"The sun shines on the house of the recluse..."
I've been hiding away working on a piece for the 8 member women's vocal ensemble, Vajra Voices, setting a collection of texts by the 12th Century Taoist priestess and adept, Sun Bu'er. Stay tuned for upcoming performances of this piece to come in the Bay Area.
The Substation in Melbourne
Our setup for Harbors at The Substation in Melbourne, a former power plant in the district of Newport in Melbourne. Huge thanks to Liquid Architecture and Joel Stern for making this all happen!
Pre-artist talking at The Channel in downtown Melbourne.
With Ellen Fullman and Joel Stern
MOFO in Tasmania
We have entered the alternate reality of MOFO - an amazing festival of music at the MONA museum, curated by Brian Ritchie. On the frying pan peninsula of Moorilla near Hobart, Tasmania, Ellen has installed her Long String Instrument in the Nolan Gallery of the infamous MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) - my now new favorite art museum. We did multiple performances of Harbors during the 3 day festival and had the added bonus of visiting my Dad's old stomping grounds in Tazzie.
Nolan Gallery of MONA
On the Mona Roma, a catamaran between Hobart and Moorilla
Entrance to MONA designed by Nonda Katsalidis
View from kunanyi / Mt. Wellington, above Hobart.
Sidney Festival
First stop of a 3 week Australian tour with Ellen Fullman - Sidney Festival 2017! We had the enormous treat of performing at the Centennial Hall in downtown Sidney. Our evening bill included solo sets by the one and only Okkyung Lee on cello and Chris Abrahams playing the 9,000+ piped Grand Organ.
a quick jaunt to the Sidney Opera House on the night of a full moon...
Post concert with Terumi Narushima, Kraig Grady, Chris Abrahams and Lawrence English.
Lips of Lapis Lazuli
Workshop and performance of Lips of Lapis Lazuli - such a necessary sonic purge and collective sounding during the week of this year's in-credible and jolting election. The closing event of Songs for Women Living with War could not have been a more fitting gathering with performances by Rhodessa Jones, WigBand and Evelie Posch. Special thanks to my fearless core of singers: Karen Clark, Julia Dashe, Ghyslaine Gau, Jean-Philippe Derail, Anne Esmonde, Annie Hallet, Ellen Fullman, Aurora Josephson, Agnes Szelag, Celeste Winant and curator Johanna Poethig.
Autumn Light in Sainte-Chapelle
I made a couple of stops on a day off in Paris after performing an exhilarating duo set with violist Frantz Loriot. Autumn light here on the floor of Sainte-Chapelle and No. 12 Rue de l'Odéon - where Sylvia Beach ran the famed bookstore Shakespeare & Company, and where she first published James Joyce's Ulysses. Across the street at No.7 was Adrienne Monnier's bookstore La Maison des Amis des Livres. So much history from 1920's Paris to absorb on this street. Now off to some shows in Zürich, Basel and Lucerne with Frantz and saxophonist Christian Kobi.
The plaque reads: En 1922 dans cette maison M.elle Sylvia Beach publia "Ulysses" de James Joyce
Harbors at ARCOOP in Geneva
Performing Harbors at ARCOOP in Geneva and so thrilled to be working with Sound Vision and Ensemble Vide to transform the space of the loading dock to this artists' cooperative. Ellen Fullman's Long String Instrument was stunning to behold in this space.
Performance of Harbors in Bern
I couldn't resist the chance to float down the Aare River with our tech crew from Dampfzentrale in Bern Switzerland...
Setting up for a performance of Harbors in Dampfzentrale, a former power station.
Setting up shop at Moulin de Paillard, France
Ellen Fullman and I had the fantastic opportunity to spend two weeks in the former paper mill of Moulin de Paillard in Poncé-sur-le-Loir, a small town 200 km outside of Paris. The space had one of the best acoustics we've ever worked in! We had very valuable time and place to develop, perform, and record Harbors, a piece for Long String Instrument and cello. Gratitude to Shelly de Vito, James Porter and Maxime Guitton for making this all possible.
Photo by James Porter
Recording the music of Chris Brown
Back at my old stomping grounds at the Littlefield Concert Hall at Mills College to record the music of Chris Brown for justly tuned piano, electronics, oboe and cello with Chris, Kyle Bruckmann and engineer Phil Perkins at the helm.
LAYERED EVENTS with Søren Kjærgaard out on Cassauna
These duo improvisations with Danish keyboard maestro Søren Kjaergaard are now out on cassette from Important Records' CASSAUNA label. Bathe your ears in a melange of cello, voice, prepared piano, Hammond B3 organ and Rhodes piano.
Commissioned to compose for Splinter Reeds Ensemble
I'm very honored to receive a grant from the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music to write a new piece for the wonderful woodwind quintet Splinter Reeds. I'll be working with the stellar ensemble of Kyle Bruckmann, Dana Jessen, David Wegehaupt, Bill Kalinkos and Jeff Anderle.
Photo by Aubrey Trinnaman
ROSE ARREST published on SFMOMA's OpenSpace
Rose Arrest is a graphic score for sight, scent and sound; commissioned by the SFMOMA online magazine Open Space, it's now online as a part of an issue inspired by the words of Barbara Einzig. I'm grateful to the editors Claudia La Rocco and Gordon Faylor for the invitation to be part of this issue.
THE UNLEARNING @ YBCA's New Frequencies Festival
A few moments captured from The Unlearning at YBCA, performing with the extraordinary Carla Kihlstedt. (Thanks to Lenny Gonzales for these great shots!) Still buzzing from this night...
Performance of LIPS OF LAPIS LAZULI
A very moving visit to Cal State University Monterey Bay to perform my piece Lips of Lapis Lazuli with students and faculty. The evening was part of a semester long focus on Songs for Women Living WIth War and included a powerful talk by writer M. Evelina Galang about Filipina comfort women of WW2. Chapeau to Johanna Poethig for the vision of this project.
Goya meets ancient Neolithic goddesses
Revisiting the splendid & haunting imagery created by Daria Martin and Mao Mollona for
The Unlearning in preparation for a performance at YBCA on April 29th...save the date!
OBELISK TRIO at ProArts, Oakland
What a treat to surf the waves of justly tuned pitch sets, noise, rhythms and melodies flanked by band leader electronics wizard Chris Brown and oboe/analog electronics frgeek (yes, that's my new term of endearment for) Kyle Bruckmann. Thanks to Johanna Poethig for this photo of Obelisk Trio performing at ProArts Gallery in Oakland.
Performing HARBORS with Ellen Fullman at The Lab
Harbors is a piece for cello + electronics and Long String Instrument that has been evolving over the last year in collaboration with Ellen Fullman. We performed this during Ellen's residency at The Lab, which also included a premiere of Past The Angels, a piece composed by Ellen for ensemble members Ryan Jobes, Dave Douglas, Crystal Pascucci and Mark Clifford. <Plaid is the new !black!>
QUINTILLIONS GREEN out on Otoroku
Last year's performance with Fred Frith, John Butcher and Heike Liss at Cafe Oto in London is now available for download! I was very honored to be part of Fred's residency and even more thrilled that a recording of this evening is out for those curious to time-travel. Gorgeous cover art by Heike. Download it hERe: OTOROKU shop of Cafe Oto.
Performing with Torben Ulrich & friends at Canessa Gallery
Torben Ulrich prepares to dispell sonic clogs for a performance of "Between N and A" at the Canessa Gallery, SF. Performance photo (by Holly Wilson) of the band: Bryan Day, TW, Adria Otte, Doug Caroll, Gabby Fluke-Mogal and Torben Ulrich.
