“Ms. Roberts isn’t just mildly curious to expand her medium: She seems driven to do it.” – NY Times

“Matana is definitely nondescriptive. She’s not a lady, she’s not a man; she’s just a being…” – Jazz Times

“Roberts is a deep traditionalist who looks beyond the rigid distinctions and definitions of musical style” – Chicago Defender

“…alto saxophonist and clarinetist Matana Roberts –add this name to the frustratingly short list of excellent, female reed players…” – All About Jazz

“…Roberts is a fluid, elegant player who rejects the star soloist approach of many a saxophonist….” – BBC Jazz

“The sound of Matana Roberts’ alto sax spans jazz her-story, from its roots in New Orleans, through the swinging ‘30s-40s, to the New Thing.” – All About Jazz

A CAN CAN FOR COIN COIN…

Rooted in her strong belief that sharing honest creativity is a catalyst for instant community, Matana Roberts and ISSUE Project Room will join together for A CAN CAN FOR COIN COIN, a concert and food drive for her last performance as Artist-in-Residence on December 9th. While developing her blood narrative COIN COIN, she has been trying to connect the work to the social activism inherent in sharing art, and the devotion to community activism prevalent throughout in her family tree. In honor of her ancestors, she is creating this community-focused food drive benefiting the Bread and Life Soup Kitchen, a healthy food initiative that brings both physical and mental nourishment to in-need areas around Brooklyn.

Matana Roberts (Reeds)

Amelia Hollander (Viola)
Jessica Pavone (Viola)
Daniel Levin (Cello)
Keith Witty (bass)
Tomas Fujiwara (drums)
Daniel Givens (projections)

The concert will be followed by a talk with Nate Chinen, a regular music contributor to the New York Times, JazzTimes and The Village Voice.

COIN COIN: In Essence, a Musical Monument to the Human Experience

Matana will premiere the last of three new COIN COIN pieces which focus on spacial and environmental interplay while excavating themes relating to her familial heritage and own personal history.

Matana cultivates an environment where every surface, from walls to floors, to furnishings to large instruments, serve as sonic reciprocators. Keeping visual aesthetics in mind just as much as the auditory experience, and having utilized raw space and various architectures before, Matana creates a comprehensive sensory experience for the audience, attempting to create an intimate “womb” feeling.

Her work during the Residency focuses on and attempts to deconstruct recent discoveries in her lineage and family histories. Researching back to the 1700’s, Matana explores themes of hardship and perseverance while trying to find and construct her own identity. Since beginning this project, she has found that her lineage includes Irish, Dutch, Danish, English, Scottish, African and others, imploring a critical look
at the title “African American”.

Since her youth, Matana was surrounded by musicians who showed by distinct example the importance of listening to one’s personal creative voice while at the same time using the profound and many layered traditions of jazz and improvised musics to act only as her creative guide, not as her creative definer. By using their mentorship, she has been able to craft a voice and creative focus that truly speaks to her own artistic individuality. She feels strongly that her music should not only reflect the many colors and moods of universal human emotions, but that it should also testify, critique, document, and respond to the many socio-economic, historical, and cultural inequalities that exist all over the world.

Matana, a 2006 Van Lier fellow, Brecht Forum fellow, and 2008 and 2009 Alpert Award in the Arts nominee, has appeared as a collaborator on recordings and performances in the U.S., Europe, and Canada with her own ensembles as well as with the collaborative jazz trio Sticks and Stones, Black Rock Coalition founder Greg Tate’s Burnt Sugar, Reg E Gaines and Savion Glover’s homage project to the late John Coltrane, the Oliver Lake Big Band, and the Julius Hemphill Sextet and Merce Cunningham dance. She recently released a homage project to her hometown entitled The Chicago Project, on Barry Adamson’s Central Control International, produced by pianist extraordinaire Vijay Iyer, featuring friends and supporters of her Chicago development. She has also recorded as a side person on recordings with such iconic bands as Godspeed You Black Emperor, TV on the Radio, Guillermo Scott Herren’s Savath and Savalas, Silver Mt Zion, and sound artist Daniel Given’s Day Clear/Day dark.  Matana is a member of the AACM– Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and the BRC– Black Rock Coalition.

To learn more about Matana’s vision for her residency, read her interview “In conversation with Matana Roberts, ISSUE’s Current Artist-In-Residence” with David Martinson or visit www.matanaroberts.com

ISSUE’s AIR program made possible, in part, through the generous support of the Jerome Foundation.

Cellist, composer and improviser Ha-Yang Kim was born in Seoul, Korea. Ha-Yang made her professional solo debut at age 16 with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Hailed as “phenomenal” and playing with “brilliant technique full of energy, concentration, musicality and expression” (Mainpost, Germany), she performs new music as a soloist and with ensembles and artists in festivals and concert venues throughout the world. She is the founder of Odd Appetite, a cello-percussion duo which performs and commissions new contemporary works alongside original works and improvisations. Ms. Kim has developed a unique language of extended string techniques and has created her own music based on this work, as well as collaborating on new pieces from other composers. Her musical influences draw equally from a range of western classical music, American experimentalism, rock, jazz, and improvised music, to non-western musical sources from Bali, Korea and South Indian classical music (Karnatic). Her music has been performed in the US, Turkey, The Netherlands, Belgium, Korea, and Germany. In seeking new musical experiences, Ha-Yang has performed traditional and new Balinese music as a member of Gamelan Galak Tika, and has collaborated/ performed with many diverse musicians such as Evan Ziporyn, Cecil Taylor, John Zorn, Christian Wolff, Lee Hyla, Louis Andriessen, Lukas Ligeti, Larry Polansky, and Stefan Poetzsch, with whom she has presented original compositions incorporating electronics, dance, theatre, and multi-media.

Past performances include as soloist at Carnegie Hall, touring and playing at festivals in the US, Europe, Cuba and Bali, Indonesia, performing at the Bang on a Can Marathon with both her duo and the All-Stars, composing for and performing at the Kwacheon International Theatre Festival in Seoul, Korea, a solo recital at the Hochschule für Musik in Würzburg, Germany, and broadcast recordings for the Bavarian Radio Network. Upcoming performances of her music include at festivals in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia, Holland, Belgium and in the US. Ama, a CD of her own compositions, is released on Tzadik. Ms. Kim has also recorded for New World, Cold Blue, New Albion, Karnatic Lab and Bridge Records.

She has received prizes and awards including a grant from Meet the Composer, Trust for Mutual Understanding, the Argosy Foundation, the Ruth Schwob Foundation, and The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Kim has been an artist-in-residence at Princeton University, Brown University, Harvard University, Dartmouth College, Bates College, Brandeis University and at the Walden School for Young Composers. Ha-Yang studied cello, improvisation, and microtonality at the New England Conservatory of Music, Karnatic music concepts at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, and was on the faculty at Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire, USA. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

ISSUE Project Room’s Artist In Residence Program is made possible through generous support from the Jerome Foundation

Admission: $15

Cellist, composer and improviser Ha-Yang Kim was born in Seoul, Korea. Ha-Yang made her professional solo debut at age 16 with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Hailed as “phenomenal” and playing with “brilliant technique full of energy, concentration, musicality and expression” (Mainpost, Germany), she performs new music as a soloist and with ensembles and artists in festivals and concert venues throughout the world. She is the founder of Odd Appetite, a cello-percussion duo which performs and commissions new contemporary works alongside original works and improvisations. Ms. Kim has developed a unique language of extended string techniques and has created her own music based on this work, as well as collaborating on new pieces from other composers. Her musical influences draw equally from a range of western classical music, American experimentalism, rock, jazz, and improvised music, to non-western musical sources from Bali, Korea and South Indian classical music (Karnatic). Her music has been performed in the US, Turkey, The Netherlands, Belgium, Korea, and Germany. In seeking new musical experiences, Ha-Yang has performed traditional and new Balinese music as a member of Gamelan Galak Tika, and has collaborated/ performed with many diverse musicians such as Evan Ziporyn, Cecil Taylor, John Zorn, Christian Wolff, Lee Hyla, Louis Andriessen, Lukas Ligeti, Larry Polansky, and Stefan Poetzsch, with whom she has presented original compositions incorporating electronics, dance, theatre, and multi-media.

Past performances include as soloist at Carnegie Hall, touring and playing at festivals in the US, Europe, Cuba and Bali, Indonesia, performing at the Bang on a Can Marathon with both her duo and the All-Stars, composing for and performing at the Kwacheon International Theatre Festival in Seoul, Korea, a solo recital at the Hochschule für Musik in Würzburg, Germany, and broadcast recordings for the Bavarian Radio Network. Upcoming performances of her music include at festivals in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia, Holland, Belgium and in the US. Ama, a CD of her own compositions, is released on Tzadik. Ms. Kim has also recorded for New World, Cold Blue, New Albion, Karnatic Lab and Bridge Records.

She has received prizes and awards including a grant from Meet the Composer, Trust for Mutual Understanding, the Argosy Foundation, the Ruth Schwob Foundation, and The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Kim has been an artist-in-residence at Princeton University, Brown University, Harvard University, Dartmouth College, Bates College, Brandeis University and at the Walden School for Young Composers. Ha-Yang studied cello, improvisation, and microtonality at the New England Conservatory of Music, Karnatic music concepts at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, and was on the faculty at Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire, USA. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

ISSUE Project Room’s Artist In Residence Program is made possible through generous support from the Jerome Foundation

MV Carbon is a Brooklyn based sound artist and composer.  She collects field recordings and builds samples to create moody soundscapes. Her cello is manipulated and processed through reel-to-reel tape machines and numerous electronic devices, including an accelerometer on the cello bow programmed to effect pitch. Her orchestrations are designed to form visualizations as the woven sounds swell, stutter, contort and resolve.  She is interested in discovering the place in music that flutters between the serene and the overwhelming.  Carbon has collaborated  sonically with many artists including  Aki Onda ,  Evan Parker, John Wiese, Tony Conrad, and C. Spencer Yeh.   She has releases out with Metalux and Bride of No No on labels (5RC, Atavistic, Hanson, Load, Nihilist, No Fun, Troubleman Unlimited, Veglia…).  Her first solo LP, The Dislodged Perihelion, is to be released on Ecstatic Peace this fall. 

Her performance at Issue Project Room in July will use the multi –speaker system to portray concepts of time passage in moments of stillness. She is gathering field recordings in open-air industrial and urban environments and shaping these sounds into percussive form.   Her instruments for this performance will be the cello, samplers, tape machines, and oscillators.

Cellist, composer and improviser Ha-Yang Kim was born in Seoul, Korea. Ha-Yang made her professional solo debut at age 16 with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Hailed as “phenomenal” and playing with “brilliant technique full of energy, concentration, musicality and expression” (Mainpost, Germany), she performs new music as a soloist and with ensembles and artists in festivals and concert venues throughout the world. She is the founder of Odd Appetite, a cello-percussion duo which performs and commissions new contemporary works alongside original works and improvisations. Ms. Kim has developed a unique language of extended string techniques and has created her own music based on this work, as well as collaborating on new pieces from other composers. Her musical influences draw equally from a range of western classical music, American experimentalism, rock, jazz, and improvised music, to non-western musical sources from Bali, Korea and South Indian classical music (Karnatic). Her music has been performed in the US, Turkey, The Netherlands, Belgium, Korea, and Germany. In seeking new musical experiences, Ha-Yang has performed traditional and new Balinese music as a member of Gamelan Galak Tika, and has collaborated/ performed with many diverse musicians such as Evan Ziporyn, Cecil Taylor, John Zorn, Christian Wolff, Lee Hyla, Louis Andriessen, Lukas Ligeti, Larry Polansky, and Stefan Poetzsch, with whom she has presented original compositions incorporating electronics, dance, theatre, and multi-media.

Past performances include as soloist at Carnegie Hall, touring and playing at festivals in the US, Europe, Cuba and Bali, Indonesia, performing at the Bang on a Can Marathon with both her duo and the All-Stars, composing for and performing at the Kwacheon International Theatre Festival in Seoul, Korea, a solo recital at the Hochschule für Musik in Würzburg, Germany, and broadcast recordings for the Bavarian Radio Network. Upcoming performances of her music include at festivals in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia, Holland, Belgium and in the US. Ama, a CD of her own compositions, is released on Tzadik. Ms. Kim has also recorded for New World, Cold Blue, New Albion, Karnatic Lab and Bridge Records.

She has received prizes and awards including a grant from Meet the Composer, Trust for Mutual Understanding, the Argosy Foundation, the Ruth Schwob Foundation, and The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Kim has been an artist-in-residence at Princeton University, Brown University, Harvard University, Dartmouth College, Bates College, Brandeis University and at the Walden School for Young Composers. Ha-Yang studied cello, improvisation, and microtonality at the New England Conservatory of Music, Karnatic music concepts at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, and was on the faculty at Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire, USA. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

ISSUE Project Room’s Artist In Residence Program is made possible through generous support from the Jerome Foundation

New Music for cello and piano 
 

Emanuele Torquati, piano

Francesco Dillon, cello 
 
 

Program  
 
 
 

G. Scelsi: To the Master for cello and piano 

M. Van der Aa: Oog for cello solo and electronics 

S. Sciarrino: Melancolia 1 for cello and piano 

M. Srnka: Simple Space  

J. Harvey: Tombeau de Messiaen for piano and DAT 

Silvestrov: Postludium 3 for cello and piano 

Cellist Francesco Dillon was born in Torino in 1973.He graduated with the maximum of degrees at the Conservatorio “L.Cherubini” in Firenze under the inspirational guidance of Andrea Nannoni. Other very influential teachers where David Geringas, Mario Brunello and Amedeo Baldovino and for the composition studies Salvatore Sciarrino. Beside his solo activity (with Orchestra nazionale della RAI, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana,Orchestra Haydn among the others) he’s very active as cellist of the Quartetto Prometeo (wich tours regularly in Europe, Japan and South America). His deep interest in contemporary music led him to collaborate closely and regularly with some of the most important composers of today such as Gavin Bryars,Philip Glass,Vinko Globokar,Jonathan Harvey,Toshio Hosokawa,Giya Kancheli,David Lang,Henri Pousseur,Kaja Saariaho,Salvatore Sciarrino and with well renowned electronic musicians such as Matmos,Pansonic,Scanner,Midaircondo.

As a member of the internationally acclaimed group AlterEgo he has performed in all the major contemporary music festivals (Stockholm New Music, MaerzMusik, Festival Archipel, Ircam, Romaeuropa Festival, Ultima Festival Oslo, Wien Modern, Gaida Festival, Huddersfield Festival, Nous Sons Barcellona, Taktlos Berna, Musica Electronica Nova Wroclaw,Temporada Buenos Aires,Milano Musica,Biennale Venezia among others). He regularly plays chamber music with partners such as I.Arditti,G.Carmignola,M.Campanella,P.Farulli,V.Hagen,A.Lonquich,A.Lucchesini,E.Pace,R.Schmidt (Hagen string quartet),P.Vernikov. He won several competitions and with the quartet prizes at Pague spring (1st prize 1998), ARD Munich, Bordeaux. His performances were broadcasted by the German ARD, Saarländischer Rundfunk and Bayerische Rundfunk, the English BBC, Radio France, the Austrian ORF, Australian ABC and regularly for the Italian RAI Radio 3. He recorded for the labels Aulos,Dynamic,Ricordi,Stradivarius and Touch. His next releases will be the first world recordings of Variazioni for cello and orchestra by Salvatore Sciarrino and the Ballata by Giacinto Scelsi with the Italian National Radio Orchestra. He teaches at the Scuola di musica di Fiesole.

http://www.myspace.com/francescodillon

Cellist, composer and improviser Ha-Yang Kim was born in Seoul, Korea. Ha-Yang made her professional solo debut at age 16 with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Hailed as “phenomenal” and playing with “brilliant technique full of energy, concentration, musicality and expression” (Mainpost, Germany), she performs new music as a soloist and with ensembles and artists in festivals and concert venues throughout the world. She is the founder of Odd Appetite, a cello-percussion duo which performs and commissions new contemporary works alongside original works and improvisations. Ms. Kim has developed a unique language of extended string techniques and has created her own music based on this work, as well as collaborating on new pieces from other composers. Her musical influences draw equally from a range of western classical music, American experimentalism, rock, jazz, and improvised music, to non-western musical sources from Bali, Korea and South Indian classical music (Karnatic). Her music has been performed in the US, Turkey, The Netherlands, Belgium, Korea, and Germany. In seeking new musical experiences, Ha-Yang has performed traditional and new Balinese music as a member of Gamelan Galak Tika, and has collaborated/ performed with many diverse musicians such as Evan Ziporyn, Cecil Taylor, John Zorn, Christian Wolff, Lee Hyla, Louis Andriessen, Lukas Ligeti, Larry Polansky, and Stefan Poetzsch, with whom she has presented original compositions incorporating electronics, dance, theatre, and multi-media.

Past performances include as soloist at Carnegie Hall, touring and playing at festivals in the US, Europe, Cuba and Bali, Indonesia, performing at the Bang on a Can Marathon with both her duo and the All-Stars, composing for and performing at the Kwacheon International Theatre Festival in Seoul, Korea, a solo recital at the Hochschule für Musik in Würzburg, Germany, and broadcast recordings for the Bavarian Radio Network. Upcoming performances of her music include at festivals in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia, Holland, Belgium and in the US. Ama, a CD of her own compositions, is released on Tzadik. Ms. Kim has also recorded for New World, Cold Blue, New Albion, Karnatic Lab and Bridge Records.

She has received prizes and awards including a grant from Meet the Composer, Trust for Mutual Understanding, the Argosy Foundation, the Ruth Schwob Foundation, and The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Kim has been an artist-in-residence at Princeton University, Brown University, Harvard University, Dartmouth College, Bates College, Brandeis University and at the Walden School for Young Composers. Ha-Yang studied cello, improvisation, and microtonality at the New England Conservatory of Music, Karnatic music concepts at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, and was on the faculty at Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire, USA. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

VERGE Ensemble

an evening of electronic/computer music 

Another Face for solo violin & video David Felder

Lina Bahn, violin

come into – a cello & computer improvisation Steve Antosca & Ignacio Alcover

Ignacio Alcover, cello

Steve Antosca, computer

threnody for clarinet and audio Larry Austin

David Jones, clarinet

Video IX for piano, computer and video Frederick Weck

Jenny Lin, piano

reaLive2008 (Steve Antosca)

Ignacio Alcover, cello

Steve Antosca, computer

Lina Bahn, violin

David Jones, clarinet

Jenny Lin, piano

VERGE ensemble, formerly known as the The Contemporary Music Forum, has been presenting concerts of new music to Washington audiences for 35 years. Throughout its existence, the ensemble has pioneered the performance of works involving music and technology, and supported music by American women composers, Native American composers and the music of African-American composers.

The ensemble recently performed an all John Cage concert at the National Gallery of Art as part of the Gallery’s 62nd American Music Festival in conjunction with the Gallery’s exhibit Jasper Johns: An Allegory in Painting 1955 – 1965. In May 2007, the ensemble joined Ensemble Aleph at Theatre Dunois in Paris for the Festival de musique Americaine to present four concerts of American music.

For the 2007/2008 season, VERGE worked with the Embassy of France to create a unique, year-long collaboration between French and American musicians, promoting new American and French music. A consortium of venues in Washington participated in these events including The National Gallery of Art, La Maison Francaise, the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Loyola College in Baltimore.

In November 2007, this collaboration produced a world premiere of Sanctuary, a work for percussion and computer by Roger Reynolds at the National Gallery of Art East Building and a concert of French violin and piano music at La Maison Francaise. The festival included a series of three concerts in Washington with VERGE and Ensemble Aleph in April 2008.

During the 2008/2009 season, VERGE promoted the 3-gen festival in Washington. The festival included special concerts throughout the Fall celebrating the centennial birthdays of Elliott Carter and Oliver Messiaen at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the National Gallery of Art, La Maison Francaise and the Library of Congress.

VERGE ensemble was in residence at Cleveland State University in October 2008 and will be in residence at June in Buffalo in 2009.

VERGE ensemble is the new music ensemble in residence at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

ai ensembl

Based in New York, the ai ensemble is a duo founded by clarinetist Alejandro Acierto and cellist Isabel Castellvi in Chicago 2007 to promote contemporary works for clarinet and cello. Alejandro and Isabel met while pursuing performance degrees at DePaul University and have worked together on several projects including performances with ensemble dal niente, TACTUS, Millennium Chamber Players, and Chicago Composers Forum. Since their conception, they have already had over a dozen works written for them by emerging young composers featured on programs that also included works by established composers such as Xenakis, Lim, Saariaho, and Ran. The 2007-2008 debut season featured 9 concerts in New York and Chicago in various venues, drawing a diverse crowds. This season will feature several premieres, collaborations, and touring. Currently Alejandro and Isabel are pursuing a Master’s Degree at Manhattan School of Music for Contemporary Music Performance.

Isabel Castellvi

Cellist Isabel Castellvi is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Contemporary Music Performance at Manhattan School of Music, studying with Fred Sherry. Isabel received her B.M. from DePaul University in 2006, where she studied with Katinka Kleijn and Steve Balderston. Previous teachers include Fred Zlotkin and Danny Morganstern. As a versatile musician she performs a broad range of music including contemporary classical, experimental, world, free-improvisation, electro-acoustic, ambient, hip-hop and rock. Collaborative creation is an integral part of her work, which has led to various projects with composers, dance, theater and visual art. Currently she is the cellist for the new music ensembles: ai ensemble, WetInk, ThingNY, dal niente, and TACTUS. She has premiered over 50 compositions. On going collaborations and recent touring include Copal, Love in the Mud; CelloVox; Stone Forest Ensemble; ai ensemble. Past ensembles and performances include The Raw and the Cooked, ICE, Oistrach Orchestra, Millennium Chamber Players, New Millenium Orchestra, Ensemble Akasha and the Accende Ensemble. She has also participated in the SLSQ Chamber Music Seminar at Stanford University, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Symphony Orchestra Academy of the Pacific in British Columbia, Las Vegas Music Festival and performed a recital and taught in Argentina. Isabel is dedicated to performing for diverse audiences, expanding consciousness and promoting peace.

Alejandro Acierto

Alejandro Acierto is a Chicago clarinetist, composer, and activist living, working, and organizing within the community. He has completed degrees in clarinet performance and composition studies with a minor in Asian American Studies at DePaul University. Currently pursuing a degree in Contemporary Performance at the Manhattan School of Music, he studies with David Krakauer and has worked with teachers John B. Yeh, Julie DeRoche and Wagner Campos in addition to composers Kurt Westerberg, Pat Morehead, and David Smooke. As a performer, Alejandro has performed with several ensembles such as the Millenium Chamber Players, Yes is a World, Chicago Composers Forum, the improvising trio Preclear, and is also a principal and founding member of dal niente and the ai ensemble. He has also performed in such festivals and series as Opera Cabal in Chicago, New Music Northwestern and the New Music Marathon at Northwestern University, and the Midwest Consortium of Graduate Composers. An active performer of new and contemporary classical music, Alejandro has given local premieres by prominent composers such as Giacinto Scelsi, Steve Reich, and Jason Eckart, as well as world premieres by Drew Baker, Kirsten Broberg, and Nicholas DeMaison. As a composer, Alejandro received a Union League Civic and Arts Award for Composition in 2003 and the Sidney and Mary Kleinman Prize in Composition in 2007 for his work ’strangers in our own land’. His current work focuses on using music as a means of social transformation and is committed to playing new works, particularly by historically marginalized people.

MIVOS Quartet

Olivia de Prato and Joshua Modney violins, Victor Lowrie, viola, and Isabel Castellvi, cello.