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| Edmund J. Campion | ||
| Edmund J. Campion was born in Dallas Texas in 1957. He received his Doctorate degree in composition at Columbia University and attended the Paris Conservatory where he worked with composer Gérard Grisey. In 1994 he was commissioned by IRCAM ( L'Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique) in Paris to produce a large scale work for interactive electronics and midi-grand piano (Natural Selection) (ICMC 2002). Other projects include a Radio France Commission l'Autre, the full-scale ballet Playback (commissioned by IRCAM and the Socitété des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques ) and ME , for Baritone and live electronics, commissioned by the MANCA festival in association with CIRM (Centre National de Création Musicale). Campion is currently an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Berkeley in California where he also serves as the Composer in Residence at CNMAT (The Center for New Music and AudioTechnologies) . Other prizes and honors include: the Rome Prize, the Nadia Boulanger Award, the Paul Fromm Award at Tanglewood, a Charles Ives Award given by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a Fulbright scholarship for study in France. In 2002, Mr. Campion received a Fromm Foundation commission to compose a new work for the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. Future projects include a new work for the famed Percussion de Strasbourg Ensemble. http://www.cnmat.berkeley.edu/~campion/ Program Notes Melt me so with thy delicious numbers... is written for solo viola, solo cello or solo violin with live computer accompanist. One inspiration for the piece is the famous engraving by Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528) entitled Melancholia. In Dürer's picture, a depressed angel contemplates the Universe with human tools of measurement. In much the same way the soloist in Melt me so... is left to contemplate in isolation the electronic echo that is a direct result of the performers actions. The title is lifted from a text by Robert Herrick (1591-1674) entitled To Music, to Becalm His Fever. The work is collaborative in the sense that each performer works closely with the composer to develop a personalized version of the piece. Computers are not often thought of as being capable of contributing expressive musical responses in a live performance situation. My goal was to create a musical setting that places the electro-acoustic response on the same footing as a live musician who follows and accompanies a soloist. In Melt me so..., the computer analyzes signal coming from a microphone attached to the solo instrument and then transforms the incoming data to produce a musical accompaniment. The computer program works to support and enhance temporal, spectral and gestural details of the performance. These are things we take for granted when listening and judging finely crafted instrumental music and performance but seem to forget about when it comes to computer based musics. The viola version is dedicated to Ellen Ruth Rose. The Max/MSP software could not have been completed without generous support from the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies in the Department of Music at UC Berkeley. Special thanks to Matthew Wright for computer programming support. » Back To Top |
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| Ellen Ruth Rose | ||
| A champion of contemporary music in the US and abroad, violist ELLEN RUTH ROSE is currently a member of Empyrean Ensemble, the flagship new music ensemble in residence at UC Davis, and EARPLAY, the San Francisco-based contemporary ensemble, and performs regularly with the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Santa Cruz New Music Works and the Berkeley Contemporary Chamber Players. She has worked extensively with Frankfurt’s Ensemble Modern and the experimental ensembles Musik Fabrik and Thürmchen Ensemble, appearing at the Cologne Triennial, Berlin Biennial, Salzburg Zeitfluß, Brussels Ars Nova, Venice Biennial, Budapest Autumn, and Kuhmo (Finland) festivals. She has performed as soloist with the West German Radio Chorus, Empyrean Ensemble, Thürmchen Ensemble, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Santa Cruz New Music Works, the symphony orchestras of UC Berkeley and UC Davis, and at the San Francisco Other Minds and Ojai Music festivals. She has appeared on numerous recordings, including a Wergo CD of the chamber music of German composer Caspar Johannes Walter—featuring several pieces written for her—which won the German Recording Critics' new music prize in 1998. In 2003 she created, organized and directed Violafest!, a four-concert festival at UC Davis celebrating the viola in solos and chamber music new and old, including solos from the recently published anthology The American Viola (JB Elkus & Son, 2003) and premieres of pieces for four violas by Yu-Hui Chang and Laurie San Martin. Rose is currently on the Board of NEXMAP. She is the driving force behind the “Wired Viola” Initiative. » Back To Top |
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| Daniel Hayes | ||
| Daniel Hayes is a writer and photographer who lives in San Francisco. He graduated with a BA in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, and went on to receive a MFA in English from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is the author of two books: a novel, "Tearjerker" (2004), and a collection of stories, "Kissing You" (2003)--the latter of which incorporated photography. His work has been published in Los Angeles Times Magazine, TriQuarterly, Massachusetts Review, and elsewhere, and he received a Pushcart Prize for his fiction in 1990. He also has published nonfiction writing on the topic of psychoanalysis, and scholarly work on contemporary autobiography, in Partisan Review, Salmagundi, and a-b: Auto/Biography Studies. http://www.hayestearjerker.com/ Program Notes “A Strange Intimacy” Photography project My photography, and this particular project, is spurred by an everyday experience of living in San Francisco: someone passes me on the street, a total stranger; I glance at this person, at their face, and for some reason I feel an inexplicable tenderness toward them. And then, a moment later, they are gone. “Love at last sight,” Walter Benjamin called it—a uniquely urban experience, he thought, describing this strange form of intimacy. And who exactly is this stranger? What secret thoughts are coursing through their mind as I pass them? I walk on, resisting the urge to turn around; but before memory gets wiped clean, I can’t help but imagine what it might feel like to be someone other than myself—this particular person, at this distinct moment. Sometimes it makes me dizzy to go downtown, walk by hundreds of people, and realize that each one is positioned, in their own mind, at the center of a personal universe. It’s overwhelming—the sheer volume of conceit, the virtual humming of that many people suffering the burden of living their lives, keeping watch over themselves. I am watcher, too—a voyeur with a heart. As a photographer, I find myself wanting to bear witness to this strange phenomenon: each person, so small and insignificant, writ large on the self’s private screen. At the same time, I am more than a little desperate to hold on to what I’m about to lose—to capture that moment between finding someone and losing them. » Back To Top |
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| Guillermo Galindo | ||
| Guillermo Galindo's artistic work spans a wide spectrum of expression from symphonic composition to the domains of musical and visual computer interaction, electro-acoustic music, opera, film music, instrument building, three dimensional installation, performance and sound design. His music has been performed and shown at major festivals and art exhibits throughout the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. An active member of Pocha Nostra an international performance troupe based in San Francisco founded by Guillermo Gomez Peña.,Galindo’s most recent work has focused on music and sound as archetype, performance ritual, audience live interaction, the creation of cyber-totemic sound objects and the conception of site specific sonic environments Galindo’s major works include two orchestral works: Ome Acatl, (1997) based on the proportions and symbols of the Aztec Calendar, premiered by the OFUNAM Mexican National University Philharmonic Orchestra and Trade Routes (2005) for orchestra, spoken word and chorus, with text and spoken word by San Francisco Poet Laureate devorah major, commissioned and performed by the Oakland East Bay Symphony Orchestra and chorus. Guillermo Galindo’s piece Haiku II (for flute and recorded ambience) with text by Michael McClure, opened the first series of Latin American experimental music in the US at the The Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Redcat Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles 2003. Haiku II was also chosen among 150 compositions of all over the world to be performed at the World Music Days at the Miami ISCM Chapter 2006 . From 1992 to 2004, Galindo acted as a resident composer for the San Francisco based Asian American Dance Performances Unbound Spirit Dance Company. Guillermo Galindo has also written two operas; Califas 2000 with text and performance art by MacArthur Fellow Guillermo Gomez Peña and Decreation/Fight Cherries with text by MacArthur Fellow Anne Carson. Galindo’s composition Post Colonial Dicontinuum (2006) for chamber orchestra and electro-mechanic cybertotemic objects, commissioned by the Earplay Ensamble, premiered at the San Francisco International Arts Festival and was also performed at the new DeYoungMuseum, Examples of the above include recent performances with his interactive sound objects Maiz and Cruise4ide; and his installation live/en vivo, a virtual sanctuary in which a microscope converts the movements of an ant colony into live sounds and images. His collaboration with composer Chris Brown in the Transmission Series , concerning the transmission of culture through the information media of sound and radio, redefine the relationship of performers, space and audience. Some awards granted to Guillermo Galindo include: Meet the Composer EarplayEnsemble commissioning Grant 2005, Sistema Nacional de Creadores Composition Grant, Mexico City, Oakland East Bay Symphony Orchestral Commission “Words and Music Project” Oakland, CA, 2004; Creative Work FundMedia Arts Grant, San Francisco, CA 2003; California Arts Council Composers Fellowship 2000; American Composers Forum Continental Harmony Grant 1999; Residency for Composition at the Bannff Center for the Arts, Canada 1999; the ASCAP Special Awards 1995-05. Guillermo Galindo is on the advisory board of NEXMAP. http://www.galindog.com/ Program Notes |
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| Jen Cohen | ||
| Jen Cohen is a video artist who attempts to break the narrative, cinematic genre through the creation abstract video collages. Her video performances are often created improvisationally in real time while projecting onto non-traditional surfaces. She has exhibited her work through out the Bay Area including venues such as the de Young Museum, The Lab, SomArts, 21 Grand, The Fine Arts Cinema and Artists Television Access (ATA). She received a B.F.A in Film, Video and Performance from California College of Arts and Crafts. » Back To Top |
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| Linda Bouchard | ||
| Linda Bouchard has composed over 60 works in a variety of genres, from orchestral and chamber works to dance scores, concerti, and vocal pieces. Her works have been heard extensively on both sides of the Atlantic and have been recorded by the CBC and Analekta in Canada, ECM in Germany, and CRI in the US. A full compact disc of orchestral works called Exquisite Fires was released in 1998 on the Canadian label Marquis Classics. She has won awards in Canada and in the US. Linda studied with Henry Brant at Bennington College and then moved to New York City where she lived from 1979 to 1990. In 1990, she returned to Canada for the premiere of her first orchestral work Elan; in the fall of 1992 she accepted a three-year position as the first composer in-residence for the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. She remained in Montréal until the spring 1997 when she moved to San Francisco. She has been active as a freelance musician, composing, conducting and orchestrating since she graduated from school in 1982. After 25 years of composing strictly acoustic music she has become increasingly interested in how artistic traditions are evolving through the integration of electronic and digital tools. She is actively pursuing this exploration through her own projects, integrating multimedia into her work. Linda is the founder of NEXMAP and artistic director, a non-profit arts organization based in San Francisco, which produces international events in all mediums. http://www.lindabouchard.com |
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| Program Notes
The Water Project The Water Project is a Dance, Music and Visual Arts collaboration between French Canadian composer, Linda Bouchard, ODC choreographer, KT Nelson and visual artist, Kim Turos. The artists were interested in exploring people’s relationship to water, which has a history of catastrophe, mystery and daily necessity. The Water Project explores the contrast between seemingly significant human minutiae and the massive, uncontainable scale of the natural world. This project started with an intensive experimental week between Linda Bouchard and ODC dancers to generate the sound palette and narrative for the work from the ODC dancers. Bouchard explored the sonic world of water combined with the intimate sound world inhabited by the dancers. Using contact microphones to collect, record, and amplify the sounds generated by the dancers’ movement, their voices and the narration of their personal histories, Bouchard crafted a score that communicates human fragility, the power of water, the delicate balance of life and the overarching interconnectedness. Nelson built a physical language from the bottom up parallel with Bouchard’s exploration of an audio sound world. The second stage of this project culminated in a site-specific collaboration at ODC Dance Commons in San Francisco on October 1, 2006. Visual artist Kim Turos designed five installations with Bouchard’s musical score broadcast over the 23,000 square foot site, and ODC’s 11 dancers filling rooms, hallways and the roof top for this hour long performance. In March of 2007 ODC will present the proscenium version of the Water Project as part of ODC’s Dance Downtown Spring Season at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. San Francisco-based videographer Chantal Buard shot all video images presented tonight. Tonight’s presentation features a five-minute excerpt composed of sounds and images from the complete 40-minute piece. » Back To Top |
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| Kristin Tieche | ||
| Kristin Tieche holds a Master of Arts from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. She is a filmmaker currently residing in the San Francisco Bay Area. Currently, she edits programming for national cable networks such as Fine Living Channel and the Smithsonian Channel. She has also produced educational and documentary programming, as well as edited independent films. She has collaborated with dancers on video art projects in the past that have been screened at ODC Theatre in San Francisco and Tangente Theatre in Montreal. Through working with dancers and choreographers, she is able to combine her love for dance and movement with her love for motion picture in creating video projections for live performances and stand-alone dance films for film festivals. » Back To Top |
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| John Oliver | ||
| John Oliver came to international attention during 1988/89 when he won six prizes for five compositions ranging from chamber to orchestral to electroacoustic music. Among these the “City of Varese Prize” at the 1988 Luigi Russolo Competition (Italy), and the Canada Council’s Grand Prize at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s 8th National Competition for Young Composers for his live electroacoustic work El Reposo del Fuego. Based on these successes, the Canadian Opera Company commissioned Oliver’s first opera, Guacamayo’s Old Song and Dance which they produced in Toronto and at the Banff Centre in 1991, the first full-length opera of their Composer-in-Residence Program. Oliver has also been Composer-in-Residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Vancouver Opera, Vancouver Chamber Music Festival, and Music in the Morning, receiving commissions from them, as well as from the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, CBC Radio, CBC Radio Orchestra, Vancouver New Music, La Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, Ensemble Pierrot, and the St. Lawrence Quartet, among others. Oliver’s music has been heard at major international festivals, including the International Society for Contemporary Music World Music Days, the Juilliard School of Music Pacific Rim Festival, New Music Across America, Budapest Spring Festival, Ars Musica Festival (Brussels), Rendezvous Festival (London, England), En torno a los sonidos electrónicos (Mexico City), and the Subtropics III Music Festival (Miami, Florida), as well as in concert and on radio, in performances by The Borromeo String Quartet, Camerata Transsylvanica, Canadian Opera Company, CBC Radio Orchestra, New Music Concerts, Nouvelle Ensemble Moderne, L’Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Pierrot Ensemble, Saint Lawrence String Quartet, Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, Vancouver New Music, Vancouver Opera, and others. Oliver’s recent music combines new inventions with familiar and ancient musical materials and techniques from around the world, with a view to creating a perceptually-based, visceral listening experience. Master classes with I. Xenakis and Roger Reynolds, along with personal studies in perception, psychoacoustics, and social theory have contributed to his path. Oliver studied with composers with John Adams, Stephen Chatman, John Rea, Bruce Mather, and Philippe Boesmans. He holds a doctorate in composition from McGill University. |
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Program Notes |
| François Houle | ||
François Houle’s performances and recordings transcend the stylistic borders associated with his instrument in all of the diverse musical spheres he embraces: classical, jazz, new music, improvised music, and world music. |
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| Louis Dufort | ||
Louis Dufort has a bachelor’s degree in electroacoustic composition from the Faculty of Music of the Université de Montréal as well as a master’s degree from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, where he received a first prize with distinction. But university studies have not altered his iconoclasm and originality: his passion for electronic music and his love of cinema, painting and contemporary dance lead him to incorporate elements in his composition that are drawn from beyond music. His works have been presented in Montréal and in Europe, especially in France. In 1996 he won the First Jury Prize at the fifth Concours international électro-vidéo clip organized by ACREQ for his work entitled Vulvatron 2000 (1994). In 1997, he received First Prize from the SOCAN Foundation for Concept 2018957 (1995) and was a finalist at the Concours international Noroit-Léonce Petitot in Arras, France. Program Notes |
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