PZ
gazzetta
(all the gnus)
June 2013 [pz gazzetta xv] (view online)  


event highlights | news travels goings-on | event details | past gazzetti | pamelaz.com


event highlights:

June 21, 2013
Garden of Memory
Oakland, CA USA

July 5, 2013
ROOM: 6 reeds & 18 ft of tubing
San Francisco, CA USA

July 26, 2013
ROOM: vox & circuitry
San Francisco, CA USA

August 4, 2013
Kronos Quartet play Pamela Z
Santa Cruz, CA USA

August 9, 2013
ROOM: a psaltery and batterie
San Francisco, CA USA

August 23, 2013
ROOM: Labrosones
San Francisco, CA USA

 




Winged PZ
Winged PZ landed in Mexico City.

   

Premieres, Art, Mezcal, Dancing...

Gentle Gazzetta Readers,

It's been such a good and busy year, I haven't even had time to generate my little digital, supposedly quarterly, rag. Thus, it has been nearly 6 months since you've received an issue of PZ Gazzetta! Do I have news for you? I do.

Premieres and Performances
Where to even begin... how about Kronos? In February, my new, commissioned work for Kronos Quartet premiered at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in a program of works by Bay Area composers. The piece, which I call And the Movement of the Tongue, is scored for string quartet and "tape" and explores speaking accents. The tape part consists of a text collage I constructed after interviewing around 25 English-speaking people with various regional American and foreign-language accents, and string parts I built largely from the rich, melodic material found in the speech fragments I used. I was very pleased with Kronos’ performance of the work and it was well received by the audience and the press. If you'd like to read some reviews of the work, check out Joshua Kosman’s piece in the Chron and and Stephen Smoliar’s Examiner piece.

And, if you missed the premiere and would like a second chance to see the piece performed live, Kronos Quartet has scheduled a performance of it on their August 4th program at the Cabrillo Festival in Santa Cruz.

In April, I had another large premiere – this one a collaborative work with videomaker Christina McPhee. Our Carbon Song Cycle, a work for chamber ensemble and multi-channel, immersive video, was presented at the Berkeley Art Museum. This was our second collaboration (the first being Wunderkabinet, a 2005 one-act opera by Matt Brubeck and me, which was based on the Museum of Jurassic Technology and featured Christina’s multi-channel video work.) I scored Carbon Song Cycle for a stellar chamber ensemble of cellist Theresa Wong, bassoonist Dana Jessen, percussionist Suki O’Kane, and violist Charith Premawardhana, along with me on voice & electronics. Christina filled the massive, brutalist architecture of the BAM/PFA with her vivid, layered images. We are hoping to give more performances of the work in the not-too-distant future, and I’ll keep you all posted when we have some confirmed bookings for it.

Along with the premieres of these two major new works, I had other performance opportunities. At San Francisco's Other Minds Festival in March, I performed my solo arrangement of Meredith Monk’s Scared Song and did a duo improvisation with electronic music composer Paula Matthuson. And, in April, I joined Nick Hallett and company in a San Francisco iteration of his bizarre music/performance/happening/ritual Auroville.

Good Travels
Although I was teaching a Spring semester visiting artist sound art class at San Francisco Art Institute, I still managed to get away and squeeze in some traveling engagements. I visited Ars Electronica Center in Linz Austria, and I had performances at MIT’s Center for Arts, Science and Technology in Cambridge, MA, the Vital Vox Festival at Roulette in New York, the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC, and Poesía en Voz Alta at Casa del Lago in Mexico City.

When I tour, I don’t always get to see as much as I’d like of the places I visit. In the worst case scenario, I barely see more than the inside of my hotel, the inside of the venue during soundcheck and performance, and maybe a few sights from the taxi window to and from the airport. But my Mexico City trip was on the opposite end of that spectrum. The festival organizers generously provided a full festival pass and lodging for the entire week-long event. So, not only did I get to see all the other artists perform, I had plenty of time to see some Mexico City sights, frequent eating and drinking establishments, visit museums, hang out with a great group of lively locals, and forge new friendships with wonderful artists. In particular, I had a great time with the gifted London poet/rapper Kate Tempest and her charming partner India as well as Werner und Rainer (the Austrian text-sound duo OnoPhon) and Rainer’s girlfriend Sonja. Although, admittedly, our longest conversations took place during van rides between the hotel and the venue, we also shared some meals and laughed over late-night mezcal & tequila shots.

I learned a lot of Mexican history during a well-guided visit to the Museo Nacional de Antropologia (lesson one: that famous Aztec Stone is neither Mayan nor a calendar), and saw loads of engaging work at the impressive contemporary Museo Rufino Tamayo. I enjoyed beautiful walks through downtown Mexico City and through the neighborhood of Coyoacán, where I was thrilled to finally visit Frida Kahlo’s house. Our hosts showed us a fabulous time, including a marvelous lunch/dance/garden party at the home Julietta Gimenez Cacho and Jorge Espinosa on the last day. We all danced and laughed so hard, we were exhausted. And, at one point, a spontaneous all-men dance erupted and the rest of us just watched as those gorgeous, fluid-hipped, smooth-footed Mexican guys displayed their plumage. Then, for some reason, the Mexican music switched to early Police, and we all rushed the floor to finish the party in a flurry of jumping and pogoing to De do do do De da da da...

Remembering that I said I like Mexican chocolate, Jorge sent me away with a gift of stone-ground cacao tablets and a molinillo from his kitchen. Something concrete to take home along with memories of new friends and good art!

Plenty of Art and more to come...
I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing quite a bit of good art right here at home in San Francisco as well. From concerts by the Contemporary Music Players, who just get better all the time with Steven Schick at the helm, to landmark media art events like SFMOMA’s 24 hour May showings of Christian Marclay’s The Clock, to the unending wealth of magical events at small venues like The Schoolhouse (RIP), Meridian Gallery, and the Center for New Music, I have had no shortage inspiring events to fill my days and evenings in the first half of 2013.

And, speaking of contemporary music series in small venues, it’s ROOM Series time! Yes, this summer brings the next four concerts of my little avant chamber series. Those events plus the annual solstice event “Chapel of the Chimes” and an August performance of my Kronos Quartet piece are upon us! Read on for details...

Love,

PZ

 

 

Carbon Song Cycle Tutte
Carbon Song Cycle at BAM/PFA


Kronos Rehearsing
Kronos rehearsing PZ's piece in their studio

PZ & PM
PZ with Paula Matthusen at Other Minds
Pre-concert talk

PZhands
PZ's hands, Swearingen controller, McPhee projections in Carbon Song Cycle

PZ with SFAI Students
PZ conducting SFAI students in a timbral
vocal performance

PZ & Hauschka
Prepared pianist Hauschka and PZ
played together at MIT

Aztec Sun Stone
12 feet in diameter

Skeleton Cycler
A skeleton using the Eco-Bikes in Mexico City

PZ & Friend
PZ with friend (at Museo Nacional de Antropologia)

OnoPhon
Onophon (Werner und Rainer) performing
text-sound poetry at Casa del Lago

Kate Tempest
Kate Tempest at Casa del Lago

Kate & India
Kate and India

PZ at Casa Del Lago
PZ performing Flare Stains at Casa del Lago

Toasting Across Werner
Werner gets trapped inside a toast (PZ & Julietta)

PZ & Daniel
PZ and Daniel Saldaña París sur l'herbe

Frida's Studio
Frida's studio

Chiocolatta & Molinillo
chocolate y molinillo

Carlos Amarales Installation
Carlos Amarales installation at the
Tamayo Museum, Mexico City


Photos by Pamela Z, Donald Swearingen, Tom Steenland, Silvia Matheus, atomicmonk, Zoran Orlic.

gazzetta | event highlights | news travels goings-on | event details | past gazzetti | pamelaz.com


 


upcoming event details:


gazzetta | event highlights | news travels goings-on | event details | past gazzetti | pamelaz.com


Garden of Memory Solstice Walk-Through Concert
PZ at Chapel of the Chimes
Chapel of the Chimes
4499 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland, CA, USA

June 21, 2013, 5 - 9pm

New Music Bay Area and Lifemark Group Arts present Garden of Memory 2013: a walk-through concert to celebrate the summer solstice. The program will feature continuous simultaneous performances by Bay Area composers, musicians, and other performers presenting a variety of acoustic and electronic music and video in different parts of the beautiful, Julia Morgan-designed building; the audience is free to move throughout the building during the performances.

Pamela Z will perform in her usual niche, the lovely "Garden of Ages", which she will share with Slovakian composer/multimedia artist Juraj Kojs.

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ROOM: Six Reeds and 18 Feet of Tubing
6 Reeds
Royce Gallery
2901 Mariposa Street #18, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA

Friday July 5 , 2013, 8pm

The 2013 Room Series kicks off with a concert featuring double reeds.

Sara Schoenbeck – bassoon
Dana Jessen (remote from Oberlin) – bassoon
Kyle Bruckmann – oboe and English horn
w/ Pamela Z – voice & electronics

Pamela Z Arts presents ROOM: Six reeds (and 18 feet of tubing), an evening of new music for double reeds – local and remote (combined with a little voice & electronics). The evening will feature Bay Area ex-pat bassoonist extraordinaire, Sara Schoenbeck in this rare San Francisco appearance, local renowned genre-bending double-reedist Kyle Bruckmann (of sfSound Group and SF Contemporary Music Players fame), and a remote appearance by virtuosic bassoonist Dana Jessen teleported into the ROOM via Skype from Oberlin. Composer/performer Pamela Z will host as usual, and contribute some voice and electronics work to the evening.

Each will do a solo set (and/or duo with Pamela Z) and then Pamela will join all of them in an ensemble finale.

Royce Gallery, 2901 Mariposa Street #18, San Francisco, CA

6 Reeds 

 

 

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ROOM: vox & circuitry

Royce Gallery
2901 Mariposa Street #18, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA

Friday, July 26, 2013, 8 pm

Pamela Z Arts' intimate avant chamber series continues with an evening of new music for voice & electronics. Vibrating vocal cords mediated circuitously through cryptic components will reverberate and richochet through the ROOM, finally resting in your earnest, expectant ears.

Pamela Z (voice, computer, & gesture controllers)
Kristin Miltner (voice, computer, & gesture controller)
Dean Santomieri (voice & analogue electronics)
Luciano Chessa (voice and megaphone)

Vox & Circuits

Each will perform solo work (and some possible duos), and then they will all join forces for an ensemble finale.


 

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KRONOS QUARTET plays PAMELA Z

Cabrillo Festival

Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium 307 Church Street, Santa Cruz, CA USA

Sunday, August 4, 2013, 8 pm

Kronos Quartet will play Pamela Z's And the Movement of the Tongue, a recently commissioned work for string quartet and tape, at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, on an evening that also includes works by Yuri Boguinia, Michael Gordon, and Nicole Lizée; plus pieces arranged for Kronos including Richard Wagner’s Prelude from Tristan and Isolde arranged by Aleksandra Vrebalov, and Alter Yechiel Karniol’s Sim Sholom arranged by Judith Berkson.


Kronos Quartet

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ROOM: a psaltery and batterie
Salt and Batter

Royce Gallery
2901 Mariposa Street #18, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA

Friday August 9 , 2013, 8pm

An evening of new music for percussion and hammered dulcimer (and a little voice & electronics)

This iteration of Pamela Z Arts' intimate avant chamber series juxtaposes the processed, percussive string sounds of experimental hammered dulcimer artist Dan Joseph with percussionist Joel Davel's virtuousic mallet work on the Buchla Marimba Lumina, and the complex vibrations of Karen Stackpole's otherworldly wall of gongs. Pamela Z joins them to add a little voice and electronics to the Psaltery & Batterie mix!

Joel Davel (marimba lumina)
Karen Stackpole (cymbals)
Dan Joseph (hammered dulcimer)
w/ Pamela Z (voice & electronics)

Each will perform solo work (and some possible duos), and then Pamela will join all of them in an ensemble finale..

 

 

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ROOM: Labrosones


Royce Gallery
2901 Mariposa Street #18, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA

Friday August 23 , 2013, 8pm

An evening of new music for brasswinds (combined with a little voice & electronics)

Pamela Z Arts' intimate avant chamber series continues with an evening of new music for brasswinds (combined with a little voice & electronics). Prodigious ombutures will force compressed air though meters of brass tubing to excite the bells and your ears. Pamela Z will join them to add a little voice and electronics to the labrosonic frenzy.

Tom Dambly (trumpet & electronics)
Krys Bobrowski (horn and kelp horn)
Richard Marriott (trombone)
w/ Pamela Z (voice & electronics)

Each will perform solo work (and some possible duos), and then Pamela will join all of them in an ensemble finale..


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gazzetta | event highlights | news travels goings-on | event details | past gazzetti | pamelaz.com


Pamela Z is a composer/performer and media artist whose solo works combine a wide range of vocal techniques with electronic processing, samples, video, and gesture activated MIDI controllers. Ms. Z has toured extensively throughout the US, Europe, and Japan. Her work has been presented at venues and exhibitions including Bang on a Can (NY), the Japan Interlink Festival, Other Minds (SF), the Venice Biennale, and the Dakar Biennale. She's created installation works and composed scores for dance, film, and new music chamber ensembles. Her numerous awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Creative Capital Fund, the CalArts Alpert Award, the ASCAP Award, an Ars Electronica honorable mention and the NEA/JUSFC Fellowship. www.pamelaz.com


Pamela Z is represented and fiscally sponsored by Circuit Network. If you wish to make a tax-deductible contribution to Pamela Z or Pamela Z Productions, you can make a donation via PayPal:


or you can write a check to Circuit Network with "Pamela Z Productions" in the notation and send it to:
Circuit Network, 499 Alabama Street, Suite 203, San Francisco, CA 94110

For booking inquiries contact Elisabeth Beiard at Circuit: 415 863 2441 or info@circuitnetwork.com


gazzetta | event highlights | news travels goings-on | event details | past gazzetti | pamelaz.com



Pamela Z Productions | 540 Alabama Street, Studio 213 | San Francisco, CA | 94110 | tel: 415 861 EARS

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