Yarn/Wire celebrate the opening of their 10th anniversary season as well as their recent release with Pete Swanson, Eliminated Artist, on ISSUE Project Room’s Distributed Objects imprint. The program includes three world premieres written specifically for the event, including works by experimental NYC musician and video artist David Bird, a new Fromm Foundation commission by composer/improviser Sam Pluta (Peter Evans Quintet / Wet Ink), and a new piece by electronics visionary Mark Fell (UK). This concert marks the fourth installment of Yarn/Wire/Currents, an ongoing collaboration between ISSUE and Yarn/Wire exploring the boundaries of contemporary music performance.
Doors open at 7pm with a public reception and DJ sets TBA, to continue throughout the evening.
David Bird is a composer and producer from Laguna Beach, California. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and currently studies composition at Columbia University. His work frequently employs the use of live electronics with aims to strengthen the relationships between acoustic and electronic instruments. His work has been performed internationally, at venues and festivals such as the MATA festival in New York City; the Wien Modern Festival in Vienna, Austria; the SPOR festival in Aarhus, Denmark; the IRCAM Manifeste Festival in Paris, France; the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.; the Bodo Sinfonietta in Bodo, Norway; the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) in Indianapolis, Indiana; and the SEAMUS electroacoustic music festival in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Mark Fell is a multidisciplinary artist based in Sheffield (UK). After studying experimental film and video art at the local polytechnic he reverted to earlier interests in computational technology, music and synthetic sound. In 1998 he initiated a series of critically acclaimed record releases, featuring both collaborative and solo works, on labels including Mille Plateaux, Line, Editions Mego, Raster Noton and Alku. Fell is widely known for combining popular music styles, such as electronica and techno, with more academic approaches to computer-based composition with a particular emphasis on algorithmic and mathematical systems. His recent musical practice has become increasingly informed by non-Western musics. Fell's work has been presented in diverse venues and international institutions including super clubs such as Berghain (Berlin), to Hong Kong National Film archive and many others. Fell has received commissions including Francesca Von Habsburg's Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (Vienna) with a premiere at Seville Biennale of Art, and the National Ballet of Madrid. He has been recognised by ARS Electronica (Linz) with an Honorary mention in the digital musics category, and was shortlisted for the Quartz award for his contribution to research in digital music.
Sam Pluta is a New York-based composer, improviser, electronics performer, and sound artist fusing sound worlds of acoustic instruments and electronics. He has composed instrumental works for Wet Ink Ensemble, International Contemporary Ensemble, Yarn/Wire, Timetable Percussion, Mivos Quartet, RIOT Trio, Ensemble Dal Niente, Jessie Marino, Mantra Percussion, TAK, Dave Eggar, and Prism Saxophone Quartet. His compositions range from solo instrumental works to pieces for ensemble with electronics to compositions for large ensemble and orchestra. As an improviser, he has collaborated with Peter Evans, Evan Parker, Ikue Mori, Craig Taborn, Jim Black, Anne La Berge, and George Lewis. He is a member of multiple improvisation-based ensembles, the Peter Evans Quintet, Rocket Science, exclusiveOr, Sonic Overload and others.
Yarn/Wire is a New York-based percussion and piano quartet (Ian Antonio and Russell Greenberg, percussion / Laura Barger and Ning Yu, pianos). Noted for their “spellbinding virtuosity” and “restlessly curious” programming (TimeOut NY), the ensemble is admired for the energy and precision it brings to performances of today’s most adventurous music. Founded in 2005, Yarn/Wire is dedicated to expanding the repertoire written for its instrumentation, through commissions and collaborative initiatives that aim to build a new and lasting body of work. Influenced by its members’ experiences with classical music, avant-garde theatre, and rock music, the ensemble champions a varied and probing repertoire.
Yarn/Wire has commissioned many American and International composers including Raphaël Cendo, Peter Evans Alex Mincek, Thomas Meadowcroft, Misato Mochizuki, Tristan Murail, Sam Pluta, Kate Soper, and Øyvind Torvund. The group has given the United States premieres of works by Enno Poppe, Stefano Gervasoni, and Georg Friedrich Haas, among others. As well, the ensemble enjoys collaborations with genre-bending artists such as Tristan Perich, David Bithell, Sufjan Stevens, and Pete Swanson. Yarn/Wire appears internationally at prominent festivals and venues including the Lincoln Center Festival, BAM, New York’s Miller Theatre, River-to-River Festival, La MaMa Theatre, Festival of New American Music, London’s Barbican, the Edinburgh International Festival, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Hall, and Hong Kong New Music Ensemble. Their new and ongoing series, Yarn/Wire/Currents, serves as an incubator for new experimental music at ISSUE Project Room in Brooklyn, NY.
