Photo: Eduoard Plongeon
For the first performance of her 2013 residency, Sabisha Friedberg presents Hoffe - Axiom, or Trailing Edge, Resonance (Hope Axiom), a new chamber piece for acoustic instruments, modified subwoofers, and voice, featuring internationally renowned basso profondo Kevin Maynor. Friedberg focuses on the concept of an experiential threshold, with notations and an arrangement of frequencies that engage the most physical states of hearing. This new work draws on the extremes of perception in the lower end of the sonic spectrum: the opening of a psychoacoustic territory which deals exclusively with bass tones and their resonance.
Hoffe - Axiom is based upon the art song “Weeping Angel with Pinions Trailing” written by the poet LeRoy V. Brant and set to music by William Grant Still in 1953. This new work resides in an extremely low, extended register, and the parameters of the distribution of sound factor into the organization of this explorative piece. The notation for voice and the instrumentalists— Linda Oh and Andrew Lafkas on contrabass, James Ilgenfritz on contrabass and providing string arrangements, Sabisha Friedberg directing and utilizing tone oscillators, and Bob Bellerue manning system design— is based upon an extraction of essential elements of tonality and sentiment. The performers deliver pure tones that resonate within an interstitial aural space above and within the subsonic, and then exist infinitely in the infrasonic— a theoretic-romantic notion proposed.
For the two days following the concert on April 12th and 13th, from 12pm to 5pm, the subsonic artifacts of the piece— the lowest notes of the arrangement— will exist in ISSUE's hall as a quadrophonic installation. Each afternoon the subwoofers, as independent instruments, will project a series of cyclical sonic traces or phantom sounds in patterns of low-end frequencies as a continuation of the piece's exploration of sub, ELF, infrasonic allocation and resonance. The room becomes a cavity of a sparse but immersive spacialized and localized low frequencies.
Friedberg’s 2013 residency examines different approaches to listening, or aurality, specifically to sounds that exist at extremely subtle levels, are nearly imperceptible, and experienced bodily. The way one perceives sound both in the auricular and physiological sense, is the foundation for this triad of pieces. The second and third installments, forthcoming later this year, include an installation that defines the interior space of ISSUE’s historic theater through sonic interplay, and a durational work of 25 hours which posits the artist as an activator and catalytic agent of sound.
Born in Johannesburg South Africa, Sabisha Friedberg studied Fine Arts and completed her degree with an emphasis upon sound and installation in the New Genres Department of The San Francisco Art Institute. There she studied experimental film with Ernie Gehr and recording and electro-acoustic/ tape music composition with Don Llloyd, Paul de Marinas and Chris Brown of Mills College of Contemporary Music.
Her work is principally concerned with the exploration of the intermediate states as expressed through electro- acoustic composition, site-specific installation, and experiential sonic constructs. She was Artist in Residence at The Clocktower Gallery/AIR founded by Alanna Heiss 2011/2012. She is the recipient of the New York State Council on the Arts/ Transmission Arts Grant for 2012. Sabisha was an Artist in Residence with Peter Edwards at EMPAC 2012. She exhibited the solo show Levitation: Universe-Flex-Triad in 2012/2013 at AVA (Audio Visual Arts) in New York. She is a 2013 Artist-in-Residence at ISSUE Project Room. She has performed and presented pieces widely in Western and Eastern Europe, Russia, Japan, and Northern America. She is currently based in Brooklyn, New York.
Declared as, “one of the very greatest bass voices of the century”, Kevin Maynor has sung throughout the world in both concert halls and opera houses, he has sung roles with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Orchestra of New York, Cinncinnati Opera, Teatro Municipal of Santiago, Edmonton Opera, L’Opera de Montreal, Florida Grand Opera, Pittsburg Opera, Opera National du Rhin of France, Dallas Opera, Opera Company of Boston, The Spoleto Festival, Opera Pacific, The Saratov Opera in Russia and Scottish Opera,among others. He has also sung with the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Forth Worth, Quebec, New Orleans, Milwaukee, The Buffalo and Long Island philharmonic, The New World Symphony, The American Symphony, among others. Maynor has sung everywhere from Carnegie Hall to The Beijing Concert Hall in China. As a recitalist, Maynor has received praise throughout North America, South America, Europe, Australasia and Africa as well as Asia including India and China.
Born in Malaysia and raised in Australia, Linda Oh studied double bass at the Manhattan School of Music. iI 2008 Oh received the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award, followed by a 2009 Honorable Mention at the Thelonious Monk Semi-Finals. In 2010 she added a Bell Award for Young Australian Jazz Artist of the year. Oh resides in New-York City and performs with such musical standouts as Steve Wilson, Kenny Barron, Dave Douglas, Kevin Hayes, Joe Lovano and Cyrus Chestnut. She is currently working on a jazz quartet project accompanied by strings entitled “Concert in the Dark” where the audience listens under minimal lighting conditions to enhance the aural experience and create a spatial surround-sound effect. Her commission work for Jazz Gallery was premiered in 2012.
Composer, bassist, and educator James Ilgenfritz has been active in New York since 2003. He has performed with Anthony Braxton, Pauline Oliveros, John Zorn, Anthony Coleman, Elliott Sharp, Marilyn Crispell, and Steve Swell. Two recent CD releases include his solo bass debut Compositions (Braxton) 2012, featuring the music of Anthony Braxton, and MiND GAMeS, a collaborative quartet with Denman Maroney, Andrew Drury, and Angelika Niescier. Ilgenfritz performs regularly ISSUE Project Room, Roulette, The Stone, The Kitchen, Miller Theater, Merkin Hall and Symphony Space. In 2011 Ilgenfritz was Artist-In-Residence at ISSUE Project Room, where he premiered his first opera, The Ticket That Exploded (based on William S. Burroughs’ 1962 novel). In 2007 Ilgenfritz received a Subito grant from the American Composers Forum and a residency at at Music OMI in 2009. Ilgenfritz received a BA from University of Michigan and an MA from University of California San Diego, and is currently on faculty at Brooklyn College Preparatory Center and at Brooklyn Conservatory.
Andrew Lafkas is a musician living in New York, his primary instrument is the doublebass. He is currently focused on developing pieces that encourage group intuition; this interest was greatly inspired and influenced by experiences working in groups led by Milo Fine and by Bill Dixon. He has performed at venues and festivals including The Walker Art Center, The Living Theatre, Experimental Intermedia, The Vision Festival, and The Seattle Improvised Music Festival.
System Designer Bob Bellerue is a sound artist and audio engineer based in Bushwick NY. Bellerue’s solo and collaborative work has been presented at the Yogyakarta Gamelan Festival, Centre de Cultura Contemporanea de Barcelona, Living Arts of Tulsa’s New Genre Festival, Redcat’s CEAIT Festival, Issue Project Room, Diapason Sound Gallery, Roulette, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver Noise Festival, Olympia Experimental Music Festival, PDX Noise Festival, Radio Epsilonia, WFMU, KFJC, KXLU, Stanford University, UCSD, and UCLA. As a curator he has produced music festivals and events going back 25 years, including the Ende Tymes Festival (2011-present), Turn The Screws (2005-6), and Beyond Music (2003).
