On February 25 & 26, 2012, Greenwich House Music School (GHMS) and North River Music present Ne(x)tworks in Music Without Dance, a festival focusing on recent and historical musical works originally created for performance with choreographed movement. Programed and performed by Ne(x)tworks (GHMS’s Ensemble-In-Residence), Music Without Dance’s two concert programs include music by several ensemble member composers as well as guests such as John King, Jon Gibson, Annea Lockwood, and David Behrman. On the afternoon of the 26th, Ne(x)tworks and North River Music host a panel event with several featured composers and a number of local choreographers including Yoshiko Chuma, among others. Topics for discussion include the evolving dialectic between contemporary dance and music communities, working processes and collaborative models, and how music functions in the context of dance or theater versus the effect of music in concert format.

Personnel
Ne(x)tworks: Joan La Barbara (voice), Shelley Burgon (harp, electronics), Miguel Frasconi (glass, electronics), Stephen Gosling (piano), Chris McIntyre (trombone)

JACK Quartet: Chris Otto, Ari Streisfeld (violin), John Pickford Richards (viola), Kevin McFarland (cello)

Zeena Parkins - composer, live electronics
Preshish Moments (Michael Carter) - creative technical director, live electronics
Cynthia Madansky - visual artist


Members of the "new music all-stars" (Time Out NY) ensemble Ne(x)tworks join forces with the "thrillingly vital" (Wash. Post) JACK Quartet to present the world premiere of composer and "renowned player and stretcher of boundaries" (Dusted) Zeena Parkins' Spellbeamed. Commissioned by Ne(x)tworks, Spellbeamed takes inspiration from literary critic Walter Benjamin’s vast Archive. Each musician collects their own archive of quotidian materials then utilized in an animated score developed in collaboration with visual artist collaborator Cynthia Madansky. The resultant sound is further enhanced with live-processing by Preshish Moments and the composer, creating an ecology of inter-relationships developed between improvisers and readers, sound and score, objects and instruments.

Both evenings begin with the premiere of three additional works by Ne(x)tworks composers Joan La Barbara, Miguel Frasconi, and Chris McIntyre. La Barbara's Persistence of Memory explodes with "hammering rhythms, angular jolts, and jagged slashes of percussive attacks", all within an expansive, haunted electronic "atmosphere." Frasconi's Sitting & Standing: A Memoir employs "a physical activity we do without much thought… as the compositional DNA that allows each performer to construct a soundscape unique to their instrument and their own body." Smithson Project: Sites & Nonsites by McIntyre is a set of works ranging in style from ambient/concreté states to brutal, irregular structures. Each segment is a meditation on artist Robert Smithson's "nonsite" concept and the dialectical relationship to the origin "site."

University Settlement
184 Eldridge Street, New York, NY 10002

Purchase Tickets ($10) at tiltbrass.org/tickets

At University Settlement on Friday and Saturday, September 30 and October 1, 2011, TILT Brass presents the World Premiere of GARDEN II: House, a newly commissioned intermedia work (music and video) by Santa Fe-based composer, performer, media artist and United States Artists Simon Fellow Chris Jonas. In addition to the integral video and installation production work by Santa Fe-based Littleglobe, GARDEN II: House features local heroes of creative music Herb Robertson on trumpet and Joe Fiedler on trombone, along with the composer on soprano saxophone and TILT Brass Director Chris McIntyre also on trombone. House is staged within the unusual set-up of a cube of transparent video screens that envelop the performing quartet. This innovative blend of acoustic musical interactivity with three dimensional video projection garnered the project a prestigious Meet the Composer Commissioning Music/USA award in 2010.

TILT House Quartet:
Chris Jonas (soprano sax), Herb Robertson (trumpet), Joe Fiedler and Chris McIntyre (trombone).

Complete Press Release for GARDEN II: House
GARDEN page at Littleglobe.org
Soundcloud playlist of GARDEN, others Jonas work

On June 21st, MATA presents TILT Brass performing SWELTER, a large-scale musical event in Central Park as part of Make Music New York. The performance brings together 50+ brass players positioned around Central Park Lake to play a new ambient music-scape by three Australian sound artists Julian Day, Luke Jaaniste and Janet McKay which the audience will experience from row boats on the water.

SWELTER is part of Day, Jaaniste & McKay's ongoing project Super Critical Mass (supercriticalmass.com) which has appeared in various spaces since 2008. In each event they bring together large numbers of the same kind of instrument (eg 30 clarinets, 80 flutes) and use simple instructions to create complex and beautiful site-specific works. The instructions respond to different skill levels so that a wide range of players can participate, from young performers through to world-class professionals.
 

TILT Brass is a Brooklyn-based experimental music organization dedicated to expanding the world of contemporary brass performance by producing innovative concert programs and recording projects, and by commissioning new works for its two ensembles, TILT Creative Brass Band (CBB) and TILT SIXtet. Since forming in 2003, TILT Brass has presented the work of over 50 composers, including group members and local colleagues, as well as established masters. TILT’s repertoire engages its audience with musical experiences ranging from sonorous soundscapes to the raucous strains of a street band, from freely improvised explorations to the precision and clarity of fully notated chamber music (often combining the latter two within a single work).

SUPER CRITICAL MASS (SCM) is a large-scale performance/installation project that explores spatialised masses of musicians playing identical instruments within public places. There is no conductor, scores or music stands -- instead performers execute simple ‘algorithms’ for sounds and often movement that build up complex, evolving textures. The simplicity of means allows for performers of various backgrounds and ages to participate whilst creating complex interactions. The results are immersive and often meditative performance-installations, articulating both instrument and architecture, within which audiences freely move about or simply sit back and take it in. SCM is thus a unique take on the traditional orchestra, community arts, sound installation and public arts projects.

MATA (matafestival.org) is a non-profit organization that has, for the past fourteen years, been dedicated to commissioning and presenting works by young composers from around the world. MATA’s directors are motivated by a desire to create community among young musicians, especially those whose work defies definition and doesn’t fit into existing institutions. By providing young composers with a professional performance of their work, access to first-rate performers and valuable connections to colleagues, MATA nurtures their entry into American musical life.

MATA Sound Works
Tuesday, April 20 - Thursday, April 22

LPR Gallery Bar
6pm – 7:25pm
FREE EVENTS

Matthew Wright – Totem for Gobi-New York [2010] (World Premiere) 2010 MATA Festival Commission
Antye Greie – WORDS ARE MISSING or Six Ears, I’d Like To Have [2010] (World Premiere)
Bjørn Erik Haugen – REGRESS [2008]
Christopher McIntyre – Monuments (I. Alogon, II. Kalimpong Khor) [2010] (World Premiere)

MATA continues its annual presentation of sound works with daily presentations of multi-channel audio and video installations in Le Poisson Rouge’s Gallery Bar.

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 8pm

To TILT: Original Music for TILT Brass [Part 2] feat. 10-piece TILT Creative Brass Band
@
Issue Project Room [website]
232 3rd Street
Brooklyn, NY
[directions]
 

On Wednesday, February 10, the 10-piece Brooklyn-based group TILT Creative Brass Band presents the second installment of its on-going series To TILT: Original Music for TILT Brass which focuses solely on repertoire written for the organization's distinctive ensembles (CBB and 6-piece SIXtet) at ISSUE Project Room. The program features works by a stellar group of composer/performers including Downtown legend Anthony Coleman, trumpet virtuoso Dave Ballou, avant-cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum, Gold Sparkle's Charles Waters (featuring virtuoso improviser Mick Rossi on piano), and TILT Director Chris McIntyre. TILT CBB features an extraordinary line-up of creative musicians including trumpeters Nate Wooley and Gareth Flowers, trombonists Joe Feidler and Jacob Garchik, and and percussionist Kevin Norton.

PROGRAM Anthony Coleman - Set Into Motion (2005) Charles Waters - 3 Mysteries [Concertimento #12] (2007) >>featuring Mick Rossi on piano Taylor Ho Bynum - preharmonic, postchordal, revamped (2007) Chris McIntyre - Foliation (for Suzanne) (2009) Dave Ballou - Concerto for TILT (2003) PERSONNEL Creative Brass Band: Trumpet - Nate Wooley, Gareth Flowers, Andy Kozar French Horn - Rachel Drehmann Trombone - Chris McIntyre Bass Trombone - Jacob Garchik Tuba - Ron Caswell Percussion - Kevin Norton Conductor - Greg Evans Special Guest: Mick Rossi - piano soloist on Waters >>>Listen to Creative Brass Band TILT Creative Brass Band Brooklyn based TILT Creative Brass Band (TCBB) is a beautifully strange combination of military brass band and Downtown repertoire ensemble. The group has presented concerts since January 2003 at venues ranging from Whitney Museum to Barbes in Brooklyn. Since its inception, TCBB has fearlessly taken on works from the fringes of experimental concert music, tongue-in-cheek agitprop, and hybrid scores combining notation and improvisation. The group frequently presents entire programs of original works by its composer/performer members (Kevin Norton, Curtis Hasselbring, Nate Wooley, among others) and colleagues from the field, including legendary pianist Anthony Coleman (released on Tzadik), Doctor Nerve's Nick Didkovsky, multi-instrumentist Charles Waters, and cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum. In addition, the Creative Brass Band is committed to presenting works from the experimental tradition, ranging from a Varése graphic score from the late 50's and selections from James Tenney's Postal Pieces to works by Fredric Rzewski (Les Mounton de Panurge) and early John Adams (Light Over Water). In June '09, TCBB kicked off a new on-going series of programs called New York Noise which presents historical and current works by important composers from the Downtown community and its ancestors such as Elliott Sharp, Lois V. Vierk, and Rhys Chatham. In 2010, the group will present several programs at ISSUE Project Room and will record and release its current To TILT repertoire. Mick Rossi Pianist, percussionist, and composer Mick Rossi’s diverse accomplishments include: being among “the most courageous, gifted, and charismatic musicians" of the New York Downtown scene (AllAboutJazz); a long-time Philip Glass collaborator and member of the ensemble as pianist, percussionist, and conductor; and working with artists from Dave Douglas to Kelly Clarkson to Leonard Cohen. He recently conducted Book of Longing at the Sydney Opera House, and performed Einstein at the Beach at Carnegie Hall and Koyaanisqatsi at the Hollywood Bowl. Recent recordings include One Block From Planet Earth (OmniTone), and They Have A Word For Everything (Knitting Factory). His recent concert at Le Poisson Rouge presenting his latest and ninth recording Songs From The Broken Land (Orange Mountain Music) was featured in the NY Times.

MATA Interval 2.3
Dither Electric Guitar Quartet
Curated by James Moore and Taylor Levine
@
ISSUE Project Room
At the Old American Can Factory
232 3rd Street, 3rd Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11215
directions

On January 21st, 2009, MATA presents a gloriously loud and eclectic program featuring Dither, a versatile electric guitar quartet and a rising force in New York. Curated by guitarists James Moore and Taylor Levine, Interval 2.3 showcases a whole set of new works by young composers for electric guitars in duos, quartets, and finally a 10-piece hearing-deprived electric guitar orchestra!

Composers include Eric km Clark, Lisa R. Coons, Bryce Dessner, Florent Ghys, Joshua Lopes, Paula Matthusen, and Wil Smith.
 

MATA's Annual Benefit
join us as we honor
MEREDITH MONK

The Paula Cooper Gallery
521 West 21st Street
2nd floor
New York, New York

Featuring Performances by
Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble
with
string quartet led by violinist Todd Reynolds

Featuring selections from Ms. Monk's
Songs of Ascension

Additional works performed by members of
The M6: Meredith Monk Music Third Generation

8:00 pm Cocktails, Hors d'Oeuvres
8:30 pm Performance
9:30 pm Cocktails

A rare opportunity to hear the visionary composer/performer Meredith Monk perform her latest work, Songs of Ascension, in an intimate gallery space.

Songs of Ascension explores the spiritual, vocal, and physical notions of ascension across geography and time. Meredith Monk and her Vocal Ensemble will perform selections from this new work, accompanied by maverick violinist Todd Reynolds and his string quartet.

Purchase tickets HERE
 

MATA Interval 2.1
Music of the Dublin collective Grúpat
Performed by Object Collection and curator Jennifer Walshe
Doors Open at 8PM

MATA kicks off the second season of its bi-monthly series Interval with a program of music by the radical and enigmatic South Dublin collective Grúpat. Curated by Irish vocalist and composer Jennifer Walshe, Grúpat's greatest champion, Interval 2.1 features the collective's eclectic blend of textural and playful music, performed by Ms. Walshe and up-and-coming New York interdisciplinary group Object Collection

Grúpat collective
“So what is sound? Is it stillness? Does it shock flesh, the drums, the mind squealing? Is it the resolution or the tension? The silence or the not silent? So we sit or stand and even to hear the wildest anti-musical noise or nothing—it is still a creature in a jar. We want to free the creature. This is the point of everything you’ve heard before. The point, the sharpness of it, the moment where the idea takes shape and enters the flesh, drawing blood, opening bodies to air, not a penetration but a commingling, an embrasure, a knitting together, spillage and contamination—to set the creature free. Sound is the creature. Sound is a thing with feathers.” — Grúpat

For individual Grúpat Composer bios, please visit http://www.matafestival.org/interval/?p=31

Jennifer Walshe was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1974. She studied composition with John Maxwell Geddes at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Kevin Volans in Dublin and graduated from Northwestern University, Chicago, with a doctoral degree in composition in June 2002. Her chief teachers at Northwestern were Amnon Wolman and Michael Pisaro. In 2003-2004 Jennifer was a fellow of Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart; during 2004-2005 she lived in Berlin as a guest of the DAAD Berliner Künstlerprogramm. From 2006 to 2008 she is the composer-in-residence in South Dublin County for In Context 3. In 2007 she was awarded a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New York. She frequently performs as a vocalist, specialising in extended techniques. Many of her recent compositions were commissioned for her voice in conjunction with other instruments, and her works have been performed by her and others at festivals such as RTÉ Living Music (Dublin), Donaueschinger Musiktagen, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Composer’s Choice (Dublin), SoundField (Chicago) the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik Darmstadt, Stockholm New Music, and BELEF (Belgrade). Jennifer is also active as an improviser, performing regularly with musicians in Europe and the U.S.

For a more extensive biography of Walshe, please visit www.matafestival.org/interval/?p=32

Object Collection was founded in 2004 by director/writer/designer Kara Feely and composer/instrumentalist Travis Just as a collaborative theater-music performance group solidly rooted in the experimental tradition. Dedicated to new artistic work in hybrid forms, Object Collection constructs performances using a unique palette of live sound, composed music, and found text. Based in New York City, the group presents collaborative projects and curated series both at home and abroad using an expanding network of local and international affiliated artists.

Began during the 2007-08 season, MATA Interval is a bi-monthly series produced in conjunction with Issue Project Room (IPR). Interval features emerging composers and performers in programs developed and produced by young participants in MATA’s Curatorial Associate program. Presented at IPR in Gowanus, Brooklyn, the series is committed to presenting various streams of thought and aesthetics from the field, mapping areas in which the traditional and the experimental coexist.
 

Main Space

Cox discusses concepts behind his innovative book Audio Culture and the ontology of sound art. Post-lecture discussion between Cox and Micah Silver.

PROGRAMAaron Gervais - Culture No. 3 (2006)
fl/pic, cl, hn, trb, pno, perc, vn, va, vc, db

Jennifer Fitzgerald - A Thousand Machines (2007)cl, vn, pno

Nico Muhly - I Know Where Everything Is (2007)fl, cl, vn, cl

Judd Greenstein - At the end of a really great day (2007)fl, cl, vn, cl

Ziboukle Martinayite - 2008 MATA Commissionfl, cl, ob, bsn, trb, hn, pno, perc, vn, va, vc, db

Doug Henderson - The Nature of the 102nd Thing (of 10,000)Zeena Parkins/Doug Henderson - Polyphonic Projections

Diapason Gallery [http://www.diapasongallery.org/]

Program:Leif Inge - 9 Beet Stretch

Diapason Gallery [http://www.diapasongallery.org/]