HOLLAND HOPSON AND JUSTIN PEAKE |
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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama’s Sonic Frontiers concert series is pleased to present new music composer/performers Holland Hopson and Justin Peake at 7:30pm on Thursday, March 7th in the The Bama Theatre’s Greensboro Room, 600 Greensboro Ave, Tuscaloosa, AL. Hopson and Peake will each perform solo sets of original compositions and improvised music. Hopson and Peake fuse acoustic and electronic music into entrancing new music appealing to both traditional and contemporary sensibilities.
Hopson’s music, grounded in appalachian folk traditions, and Peake’s, exploring new territory in jazz and dance musics, showcase the musicians’ Alabama roots and connection to regional music traditions. In conversation with these traditions, Hopson and Peake allow electronic elements of their work to envelop both listener and performer for intimate and often hypnotic music.
About Holland Hopson
Holland Hopson is a composer, improviser, and electronic artist. As an instrumentalist he performs on soprano saxophone, clawhammer banjo and electronics. Holland often augments his instruments with custom-designed sensor interfaces and performs with his own highly responsive, interactive computer programs. In addition to composing and performing, Holland is a vital member of the Sonic Frontiers team and an instructor at the University of Alabama.
Holland has held recent residencies at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Florida, where he worked with interactive electronics pioneer David Behrman; at LEMURPlex, Brooklyn, where he composed music for and performed with robotic instruments; and Harvestworks Digital Media Arts, New York, where he developed a sound installation based on Marcel Duchamp’s sculpture, With Hidden Noise.
Holland’s film sound and scoring work recently took him to Mt. Washington, New Hampshire, “home of the world’s worst weather,” where he somehow managed not to get blown off the mountain while recording location sound for Jacqueline Goss’s The Observers. Holland’s recently released companion soundtrack to the film is titled Wind Whistling in Overhead Wires.
An avid phonographer, Holland has recorded sounds on five continents and in over a dozen countries.
Holland’s most recent solo recording is Post and Beam, a collection of original and traditional appalachian songs arranged for banjo and live electronics. The Albany Times-Union called Post & Beam “a haunting, often mesmerizing album of old songs and new sounds.”
“…vocalist-banjo player Holland Hopson magnificently melded old-timey roots music with 21st century technology…”
–Greg Haymes, The Albany Times Union
About Justin Peake
Justin Peake draws from a well of creativity in his professional life; as a drummer, percussionist, sound designer, DJ, music theorist, composer, visual artist, and recording producer, he has a unique and innovative ability to fine-tune his wide range of skills to fit the specifics of a multitude of projects. As a musician, Peake presents a multifaceted approach to a huge breadth of genres; his project Beautiful Bells encompasses a range of dance-inducing musical tastes that are gathered and reworked beneath the wide-stretching electronic umbrella, while The Moon in Gemini allows for eloquent illustration of more textural, improvisational sounds.
Originally from Alabama, Peake began his love affair with music through the drums, then quickly learned how to produce. Later evolving into a composer, director and conceptual artist, he has developed his art into a three-dimensional, fully immersive experience. His foundation in jazz brings yet another distinct and notable element to his work; Peake is one of only a handful of artists with the ability to perform professionally on his instrument while also composing professionally as a producer, and blending these two worlds together is at the forefront of his expertise. Perhaps more importantly, these two aspects of his career are what keep Peake’s artistic experience fresh and exciting; one night he may be playing along the edges of an extended drum solo for a ravenous crowd, while the next day’s itinerary involves stepping off of a plane and heading to a Beautiful Bells show to enter an entirely different side of his sound.
In 2012, Justin established Articulated Works, a multimedia production company and art/music label based in New Orleans.
“Peake’s projects are best understood in terms of surfaces and how they interact with each other and the world around them. The silent spaces he leaves often allow the sound of the room to become part of the composition.”
- Alex Rawls, Off Beat Magazine
Sonic Frontiers is a cutting-edge concert series of innovative and experimental music that enriches the cultural life of West Alabama and invites creative exchange between world-class performers of adventurous music, students, and the greater community through public performances and discussions. All Sonic Frontiers events are free and open to the public. The events are sponsored by the University of Alabama’s New College, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Music, Creative Campus, Honors College, Blount Undergraduate Initiative and Capstone International. For more information call 205.348.9928 or visit: http://sonicfrontiers.ua.edu
Holland Hopson and Justin Peake perform Thursday, March 7, 2013 at 7:30pm at the Bama Theatre’s Greensboro Room, 600 Greensboro Ave.,Tuscaloosa AL. Admission is Free.
Video preview for Holland Hopson - “Blackjack David” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRk6cskXFTg
Video preview for Justin Peake: “Drum Solo,” Workshop at Badabum Atelier - http://vimeo.com/59588333
Hopson’s music, grounded in appalachian folk traditions, and Peake’s, exploring new territory in jazz and dance musics, showcase the musicians’ Alabama roots and connection to regional music traditions. In conversation with these traditions, Hopson and Peake allow electronic elements of their work to envelop both listener and performer for intimate and often hypnotic music.
About Holland Hopson
Holland Hopson is a composer, improviser, and electronic artist. As an instrumentalist he performs on soprano saxophone, clawhammer banjo and electronics. Holland often augments his instruments with custom-designed sensor interfaces and performs with his own highly responsive, interactive computer programs. In addition to composing and performing, Holland is a vital member of the Sonic Frontiers team and an instructor at the University of Alabama.
Holland has held recent residencies at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Florida, where he worked with interactive electronics pioneer David Behrman; at LEMURPlex, Brooklyn, where he composed music for and performed with robotic instruments; and Harvestworks Digital Media Arts, New York, where he developed a sound installation based on Marcel Duchamp’s sculpture, With Hidden Noise.
Holland’s film sound and scoring work recently took him to Mt. Washington, New Hampshire, “home of the world’s worst weather,” where he somehow managed not to get blown off the mountain while recording location sound for Jacqueline Goss’s The Observers. Holland’s recently released companion soundtrack to the film is titled Wind Whistling in Overhead Wires.
An avid phonographer, Holland has recorded sounds on five continents and in over a dozen countries.
Holland’s most recent solo recording is Post and Beam, a collection of original and traditional appalachian songs arranged for banjo and live electronics. The Albany Times-Union called Post & Beam “a haunting, often mesmerizing album of old songs and new sounds.”
“…vocalist-banjo player Holland Hopson magnificently melded old-timey roots music with 21st century technology…”
–Greg Haymes, The Albany Times Union
About Justin Peake
Justin Peake draws from a well of creativity in his professional life; as a drummer, percussionist, sound designer, DJ, music theorist, composer, visual artist, and recording producer, he has a unique and innovative ability to fine-tune his wide range of skills to fit the specifics of a multitude of projects. As a musician, Peake presents a multifaceted approach to a huge breadth of genres; his project Beautiful Bells encompasses a range of dance-inducing musical tastes that are gathered and reworked beneath the wide-stretching electronic umbrella, while The Moon in Gemini allows for eloquent illustration of more textural, improvisational sounds.
Originally from Alabama, Peake began his love affair with music through the drums, then quickly learned how to produce. Later evolving into a composer, director and conceptual artist, he has developed his art into a three-dimensional, fully immersive experience. His foundation in jazz brings yet another distinct and notable element to his work; Peake is one of only a handful of artists with the ability to perform professionally on his instrument while also composing professionally as a producer, and blending these two worlds together is at the forefront of his expertise. Perhaps more importantly, these two aspects of his career are what keep Peake’s artistic experience fresh and exciting; one night he may be playing along the edges of an extended drum solo for a ravenous crowd, while the next day’s itinerary involves stepping off of a plane and heading to a Beautiful Bells show to enter an entirely different side of his sound.
In 2012, Justin established Articulated Works, a multimedia production company and art/music label based in New Orleans.
“Peake’s projects are best understood in terms of surfaces and how they interact with each other and the world around them. The silent spaces he leaves often allow the sound of the room to become part of the composition.”
- Alex Rawls, Off Beat Magazine
Sonic Frontiers is a cutting-edge concert series of innovative and experimental music that enriches the cultural life of West Alabama and invites creative exchange between world-class performers of adventurous music, students, and the greater community through public performances and discussions. All Sonic Frontiers events are free and open to the public. The events are sponsored by the University of Alabama’s New College, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Music, Creative Campus, Honors College, Blount Undergraduate Initiative and Capstone International. For more information call 205.348.9928 or visit: http://sonicfrontiers.ua.edu
Holland Hopson and Justin Peake perform Thursday, March 7, 2013 at 7:30pm at the Bama Theatre’s Greensboro Room, 600 Greensboro Ave.,Tuscaloosa AL. Admission is Free.
Video preview for Holland Hopson - “Blackjack David” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRk6cskXFTg
Video preview for Justin Peake: “Drum Solo,” Workshop at Badabum Atelier - http://vimeo.com/59588333
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MERIDIAN PERCUSSION TRIO
Adventurous Percussion Trio to Perform at UA February 25th
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama’s Sonic Frontiers concert series is pleased to present Meridian, a percussion trio featuring UA faculty member Tim Feeney with Nick Hennies (Austin, TX) and Greg Stuart (Columbia, SC) at 7:30pm on Monday, February 25th at the Moody Music Building Recital Hall, 810 2nd Avenue,Tuscaloosa AL. Meridian will perform finely crafted, glacially-paced, otherworldly soundscapes using experimental techniques on traditional percussion instruments.
In creating this music, Meridian reimagines or “primitivizes” its materials, eschewing their training as classical percussionists in favor of exploring acoustic phenomena, so an instrument like a snare drum becomes a cylindrical shell with a flexible membrane. Viewed from this perspective, their instruments become unique sound-making and filtering objects to be set into vibration by resonant metals, scraping implements, fingers, bows, or feedback circuitry. In performance, each musician invents a new method for producing sound, a new aggregate instrument, in real-time.
About Meridian’s Members
UA faculty member Tim Feeney has performed as an improviser with musicians including thereminist James Coleman, cellist/electronic musician Vic Rawlings, tape-deck manipulator Howard Stelzer, trumpeter Nate Wooley, sound artists Jed Speare and Ernst Karel, saxophonist Jack Wright, pianist Annie Lewandowski, and the trio ONDA. As an interpreter, Tim was a founding member of the quartet So Percussion, the duo Non Zero with saxophonist Brian Sacawa, and the ensemble LotUs. He has toured throughout the United States, including notable performances at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art, New York's The Stone, the Center for New Music and Audio Technology at UC-Berkeley, the Stanford Art Museum, Mills College, Princeton University, and Oberlin College. His recordings appear on the Sedimental, Soul on Rice, Audiobot, Homophoni, Full Spectrum, and Brassland labels.
“"Feeney's solo improvisation gave a glimpse into a mad scientist's lab, as he produced an array of startlingly resonant sounds from his odds and ends and homemade gadgets." -- Kevin Lowenthal, Boston Globe
Nick Hennies is a percussionist and composer from Louisville, KY currently residing in Austin, TX. His work is primarily concerned with redefining and re-purposing the role of traditional percussion instruments through repetition, meditation, and immersion. In addition to Meridian, he currently performs with The Weird Weeds, Waco Girls, and the Austin New Music Co-op. Hennies has collaborated with Arnold Dreyblatt, Radu Malfatti, Jandek, Charles Curtis, Ellen Fullman, Michael Pisaro, and many other composers and improvisers from the United States and abroad. His work as both performer and composer can be heard on Quiet Design, Sentient Recognition Archive, Full Spectrum, Thor's Rubber Hammer, and more. Notable appearances include the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Blanton Museum, Festival Agora (Paris), and the LA Philharmonic's Green Umbrella Series.
Greg Stuart centers his current work around pieces from the experimental tradition, the Wandelweiser Collective, and, in particular, an ongoing collaboration with the American composer Michael Pisaro. Since 2006, Stuart and Pisaro have been producing evening length works in the form of multi-channel recordings. These works employ diverse instrumentations in large ensemble formations and are often combined with live performance. Stuart was a member of the acclaimed percussion ensemble red fish blue fish (2000-2008) with whom he performed in numerous concert series and festivals including the L.A. Philharmonic's Green Umbrella Series, the Bang on a Can Marathon, June in Buffalo and the Taipei International Percussion Convention among many others. Stuart has recorded extensively for Mode Records, performing works by Xenakis, Stockhausen, Reynolds and Scelsi, and can also be heard on Edition Wandelweiser, Tzadik, Insides and Accretions.
Sonic Frontiers is a cutting-edge concert series of innovative and experimental music that enriches the cultural life of West Alabama and invites creative exchange between world-class performers of adventurous music, students, and the greater community through public performances and discussions. All Sonic Frontiers events are free and open to the public. The events are sponsored by the University of Alabama’s New College, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Music, Creative Campus, Honors College, Blount Undergraduate Initiative and Capstone International. For more information call 205.348.9928 or visit: http://sonicfrontiers.ua.edu
Meridian performs Monday, February 25, 2013 at 7:30pm at the Moody Music Building Recital Hall, 810 2nd Avenue,Tuscaloosa AL. Admission is Free.
Video preview: "Meridian at Redux, pt. 1": http://youtu.be/50fhp2B_-Lo
In creating this music, Meridian reimagines or “primitivizes” its materials, eschewing their training as classical percussionists in favor of exploring acoustic phenomena, so an instrument like a snare drum becomes a cylindrical shell with a flexible membrane. Viewed from this perspective, their instruments become unique sound-making and filtering objects to be set into vibration by resonant metals, scraping implements, fingers, bows, or feedback circuitry. In performance, each musician invents a new method for producing sound, a new aggregate instrument, in real-time.
About Meridian’s Members
UA faculty member Tim Feeney has performed as an improviser with musicians including thereminist James Coleman, cellist/electronic musician Vic Rawlings, tape-deck manipulator Howard Stelzer, trumpeter Nate Wooley, sound artists Jed Speare and Ernst Karel, saxophonist Jack Wright, pianist Annie Lewandowski, and the trio ONDA. As an interpreter, Tim was a founding member of the quartet So Percussion, the duo Non Zero with saxophonist Brian Sacawa, and the ensemble LotUs. He has toured throughout the United States, including notable performances at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art, New York's The Stone, the Center for New Music and Audio Technology at UC-Berkeley, the Stanford Art Museum, Mills College, Princeton University, and Oberlin College. His recordings appear on the Sedimental, Soul on Rice, Audiobot, Homophoni, Full Spectrum, and Brassland labels.
“"Feeney's solo improvisation gave a glimpse into a mad scientist's lab, as he produced an array of startlingly resonant sounds from his odds and ends and homemade gadgets." -- Kevin Lowenthal, Boston Globe
Nick Hennies is a percussionist and composer from Louisville, KY currently residing in Austin, TX. His work is primarily concerned with redefining and re-purposing the role of traditional percussion instruments through repetition, meditation, and immersion. In addition to Meridian, he currently performs with The Weird Weeds, Waco Girls, and the Austin New Music Co-op. Hennies has collaborated with Arnold Dreyblatt, Radu Malfatti, Jandek, Charles Curtis, Ellen Fullman, Michael Pisaro, and many other composers and improvisers from the United States and abroad. His work as both performer and composer can be heard on Quiet Design, Sentient Recognition Archive, Full Spectrum, Thor's Rubber Hammer, and more. Notable appearances include the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Blanton Museum, Festival Agora (Paris), and the LA Philharmonic's Green Umbrella Series.
Greg Stuart centers his current work around pieces from the experimental tradition, the Wandelweiser Collective, and, in particular, an ongoing collaboration with the American composer Michael Pisaro. Since 2006, Stuart and Pisaro have been producing evening length works in the form of multi-channel recordings. These works employ diverse instrumentations in large ensemble formations and are often combined with live performance. Stuart was a member of the acclaimed percussion ensemble red fish blue fish (2000-2008) with whom he performed in numerous concert series and festivals including the L.A. Philharmonic's Green Umbrella Series, the Bang on a Can Marathon, June in Buffalo and the Taipei International Percussion Convention among many others. Stuart has recorded extensively for Mode Records, performing works by Xenakis, Stockhausen, Reynolds and Scelsi, and can also be heard on Edition Wandelweiser, Tzadik, Insides and Accretions.
Sonic Frontiers is a cutting-edge concert series of innovative and experimental music that enriches the cultural life of West Alabama and invites creative exchange between world-class performers of adventurous music, students, and the greater community through public performances and discussions. All Sonic Frontiers events are free and open to the public. The events are sponsored by the University of Alabama’s New College, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Music, Creative Campus, Honors College, Blount Undergraduate Initiative and Capstone International. For more information call 205.348.9928 or visit: http://sonicfrontiers.ua.edu
Meridian performs Monday, February 25, 2013 at 7:30pm at the Moody Music Building Recital Hall, 810 2nd Avenue,Tuscaloosa AL. Admission is Free.
Video preview: "Meridian at Redux, pt. 1": http://youtu.be/50fhp2B_-Lo
RAUDELUNAS PATAPHYSICAL REDUX
Legendary Tuscaloosa Experimental Arts Collective to Perform at UA February 2nd
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama’s Sonic Frontiers concert series and Trans/Productions is pleased to present the Raudelunas 'Pataphysical Redux, featuring legendary Alabama experimentalists LaDonna Smith, Anne LeBaron, Craig Nutt, Davey Williams and many special guests on Saturday, February 2nd at 7:30pm in the Ferguson Center Theater, 751 Campus Drive, Tuscaloosa, AL. The performance will follow a 5:007:00pm closing reception of the Raudelunas Exposition at the Ferguson Art Gallery.
The Raudelunas 'Pataphysical Redux brings together many of the original members of this groundbreaking Alabama art collective, including internationally acclaimed composer/harpist Anne LeBaron, avantblues guitar master Davey Williams, world renowned violinist/violist LaDonna Smith, big band leader & wood sculptor Craig Nutt, and many special guests, as they return to the site of one of their most infamous recordings, the Raudelunas 'Pataphysical Revue, recorded at the Ferguson Theater in 1975 and listed in The Wire magazine's "100 Records That Set The World On Fire While No One Was Listening."
Raudelunas will present works both old and new, featuring performances by the Trans Duo, Jewels Trio, the Captains of Industry, a 21st century recreation of Anne LeBaron's notorious amphibian tape loop composition “Concerto For Active Frogs” and informative talks by the artists themselves. To add to the festivities, an extended trailer of Skizz Cyzyk’s Rev. Fred Lane/Raudelunas documentary Icepick to the Moon will be screened, as well as rare "lost" footage of Raudelunas from a mid1970s UA homecoming parade which has not been seen since originally filmed by artist and UA alum Fletcher Hayes.
The performance will simultaneously befuddle, amuse, amaze, and inspire, offering a glimpse into the secret history of some of Alabama’s most cutting edge artists.
Sonic Frontiers is an innovative concert series that brings further artistic diversity to West Alabama and invites creative exchange between worldclass performers of adventurous music, students, and the greater community through public performances and discussions. All Sonic Frontiers events are free and open to the public. The events are sponsored by the University of Alabama’s New College, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Music, Creative Campus, Honors College, Blount Undergraduate Initiative, and Capstone International.
The Raudelunas 'Pataphysical Redux performs Saturday, February 2nd, 2013 at 7:30pm in the Ferguson Center Theater, 751 Campus Drive, Tuscaloosa, AL. Admission is Free.
ABOUT SONIC FRONTIERS
Tuscaloosa, Alabama’s very own adventurous music series, UA's Sonic Frontiers premiered in fall 2011, building on a number of successful experimental music events organized in the area since 2008 by series founder and artistic director Dr. Andrew Raffo Dewar, a composer/musician and assistant professor in New College and the School of Music at the University of Alabama. The 20112012 season included five events ranging from Nii Noi Nortey, a Ghanaian saxophonist and instrument inventor, to Mr. Bungle and Melvins bassist Trevor Dunn’s NYCbased avantjazz quartet, Endangered Blood. The next Sonic Frontiers event will be the Meridian Percussion Trio on February 25th at UA’s Moody Music Recital Hall featuring Tim Feeney, Nick Hennies, and Greg Stuart. For more information about Sonic Frontiers, call 205.348.9928 or visit: http://creativecampus.ua.edu/project/sonicfrontiers
The Raudelunas 'Pataphysical Redux brings together many of the original members of this groundbreaking Alabama art collective, including internationally acclaimed composer/harpist Anne LeBaron, avantblues guitar master Davey Williams, world renowned violinist/violist LaDonna Smith, big band leader & wood sculptor Craig Nutt, and many special guests, as they return to the site of one of their most infamous recordings, the Raudelunas 'Pataphysical Revue, recorded at the Ferguson Theater in 1975 and listed in The Wire magazine's "100 Records That Set The World On Fire While No One Was Listening."
Raudelunas will present works both old and new, featuring performances by the Trans Duo, Jewels Trio, the Captains of Industry, a 21st century recreation of Anne LeBaron's notorious amphibian tape loop composition “Concerto For Active Frogs” and informative talks by the artists themselves. To add to the festivities, an extended trailer of Skizz Cyzyk’s Rev. Fred Lane/Raudelunas documentary Icepick to the Moon will be screened, as well as rare "lost" footage of Raudelunas from a mid1970s UA homecoming parade which has not been seen since originally filmed by artist and UA alum Fletcher Hayes.
The performance will simultaneously befuddle, amuse, amaze, and inspire, offering a glimpse into the secret history of some of Alabama’s most cutting edge artists.
Sonic Frontiers is an innovative concert series that brings further artistic diversity to West Alabama and invites creative exchange between worldclass performers of adventurous music, students, and the greater community through public performances and discussions. All Sonic Frontiers events are free and open to the public. The events are sponsored by the University of Alabama’s New College, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Music, Creative Campus, Honors College, Blount Undergraduate Initiative, and Capstone International.
The Raudelunas 'Pataphysical Redux performs Saturday, February 2nd, 2013 at 7:30pm in the Ferguson Center Theater, 751 Campus Drive, Tuscaloosa, AL. Admission is Free.
ABOUT SONIC FRONTIERS
Tuscaloosa, Alabama’s very own adventurous music series, UA's Sonic Frontiers premiered in fall 2011, building on a number of successful experimental music events organized in the area since 2008 by series founder and artistic director Dr. Andrew Raffo Dewar, a composer/musician and assistant professor in New College and the School of Music at the University of Alabama. The 20112012 season included five events ranging from Nii Noi Nortey, a Ghanaian saxophonist and instrument inventor, to Mr. Bungle and Melvins bassist Trevor Dunn’s NYCbased avantjazz quartet, Endangered Blood. The next Sonic Frontiers event will be the Meridian Percussion Trio on February 25th at UA’s Moody Music Recital Hall featuring Tim Feeney, Nick Hennies, and Greg Stuart. For more information about Sonic Frontiers, call 205.348.9928 or visit: http://creativecampus.ua.edu/project/sonicfrontiers
GEORGE CREMASCHI
Bassist, Improviser, Composer based in Czech Republic to Perform at UA January 17th
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama’s Sonic Frontiers concert series is pleased to present Czech Republic-based bassist, improviser and composer George Cremaschi on Thursday, January 17th at the Paul R. Jones Gallery, 2308 Sixth Street,Tuscaloosa AL. Cremaschi will perform a solo set of original compositions and improvisations for acoustic bass and electronics. The second half of the concert will feature the world premiere trio of Cremaschi, and UA’s own Dr. Tim Feeney (percussion) and Dr. Andrew Raffo Dewar (soprano saxophone).
George Cremaschi was born in New York City, where he studied music and composition. Utilizing mostly contrabass and electronics, his work attempts to dissolve the boundaries between music, sound art, and noise.
Mr. Cremaschi has made music for dancers, improvisers, installation artists, poets, film, folk musicians, theater groups, orchestras, rock bands and pop divas, and has worked with a long list of fantastic artists including Nicolas Collins, Evan Parker, Franz Hautzinger, Gino Robair, Christof Kurzmann, dieb13, Mats Gustafsson, Lê Quan Ninh, and many others.
As an interpreter, Cremaschi has performed works by major composers including Morton Feldman, James Tenney, John Cage, Iannis Xenakis, Krzysztof Penderecki, Louis Andriessen, and has appeared on over 30 recordings on the Apestaartje, Evolving Ear, Black Saint, Leo, Beak Doctor, Emanem, Rastascan, Music & Arts, Nine Winds and 482 Music labels. He currently lives in Prague, Czech Republic.
“[Cremaschi] mistreated his instrument with plastic knives, chopsticks and other items, he elicits incredible sounds, pulls the strings and nerves with his unusual view of music. He walks around with his bass as did hardcore icons Black Flag with their guitars: the squeal of feedback and brute force is released, the master is breathing hard, playing staccato riffs. More relaxed pieces experiment with industrial sounds and disconcerting noise collages.” -- Markus Wittpenn, Leipziger Volkszeitung.
Sonic Frontiers is a cutting-edge concert series that brings further artistic diversity to the UA campus and invites creative exchange between world-class performers of adventurous music, students, and the greater community through public performances and discussions. All Sonic Frontiers events are free and open to the public. The events are sponsored by the University of Alabama’s New College, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Music, Creative Campus, Honors College, Blount Undergraduate Initiative and Capstone International. For more information call 205.348.9928 or visit: http://creativecampus.ua.edu/project/sonic-frontiers
George Cremaschi performs Thursday, January 17, 2012 at 7:30pm at the Paul R. Jones Gallery, 2308 Sixth Street,Tuscaloosa AL. Admission is Free.
Video preview: "Solo contrabass": https://vimeo.com/39208639
George Cremaschi was born in New York City, where he studied music and composition. Utilizing mostly contrabass and electronics, his work attempts to dissolve the boundaries between music, sound art, and noise.
Mr. Cremaschi has made music for dancers, improvisers, installation artists, poets, film, folk musicians, theater groups, orchestras, rock bands and pop divas, and has worked with a long list of fantastic artists including Nicolas Collins, Evan Parker, Franz Hautzinger, Gino Robair, Christof Kurzmann, dieb13, Mats Gustafsson, Lê Quan Ninh, and many others.
As an interpreter, Cremaschi has performed works by major composers including Morton Feldman, James Tenney, John Cage, Iannis Xenakis, Krzysztof Penderecki, Louis Andriessen, and has appeared on over 30 recordings on the Apestaartje, Evolving Ear, Black Saint, Leo, Beak Doctor, Emanem, Rastascan, Music & Arts, Nine Winds and 482 Music labels. He currently lives in Prague, Czech Republic.
“[Cremaschi] mistreated his instrument with plastic knives, chopsticks and other items, he elicits incredible sounds, pulls the strings and nerves with his unusual view of music. He walks around with his bass as did hardcore icons Black Flag with their guitars: the squeal of feedback and brute force is released, the master is breathing hard, playing staccato riffs. More relaxed pieces experiment with industrial sounds and disconcerting noise collages.” -- Markus Wittpenn, Leipziger Volkszeitung.
Sonic Frontiers is a cutting-edge concert series that brings further artistic diversity to the UA campus and invites creative exchange between world-class performers of adventurous music, students, and the greater community through public performances and discussions. All Sonic Frontiers events are free and open to the public. The events are sponsored by the University of Alabama’s New College, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Music, Creative Campus, Honors College, Blount Undergraduate Initiative and Capstone International. For more information call 205.348.9928 or visit: http://creativecampus.ua.edu/project/sonic-frontiers
George Cremaschi performs Thursday, January 17, 2012 at 7:30pm at the Paul R. Jones Gallery, 2308 Sixth Street,Tuscaloosa AL. Admission is Free.
Video preview: "Solo contrabass": https://vimeo.com/39208639
THE ULLMAN / SWELL 4
Free Jazz Luminaries from Germany & New York City Perform at UA October 17th
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama’s Sonic Frontiers concert series is pleased to present the Ullman/Swell 4 featuring German multi-instrumentalist Gebhard Ullman (reeds) and NYC-based musicians Steve Swell (trombone), Barry Altschul (drums) and Hill Greene (bass) on Wednesday, October 17th in the University of Alabama School of Music’s Recital Hall. Both Ullman and Swell compose for the group, which explores the many possibilities of jazz, from the traditional to the experimental.
This high energy quartet of veteran master musicians has collectively performed with an incredibly diverse range of major jazz figures. Trombonist Steve Swell cut his teeth in the 1970s and early 1980s with mainstream jazz artists Buddy Rich and Lionel Hampton before coming into his own with avant-garde composer and saxophonist Makanda Ken McIntyre, pianist Cecil Taylor, saxophonist Tim Berne, drummer Joey Baron, and many others. Legendary 69-year-old drummer Barry Altschul worked for many years with such giants as Art Pepper, Sam Rivers, Anthony Braxton, and Paul Bley. Bassist Hill Greene has also worked with the full spectrum of the jazz tradition, a statement made visible through his connection to two pianists, the influential post-bebop legend Kenny Barron and young modernist jazz star Vijay Iyer.
Of Gebhard Ullman, All Music Guide’s Steven Loewy has said, "Few improvising artists can boast the stream of creative ideas that seem to bubble from Gebhard Ullmann. He focuses on the fundamentals of improvised jazz: melody, sound, syncopation and technical excellence, but what makes his writing and playing so successful is his seemingly never ending innovative nature: without grasping for neoteric straws, Ullmann's performances are grounded in the past but plunge forward deliberately toward modernity."
Sonic Frontiers is a cutting-edge concert series that brings further artistic diversity to the UA campus and invites creative exchange between music professionals, students, and the greater community through public performances and class visits by world-class performers of adventurous music. All Sonic Frontiers events are free and open to the public. The events are sponsored by the University of Alabama’s New College, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Music and Creative Campus. For more information call 205.348.9928 or visit: http://creativecampus.ua.edu/project/sonic-frontiers
The Ullman/Swell 4 perform Wednesday, October 17, 2012 at 7:30pm at the University of Alabama School of Music’s Moody Music Building Recital Hall. Admission is Free.
Video preview: "Planet Hopping..." by Steve Swell: http://youtu.be/NPhQiMzNMpA
This high energy quartet of veteran master musicians has collectively performed with an incredibly diverse range of major jazz figures. Trombonist Steve Swell cut his teeth in the 1970s and early 1980s with mainstream jazz artists Buddy Rich and Lionel Hampton before coming into his own with avant-garde composer and saxophonist Makanda Ken McIntyre, pianist Cecil Taylor, saxophonist Tim Berne, drummer Joey Baron, and many others. Legendary 69-year-old drummer Barry Altschul worked for many years with such giants as Art Pepper, Sam Rivers, Anthony Braxton, and Paul Bley. Bassist Hill Greene has also worked with the full spectrum of the jazz tradition, a statement made visible through his connection to two pianists, the influential post-bebop legend Kenny Barron and young modernist jazz star Vijay Iyer.
Of Gebhard Ullman, All Music Guide’s Steven Loewy has said, "Few improvising artists can boast the stream of creative ideas that seem to bubble from Gebhard Ullmann. He focuses on the fundamentals of improvised jazz: melody, sound, syncopation and technical excellence, but what makes his writing and playing so successful is his seemingly never ending innovative nature: without grasping for neoteric straws, Ullmann's performances are grounded in the past but plunge forward deliberately toward modernity."
Sonic Frontiers is a cutting-edge concert series that brings further artistic diversity to the UA campus and invites creative exchange between music professionals, students, and the greater community through public performances and class visits by world-class performers of adventurous music. All Sonic Frontiers events are free and open to the public. The events are sponsored by the University of Alabama’s New College, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Music and Creative Campus. For more information call 205.348.9928 or visit: http://creativecampus.ua.edu/project/sonic-frontiers
The Ullman/Swell 4 perform Wednesday, October 17, 2012 at 7:30pm at the University of Alabama School of Music’s Moody Music Building Recital Hall. Admission is Free.
Video preview: "Planet Hopping..." by Steve Swell: http://youtu.be/NPhQiMzNMpA
UA ANNOUNCES 2012-2013 SEASON OF SONIC FRONTIERS CONCERT SERIES
First Concert Features Tim Daisy’s “Vox Arcana” Trio from Chicago
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama is pleased to present the second season of Sonic Frontiers, with a lineup of genre-defying concerts featuring musicians from Chicago, New York City, Germany, the Czech Republic and Alabama. Sonic Frontiers is a cutting-edge concert series that brings further artistic diversity to the UA campus and invites creative exchange between music professionals, students, and the greater community through public performances and class visits by world-class performers of adventurous music.
The 2012-13 season begins on September 28 with Vox Arcana and continues on October 17 with the Gebhard Ullman / Steve Swell Quartet. All Sonic Frontiers events are free and open to the public. The events are sponsored by the University of Alabama’s New College, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Music and Creative Campus. For more information call 205.348.9928 or visithttp://creativecampus.ua.edu/project/sonic-frontiers
OPENING EVENT – TIM DAISY’S VOX ARCANA
Friday, September 28, 2012, 7:30 PM
University of Alabama School of Music – Moody Music Building Recital Hall
Free Admission
The 2012-13 season begins on September 28 with Vox Arcana and continues on October 17 with the Gebhard Ullman / Steve Swell Quartet. All Sonic Frontiers events are free and open to the public. The events are sponsored by the University of Alabama’s New College, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Music and Creative Campus. For more information call 205.348.9928 or visithttp://creativecampus.ua.edu/project/sonic-frontiers
OPENING EVENT – TIM DAISY’S VOX ARCANA
Friday, September 28, 2012, 7:30 PM
University of Alabama School of Music – Moody Music Building Recital Hall
Free Admission
photo credit: David Sampson
Tim Daisy’s Vox Arcana trio will perform at the University on Friday, September 28th at 7:30 pm in UA’s School of Music Recital Hall. The Chicago-based trio is led by percussionist/ composer Tim Daisy and includes James Falzone on clarinet and Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello and electronics. These internationally-acclaimed musicians have worked with an extraordinary range of artists, including legendary American minimalist composer Morton Feldman, Chicago avant-jazz icon Ken Vandermark, and the alt-rock band Wilco.
The group’s off-kilter instrumentation contrasts soaring, lyrical clarinet melodies with pleasantly burbling marimba figures and spiky electronic textures. The result is a lilting, gently swinging combination of contemporary chamber music and improvised music.
Daisy formed Vox Arcana in the spring of 2008 “as an outlet for my compositions that explore the dynamic between written thematic material and open improvisation and how the juxtaposition of these two elements influences the overall character of a piece.” The group’s 2010 release, Aerial Age, was called “smartly conceived and perfectly executed” by the Chicago Jazz Music Examiner. The trio is touring in support of their third release, Soft Focus.
FALL 2012 SONIC FRONTIERS CONCERT SERIES SCHEDULE
Friday, September 28, 2012, UA School of Music – Moody Recital Hall at 7:30 pm
Tim Daisy’s “Vox Arcana” trio from Chicago.
Audio preview: “The Silver Fence”: http://www.allosmusica.org/Downloads/Silver.mp3
Wednesday, October 17, UA School of Music – Moody Recital Hall at 7:30 pm
Ullman/Swell Quartet featuring Gebhard Ullman (reeds, Germany), Steve Swell (trombone, NYC), Barry Altschul (drums, NYC), Hill Greene (bass, NYC).
Video preview: “Planet Hopping…” by Steve Swell, http://youtu.be/NPhQiMzNMpA
SPRING 2013 PREVIEW
January 2013 George Cremaschi – Bassist and composer visiting from the Czech Republic.
February 2013 Raudelunas Revival – A one-night-only revival performance by Raudelunas, a legendary radical 1970s Tuscaloosa intermedia arts collective, in celebration of a retrospective exhibition in the Ferguson Student Center Gallery, featuring violist LaDonna Smith, guitarist Davey Williams and harpist/composer Anne LeBaron.
February 25, 2013 Tim Feeney, Nick Hennies and Greg Stuart percussion trio – New UA percussion professor Dr. Tim Feeney joins Nick Hennies (Austin, TX) and Greg Stuart (Columbia, SC) to perform improvised music for percussion and electronics.
March 2013 Holland Hopson, Justin Peake – Recent Tuscaloosa transplant Holland Hopson merges traditional Appalachian banjo with live electronics, plus music for percussion and electronics by Tuscaloosa native and New Orleans-based musician/composer Justin Peake.
April 8, 2013 UA Percussion Ensemble performs Brooklyn, NY-based composer Aaron Siegel’s composition Science is Only a Sometimes Friend for eight glockenspiels with audience participation in a special outdoor event.
ABOUT SONIC FRONTIERS
Tuscaloosa, Alabama’s very own adventurous music series, Sonic Frontiers premiered in spring 2012, building on a number of successful experimental music events organized in the area since 2008 by series founder and artistic director Dr. Andrew Raffo Dewar, a composer/musician and assistant professor in New College and the School of Music at the University of Alabama. The 2011-2012 season included five events ranging from Nii Noi Nortey, a Ghanaian saxophonist and instrument inventor to Mr. Bungle and Melvins bassist Trevor Dunn’s NYC-based avant-jazz quartet, Endangered Blood.
ABOUT CREATIVE CAMPUS
Under the auspices of UA’s Office of Academic Affairs, The Creative Campus is a collaborative system connecting students, faculty, and community to nurture innovative thinkers who turn ideas into action. Creative Campus seeks to serve as a hub of collaboration and creative activity at The University of Alabama. At the heart of Creative Campus is the undergraduate and graduate intern program. For more information on Creative Campus visit: http://www.creativecampus.ua.edu
The University of Alabama, a student-centered research university, is experiencing significant growth in both enrollment and academic quality. This growth, which is positively impacting the campus and the state’s economy, is in keeping with UA’s vision to be the university of Choice for the best and brightest students. UA, the state’s flagship university, is an academic community united in its commitment to enhancing the quality of life for all Alabamians.
Tim Daisy’s Vox Arcana trio will perform at the University on Friday, September 28th at 7:30 pm in UA’s School of Music Recital Hall. The Chicago-based trio is led by percussionist/ composer Tim Daisy and includes James Falzone on clarinet and Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello and electronics. These internationally-acclaimed musicians have worked with an extraordinary range of artists, including legendary American minimalist composer Morton Feldman, Chicago avant-jazz icon Ken Vandermark, and the alt-rock band Wilco.
The group’s off-kilter instrumentation contrasts soaring, lyrical clarinet melodies with pleasantly burbling marimba figures and spiky electronic textures. The result is a lilting, gently swinging combination of contemporary chamber music and improvised music.
Daisy formed Vox Arcana in the spring of 2008 “as an outlet for my compositions that explore the dynamic between written thematic material and open improvisation and how the juxtaposition of these two elements influences the overall character of a piece.” The group’s 2010 release, Aerial Age, was called “smartly conceived and perfectly executed” by the Chicago Jazz Music Examiner. The trio is touring in support of their third release, Soft Focus.
FALL 2012 SONIC FRONTIERS CONCERT SERIES SCHEDULE
Friday, September 28, 2012, UA School of Music – Moody Recital Hall at 7:30 pm
Tim Daisy’s “Vox Arcana” trio from Chicago.
Audio preview: “The Silver Fence”: http://www.allosmusica.org/Downloads/Silver.mp3
Wednesday, October 17, UA School of Music – Moody Recital Hall at 7:30 pm
Ullman/Swell Quartet featuring Gebhard Ullman (reeds, Germany), Steve Swell (trombone, NYC), Barry Altschul (drums, NYC), Hill Greene (bass, NYC).
Video preview: “Planet Hopping…” by Steve Swell, http://youtu.be/NPhQiMzNMpA
SPRING 2013 PREVIEW
January 2013 George Cremaschi – Bassist and composer visiting from the Czech Republic.
February 2013 Raudelunas Revival – A one-night-only revival performance by Raudelunas, a legendary radical 1970s Tuscaloosa intermedia arts collective, in celebration of a retrospective exhibition in the Ferguson Student Center Gallery, featuring violist LaDonna Smith, guitarist Davey Williams and harpist/composer Anne LeBaron.
February 25, 2013 Tim Feeney, Nick Hennies and Greg Stuart percussion trio – New UA percussion professor Dr. Tim Feeney joins Nick Hennies (Austin, TX) and Greg Stuart (Columbia, SC) to perform improvised music for percussion and electronics.
March 2013 Holland Hopson, Justin Peake – Recent Tuscaloosa transplant Holland Hopson merges traditional Appalachian banjo with live electronics, plus music for percussion and electronics by Tuscaloosa native and New Orleans-based musician/composer Justin Peake.
April 8, 2013 UA Percussion Ensemble performs Brooklyn, NY-based composer Aaron Siegel’s composition Science is Only a Sometimes Friend for eight glockenspiels with audience participation in a special outdoor event.
ABOUT SONIC FRONTIERS
Tuscaloosa, Alabama’s very own adventurous music series, Sonic Frontiers premiered in spring 2012, building on a number of successful experimental music events organized in the area since 2008 by series founder and artistic director Dr. Andrew Raffo Dewar, a composer/musician and assistant professor in New College and the School of Music at the University of Alabama. The 2011-2012 season included five events ranging from Nii Noi Nortey, a Ghanaian saxophonist and instrument inventor to Mr. Bungle and Melvins bassist Trevor Dunn’s NYC-based avant-jazz quartet, Endangered Blood.
ABOUT CREATIVE CAMPUS
Under the auspices of UA’s Office of Academic Affairs, The Creative Campus is a collaborative system connecting students, faculty, and community to nurture innovative thinkers who turn ideas into action. Creative Campus seeks to serve as a hub of collaboration and creative activity at The University of Alabama. At the heart of Creative Campus is the undergraduate and graduate intern program. For more information on Creative Campus visit: http://www.creativecampus.ua.edu
The University of Alabama, a student-centered research university, is experiencing significant growth in both enrollment and academic quality. This growth, which is positively impacting the campus and the state’s economy, is in keeping with UA’s vision to be the university of Choice for the best and brightest students. UA, the state’s flagship university, is an academic community united in its commitment to enhancing the quality of life for all Alabamians.
The Sonic Frontiers series was designed to further artistic diversity on the UA campus. The concerts fostered creative exchange between music professionals, UA students, faculty and staff, and the Tuscaloosa community through performances and class visits by world-class performers of avant-garde jazz.
The concerts were sponsored by UA’s New College, Capstone International, The College of Arts and Sciences, the Blount Undergraduate Initiative, the UA School of Music, the Ferguson Center, the department of Race & Gender Studies and Creative Campus.
The series featured the following events:
Monday, February 27: Harris Eisenstadt and his critically acclaimed quintet Canada Day lead off Sonic Frontiers in concert at the Ferguson Center Theater.
Wednesday, March 21: Saxophonist Jack Wright, the “Johnny Appleseed of free improvisation,” visted a New College seminar and performed a community-outreach solo concert.
Friday, April 6: Bassist and composer Trevor Dunn’s Endangered Blood quartet from New York performed in the Ferguson Center Theater. Dunn is known for his work with the rock band Mr. Bungle, but Endangered Blood is his avant-jazz project featuring internationally acclaimed musicians Jim Black on drums and Chris Speed and Oscar Noriega on saxophone.
Monday, April 23: A public screening of eminent ethnomusicologist Steven Feld’s 2009 documentary film about Ghanaian musician, inventor and visual artist Nii Noi Nortey, “Accra Trane Station: The Music and Art of Nii Noi Nortey”
Wednesday, April 25: Nii Noi Nortey, the acclaimed saxophonist and saxophone inventor from Accra, Ghana, offered a two-day residency involving a concert of solos, duos and trios with Dewar and renowned Japanese-American percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani at the Ferguson Center Theater. Nortey’s visit included four class visits at UA in the School of Music and New College.
The concerts were sponsored by UA’s New College, Capstone International, The College of Arts and Sciences, the Blount Undergraduate Initiative, the UA School of Music, the Ferguson Center, the department of Race & Gender Studies and Creative Campus.
The series featured the following events:
Monday, February 27: Harris Eisenstadt and his critically acclaimed quintet Canada Day lead off Sonic Frontiers in concert at the Ferguson Center Theater.
Wednesday, March 21: Saxophonist Jack Wright, the “Johnny Appleseed of free improvisation,” visted a New College seminar and performed a community-outreach solo concert.
Friday, April 6: Bassist and composer Trevor Dunn’s Endangered Blood quartet from New York performed in the Ferguson Center Theater. Dunn is known for his work with the rock band Mr. Bungle, but Endangered Blood is his avant-jazz project featuring internationally acclaimed musicians Jim Black on drums and Chris Speed and Oscar Noriega on saxophone.
Monday, April 23: A public screening of eminent ethnomusicologist Steven Feld’s 2009 documentary film about Ghanaian musician, inventor and visual artist Nii Noi Nortey, “Accra Trane Station: The Music and Art of Nii Noi Nortey”
Wednesday, April 25: Nii Noi Nortey, the acclaimed saxophonist and saxophone inventor from Accra, Ghana, offered a two-day residency involving a concert of solos, duos and trios with Dewar and renowned Japanese-American percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani at the Ferguson Center Theater. Nortey’s visit included four class visits at UA in the School of Music and New College.
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