Its been a while since my last post. This past Spring and Summer has had many great experiences, including three months living in Boston, and teaching during the Summer at Berkeley. I attended the graduation ceremony at Berkeley, where I had the honor of being hooded by Ed Campion, my advisor.

I hope to post more soon. For now, just a quick mention that I have much to look forward to, including a busy Fall in the Bay Area, including a residency at the Milkbar with Kim, Ricardo, Rama and hopefully others, culminating in a November concert/installations. I’ll be moving abroad afterwards, lots more to tell. Lots of loose ends before this change.

All info on the site will be updated asap, and perhaps a layout change as well.

photo, Berkeley Symphony

March 13th, 7pm at St. Johns Presbyterian Church. More info here

example of a Dérive

Groove II, for solo piano, by Liza White. Ann Yi, piano

Dub Concrète II, for stereo playback, by Jason Levis

Dérive, for bass clarinet and cello. Without electronics, by David Coll. Matt Ingalls, Bass Clarinet, Leighton Fong, Cello

Dérive, for bass clarinet and cello. With electronics.

“Poised to Make Gains,” by Dan VanHassel. Dan VanHassel, piano and electronics

Circles:  Meditation for Viola and Video Projection, by Nils Bultmann. Nils Bultmann, viola, Rafael Altman, video

vagues / fenêtres / for string trio with electronic sounds, by Evelyn Ficarra. Hrabba Atladottir, violin, Ellen Ruth Rose, viola, Leighton Fong, cello

more information

Come witness works-in-progress by Joe Lin, Mark Ackerley, and myself (left-to-right). Photograph: Marshall Berman.

At St. Johns Presbyterian Church. More info here.

Noisense
By Ashley Ferro-Murray
Zellerbach Room 7

Thurs, Oct 28 – 8pm
Fri, Oct 29 – 8 pm
Sat, Oct 30 – 2pm & 8pm

Graduate student Ashley Ferro-Murray collaborates with musicians David Coll and Rama Gottfried as well as a cast of performers to create Noisense, an experimental performance piece melding movement with modern technology. In this installation you will see shadowplay with an 8mm projector, real-time artistic collaboration through an international online artist network, and wireless interaction between moving dancers and their environment, all combined to create a new and unique experience for the senses!

Tickets for Workshop Productions go on sale online only starting one week prior to the opening performance. (Click here to order tickets online:https://www.ticketturtle.com/index.php?theatre=tdps) Tickets may also be purchased at the door a half hour prior to each performance. Advance ticket purchases are recommended as seating is limited. There is a purchase limit of two tickets per person for online sales and one ticket per person at the door.

RSVP at the original NOISENSE Event page here:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=159149430773272

perc setup

Five People come together to mix together Art and Music 1105 Virginia at San Pablo Ave. West Berkeley Suggested donation: 8$ no one will be turned away for lack of funds RSVP: skimi2@Comcast.net

Christophe Fellay is a composer, musician, drummer, sound artist and performer living in Switzerland. He has composed music for orchestras, string ensembles,

string quartet, chamber orchestras, jazz ensembles and solo instruments. He made several interdisciplinary works including sound installations and performances. His own artistic research area encompasses acoustics, architecture and the interaction between human and machines.

His work has been performed internationally in Europe (London, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Paris, Zurich, Bern, Geneva, Montreux), North America (Seattle, Atlanta, San Francisco, New York.), South America (Buenos Aires), South Africa (Johannesburg, Pretoria). He has been artist in residence at the Red House of New York (2000), Steim Institute in Amsterdam (2004) and Exploratorium in San Francisco (2005).

Christophe is currently member of the London based orchestra: Notes Inégales and has been asked to replace the world famous drummer: Bill Bruford in the project : Skin and Wire from Piano Circus and Colin Riley in London.

Christophe teaches at the Sound Dpt. at ECAV in Sierre, Switzerland where he is in charge of research.

Ricardo Rivera

Ricardo Rivera makes video, sculpture, performances, and drawings. His most recent work is interactive, and is made in the realm of social sculpture and humor. He will present interactive video with the composers, and musicians. He is an adjunct professor at the University of California at Berkeley, and Stanford University, and San Francisco City College. Rivera is also opening a new collaborative exhibition at the Berkeley Art Center, Oct. 9 for the fall season. Ricardo likes to think of the multiplicities of experiences in his new work.

David Coll

David Coll, a versatile, young San Francisco-based composer, has written music for various disciplines, from concert hall to theatre and dance to interactive installations. He has studied at the University of Illinois and IRCAM in Paris, and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California-Berkeley. Through ongoing emphasis in notation, the visual, and technology, his works create situations that investigate the physical presence of performers onstage. Through this investigation, sounds, interaction, motion, all are considered as

material, and the results vary between what might be considered wholly music, theatre, or some mix of the two. David studies primarily with Edmund Campion and Erk Ulman, and has participated in master classes with composers Chaya Czernowin, Steven Takasugi, Brian Ferneyhough, Alvin Curran, and Philippe Leroux. He is a member of poto (potoweb.org). For more information, visit davidcoll.com

percussion ball, terry berlier

“Percussion Ball” 2010

Terry Berlier is an interdisciplinary artist who works primarily with sculpture, installation, and video. Her work is often kinetic, interactive and/or sound based and often focuses around everyday objects, the environment, ideas of nonplace/place and queer practice. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group shows both nationally and internationally (Europe, Australia, Middle East) including Barcelona, Venice, Girona, Meinz, Tel Aviv, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento. She recently received the Kala Art Institute fellowship and residency for 2009-10 in Berkeley, CA. In 2008-9 she received the Visions from the New California Residency at the Exploratorium: Museum of Science, Art and Human Perception in San Francisco through the Alliance of Artists Communities. She has received grants from California Council for Humanities California Stories Fund, City of Cincinnati Individual Artist Grant, and the City of Davis Art Contract.

She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art and Art History at Stanford University. Terryberlier.com

Rama Gottfried:

Currently based in Oakland, CA, sound artist and composer Rama Gottfried’s recent work focuses on feedback systems and the disembodiment of compositional structures revealed through physical computation, and/or concealed through the application of physical computation as hidden structure.

Rama is currently a PhD student at the University of California, Berkeley in the Music and New Media departments, and is associated with UC Berkeley’s Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT). Previously he completed studies at the Universität der Künste Berlin, the Manhattan School of Music, New York University, and the University of Vermont. Since 2002, he has been artistic director of New York based Ensemble Pamplemousse exploring electro-acoustic techniques, conceptual curation, and installation performance.

I’m afraid that I’ve fallen behind with my artistic ruminations, updates, and posts. Just a quick note to say that I will soon post some recent works, including a large ensemble work performed here in Berkeley in April as well as some earlier documentation of collaborations that took place with the Performance Studies Dept. here in Berkeley.

I will be in NYC and Tel Aviv and Amsterdam this summer for various projects. Returning to Berkeley for Max/MSP Summer Workshops at CNMAT.

This coming fall there are a few collaborations in the works with artists and a choreographer. I’m teaching one last course at UCBerkeley (before dissertation is filed!). I have been selected along with composer Mark Ackerley and Joe Lin as the ‘Under Construction’ Composers in Residence with the Berkeley Symphony. This project, beyond everything else, is how I will be spending my time and energy.

I hope soon to write about yet another fantastic performance by a Russian theatre troupe at the SF international Arts Festival . Their name is Derevo. I’m told they are very influential for AKHE Group (who I saw and wrote about last year). It was extremely encouraging, not least because of the music. More on that soon hopefully. Heres the best link for their work I can find, titled Harlekin.

theatre troupe, St Petersburg, Russia

]]> http://davidcoll.wordpress.com/2010/05/31/update/feed/ 0 davidcoll Derevo, logo derevo http://davidcoll.wordpress.com/2010/03/05/la-lontananza-nostalgica-utopica-futura/ http://davidcoll.wordpress.com/2010/03/05/la-lontananza-nostalgica-utopica-futura/#comments Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:03:42 +0000 davidcoll http://davidcoll.wordpress.com/?p=113 ]]>

Graeme Jenning plays ‘La Lontananza Nostalgica Utopica Futura’, Monday Evening, March 1st, 2010. San Francisco. As part of the 2010-2011 season by the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players.

SFCMP did something special here. They broke from their mold of multiple pieces interspersed with solo pieces and just put all of their energy and attention to one great piece played by one great musician. With so much music going on in the bay area these days, this concert stood out.

What’s so difficult for people to adjust to in Nono’s late period is exactly what makes the works so important: they aren’t flashy, they aren’t new, they aren’t old. They’re the result of a lifetime of thought, finally devoid of ambition or political will or ideological crutches.

I put this piece along with Das Atmende Klarsein and Fragmente Stille as three pieces that grow each time I listen to them. They deal with explorations of instrumental theatre with limited means. All of this is of course heading to Prometeo, Nono’s large, fantastic work.

The result of ‘composing as searching’ is nothing other than perfectly unique for this work for solo vioin and electronics. I’ve heard the piece and even seen Graeme perform before at CNMAT. This, however, was much different because of such a large space (a space I thought I knew, perfectly deconstructed to its boxy essence) with an audience perfectly primed to look around at each other and see each others faces. This seating arrangement should be used much more often, even with a fixed ensemble in the center. Last evening, I happened to find myself looking at the score to Discours II  by Vinko Globokar and, coincidentally, it demands the same seating arrangement. And there is of course many Stockhausen examples

‘La Lontananza’ demands, (along with many other great works, coincidentally) that one discards the all too usual default of structural listening that pervades most concert experiences: four or five 10-20 minute pieces with an intermission in the middle. Graeme’s decision to descend from the above balcony level was necessary to help us remove that feeling; it marked the beginning of the piece in a way that changed our perspective. For some, it proved too tritely mysterious. To further this change of feel, I think that pillows in place of chairs would have gone yet another step further- also reminiscent of the original SFCMP concerts.

Adjustment. Losing of focus. Loss of impatience. Heightened focus. Boredom. Timeless moments. Abstract thoughts. Personal thoughts. Awe of playing: extremities in general, but especially the highest notes. Clarity emerging over and over again in these high notes. Unexpectedly shedding new light on some of the more fragmentary material.

The piece ended for me after Graeme walked away from the fourth music stand. I was able to see his performing close up. After this movement the piece essentially started over again, and that was fine. I felt so incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to hear Graeme at his best. The piece simply dissolved..

(#1 on google search for 'natural phenomena')

Last Monday’s concert by the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players left me in a daze. In less than two hours, I had a deeper understanding of five important composers: Michael Jarrell, Oscar Bianchi, Helmut Lachenmann, Matthias Pintscher, and Brian Ferneyhough. More importantly, I have come to value the musicians of the ensemble more than ever before. No question, a concert like this is a challenge. But it’s priceless and a thrill. Talk to people around you, and you’ll realize just how much there is to say. What follows are just some thoughts on each performance and each composer. They are very critical, but only because this is what I find missing these days.

Michael Jarrell shines as a large-ensemble composer. His gestures, though effectively conveyed in . . . more leaves. . . , is derived from his Viola Concerto. The electronics too often sounded like an orchestrational band-aid for an ensemble that was clearly too small. That, combined with a lack of amplification of the ensemble and a sound engineer, left me with an impression that this music lies in a strange world in between the live experience and the recording. Nanci Severance, the violist, played very well. I hadn’t heard her in a solistic context, and I was very encouraged.

Oscar Bianchi’s Zaffiro was a much more inspired piece. The writing was clearly a result of a profound understanding of how each instrument works, and an inherently dramatic intent. While Jarrell quickly defaulted to trills as a sort of attempt at creating an unnecessarily large sound, Zaffiro began and continued with a frailty best embodied between Nanci’s soft, brittle lines- followed by silence. The overall form wasn’t notable except for just how sensitive the musical pacing was in regard to arriving at multiple climactic moments. Oscar’s music often goes through a transformation of attention from individual details in the beginning towards social explorations of musical material within the ensemble (cooperation/conflct); this is inherently dramatic, and it was clearly understood well by the players and conductor.

Helmut Lachenmann’s Trio Fluido is a historical gem in that, throughout the listening experience, one is struck by an incredible array of moments that could be the entire subject- or territory- for later works, such as Allegro Sostenuto, Gran Torso, or even percussive moments from his opera Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern (sticks on marimbas). While I don’t personally find much value in such a judgement, I must say that this piece doesn’t achieve the same intense, introspective moments for just this reason: Lachenmann discovered later on just how much lies within the relationship between two singular events. This is why he became such an incredible composer. In regard to the interpretation, I must say that it was clouded by what seemed to be an almost schizophrenic relationship between Graeme and Willy. Only in this piece was I left wondering if the players were somewhat limited in their interpretation because of time constraints.

Matthias Pintscher’s nemeton, frankly was the most perplexing work I heard in a long time, by the fact that almost everyone loved it! Honestly, I have little to say about the piece except snootish composer remarks (1: Loud chimes does not a form make, 2: No matter how many dazzling, well-written, virtuosic phrases one writes, it isn’t a piece, 3: if you want a heightened interpretation from a musician, don’t bog them down with so much else to do). Regardless, this piece was the crowd pleaser. Chris Froh clearly worked so hard to find the piece that truly did not exist. Only through his sheer determination and unrivaled musicality did he manage to create an experience that was truly pleasing to most non-composers in the audience. And that’s fine. This is part of a larger discussion.

Brian Ferneyhough’s Flurries was unremarkable in its virtuosity, and in need more than any other piece for a second hearing. Only then would I have found what so many of the musicians said was an incredible piece. A pity that this was not also played during the contemporary insights concert to give the public a chance. I must say that here I was most impressed by Brad Lubman’s command of the ensemble as well as one incredible horn player: Kevin Rivard. Finally, I couldn’t help but feel that I would much more prefer to hear works by one of Brian’s very gifted students. Perhaps, say, Jason Federmeyer or Christopher Moore.

There is much to talk about with this concert. I want to know what value people place on the chance of hearing pieces of music that they would never otherwise have a chance to hear live; from composers they seldom hear at a symphony concert; played by musicians who rarely get afforded the opportunity to spend so much time interpreting new works, and a guest conductor who should come to the bay area more often. All in all, between sfsound, earplay, and sfcmp, last weekend was a great weekend for new music in the bay area.