SoundOut 2011 Artist bios
Cor Fuhler: prepared piano and electronics, Netherlands/Australia
Cors was born 1964 Barger-Oosterveld, Drenthe, Netherlands and is an Amsterdam/and Australian-based musician who plays in the style of electro-acoustic improvisation. His primary instrument is the piano (frequently prepared piano). He explores the possibilities of the piano, manipulating it’s sound with use of various string stimulators like ebows, rotating threads and spinning disks. Fuhler also manipulates sounds from turntables and other electronic devices, and filters them through an analogue synthesizer.
Dale Gorfinkel: multi-instrumentalist Improvisor, Melbourne
Dale is a creative musician with few boundaries. He is a multi-instrumentalist, improvisor, instrument builder, installation artist and educator. He is interested in finding fresh ways of presenting and making music. These include outdoors, across artforms, and inter-cultural and inter-generational contexts . Along with Prophets, he is an originator of the stylefree movement.
Dale enjoys building automated sonic contraptions and modifying other instruments, especially the vibraphone. He creates wondrous sonorities using continuous bowed inventions on aluminium bars, swinging tin resonators and bouncing ping-pong balls that create random rhythms. He has also developed a quirky approach to the trumpet, using additional plastic tubing, shower roses, balloons, and various mouthpieces that create unpredictable sounds.
Evan Dorrian: drummer/percussionist, Canberra
Evan is an Australian improvising musician and sound artist. Using the drum kit and percussion as sound sources, he pulls apart the traditional notions of his acoustic instruments and reconstructs them as pure sound matter and busted anti-rhythm. His main projects are Spartak; an electro-acoustic duo that sees 60’s fire music and post-punk drift in dub ambience while Pollen Trio is an exploratory outfit that is founded on melodic song-form and textural improvisation. Alongside this work, Evan has also collaborated with Australian jazz figures such as Adam Simmons, Cameron Deyell and Abel Cross; tireless improvisers like Dave Brown and Mike Cooper as well as electronic sound sculptors including Seaworthy, Andrew Pekler and Adrian Klumpes.
Jim Denley: wind instruments – Sydney
An emphasis on spontaneity, site-specific work and collaboration has been central to his work. He sees no clear distinctions between his roles as instrumentalist, improviser and composer. Collaborations, his radio feature for the ABC won the Prix Italia in 1989. In 1990 he was a member of Derek Bailey’s Company for a week of concerts in London. In May 06 he recorded a program for the ABC in the Budawang Mountains, South West of Sydney, now been made into a CD, Through Fire, Crevice and the Hidden Valley. This received an Honorary Mention in the Digital Music category of the Prix Ars Electronica 2008. He co-founded with the electro-acoustic text/music group Machine for Making Sense. He was awarded a fellowship grant in 2007 from the Australia Council.
Kim Myhr: guitar – Norway
Is a young and innovative guitarist with an emphasis on a wide range of percussive, harmonic and timbral affects. He has embarked on an international career with performances throughout Europe, USA, Canada, Australia, China and Japan. His projects these days is a duo with Sebastien Roux (electronics/FR), the trio MURAL with Denley and Ingar Zach, the group “Silencers” with Benoit Delbecq (piano/FR) as well as a piece for Trondheim Jazz-orkester featuring Sidsel Endresen, Christian Wallumrod and many others. He has also performed with Martin Tetreault, Anthony Pateras, Toshi Nakamura, Tetuzi Akiyama, Robbie Avenaim to mention a few.
Laura Altman: improvising Clarinettist and composer, Sydney
She is an important voice on the Sydney improvising scene and The Splinter Orchestra for a couple of years now. Her delicate clarinet playing suggests a new way of thinking about the instrument. Laura is currently studying composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and writing an honours thesis. She has also studied at the Institute of Sonology at the Royal Conservatorium, in The Hague. For the past two years, Laura has toured throughout various countries in Europe, performing improvised music. Most recently, she appeared as a special guest at the inaugural ‘Sound Out 2010 Festival in Canberra, alongside Richard Johnson, Jim Denley, Clayton Thomas and Kim Myhr.
Magda Mayas: pianist and curator currently based in Berlin, Germany.
Mayas studied jazz and improvisation at Universität der Künste, Conservatorium van Amsterdam in 2001 under Misha Mengelberg and completed a diploma at Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler under Georg Graewe in 2005. During this time she began developing a specific set of techniques for inside-piano performance. Mayas has concentrated her musical investigations on the piano and its sonic possibilities, utilizing extended techniques, amplification and preparations as a process of abstraction, whilst focusing on the physicality of both internal and external parts of the piano. As a continuation of this research Mayas founded the festival Tasten-Berliner Klaviertage featuring contemporary and innovative approaches for the piano. Mayas performs internationally in a variety of roles as interpreter, solo and in collaboration with a large number of musicians and composers: in a duo with Tony Buck, in the trio Phono Phono with Michael Renkel and Sabine Vogel, the Quartet Mayas/Nutters/ Olsen/Galvez and as part of the Amsterdam based N-Collective. Over the years Mayas has performed with many leading figures in improvisation such as Andy Moore, Steve Heather, Annette Krebs, Andrea Neumann, Axel Dörner, Michael Zerang, Johannes Bauer, Christoph Kurzmann, Thomas Lehn, Tristan Honsinger, Frank Gratkowski and Michael Moore.
Michael Norris: electronics and feedback, Canberra
Michael has been creating experimental music since 1988 and has been performing both collaborative and solo music, noise and sound art since 2000, mostly in Brisbane with collaborators including Joe Musgrove and Andrew Kettle. He currently presents "Subsequence" – a weekly program of specialist experimental/electronic music broadcast live on 2XX FM, Canberra, and nationally on the Community Radio Network. In 2004, while in the UK for postdoctoral work in computational psychoacoustics, he performed regularly with improv trio Analogorak in Totnes, Devon. At Electrofringe 2002 and 2007 he presented workshops on home made instruments and feedback. Since moving to Canberra in 2007 Michael has performed solo and in live collaborative improvisations with Richard Johnson, and Stephen Barrass.
Mike Majkowski: composer/improviser and double bassist, Sydney
Mike holds a BMus in Jazz Performance (First Class Honours) from Sydney’s Conservatorium of Music. A founding member of the Splinter Orchestra (since 2002), Mike is a long time devotee to the NOW now and to the improvising community in Sydney. As a double bassist, he has recently been focusing on solo playing, and is currently exploring how the use of refined extended techniques develops the sound and style of the work, and how these technical possibilities create dialogues between each other and within one another. He recently performed live to air on ABC Classic FM’s ‘New Music Up Late,’ as part of ‘Talking Back To Media’ a project led by Jon Rose, which also included Amanda Stewart, Chris Abrahams, Peter Farrar, Martin Ng, and James Waples.
Monika Brooks: plays piano, accordion, laptop, electronic, Sydney
She holds a BMus from UWS. Monika has been involved in Sydney’s music scene for a number of years now, with an interest in various forms of musical expression. Aside from her work with The Splinter Orchestra, she has performed with the electronics duo Ubercube, as a laptop soloist, as well as with Jim Denley’s West Head Project. She has performed in various states and cities outside of Sydney, most recently with Jim Denley and Dale Gorfinkel at Maria Island ‘10 Days on the Island.’
Richard Johnson: Wind instruments, improviser and sound artist, Canberra.
Richard performs with the texture of sound on soprano saxophone and bass clarinet and in the last couple of years has been experimenting with instruments made from the conical gourds from PNG. These particular gourds allow the stripping back of the wind instruments to their most visceral and most sensuous form and allow for the exploration of the fundamentals of sound production with extended techniques. He has performed at the What is Music Festival, Nownow Festival; the Make it Now performances; also performances with the Brice Glace Ensemble and the 102 Club OrKestra in Grenoble France 2004; Whip it #29 in Sydney; as well as hosting local/interstate/international improv nights in Canberra and as being the Producer/Director and performer at SoundOut 2010 in January 2010. As a sound artist he was commissioned by the Casula Power House in Sydney to collaborate with renowned Artist Savanhdary Vongpoothorn to produce a 30-minute Soundscape for the Australia Exhibition at The Casula Power House in Sydney 2008; and recently collaborated with glass/conceptual artist Denise Higgins on a soundscape for her show in Melbourne in May 2010. He has performed with the likes of Robbie Avenaim, Jerome Nottinger, Xavier Querell, Jim Denley, Kim Myhr, Clare Cooper, Richard Ratajczak, Cameron Deyell, Tony Osborne, Streifenjunko, Clayton Thomas, Laura Altman, Michael Norris, Shoeb Ahmed and Evan Dorian to name a few.
Rosalind Hall: Saxophone, Melbourne
Rosalind is a Melbourne based musician. She is interested in the collaborative experience and experimental approaches to music making. She makes modifications to the saxophone that radically changes the sound of and approach to the instrument. Rosalind crafts individual reeds from many materials, transforming the reed into a sensitive and volatile sound source whose properties are ever changing. She also uses objects in the bell so that with each preparation and reed the vibrations and playing techniques are altered, creating a unique dialogue between the player and the instrument.
Shoeb Ahmed: Electronics, laptop, Guitar, Canberra
Shoeb is a sound artist and musician in his own right as well as one half of the improvising duo Spartak and the producer/director of hellosQuare recordings. Shoeb’s unique style of punk experimentation and electronic drift has seen him release recordings on labels such as Sound&Fury, Low Point and his own hellosQuare while over the last six years, he has performed alongside the likes of Tenniscoats, Christopher Willits, Magic Dirt, Underlapper, Pumice, Castanets, ii, Icarus, Mick Turner and the Brian Chase/Seth Misterka Duo.
The Thing: The Scandinavian free jazz Power Trio: Sweden/Norway
“Only once in a great while does a group of musicians come along with an inherent discipline that dares to question the realm between the known and the unknown. Mats Gustafsson, Ingebrigt Hakker-Flaten and Paal Nilssen-Love of the Scandinavian Power Trio, The Thing, provide a language so determined in its musical complexity, boundaries literally and figuratively disappear.
This does not mean that these brilliant musicians do not respect what came before them, far from it. What it means is that their personal language is of such a progressive and impassioned approach, style cannot identify nor capture their ingenious and daring creative sensibilities. They have an unusual sense of artistic self awareness with a commitment that is a total expression of honesty and truth. “Its a place greater than self, a place without prejudice, and a place of sacrifice where freedom in artistic values is worth fighting for.”
“Each one of these extraordinary musicians has redefined their own given instrument with an exceptional ability to transform life into art with burning clarity. Their music is one of mystery, yet hides no secrets. There is the suggestion of a search, yet there are no questions to answer. In truth, it is a creative universe of intense conviction where sacrifices are made, lives are given but where few understand what this means. Gustafsson, Haker-Flaten and Nilssen-Love have made the decision to give that sacrifice. In my book, there is no creative faith greater than that.” (Lloyd Peterson, Seattle April 2009)
Tony Buck: drummer for The Necks, Berlin, Sydney
Born in Sydney in 1962, Tony is regarded as one of Australia's most creative and adventurous exports, with vast experience across the globe. He has been involved in a highly diverse array of projects. Apart from The Necks, he is probably best known as leader of hardcore/impro band PERIL.
Early in his musical life, after having graduated from the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music, he became very involved in the jazz scene in Australia, often touring with visiting international artists such as Vincent Herring, Clifford Jordan, Mickey Tucker, Branford Marsalis and Ernie Watts, as well as Australians Mark Simmonds, Paul Grabowsky, The catholics, Sandy Evans and Dale Barlow. Following time spent in Japan, where he formed PERIL with Otomo Yoshihide and Kato Hideki, Tony moved to Europe, and has involved himself in many projects there, including the development of new "virtual" MIDI controllers at STEIM in Amsterdam. Tony has played, toured or recorded with, among others, Jon Rose, Nicolas Collins, Tenko, John Zorn, Tom Cora, Phil Minton, Haino, Switchbox, The Machine for Making Sense, Ne Zhdall, The EX, Peter Brotzmann, Hans Reichel, The Little Red Spiders, Subrito Roy Chowdury, Clifford Jordan, Kletka Red, Han Bennink, Shelley Hirsch, Wayne Horvitz, Palinckx, and Ground Zero.
Duo Vulgarities: Canada, Isaiah Ceccarelli; Sydney, James Waples
Isaiah Ceccarelli: drums, percussion Canada
A unique and engaging drummer, Isaiah Ceccarelli is active in both improvisation and composition in Montréal. His music has been considered as « one of the most original approaches to come through our offices in recent times » (Marc Chénard, La Scena Musicale) and as possessing « a writing style with rare personality in this musical context » (Thierry Lepin, Jazzman Magazine). A committed improviser, Isaiah is implicated in numerous creative projects in Montréal and Europe (with Michel F. Côté, Pierre-Yves Martel, Jean Derome, Philippe Lauzier and Lori Freedman, among others). He writes for his own ensembles and has recently completed commissions and works for voices and small ensemble, chamber orchestra and solo piano. He also sings with the Schola Saint-Grégoire, an a cappella choir dedicated to Gregorian chant repertoire. Isaiah speaks French, English, Catalan and un pauc d'occitan.
James Waples: drums/ percussion, Sydney
James Waples is a Sydney based musician who is exploring the many possibilities of acoustic percussion. Although heavily involved with the Sydney Jazz scene he is also becoming equally present in the improvised music scene working with groups such as Roil (with Chris Abrahams and Mike Majkowski) and the Splinter orchestra.
Yan Jun: China: feed back electronics.
Working on within the realm of sound and words. Yan was born in Lanzhou in 1973, and is now based in Beijing. Yan’s live performance engages space feedback, loop and voice/language to make hypnotic noise. He is also doing field recording and related sound art. Yan runs the label Sub Jam since 1998 and in 2004 he co-founded KwanYin Records for experimental music and sound exploration in China. He runs Waterland Kwanyin, a weekly event of experimental music and sound since 2005, and the annual festival Mini Midi. Yan received a B.A. of Chinese Literature, and has gone on to publish 5 essays/ collections about Chinese new music and 3 poetry collections.
