For Birds, Planes and Cello

Thursday, January 10th 2008, 7pm

For Cello & Field Recording
Composed by Miya Masaoka
Performed by Alex Waterman, cello

View photos of the performance

“…a gorgeous piece…hardly stagnant yet beautifully unchanging – the early morning birds slowly giving way to bigger air traffic…”- Kurt Gottschalk, Signal to Noise

“For Birds, Planes and Cello presents us with one of art’s most sacred treasures: Capturing a moment frozen in time and showing us a hidden truth behind the veil we considered reality…”- Sonomu.net

Miya Masaoka resides in New York City and is a classically trained musician, composer and sound/installation artist. She has created works for koto, laser interfaces, explosive powders, model trains, laptop and video. She has also created works for sculpture installations and notated scores for ensembles, chamber orchestra, mixed choirs and has led her own orchestra and small ensembles. She has performed with leading improvisers and artists working in jazz and world traditions. In addition, she has toured throughout India six times with Dr. L. Subramaniam.

Her latest release, For Birds, Planes and Cello, was written for former Kronos Quartet cellist Joan Jeanrenaud, and has received international critical acclaim. Since forming the San Francisco Gagaku Society, she has performed her work in varied musical contexts in India , Europe , Japan , Canada , Australia , Argentina and the US . Her works have been performed by Volti, Piedmont Choirs, Bang on a Can, and ROVA, and her piece for Lines Ballet was performed at the Venice Biennale 2004. Her work has been presented at Merkin Hall, Redcat Theater, Miller Theater, Ircam, Paris , Other Minds, Kunst Radio, Radio Breman, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

Sound installations include Center for Art and Visual Culture ( University of Maryland ), Lincoln Center Out of Doors (Homemade Instrument Day), the Kitchen, 2006 Winter Olympics ( Torino , Italy ). She holds degrees in music and music composition from San Francisco State University and an M.A. in Music Composition from Mills College , where she studied with Alvin Curran and David Tudor. She is currently a professor in the Music/Sound department at the Milton Avery School of the Arts MFA Program, Bard College in New York .

Alex Waterman is a founding member of the Plus Minus Ensemble, based in Brussels and London , specializing in avant-garde and experimental music. Alex has worked with musicians such as Richard Barrett, Keith Rowe, Marina Rosenfeld, Anthony Coleman, Ned Rothenberg, Chris Mann, Alison Knowles, Thomas Meadowcroft, and Michael Finnissy. He has performed as guest musician with numerous ensembles, including Trio Event ( Berlin ), Champs d'Action-Antwerp, Q-O2-Brussels, and Black Jackets Company-Brussels. As a curator he has organized events at Les Bains:Connective in Brussels , OT301 in Amsterdam , Miguel Abreu Gallery and The Kitchen. His project with the Bach Cello Suites has toured in Switzerland , Italy , Holland , and the Opera of Monaco. In 2007 Alex curated two exhibitions in New York , one on experimental music and poetics: Agapē (June 2-July 28th, 2007) at Miguel Abreu Gallery; and the other on graphic notation, Between Thought and Sound: Graphic Notation in Contemporary Music (September 7-October 20, 2007) at The Kitchen in Chelsea . Alex is presently working on his PhD in musicology at NYU as well as writing a book about the composer Robert Ashley with the designer and writer Will Holder. Alex performs regularly in Europe and the United States . (www.alexwaterman.com)

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