Composers and multi-instrumentalists Miguel Frasconi & Gina Leishman join forces to explore the unique and varied qualities of glass. They will perform compositions and improvisations on found & home-made instruments involving rubbing, striking, and breaking all forms of glass objects.
Miguel Frasconi is an award-winning composer and performer of new exploratory world music. By combining musical instruments from around the world with experimental forms, cutting-edge electronics and new glass instruments, he creates a music that sounds from a uniquely imagined tradition. He has composed over thirty works for dance and numerous film scores. He also has a long history of working with other composers including John Cage, James Tenney, Jon Hassell, Paul Dresher, and most recently with Morton Subotnick, Aki Onda, Raz Mesinai, and o.blaat. Frasconi’s early work includes 10 years as a founding member of the Glass Orchestra, the internationally acclaimed new music ensemble featuring all glass instruments.
Composer and multi-instrumentalist Gina Leishman is perhaps best-known as co-leader of KAMIKAZE GROUND CREW and MR. WAU-WA and as singer/songwriter of the critically acclaimed album BED TIME. Born in England and schooled in Europe, she has long made her home in the US, and in New York for the past 11 years. She has written for the theater, opera, dance, film and concert stage, garnering numerous awards. For her first opera, she had built for her a unique musical instrument of tiered spinning glasses which was the genesis of her on-going fascination with glass music and this evening’s concert.