Composer night
presented by The New Ruckus
Oct. 14, 2015
Studio Z: 275 East Fourth Street, Suite 200, St. Paul 7 p.m. Free |
Formerly known as the American Composers Forum’s Tuesday Salon, Composer Nights are an opportunity for composers to present their work, chat with the audience, receive feedback, and connect with others with a passion for musical adventure. These events are friendly, fun, and always surprisingly varied. Come to share, come to ask, come to listen.
Visit newruckus.org/composernights for more information. Featuring music by:
Marika Straw performs three heartwarming, thought-provoking songs about life and love. Marika is a singer-songwriter from Oregon new to the Twin Cities. She hopes to inspire people to think, act, and feel with courage, integrity, and compassion for the world and its people. She works toward this through singing, songwriting, and writing about social justice, human rights, and the human experience. Please welcome her to the Twin Cities music scene!
Pamela Z performs Closed Loop (working title) using voice, computer, gesture controllers, and "tape.”
Pamela Z is a composer/performer and media artist working with voice, live electronic processing, sampled sound, and video. A pioneer of live looping techniques, she creates works combining experimental extended vocal techniques, operatic bel canto, found objects, text, processing, and gesture-activated MIDI controllers. She has composed scores for dance, film, and new music chamber ensembles including Kronos Quartet. Z has toured extensively throughout the US, Europe, and Japan – including appearances at Bang on a Can (New York), Other Minds (San Francisco), La Biennale di Venezia (Italy), and Pina Bausch Tanztheater Festival (Wuppertal, Germany). Her awards include the Doris Duke Artist Impact Award, Guggenheim Fellowship, Creative Capital Fund, the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, MAP Fund, ASCAP Plus Award, Ars Electronica honorable mention, and the NEA Japan/US Friendship Fellowship. She holds a music degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Alex Simpson, lead singer and guitarist for local band WILLIAM WITHIN, will perform a piece for acoustic guitar through a series of two-track tape machines and FX pedals.
Liam Moore presents three folk settings of poetry from around the world of voice and guitar. These songs are part of a larger group of ultimately 12 songs for voice, guitar, flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano.
Liam was born in Menomonie, Wisconsin and grew up in southern Minnesota. Growing up he was fortunate enough to hear all kinds of music played in the house, from The Beatles on the stereo to Bartók on the piano. Liam took an early interest in music and his parents signed him up for piano lessons. When those didn't pan out and he was still making too much noise, they put him in a local youth choir. He has been singing in choirs ever since and has also played a variety of instruments in a variety of ensembles. Liam eventually found his way into the composition department at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where his teachers included Stephen Dembski and Laura Schwendinger. While at the UW, he also studied voice with Julia Faulkner and conducting with Bruce Gladstone. Liam writes mostly vocal and chamber music and when the occasion arises he also enjoys writing music for film, dance and other visual and performing arts. His music has been performed in New York, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Washington and Italy. Besides singing and playing piano and stringed instruments, Liam is learning the saxophone and also plays the trombone very badly. Currently, Liam is fascinated by computer programming, the origins of life on Earth and this granulated universe that we perceive so smoothly. He has a number of projects on his plate, including a folk-driven piece for Pierrot ensemble utilizing a number of poems from around the world. Liam lives in St. Paul. |