Featuring:
Lisa Karrer - Voice
Stephanie Griffin - Viola
Skip LaPlante, Carole Weber, Michael Evans, Sima Wolf - Homemades
INFORMATION - from the CD “Prismatic Hearing”
FAIT/HURT/KOOL TANG - more samples triggered by theremin
DEAR OFFICER - an actual published suicide note & original poem by Lisa Karrer
GRANDMA - text by Mark Leyner from “My Cousin My Gastroenterologist”
VIRTUAL PERCUSSION TRIO - in which the viola, voice and theremin each midi-trigger percussion phrases
COLLECTIVE CHOK - for blown bottles and styrocello
CREMATION MUSIC - new arrangement of Balinese gamelan
David Simons is a composer and performer specializing in percussion, theremin, digital electronics, and World Music. He has devised his own method of using the Theremin as a Midi controller. His unusual collection of sounds from self-built and non-European instruments combines with digital sampling technologies to create a unique pan-cultural music. His recordings include the CDs “Prismatic Hearing” (Tzadik); an opera “The Birth of George” (Tellus) co-written with Lisa Karrer, commissioned by Harvestworks and supported by the Aaron Copland Recording Fund; “Kebyar Leyak” and “Cool it Wayang” for Gamelan Son of Lion, compositions for Music for Homemade Instruments ensemble, and with many others. David’s work in theater and dance has brought him to Zagreb and Tallinn, Seoul and Yogyakarta, Munich and Berlin, Guantanamo, Honolulu, and Bali. In 2003 he was resident composer at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio center in Italy, writing for NEWBAND and the microtonal Harry Partch instruments. Other awards include NYFA Fellowships, Artslink and Arts International travel grants, Meet the Composer commissions, and international artist residencies. “Music for Theremin and Gamelan,” commissioned by the American Composers Forum was performed at Sacred Rhythm Percussion Festival in Bali 2000, and at The Kitchen in 2005. He recently premiered “Uncle Venus” for Flux string quartet with Gamelan. Simons’ writings on music and sound are published in Radiotexte (Semiotexte #16), EAR magazine, and Soundings.
Lisa Karrer and Stephanie Griffin have appeared with David at the 2000 Brussels Theremin Convention, TUK Theater in Jakarta, Galapagos in Brooklyn, and at festivals in Estonia.
Music for Homemade Instruments have been composing new music for new instruments for decades and have performed and taught workshops in schools and museums throughout the US.