This is just a quick blog post to mention an upcoming performance at the wonderful new Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA), in the Full: Voice series curated by Sarah Cahill! (There has been quite a bit of other publicity, so you may have heard about it already).
Here are the details:
Full: Voice @ BAMPFA: http://bampfa.org/
2155 Center Street (in the Berkeley Arts District)
Berkeley, California
Phone: (510) 642-0808
Wednesday, March 23; 7:00 p.m. PDT
This performance is an exploration of the human voice with virtuoso singers. The internationally acclaimed, multidisciplinary artist, Pamela Z performs, working her magic with live electronic processing and sampled sound. In addition, bass vocalist Richard Mix joins us, reprising his performance of unaccompanied works by renowned composer Julian Eastman that thrilled L@TE audiences four years ago. You can read a recent article about Pamela Z’s groundbreaking work in the East Bay Express.
Also filling our space with music is the Cornelius Cardew Choir, a “Deep Listening” inspired musical ensemble that pushes the boundaries of vocal performance practice. More information about the choir is available on Facebook, and on our web site.
Admission to the performance is included with gallery admission. Please note that seating is limited, although there is standing room, and wheelchair access near the seating area.
I’ll be performing with the Cornelius Cardew Choir, named after the late British composer, Cornelius Cardew. Among his unusual pieces, which include text, sounds and musical phrases plus passages of silence, mapped out for performers in a complex series of instructions, are his seminal, numbered Paragraph works, overall entitled: The Great Learning. The choir has performed most of the Paragraph pieces intermittently since 2001, when the Cardew Choir was founded. We’ll be performing one piece, Paragraph 6, at this BAM/PFA performance. In addition to vocal sounds, we’ll be using small percussion and found object instruments in this version of the piece.
Members of the Cardew Choir for this performance (not in any particular order):
Tom Bickley (Director and Co-Founder)
Eric Theise
Suki O’Kane
Dean Santomieri
David Samas
Jaime Robles
Laurie Polster
Kalonica McQuesten
Joe Kuta
Cathryn Hrudicka
Derek Drudge
Rae Diamond
Patti Deuter
Juliayn Coleman
Diane Caudillo
Nancy Beckman
Part of the performance will be the resonance and incredible architecture of the new BAM/PFA museum, with its wonderful mural in the performance space. You can explore the exhibition galleries and discover simultaneous performances throughout the building.
The New York Times’s arts writer David Gelles spotlights the new BAM/PFA in a trend piece on how museum administrators and architects are incorporating sustainable features in the building design process.
“By recycling the building on Center Street in downtown Berkeley, Mr. Rinder not only found an elegant solution for the institution’s needs, but he also placed Berkeley at the vanguard of sustainable building practices in the museum world.”
Please come and say hello after the performance, if you’re able to attend! There will also be two other Cardew Choir performances coming up in May, 2016, at two different venues, in San Francisco and the East Bay. Watch this blog for updates!
