsch has lived in Cologne where he finally awarded a livelong stipendium at his own university. Hübsch's work focuses on improvised music and conteporary music. He composes and performs in concert halls, studios and theatres lending his talents to ensembles and orchestras. He is well known for his unique solo concerts. He leads workshops for tuba or improvisation. Another most important focus on Hübsch's work is composition. RADICAL 2 (Levy Lorenzo and Dennis Sullivan) is a performance duo based in Brooklyn, New York. Grounded in the tradition of contemporary classical percussion, Radical 2 extends this performance practice by exploring compositions that use theatrical vocal techniques and prototype electronics. By integrating the human voice via extended techniques and oddly contextualized speech, Radical 2 is actively blurring the lines between their vocal chords and percussion instruments. While also making use of physical theater, their performances range from whimsical and witty, to somber and nebulous, to farcical and just plain absurd. With electronics Radial 2 uses newly designed instruments that allow the use of live electronics into their performances which provide strong engagement between the audience and the electronic sound worlds. Radical 2 extends the role of classical percussionists into actors and electronic musicians, yet still relying on the percussionist’s sense of extended techniques and new music performance practice. The members of Radical 2 have had the pleasure of collaborating with and/or personally performing for luminaries such as Rick Burkhardt, Georges Aperghis, Alexander Schubert, and Thomas Meadowcroft while also fervently studying and realizing the music of Vinko Globokar, Cort Lippe, Mauricio Kagel, Martin Matalon and Herbert Brun among many others. Radical 2 has also presented their work at international institutes such as the Darmstadt Festival (DE), NIME (UK), Ensemble Moderne Festival (AT) and at STEIM (NE). |
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A Tribute To Robert Ashley presented by Thomas Buckner One of the most original minds in new music, Robert Ashley reinvented opera and the relationship of words and music. New York based baritone Thomas Buckner, accompanied by members of sfSoundGroup, will perform some of the many works Ashley composed especially for Buckner to sing in a concert setting during the more than thirty years he sang in Ashley's operas. P R O G R A M P E R F O R M E R S ROBERT ASHLEY (1930-2014), one of the leading American composers of the post-Cage generation, is particularly known for his work in new forms of opera. In the 1960s, during his tenure as its director, the ONCE Festival in Ann Arbor presented most of the decade’s pioneers of the performing arts. With the legendary ONCE Group, he developed his first large-scale operas. Along with Alvin Lucier, Gordon Mumma, and David Behrman, he formed the Sonic Arts Union, a group that turned conceptualism toward electronics. Throughout the 1970s, he directed the Center for Contemporary Music at Mills College, and produced his first opera for television, the 14-hour Music with Roots in the Aether, based on the work and ideas of seven influential American composers. In the early 1980s The Kitchen commissioned Ashley’s Perfect Lives, the opera for television that is widely considered the precursor of “music-television.” Stage versions of Perfect Lives, as well as his following operas, Atalanta (Acts of God), Improvement (Don Leaves Linda), Foreign Experiences, eL/Aficionado and Now Eleanor’s Idea toured throughout the US and Canada, Europe and Asia during the 1980s and 1990s. A new group of operas was begun in 1999 when Kanagawa Arts Foundation (Japan) commissioned Dust, which was quickly followed by Celestial Excursions and The Old Man Lives in Concrete. He wrote and recorded his performance-novel, Quicksand (released in novel form by Burning Books). And his final opera, Crash, was completed in December 2013 for premiere at the 2014 Whitney Biennial Exhibition. Ashley’s book Outside of Time: Ideas About Music (2009), was published by MusikTexte (available from Lovely Music) and Kyle Gann’s biography of Ashley (2012) was published by the University of Illinois Press. Burning Books has published several of his librettos and a large part of his recorded work is available from Lovely Music. For more than 40 years, baritone THOMAS BUCKNER has dedicated himself to the world of new and improvised music. Buckner has collaborated with a host of new music composers including Robert Ashley, Noah Creshevsky, Tom Hamilton, Earl Howard, Matthias Kaul, Leroy Jenkins, Bun Ching Lam, Annea Lockwood, Roscoe Mitchell, Phill Niblock, Wadada Leo Smith, Chinary Ung, Christian Wolff and many others. He has made appearances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Herbst Theatre, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Ostrava Days Festival, the Prague Spring Festival, and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. Buckner is featured on over 40 recordings, including 6 of his own solo albums. His most recent solo recording “New Music for Baritone & Chamber Ensemble” includes works by Annea Lockwood, Tania Leon, and Petr Kotik. He also appears in the newly released CD/DVD “Kirili et le Nymphéas (Hommage à Monet)”. This recording documents the latest in his ongoing series of collaborations between the sculptor Alain Kirili and improvising musicians and dancers. For the past twenty years, Buckner has co-produced the Interpretations series in New York City. He also created the Mutable Music record label to produce new recordings and reissue some important historic recordings, previously unavailable in CD format. |
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UCSC's 2015 "April in Santa Cruz" festival of contemporary music Works by UCSC Graduate Composition Students and James Tenney: Guitar Music With guest artists Giacomo Fiore, sfSoundGroup, San Francisco Conservatory Guitar Ensemble, and guitarists from UC Santa Cruz P R O G R A M new works written for sfSound Solos (Dice Game) - Andre Marquetti In Time - Andrew Smith Justifiably Strewn - Ike Minton variation xiv (in two parts) - David Kant Monica Scott, cello; Brendan Lai-Tong, trombone; Benjamin Kreith, violin; John Ingle, alto saxophone; Matt Ingalls, clarinets James Tenney: Complete Guitar Music Curated and produced by Giacomo Fiore Harmonium #2 (two guitars) Water on the mountain... Fire in heaven (six electric guitars) Spectrum #4 (chamber ensemble) Septet (six electric electric guitars, and electric bass) UCSC Guitarists: Jay Arms, Brian Baumbusch, Giacomo Fiore, Larry Polansky, Lanier Sammons, Samuel Shaloub, guitars; Andrew Smith, conductor sfSoundGroup: Monica Scott, contrabass; Brendan Lai-Tong, trombone; Benjamin Kreith, violin; John Ingle, alto recorder; Matt Ingalls, bass clarinet ; Matthew Goodheart, piano; Giacomo Fiore, guitar; Mark Clifford, vibraphone San Francisco Conservatory Guitar Ensemble: John Zientek, Ryan Wallace, Zoë Holbrook, Sydd Urgola, Nathaniel Martinez, Roberto Borbone, Katrina Gavelin; David Tanenbaum, director |
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Strung Waves: Florent Collautti Florent Collautti (France) composes and plays using a homebuilt instrument with electromagnetic bows piloted by computer and strings subsequently amplified and processed with Max/msp. He plays solo and an improvisation quartet with John Ingle, Matt Ingalls, and Kyle Bruckmann. Florent Collautti moves between the sound and numeric arts, from instrumental/acoustic music to electronic music through sound installations. He wears only one cap while working on these different links: that of an insatiable researcher who handles both sound-creation software and the soldering iron. In this spirit, in 2010, he developed the “e-String” a hybrid, homebuilt electronic/acoustic instrument. To sustain this project, in 2012-2013, he completed a residency through “Arts & Science actions” of SCRIME & Bordeaux University. Protean artist, he creates in a universe where dance, theater, instrumental sets, and live electronic and sound arts cross. He has collaborated with art centers, companies, composers, and musicians. He has completed residencies with La muse en circuit, SCRIME, Fées d’hiver, GRIM, and Landesmusikakademie Hessen. He has received a Sacem prize, a 1st prize in the “Vacances percutantes” (percussion quartet) contest, and a grant from Hessen/Aquitaine. His work has been presented in France and abroad (Spain, Canada, Belgium, California, Germany, Italy). |
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James Tenney: Complete Guitar Music A retrospective program of the music for guitars by JAMES TENNEY (1934–2006)—one of America’s unsung experimental music heroes. These concerts are produced in collaboration with Larry Polansky, Matt Ingalls and sfSound, and David Tanenbaum’s San Francisco Conservatory Guitar Ensemble; with funding from San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and the University of California Santa Cruz Music Department. P R O G R A M Harmonium #2 (two guitars) Water on the mountain... Fire in heaven (six electric guitars) Spectrum #4 (chamber ensemble) Septet (six electric electric guitars, and electric bass) UCSC Guitarists: Jay Arms, Brian Baumbusch, Giacomo Fiore, Larry Polansky, Lanier Sammons, Samuel Shaloub, guitars; Andrew Smith, conductor sfSoundGroup: Monica Scott, contrabass; Brendan Lai-Tong, trombone; Benjamin Kreith, violin; John Ingle, alto recorder; Matt Ingalls, bass clarinet ; Matthew Goodheart, piano; Giacomo Fiore, guitar; Mark Clifford, vibraphone San Francisco Conservatory Guitar Ensemble: John Zientek, Ryan Wallace, Zoë Holbrook, Sydd Urgola, Nathaniel Martinez, Roberto Borbone, Katrina Gavelin; David Tanenbaum, director |
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David Bithell plus: sfSoundGroup performs Erik Satie’s silent film score, Entr’Acte DAVID BITHELL returns to the Bay Area to perform a set of original works combining theater, performance art, and interactive electronic music. With works described "like a wordless Samuel Beckett play with a score by John Cage”, Bithell’s artistic language makes meaning out of the relationships between sound, image, and action. P R O G R A M YesNo (2010) - for solo performer, motion tracking, and interactive sound Two Weill/Brecht Songs (2015)* - for digital washboard and electronics Hithering (2009- ) - interactive environment for trumpet and computer generated sound …a disc where there is no disc (2015)* - table top performance, bells, and electronic sound *premiere The second half features sfSoundGroup performing ERIK SATIE'S short film score Entr’Acte - from the 1924 ballet Relâche - complete with the original film by RENÉ CLAIR. A collaboration between Satie, Clair, Francis Picabia, Marcel Duchamp, and other avant garde luminaries, Entr’Acte is proto-minimalism meets surrealism. DAVID BITHELL is an interdisciplinary composer, artist, and performer exploring the connections between visual art, music, theater, and performance. Utilizing new technologies and real-time interactive environments, his work brings the precision and structure of contemporary music and audio practices together with an understanding of performance, narrative, and humor drawn from recent theater, live cinema, and performance art. He is an Associate Professor of Digital Art at Southern Oregon University where he heads the Cross-disciplinary Studio for Art and Technology (xARTS) and is a core faculty member of the Center for Emerging Media and Digital Arts (EMDA). S F S O U N D G R O U P Andy Strain, trombone Monica Scott, cello Hadley McCarroll, piano Charlton Lee, viola Benjamin Kreith, violin John Ingle, saxophone Matt Ingalls, clarinet Kyle Bruckmann, oboe David Bithell, trumpet/conductor/arranger |
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Mooncake & The Happy Valley Band Hailing from 3 different continents, Mooncake consists of Swedish-based saxophonist/flutist BIGGI VINKELOE, flutist/vocalist EMILY HAY from Los Angeles and Japanese born pianist/sound artist MOTOKO HONDA who now lives in Oakland. Hay and Honda have collaborated for many years together as "Polarity Taskmasters" and at the the suggestion of bay area booker/promoter Rent Romus, first met Vinkeloe in San Francisco in 2014 to collaborate, scheme and explore unchartered sonic worlds through improvisation and immediate compositions which span the scope of free jazz, electronic forays with complex classical inuendo and primal searching. THE HAPPY VALLEY BAND is the Great American Songbook heard through the ear of a machine. It is a cover band led by a computer, futilely attempting to notate every sound it hears in classic pop songs. Through a process of machine listening, original recordings are unmixed into their individual instruments, interpreted into musical notation, and performed live. The result is a hypercomplex and microtonal deconstruction of the song, with the machinemediated score accompanying the original voices of popular music icons such as Elvis, James Brown, and Patsy Cline. Taking after pioneering audio plunderer John Oswald, the Happy Valley Band recontextualizes the voices of popular music through modern digital sound analysis. Making a Happy Valley Band arrangement is a process of translation between machine analysis and human performance. Artifacts of the process of audio separation and transcription produce complex and overly specific notation, and the ensemble has developed a unique performance practice in response to the idiosyncratic scores. Directed by bandleader / composer David Kant, the Happy Valley Band is a sevenpiece band with Alexander Dupuis (guitar), Beau Sievers (drums), Andrew Smith (piano), Mustafa Walker (bass), Conrad Harris (violin), Pauline Kim Harris (violin), and David Kant (saxophone), plus frequent special guests. The Happy Valley Band is performing west coast concert dates this spring, and will release a debut album this fall, The World Does Not Need More Songs, on Indexical. Bandleader DAVID KANT is a composer and performer based in Santa Cruz, CA. His work is interested in the intersection of art, music, and computation, and explores the music of chaotic circuit networks, the soundscapes of bioluminescent phytoplankton, and machine deconstructions of his favorite pop songs. He is a coorganizer of Indexical, a composerrun record label and producing organization dedicated to supporting work outside of mainstream contemporary music institutions. |
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Margaret Lancaster & Elliot Simpson perform solo works by Larry Polansky P R O G R A M Piker (1997–8) - five pieces for solo piccolo MARGARET LANCASTER, piccolo Songs and Toods (2005) - five pieces for the Lou Harrison National Just Intonation Resophonic guitar ELLIOT SIMPSON, guitar Songs and Toods is a set of five pieces, including three song settings (“Sweet Betsy from Pike,” “Eskimo Lullaby” and “Dismission of Great I”) and two more abstract studies (85 Chords (The “Historical Tuning Problem”) and Schneidertood). The five pieces explore various and extreme possibilities of the guitar’s tuning structure and are demanding for the guitarist, who also sings. Songs and Toods has recently been released (Spring, 2015) in its first full recording by ELLIOT SIMPSON on Microfest Records, Los Angeles. Simpson is so far the only guitarist who has played the entire set. Piker is an earlier work, written for MARGARET LANCASTER, with a parallel structure to Songs and Toods: five pieces, three of which are song settings (of Shaker songs). Margaret Lancaster premiered the piece, and has played it often, and recorded it on the New World Records CD entitled Io. Guitarist ELLIOT SIMPSON has given premieres of works by such iconic and diverse composers as Sofia Gubaidulina, Alvin Lucier, and Michael Finnissy, and has collaborated with many acclaimed young composers including Hugo Morales, Ezequiel Menalled, Benjamin Staern, and Sahba Aminikia. He has been a guest of organizations including the Asko|Schönberg Ensemble, the San Francisco Symphony, the New European Ensemble, Ensemble Modelo62, the György Ligeti Academy, and the Verband für aktuelle Musik Hamburg, as well as festivals and concert series throughout the United States and Europe in performances ranging from early music to free improvisation. Originally from New Mexico, USA, Elliot studied with David Tanenbaum at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and with Zoran Dukic at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague. His Master’s degree in The Hague, as both soloist and chamber musician, was awarded “with distinction for his extraordinary contribution to new music. "He is a spectacular player and artist, fully up to the demands of this music. He has an impeccable technique, the intellect to comprehend and convey the works, and enough heart to hear the beauties behind the forbidding exterior... This is some remarkable music making." — American Record Guide MARGARET LANCASTER has built a large repertoire of new works composed for her that employ extended techniques, multi-media, and electronics, fusing music, theater and movement. Performance highlights include Lincoln Center Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, Ibsen Festival, Santa Fe New Music, Edinburgh Festival, Tap City, New Music Miami, and Festival D’Automne. A member of Either/Or and Fisher Ensemble, she has been a guest of many groups including Argento, American Modern Ensemble, and the New York Philharmonic. She has recorded on New World Records (including her solo disc IO which features Larry Polansky as composer and performer), OO Discs, Innova, Naxos and Tzadik, and was selected for Meet the Composer’s New Works for Soloist Champions project. Noted for her interdisciplinary performances, Lancaster, who also works as an actor, dancer, and amateur furniture designer, presents solo and chamber music concerts worldwide. Recent collaborations include projects with Jean-Baptiste Barrière, ArmitageGone!Dance, BMP’s Kocho, and playing Helene in the 7-year worldwide run of OBIE-winning Mabou Mines Dollhouse…www.margaretlancaster.com Larry Polansky is a composer, theorist, performer, editor, writer and teacher. He is the Emeritus Strauss Professor of Music at Dartmouth College, the co-founder and co-director of Frog Peak Music (A Composers’ Collective), and is currently Professor of Music at UC Santa Cruz. He has also taught at Bard College and several other schools. His solo CDs are available on New World Records, Artifact, and Cold Blue, and his music is widely anthologized on many other labels. His works are performed frequently around the world. He was the inaugural recipient (with David Behrman) of the Henry Cowell Award from the American Music Center. As a performer (primarily as guitarist and mandolinist), he has worked in many different ensembles, genres and contexts, premiered and recorded important contemporary works by composer colleagues Christian Wolff, Barbara Monk Feldman, Michael Parsons, James Tenney, Lou Harrison, Lois V Vierk, Ron Nagorcka, Daniel Goode, David Mahler, and many others |
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James Falzone: solo + RengaWest Multi-faceted clarinetist/composer JAMES FALZONE is an acclaimed member of Chicago's jazz and creative improvised music scene. Falzone will perform Sighs Too Deep For Words for solo clarinet and a set of compositions for Renga, his ensemble that draws together some of the most diverse and adventurous clarinet and saxophone players working in jazz and improvised music today, including the Bay Area's own Ben Goldberg. This special West Coast edition will involve an all-star local cast: James Falzone, clarinet James Falzone, a veteran contemporary music lecturer and clinician, is the longtime Director of Music for Grace Chicago Church and an award-winning composer who has been commissioned by chamber ensembles, choirs and symphony orchestras around the globe. He leads his own ensembles KLANG, The Renga Ensemble, and Allos Musica and has released eight highly regarded recordings on Allos Documents, a label he founded in 2000. James has performed in recital halls, festivals and jazz venues throughout North America and Europe, appears regularly on Downbeat magazine's Critics' and Readers' Polls, and was nominated as the 2011 Clarinetist of the Year by the Jazz Journalist Association. His work has been featured in the New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, New Music Box, Point of Departure, and many other publications. Educated at Northern Illinois University and New England Conservatory, James is a respected educator himself and is currently a Senior Lecturer at Columbia College Chicago where he teaches in the interdisciplinary First Year Seminar program and is a research fellow at The Center For Black Music Research. James has also been on the faculty of Deep Springs College and North Central College. The Renga Ensemble was convened by clarinetist and composer James for a series of concerts and a recording in April, 2013 in Chicago. The ensemble was handpicked by Falzone, drawing together some of the most diverse and adventurous clarinet and saxophone players working in jazz and improvised music today: James Falzone: Bb and Eb clarinets Ken Vandermark: Bb clarinet, bass clarinet, baritone saxophone Keefe Jackson: tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, contra Bb bass clarinet Jason Stein: bass clarinet Ben Goldberg: Bb clarinet, contra Eb alto clarinet Ned Rothenberg: Bb clarinet, alto saxophone The project is rooted in persona: how do diverse musical voices converge and find common ground, especially in a setting where composed and improvised elements coalesce? The intention in assembling such diverse players, most of whom had never played together before, was to allow space for each voice to be heard yet challenged and shaped by another, equally strong voice. The concerts in Chicago took place at The Chicago Cultural Center, The Hideout, and the Elastic Arts Foundation and received preview articles in The Chicago Tribune, Chicago Reader, and Chicago Music. James named the group Renga after a centuries-old form of collaborative Japanese poetry, where two or three poets blend their words into a single meditative work. James' compositions, written especially for this project, were conceived around a haiku by American poet Anita Virgil. The titles of many of the compositions make up her brazenly clear yet emotionally compelling poem: not seeing |
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Cartilaginous Music: sfSoundGroup + Christopher Burns and Weston Olencki For sfSound's mid-summer freakout, they brazenly problematize instrumentalism, embodiment, and the piece-hood of a piece. Co-founder-made-good Christopher Burns and post-trombone monster Weston Olencki join sfSoundGroup in a program of works by Burns, Pierluigi Billone, and Kurt Isaacson, culminating in an irresponsible evocation of John Cage's ghost for a free fantasia on Cartridge Music (1960). P R O G R A M Pierluigi Billone's mani.mono moves beyond any form of ritualized theater and into ritual itself. twenty-five minutes for solo performer and spring drum, and instrument whose hollow cavity resembles that of our own body - skin stretched over resonating chamber. the instrument responds to touch, to the body, which may activate or dampen its alienating timbre. mani.mono takes a magnifying glass to every possible gesture, every possible method of interacting with this foreign instrument, turning a single touch into a teeming ecosystem. Kurt Isaacson's music is bleak. Very bleak. Utterances too unstable or unwieldy to be repeated are often subjugated to an unhealthy amount of rigid repetition - instruments assume manifold characters reminiscent of a Pynchon novel gone horribly wrong. What possibly remains after such a treatment is the transformation of euphonium into noise generator "filtered" through the instrument's valve systems, some of which are left uncharacteristically open; and the trombone is... ...well, let's just not talk about that. WESTON OLENCKI is a San Francisco-based trombonist specializing in the performance and production of new music. Weston is a member of Fonema Consort, Wild Rumpus, ATHLETICS, and has performed regularly with Ensemble Dal Niente, a.per.iod.ic, Chamber Cartel, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He is a recipient of a Kranichsteiner Stipendenpreis from the 47th Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt (IMD). An active commissioner of new repertoire, Weston has premiered/commissioned new works by Peter Ablinger, Katherine Young, Pablo Chin, Monte Weber, Dave Reminick, and Joan Arnau Pamies with noted US premieres from Elliott Carter, Bernhard Lang, Simon Loeffler, and Ming Tsao. He holds a B.M. cum laude from Northwestern University with degrees in trombone performance and musicology. CHRISTOPHER BURNS is a composer and improviser developing innovative approaches to musical architecture. His work emphasizes trajectory, layering and intercutting a variety of audible processes to create intricate forms. The experience of density is also crucial to his music: his compositions often incorporate materials which pass by too quickly to be grasped in their entirety, and present complex braids of simultaneous lines and textures. Several recent projects incorporate animation, choreography, and motion capture, integrating performance, sound, and visuals into a unified experience. Christopher's work as a music technology researcher shapes his work in both instrumental chamber music and electroacoustic sound. He writes improvisation software incorporating a variety of unusual user interfaces for musical performance, and exploring the application and control of feedback for complex and unpredictable sonic behavior. In the instrumental domain, he uses algorithmic procedures to create distinctive pitch and rhythmic structures and elaborate them through time. Christopher is also an avid archaeologist of electroacoustic music, creating and performing new digital realizations of music by Cage, Ligeti, Lucier, Stockhausen, and others. His recording of Luigi Nono's La Lontananza Nostalgica Utopica Futura with violinist Miranda Cuckson was named a "Best Classical Recording of 2012" by The New York Times. A committed educator, Christopher teaches music composition and technology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Previously, he served as the Technical Director of the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) at Stanford University, after completing a doctorate in composition there in 2003. He has studied composition with Brian Ferneyhough, Jonathan Harvey, Jonathan Berger, Michael Tenzer, and Jan Radzynski. Christopher is also active as a concert producer. He co-founded and produced the strictly Ballroom contemporary music series at Stanford University from 2000 to 2004, and has contributed to the sfSoundGroup ensemble in the San Francisco Bay Area since 2003. Since 2006, he has served as the artistic director of the Unruly Music festival in Milwaukee. |
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$Ɛ∨ƐR!ℵƐ ℬa||0∩ & Andrew C. Smith French cello virtuoso $Ɛ∨ƐR!ℵƐ ℬa||0∩ returns to the Bay Area with a concert of new and recent works exploring resonance, order, and chaos for solo cello and solo piano by Elizabeth Adams, David Kant, Andrew C. Smith, Ma'ayan Tsadka, and K.C.M. Walker, curated by Indexical. Completing the program, Santa Cruz based composer/pianist Andrew C. Smith performs solo piano works. P R O G R A M $Ɛ∨ƐR!ℵƐ ℬa||0∩'s (cello) work as a performer focuses on regular performance of key works of the cello repertoire and numerous direct collaborations with composers. Her research as improviser has helped her to extend the sonic and technical resources of her instrument. She has worked with such composers as Helmut Lachenmann, Liza Lim, Mauro Lanza and Rebecca Saunders. Her work crosses the centuries from gut strings to electronics, over a wide range of aesthetics from Feldman to Ferneyhough. She is a member of Elision ensemble (Australia) and Multilatérale (Paris). ANDREW C. SMITH (piano) is a composer and keyboardist living in Santa Cruz, California. His music often involves just intonation tunings, repetition, and connections with language. He co-organizes the composer-run record label and concert producer Indexical. Indexical is a composer-run experimental music record label and concert producer organized by David Kant, Beau Sievers, and Andrew C. Smith, and based in Santa Cruz. |
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Celebrating Stefano Scodanibbio A concert dedicated to the Italian composer/contrabassist, Stefano Scodanibbio (1956-2012). Peformances by sfSoundGroup, Del Sol String Quartet, The Tom Dambly Trumpet Quartet, Luciano Chessa, Benjamin Kreith, Lisa Mezzacappa, and Matt Ingalls. Presented in conjuction with Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco. P R O G R A M In 2008, Old First Concerts, in conjunction with the Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco and sfSound, hosted an outstanding and memorable concert of music by the composer and contemporary contrabass virtuoso Stefano Scodanibbio. Scodanibbio passed away in 2012 at the age of 55, after a battle with a form of motor neurone disease. Dedicated to his memory, sfSound and the Italian Cultural Institute present a concert of Scodanibbio's compositions and new work by local musicians created especially for this occasion. Stefano Scodanibbio's name has been permanently linked to the contemporary renaissance of the double bass, creating new techniques extending the colors and range of the double bass never thought possible on this instrument. Over his career, he performed dozens of works written especially for him in major festivals throughout the world by composers such as Berio, Bussotti, Donatoni, Estrada, Ferneyhough, Frith, Globokar, Sciarrino, and Xenakis. He was also a frequent collaborator with Terry Riley, with whom he released Lazy Afternoon Among The Crocodiles. Active as a composer, his catalogue consists of more than 50 works principally written for strings -- two of his best works are represented on this concert, performed by the Del Sol String Quartet and violin soloist, Benjamin Kreith. The 2008 concert featured Scodanibbio leading sfSound in the improvisational work, Avvicinamenti, which has been specially reconstructed for this event. 
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PRESIDIO SESSIONS sfSound presents a program of graphic scores, structured improvisation, minimalism, and extended techniques to the PRESIDIO SESSIONS, a concert series of informal, free performances in the Presdio Officers’ Club. In the intimate atmosphere of a house concert, listeners can savor, lounge and learn as they wish. Guests move comfortably between Arguello, the destination restaurant and bar, and the performances in Moraga Hall, with opportunities to converse with performers and each other.
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Willful Devices (Scott Miller & Pat O’Keefe) WILLFUL DEVICES is an electroacoustic improv duo, born of the collaboration between composer/computer musician Scott Miller and clarinetist/bass clarinetist Pat O’Keefe. Their name refers to the willful nature of the tools they manipulate to produce sound, because despite their best efforts, these devices are never fully under their control. Willful Devices celebrates this, since within this unpredictability lies the potential for unimagined sonic discovery. Willful Devices develops most of their music during that unique time we all know as play, and the results are a vital, dynamic product of the connection between Scott and Pat and their unique musical identities. SCOTT MILLER is a composer of electroacoustic, orchestral, chamber, choral and multimedia works described as 'inspir[ing] real hope & optimism for the future of electroacoustic music.' (5against4.com). Known for his interactive electroacoustic chamber music and experimental performance pieces, Miller has twice been named a McKnight Composer Fellow, he is a Fulbright Scholar, and his work has been recognized by numerous international arts organizations. Recordings are available on New Focus Recordings, Innova, Eroica, CRS, rarescale and SEAMUS, and his music is published by ACA (American Composers Alliance), Tetractys, and Jeanné. Miller is a Professor of Music at St. Cloud State University, Minnesota, where he teaches composition, electroacoustic music and theory. He is currently President of the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the U.S. (SEAMUS). He holds degrees from The University of Minnesota, The University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill and the State University of New York at Oneonta, and has studied composition at the Czech-American Summer Music Institute and the Centre de Creation Musicale Iannis Xenakis. PAT O’KEEFE is a multifaceted performer who is endlessly active and in high demand in a wide variety of musical styles and genres. He has performed as a soloist with symphony orchestras and wind ensembles, played for belly dancers, and rocked samba in the streets. He draws upon this multiplicity of experiences and interests in his performances, which employ a "superb control of extended techniques," and have been described as "passionate," "explosive," and "breath-stoppingly exquisite." He is currently the co-artistic director and woodwind player for new music ensemble Zeitgeist, based in St. Paul, Minnesota. He has also performed and recorded with such groups as ETHEL, California E.A.R. Unit, and Cleveland New Music Associates. Pat is also drawn to the music of other cultures, and performs regularly on both woodwinds and percussion with the groups Batucada do Norte, Choro Borealis, and Music Mundial in the Twin Cities. Pat holds a BM (with Performer’s Certificate) from Indiana University, an MM (with Academic Honors and Distinction in Performance) from the New England Conservatory, and a DMA from the University of California, San Diego. He is currently on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin, River Falls. |
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Rafael Toral + Angst Hase Pfeffer Nase + Erick Glick Rieman + Horaflora RAFAEL TORAL is not an electronic musician, but an incendiary and idiosyncratic Lisbon-based musician who employs electronic instruments to perform music. Formerly known for his drone/ambient work with guitar and electronics and acclaimed records such as Wave Field (1994) or Violence of Discovery and Calm of Acceptance (2000), he has radically renewed his approach to music, launching the jazz-inspired and alien-sounding Space Program in 2004. Rafael Toral plays electronic music today as a jazz musician would play his instrument, applying jazz discipline and working practices to his abstract electronics. The result is truly evolutionary music, once described as "a brand of electronic music far more visceral and emotive than that of his cerebral peers". Melodic without notes, rhythmic without a beat, familiar but strange, meticulous but radically free, it is riddled with interesting paradox. Toral has developed a musical system to physically play experimental electronic instruments and puts it to practice with large-scale project Space Program — a complex network of recordings and performances to deliver music that is full of clarity and space, articulating silence and sound in a thoughtful, yet physical way. Formerly known for his drone/ ambient work with guitar and electronics and acclaimed records such as Wave Field (1994) or Violence of Discovery and Calm of Acceptance (2000), he has radically renewed his approach to music, launching the jazz-inspired and alien-sounding Space Program in 2004, using experimental electronic instruments. Toral's long time connection with Sei Miguel is central to the development of the Space Program. Other collaborations include Jim O'Rourke, Evan Parker, John Edwards, Joe Morris, Tatsuya Nakatani, Chris Corsano, Manuel Mota, David Toop, Alvin Lucier, John Zorn, Phill Niblock, Christian Marclay, Sonic Youth, João Paulo Feliciano, Rhys Chatham, Lee Ranaldo, C Spencer Yeh, Dean Roberts... In 1998 he became a member of MIMEO electronic orchestra. Its other members are Keith Rowe, Thomas Lehn, Kaffe Matthews, Marcus Schmickler, Jérome Noetinger, Christian Fennesz, Peter Rehberg, Gert-Jan Prins, Cor Fuhler and Phil Durrant. Since 2008 he directs the Space Collective, a slowly developing orchestral group. Also active in visual and spatial arts, Toral has produced video and several installations from 1994 to 2003. Rafael Toral has performed throughout Europe, Canada, USA, Mexico, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand and Australia. He has been active performing and giving workshops. ANGST HASE PFEFFER NASE (Chris Cooper) recordings are electroacoustic sound collage, utilizing analog tape mangling, re-purposed electronics, and computer tomfoolery. Live, Chris Cooper's prepared guitar and electronics are his portable simulacra. The physicality of various objects on the strings and pickups, and the chaotic fluctuations of the feedback and processing, combine into a mottled science fiction landscape. He is also a member of eight-piece improvisation ensemble The BSC (with Bhob Rainey, Greg Kelley, Howard Stelzer, and four others), broken jazz-rock (“noise”) band Fat Worm of Error, beatless techno trio White Limo, and an un-named guitar duo with Bill Nace. He has had releases on the record labels Load, Ultra Eczema, Ecstatic Peace!, Open Mouth, Senufo Editions, Resipiscent, and Birdman. ERICK GLICK RIEMAN is a composer/improviser and instrument manipulator, whose interests at the moment include the lengths of rat's tongues, snail trails, and plate tectonics. His fascination with putting sounds into space has led him into performing with the amplified innards of a modified Rhodes electric piano, and this, as well as piano, has been his primary performance instrument for the past 17 years. Raub Roy’s HORAFLORA takes liberally of the rich and diverse traditions of new music in order to craft something unique from discrete stylistic tendency. Homemade/found/consumer electroacoustic components are utilized in the production of sound; balloons, toothbrushes, plastic bags, street sweeper bristles, Tesla wands, iPhones, midi controllers, and primitive surround sound systems are all deployed in service to an all-encompassing bricolage. Raub is a member of the LCM/Oakland collective concert series/venue, and founded Weird Ear Records (with partner Dianne Lynn), a record label reveling in disparate forms of experimental music. Their slogan, “The Weird Ear, The Better,” serves as a guideline to the curatorial themes across all of these projects. Raub is from Western Mass. but has lived in the Bay Area since 2007. |
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Eric Mandat and friends Mixed improvisations and compositions featuring clarinetist and extended technique pioneer Eric Mandat, along with Tom Djll, John McCowen, Gino Robair, and members of sfSoundGroup. P R O G R A M Rrowzer! (2005) A grouchy old dog snarls at passers-by riding on waves in a cauldron of tumult. Before the Breath of Spring (2015) The mountains stand in silent witness to ongoing transformations within waiting worlds. Infinite Edges (2015) Traversing the plane between parallelism and divergence, the moment between experience and memory, the thread joining earth and sky, and the twinness of chirality. Improvisations (2015) with friends, old and new. For more than 35 years, clarinetist/composer ERIC MANDAT has been at the forefront of clarinet extended performance techniques exploration, particularly multiphonics, microtones, and timbral modulations. Through his numerous performances, compositions, and master classes worldwide, Eric has had a profound influence on the way an entire generation of clarinetists approaches playing their instrument. The Chicago Reader writes, “Mandat is exploring new worlds…with a unique combination of virtuosity and a creative use of multiphonics...he uses them to create highly personal and expressive compositions that...are loaded with musical meaning.” Writing for the Village Voice, Kyle Gann notes the “suave physicality” of Eric’s presence as a performer, and finds his style to be “riveting.” The Clarinet states that his “process at writing and playing is bound to leave any listener in awe… (One) is constantly challenged and surprised by gorgeous tone color changes, exciting rhythmic action and 21st century clarinetistry.” Eric is recipient of numerous honors and awards for his innovative and groundbreaking contributions to contemporary clarinet music, including multiple Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellowships for Composition. He received the 1999 Southern Illinois University Outstanding Scholar Award, the university’s highest honor for research/creative work. In addition to his work as a soloist and composer, Eric has enjoyed an extremely diverse performance career as a chamber musician and collaborator. He has been a member of the Chicago Symphony’s MusicNOW ensemble since 2000, working with eminent composer/conductors such as Pierre Boulez and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Since 1989, Eric has been a member of Tone Road Ramblers, an eclectic sextet specializing in improvisation and experimental music. Option magazine finds the Ramblers’ work “filled with wit, joy and creative sparkle.” Additionally, Eric has performed with many improvisers, including Gino Robair, Michael Zerang, James Falzone, and Francois Houle. Eric Mandat received his education at the University of North Texas, the Yale School of Music, and the Eastman School of Music. He is Professor of Music and Distinguished Scholar at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, where he teaches clarinet and graduate courses in musical analysis. Eric Mandat is a Buffet Group USA performing artist and clinician. |
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Daniel Corral + sfSoundGroup featuring Brendan Lai-Tong DANIEL CORRAL performs Diamond Pulses, a 32-minute musical experience combining just-tuned harmonies, driving minimalist rhythms, noisy ambiance, and electronic timbres. DANIEL CORRAL is a composer and multi-instrumentalist born and raised in Eagle River, Alaska. His music is a rich collusion of styles, constantly blurring the boundaries between the familiar and foreign, mirroring the diasporic evolution of cultural identity in the twenty-first. His unique voice finds outlet in puppet operas, accordion orchestras, handmade music boxes, electronic collages, site-specific installations, chamber music, and interdisciplinary collaborations. Corral’s music has gained great attention in Los Angeles, being commissioned and presented by venues such as REDCAT, The Hammer Museum, MOCA, USC’s Thornton School of Music, CSUN’s Mike Curb College of Arts, The Pianospheres Series, and The Santa Monica GLOW Festival. He writes, arranges, and performs with numerous music groups, including Timur & The Dime Museum, Killsonic, Free Reed Conspiracy, and Tears of the Moosechaser. Corral received his MFA from Calarts, where he studied with James Tenney, Anne LeBaron, and Morton Subotnick. sfSoundGroup's opening set will feature trombonist BRENDAN LAI-TONG, performing frenetically virtuosic solo pieces by Brian Lynn and Christian Lindberg. Doolallynastics - A brief torture for trombone (Lynn) combines classical, jazz and extended trombone technique elements into a virtuosic workout for the trombonist. The word "doolally", derived from the original term "doolally tap", means out of one's mind, irrational, deranged, or insane. The piece was written for John Kenny, a British trombonist, actor, composer and multi-faceted performer of contemporary solo repertoire, modern jazz and early music. BRIAN LYNN was born in 1954 in Hornchurch, Essex. At the age of five he began playing the violin and at eleven years old, entered the Junior Royal Academy of Music. Brian’s interest in the trombone began at this time and it soon became his first study instrument. He achieved his LRAM at the early age of 17. Brian was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain for three years and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under Denis Wick and Peter Gane. He then worked for Scottish Opera, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Kent Opera while free lancing with major British orchestras. Kokakoka (Lindberg) for solo trombone is a three part invention for a trombonist, voice and foot. The piece is inspired by a children's language called the bandidos language and kokakoka means cookie. The piece unfolds in three short movements, the first of which can be played separately. The piece makes extensive use of multi phonics and sung syllables. CHRISTIAN LINDBERG'S (b. 1958) achievements for the trombone can only be compared with those of Paganini for the violin or Liszt for the piano. Having premiered over 300 works for the trombone (including more than 30 composed by Christian himself), recorded over 70 solo CDs, and having an international solo competition created in his name in Valencia, Spain, Christian Lindberg is today nothing less than a living legend. Lindberg took up the trombone at 17 inspired by the jazz trombonist Jack Teagarden. At 18 he gained admission to the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and after having played for only two years he got a position as trombonist in the orchestra of the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm. At 20 he left the orchestra, and has since built up a unique and impressive career as the first trombone soloist in history, as well as embarking on two new enormously successful careers as conductor and composer. BRENDAN LAI-TONG is a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (MM) and the University of Miami (BM). He received his formal musical education under Mark Lawrence, principal trombonist of the San Francisco Symphony; and Tim Conner and Hugh Harbison, the principal and bass trombonists of the Florida Philharmonic. Brendan is a recent addition to the sfSound roster and is active as a freelancer in the Bay Area performing with various groups including the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Berkeley Contemporary Chamber Players, Oakland East Bay Symphony and the Sacramento Philharmonic, Opera San Jose and more. |
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Tetuzi Akiyama / Bryan Eubanks / Jason Kahn / Toshimaru Nakamura Meeting together for the first time on a 16-date U.S. tour, Tetuzi Akiyama (guitar), Bryan Eubanks (saxophone, electronics), Jason Kahn (drums, percussion), and Toshimaru Nakamura (no-input mixing board) fuses free improvisation, noise, experimental electronics and the uncategorizable in a fresh and vibrant approach to group playing and spontaneous music creation. Tetuzi Akiyama is one of Japan's most active experimental guitarists. He manages to successfully bridge many directions in his music, ranging from Texas boogie and free noise to highly restrained acoustic work. Toshimaru Nakamura has made a name for himself since the late 1990's in improvised and experimental electronic music with his use of the no-input mixing board, an instrument yielding a wide range of sonic possibilities within the framework of a chaotic feedback system he has developed over many solo and collaborative concerts. Bryan Eubanks is active as a composer of electronic music and as an improviser. He plays the soprano saxophone both as acoustic instrument and as part of a unique feedback system built and designed by himself, using open circuit boards and custom analog circuitry. On drum set, Jason Kahn's playing swings across a wide spectrum of approaches, ranging from ecstatic propulsion and rhythmic drive to abstract sound textures using a variety of found metal objects and cymbals. Supported by the Japan Foundation through the Performing Arts JAPAN program. 
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Splinter Reeds / sfSound Dual CD Release Party (!) More than a decade and barely two years into their respective wars on sonic apathy, sfSound and Splinter Reeds are simultaneously releasing debut CDs. With distinct but complementary takes on contemporary composition and performance, their combined repertoire bridges post-minimalism, improvisation, indie-whatever, and flat-out fugly fun. The evening will feature select repertoire from the CDs, likely collaborations, and certain hi-jinks. ADMISSION INCLUDES BOTH CDS Splinter Reeds is the Bay Area’s first reed quintet, composed of five intrepid musicians whose reeds vibrate primarily to the sounds of the 20th and 21st Centuries. Individually, Splinter’s members stay active as both soloists and as part of various chamber and large ensembles across the nation. As fierce advocates of new music throughout their careers, Splinter’s members are proud to have spearheaded many notable commissions and world premiere performances. Splinter members have performed with ensembles such as the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Alarm Will Sound, International Contemporary Ensemble, San Francisco Symphony, Ensemble Dal Niente, Cleveland Orchestra, sfSound, Harvard Group for New Music and ECO Ensemble among many others. As educators, members of the ensemble hold teaching positions at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Over the past decade, sfSound has emerged as one of the most uncompromising and innovative contemporary music organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area. They are unique as an ensemble of multi-faceted performer/composers dedicated to producing their own collective and collaborative works in the context of the international avant-garde. Programs feature their own compositions, improvisations, new commissions, electronic music, and standard New Music repertoire with an international scope and a distinctly West Coast spin — honoring, and striving to continue, the Bay Area’s critical historical role in the development of the American Experimental tradition. |
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