{"id":3955,"date":"2014-07-01T10:16:43","date_gmt":"2014-07-01T10:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joelasqo.com\/blog\/?p=3955"},"modified":"2015-05-27T23:58:36","modified_gmt":"2015-05-27T23:58:36","slug":"3955","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joelasqo.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/01\/3955\/","title":{"rendered":"MSP\/Piano\/+: UPRIGHT \u2014 w Pamela Z, Sarah Cahill, Luciano Chessa, & Maxxareddu, Thu 10 Jul @ Room Series, Royce Gallery, San Francisco, 8pm"},"content":{"rendered":"

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UPRIGHT w Sarah Cahill, Luciano Chessa, Pamela Z, and special guest, AI improvising agent Maxxareddu (Room Series 2014\/\u2116 3, Royce Gallery, San Francisco), Thu 10 Jul<\/p><\/div>\n

Pamela Z’s<\/strong><\/a> fascinating avant-chamber ROOM Series<\/strong> takes place at Royce Gallery, a wonderful black box performance gallery on the border between San Francisco\u2019s Mission and Potrero Hill districts\u00a0with gorgeous acoustics and beautiful lighting. For many years Pamela Z Arts<\/strong><\/a> has presented 3-5 incomparably eclectic shows a year in this special series to an enthusiastic experimental music and performance audience, often uniting performers from wildly different musical worlds, or mixing musicians and other performance artists for a wild, but always beautiful exploration of the unique, the unexpected, and the unforgettable.<\/p>\n

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Pamela Z @ Ars Electronica 2008 Linz, Austria (photo by rubra, courtesy, Ars Electronica)<\/p><\/div>\n

These evenings feature a variety of virtuosic, solo artists and chamber groups playing cutting-edge new music. The series has included a wide range of artists including Jo\u00eblle L\u00e9andre<\/a>, Carl Stone<\/a>, JHNO<\/a>, Zo\u00eb Keating<\/a>, Beth Custer<\/a>, Amy X Neuburg<\/a>, Moe! Staiano<\/a>, Miya Masaoka<\/a> (\u6b63\u5ca1<\/a>\u307f\u3084), Suki O’Kane<\/a>, and many more. A ROOM series<\/strong> evening often includes up to four extremely varied artists of a certain instrument family or curated around a specific theme, who each play solo works and then join together with the other artists for an ensemble improvisation or scored work.<\/p>\n

A wonderful restored vintage-era upright piano (in a former life, also a player piano\u2026) has just come available in the space and will make its debut at this show, an event I’m very happy to take part in, not only with vocal and electronics diva Pamela Z<\/strong><\/a>, but also with two of the most inspiring pianists and musicians of the Bay Area (or anywhere), Sarah Cahill<\/strong><\/a> and Luciano Chessa<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Time & Place: 8pm, Thu 10 Jul<\/span><\/strong> at the Royce Gallery<\/strong>, <\/strong>2901 Mariposa Street (between Harrison & Alabama) San Francisco (map)<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the first part of this post, I’ll talk about the fantastic musicians who will be on the program, and in the second part I’ll discuss what I’m doing in this show (jump to Joe Lasqo program description<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Although the focus in this show is on the 3 pianists, their polyamorous relationships with\u00a0The Upright<\/strong>, and the additional electro-acoustic instruments & entities they bring into the mix, I must first say a bit about our wonderful curatorial hostess, who’ll also contribute a solo piece and join us in the concluding tutti improv\u2026.<\/p>\n

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Pamela Z (photo by Marion Gray, mariongray @ mac . com)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u25c9 Pamela Z<\/strong><\/a> is a San Francisco-based composer\/performer and media artist who works primarily with voice, live electronic processing, sampling technology, and video.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A pioneer of live digital looping techniques, she processes her voice in real time to create dense, complex sonic layers. Her solo works combine experimental extended vocal techniques, operatic bel canto, found objects, text, and sampled concr\u00e8te sounds. She uses Max\/MSP and Isadora software along with custom MIDI controllers that allow her to manipulate sound and image with physical gestures. In addition to her performance work, she has a growing body of inter-media gallery works including multi-channel sound and video installations.<\/p>\n

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Pamela Z in Baggage Allowance (photo Valerie Oliveiro valerie oliveiro @ gmail . com)<\/p><\/div>\n

Pamela has toured extensively throughout the US, Europe, and Japan \u2013 performing in international festivals including Bang on a Can at Lincoln Center (New York); la Biennale di Venezia (Italy); the Interlink Festival (Japan); Other Minds (San Francisco); and Pina Bausch Tanztheater’s 25 Jahre Fest (Wuppertal, Germany).\u00a0 She has composed, recorded and performed original scores for choreographers and for film\/video artists, and has done vocal work for other composers (including Charles <\/span>Amirkhanian<\/a>, Vijay <\/span>Iyer<\/a>, and Henry <\/span>Brant<\/strong>).\u00a0Her large-scale, multi-media performance works, <\/span>Parts of Speech<\/em><\/strong>, <\/span>Gaijin<\/em> (\u5916\u4eba)<\/strong>, <\/span>Voci<\/em><\/strong>, and <\/span>Baggage Allowance<\/em><\/strong> have been presented at the Kitchen in New York, Theater Artaud & ODC Theater in San Francisco, the Museum of Contemporary Art Theatre in Chicago, as well as in Washington D.C. & Budapest. Her one-act opera <\/span>Wunderkabinet<\/em><\/strong> inspired by the <\/span>Museum of Jurassic Technology<\/strong><\/a> (co-composed with Matthew <\/span>Brubeck<\/a>) premiered at The LAB in San Francisco, and was presented at REDCAT in Los Angeles and Open Ears Festival in Canada.\u00a0She’s shown media works in exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York); Erzbisch\u00f6fliches Di\u00f6zesanmuseum (K\u00f6ln); the Tang Museum (Saratoga Springs NY); the Dakar Biennale (S\u00e9n\u00e9gal); Krannert Art Museum (IL), and the Kitchen (NY).<\/span><\/p>\n

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Pamela Z @ Ars Electronica 2008 Linz, Austria (photo by rubra, courtesy, Ars Electronica)<\/p><\/div>\n

Pamela has had chamber commissions from Kronos Quartet<\/strong><\/a>, Bang On A Can Allstars<\/strong><\/a>, ETHEL<\/strong><\/a>, California E.A.R. Unit<\/strong><\/a>, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble<\/strong><\/a>, Empyrean Ensemble<\/strong><\/a>, and St. Luke\u2019s Chamber Orchestra<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 As well as curating and producing the ROOM Series<\/strong>, she’s collaborated with a wide range of artists including Miya Masaoka<\/a> (\u6b63\u5ca1<\/a>\u307f\u3084), Joan Jeanrenaud<\/a>, Brenda Way<\/a> (ODC Dance<\/strong><\/a>), Jeanne Finley<\/a> + John Muse<\/a>, Shinichi Iova-Koga<\/a> (\u30b7\u30f3\u30a4\u30c1\u30fb\u30a4\u30aa\u30f4\u30a1\u30fb\u30b3\u30ac<\/a>), Christina McPhee<\/a>, Leigh Evans<\/a>, and Jo Kreiter<\/a>.\u00a0 Pamela has participated in several New Music Theatre<\/strong> (now renamed Zakros Interarts<\/strong><\/a>) events, including the famous original Fort Mason John Cage<\/strong> festivals, and has performed with The San Francisco Contemporary Music Players<\/strong><\/a>. Her interactive web-based work Baggage Allowance<\/em><\/strong> was officially launched in summer of 2011 at baggageallowance.tv<\/a> where it remains permanently available.<\/p>\n

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Pamela Z performing a study for Baggage Allowance @ Roulette, NYC (photo by Kimberly Young)<\/p><\/div>\n

Special mention must be made of Pamela’s recent masterwork, Carbon Song Cycle<\/em><\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0 with video collaborator Christina McPhee<\/a> and master musicians Dana Jessen<\/a>, Charith Premawardhana<\/a> (\u0da0\u0dbb\u0dd2\u0dad \u0db4\u0dca\u0dbb\u0dda\u0db8\u0dc0\u0dbb\u0dca\u0db0\u0db1<\/a>), Theresa Wong<\/a> (\u9ec3<\/a>\u5929\u6b23), and Suki O’Kane<\/a>. Inspired by ongoing changes and upheavals in the earth’s ecosystem, and by the carbon cycle \u2014 the process through which carbon is exchanged between all terrestrial life forms and domains \u2014 it’s scored for a chamber ensemble of voice & electronics, viola, cello, bassoon, and percussion, plus immersive, multi-screen video projections.<\/p>\n

To compose the music, Pamela wove together melodic motifs inspired by scientific data about the carbon cycle and texts referencing environmental balance and imbalance, playing on the idea of the natural exchange of elements by passing sonic material between the players, as well as exploring audio elements related to the imagery shot at petroleum fields, natural gas locations, and geothermal sites around back-country California, along with carbon-inspired drawings and images of processes involving intense heat and chemical transformations.<\/p>\n