On January 21st at ISSUE Project Room, 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, MATA will showcase six exciting new works by young composers for electric guitars in duos, quartets, and finally a 10-piece hearing-deprived electric guitar orchestra!
Program Info
James Moore and Taylor Levine are accomplished guitarists and chamber musicians who actively perform new and experimental music in New York. The two share a common approach to the guitar as a unique electro-acoustic instrument with extensive capabilities for electronic manipulation, a rich history of improvisation, wide ranges of timbre and style, and endless popular and cultural roots. Forming Dither in 2007, they have found an outlet to explore some of their favorite guitar music, and to work with composers to create an exciting new repertoire.
As Curators for MATA 2.3, James and Taylor will present an entire show of new electric guitar works, many of which are world premieres, including pieces by Eric km Clark, Lisa R. Coons, Bryce Dessner, Florent Ghys, Joshua Lopes, Paula Matthusen, and Wil Smith. These works represent a wide variety of approaches: from clean pop textures to heavily processed noise, from tight rhythmic unity to cacophonous sound mass. What unifies them all is that they utilize and wholeheartedly embrace the beautiful and engulfing sound of electric guitars.
Closing the show will be an exciting large ensemble piece by Eric km Clark, Canadian experimental composer and violinist for the California EAR Unit. The curious and captivating feature of this piece is Eric’s compositional technique of “Hearing Deprivation.” In this practice, the performers are deprived of hearing through the use of earplugs and cup-headphones, which playback white noise at a high volume. This makes it nearly impossible for an individual player to effectively coordinate with the ensemble or to judge his or her own sound. As the performers attempt to play their parts accurately, new soundscapes emerge ranging from hypnotizing hermetic canons, to driving sections of controlled chaos, to beautiful pointillistic textures. Though it may be a frightening idea, hearing deprivation proves to be a highly effective musical tool, and a powerful dramatic gesture.
About MATA Interval
Started during the 2007-08 season, MATA Interval is a bi-monthly concert series dedicated to small-scale performances by emerging performers and composers based in New York City. Produced in conjunction with Issue Project Room, Interval’s programming is developed and produced by selected participants in MATA’s Curatorial Associate program. The intimate and community-based character of Interval encourages risk taking and allows MATA to showcase a wide array of aesthetics from the city’s vibrant musical culture.
In its first season Interval debuted to great acclaim, selling out nearly every concert event. Highlights included a night of video and electronic works curated by composer Zach Layton, a performance by Flux Quartet curated by cellist Ha-Yang Kim, and a night of electro-acoustic performances by members of the performance collective Symbol, curated by composer Mario Diaz de Leon. The 2008-2009 season features the initial set of programs selected from MATA’s first Interval call for proposals.
The Curatorial Associate Program is a ten-week paid internship that mentors and educates young artists interested in concert production. Each year young composers and performers are selected from a competitive pool of applicants to our open call for proposals, and are invited to work closely with MATA‘’s directors, staff and publicists to curate a series event. The Curatorial Associate Program is one of the few internships that provides real-world experience in the area of producing and curating, distinguishing Interval as the only concert series in New York designed and executed wholly by emerging artists.
MATA recently awarded CA internships for the 2008-09 season to several promising young musicians. They include Judd Greenstein and New Amsterdam Records (Nov. 19), James Moore and Taylor Levine of Dither Guitar Quartet (Jan. 21), Angelica Negron with Transit (Mar. 18).
Biographies
Dither is a quartet of electric guitarists who play an energetic mix of composed music and improvisation, all orchestrated through a galaxy of stomp boxes and effects. Guitarists Simon Kafka, Taylor Levine, Josh Lopes, and James Moore combined forces in 2007 with varied backgrounds in jazz, classical, and popular music. Since their debut concert at John Zorn’s experimental music venue The Stone, the group has been gaining recognition as both an eclectic improvising group and a skilled chamber ensemble.
Dither frequently performs original compositions, arrangements, new commissions, and the works of Fred Frith and Nick Didkovsky. Their performances have brought them to a number of venues including Roulette, Princeton University, the Extensible Electric Guitar Festival at Clark University, and most recently to the Fringe Theater in Hong Kong, where they premiered Samson Young’s multimedia theater piece “Hong Kong Explodes!” Upcoming shows include a showcase of original works for the Flea Theater’s “Music with a View” series.
James Moore is a versatile guitarist with many musical personalities. Performing on a wide variety of acoustic and electric guitars, banjos, and home-made instruments, James combines the sensitivity and lyricism from his classical training with a healthy dose of improvisation, theatrics, and experimentation. His chamber performances have brought him to concert halls and experimental music venues across the country, including shows with Bang on a Can, Other Minds, Princeton University, The Electronic Music Foundation, Anti-Social Music, the Merkin Hall Ear Department Series, and The Kitchen. As a soloist, he has been heard at the Chelsea Art museum playing music for amplified banjo and just-intonation steel string guitar, at Northwestern University performing on prepared classical guitar, and with the Astoria Symphony premiering a concerto for the Greek bouzouki. James also performs with several unconventional groups, including William Brittelle’s pop-art-concept ensemble Mohair Time Warp, and Jacob Cooper’s slowed-down pop-tragedy Timberbrit. James’s own projects include the new folk-noise group Oliphant and the mischievous rock band Passenger Fish. In addition to collaborating with gifted musicians and composers from his own generation, James has worked with many of today’s leading artists, including David Lang, Steve Reich, Ingram Marshall, and Meredith Monk. James grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, received degrees in guitar performance from The University of California, Santa Cruz, and the Yale School of Music. He currently resides in Brooklyn, NY.
Taylor Levine is a guitarist in the NYC area. He is the co-founder/co-director of Kyklos, a fantastically raucous sextet and the founder/co-director of Dither. He also performs regularly with Newspeak and Yes is a World. He has worked with Meredith Monk, Theo Bleckmann, Ridge Theater, The New York Soundpainting Orchestra, Newband (A Harry Partch Ensemble), Bang on a Can, including the October 2006 UK production of The Carbon Copy Building, the Obie-winning opera co-composed by Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe, and with the Dutch dance company Emio Greco | PC in a new work which premiered at the Holland Dance Festival in June of 2008. Recent events include five performances of Harry Partch’s Delusion of the Fury with Newband at the New York Japan Society and an Artist In Residence at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art with Emio Greco | PC. His performances have opened him to an international community, which includes the United Kingdom, Italy, Netherlands and France. Taylor also pursues an active role as an educator in the NYC area. He studied at The Manhattan School of Music and The Amsterdam Conservatory. Taylor currently resides in Manhattan.
ISSUE Project Room provides an open and versatile environment where both established and emerging artists can conduct, exhibit and perform new and site-specific work according to their respective visions. Through an evolving collaboration with curators, artists and educators, ISSUE Project Room fosters a wide-range of artistic projects that challenge and expand conventional practices in art. ISSUE Project Room fulfills its mission through a series of innovative programs, events, exhibitions, performances, talks and concerts.