Anthony Braxton Sextet +1 at the Iridium this week

My husband Carl plays in Braxton's sextet. They will be playing Thursday through Sunday at the Iridium Jazz Club in NYC this week. This special group of musicians is bringing Braxton's unique and influential music to one of NYC's major jazz venues for the second year in a row. If you're in the area, I strongly encourage you to check it out!

The core members of the group are:
Anthony Braxton, saxophones
Jessica Pavone, viola and violin
Aaron Siegel, percussion
Carl Testa, bass and bass clarinet
Taylor Ho Bynum, cornet
Jay Rosen, tuba.

For this run, fabulous NYC guitarist Mary Halvorson will be joining the group, and there will be different guest musicians each night, including Caley Monohan-Ward, violin, Katie Young, bassoon, Kyle Brenders, saxophone, and Eric Paul, saxonphone.

More info about tickets and Braxton can be found here. The site does not mention that there are two shows each night. I believe they are at 8pm and 10pm. The Iridium also has good food.

Performing Tuesday March 27 in CT

Tomorow night, Carl and I are both appearing in the thesis recital of Wesleyan graduate composition student Kyle Brenders. We're both performing in a large ensemble section, Carl will be in a trio (I think), and I'm doing a duet with Kyle. Kyle has worked really hard to put together a great evening of music, consisting of one really cool piece, "follow line flow line follow".

info:

“Flows and Intensities"
Kyle Brenders: Graduate Recital
8pm, Memorial Chapel
Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT

Multiple formations of Kyle’s large ensemble work, “follow line flow line follow”, a single linear/modular composition performed in various forms by various combos of talented Wesleyan graduate students, undergrads and alumni.

Duo recording with Anthony Braxton

This past Saturday I recorded a 2-CD set with the great Anthony Braxton. They are the first of 12 "Syntactical Ghost Trance" duo CDs that Braxton has planned for us, but these first two may be released separately before we've recorded the rest. This was a really special experience, and I'm still walking on air.

This Thursday - Andrew Raffo Dewar premier at Roulette

Andrew Raffo Dewar
Premiere of "Six Lines of Transformation (2007)"

22 March 2007 8:30pm
ROULETTE
20 Greene St (between Canal and Grand St) NYC
Admission $15 & $10 students/seniors/members

Performers:
Matt Bauder, bass clarinet
Jennifer Caputo, percussion
Andrew Raffo Dewar, composer, conductor
Andrew Lafkas, contrabass
Jane Rigler, flute
Nate Wooley, trumpet
Katherine Young, bassoon

CHANGES BELOW

Please note changes to the previous post. April 14th Cabaret has been cancelled, and April 13th Tribute to Tenney concert has moved to April 14th.

Upcoming Performances

Here’s some preliminary info about my performances this Spring. Look for more descriptive individual posts closer to each performance date.

March 27 (Tuesday)
“Flows and Intensities"
Kyle Brenders: Graduate Recital

8pm, Memorial Chapel

Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT

Multiple formations of Kyle’s large ensemble work, “follow line flow line follow”. A single linear/modular composition performed in various forms by various combos of talented Wesleyan graduate students, undergrads and alumni. I’m especially excited to be appearing in a duo with Kyle (soprano sax) in this performance.

April 8 (Easter Sunday)
Easter Service

10 am, First Congregational Church

222 West Main St.

Waterbury, CT

I will sing the soprano aria “I know that my redeemer liveth” from Handel’s Messiah, with Music Director/Organist Ronald Ebrecht. There will be some other good Easter music, but I’m not sure what it is yet.

April 14 (Saturday)
Tribute to Tenney
8pm, same Chapel

In this concert of music influenced by American composer James Tenney (1934-2006), I will be performing graduate composition student Eric Paul’s composition “For Anne (Rhodes)”, an electro-acoustic piece based on Tenney’s “For Anne (Rising)”.

April 29 (Sunday)
Eric Paul: Graduate Recital
2pm, Chapel

From what I know so far, this concert will be a really cool piece of performance art by Wesleyan grad. student composer Eric Paul, featuring instrumentalists, electronic music, film and theater. I’ll be appearing as an actor in the theater part.

Welcome and Informal Bio.

I'm a classically trained soprano turned experimental music singer. I live in New Haven with my husband, composer and bassist Carl Testa. In 2006, I wrote my Master's thesis, entitled "Adventures in Singing: Collaborating with Composers". Singing new music is my favorite thing to do, with opera a close second, followed still more closely by standards (usually in chest voice). I've also studied jazz and South Indian voice, and have experience with overtone singing, shape note singing, early music (but have little inclination to sing without vibrato), and pop. I can play a little tenor and bari sax; very, very little. I still study classical voice--mostly lyric coloratura repertoire--with Jean Westerman-Gregg in Woodbridge, CT.

Current and upcoming projects include a duo recording with Anthony Braxton, a large body of 20th century French art song with Neey Bruce, collaboration on a piece (or more? More more MORE!) with composer Chris McDonald, and duo project with my husband. I'm also hoping to commision a group of female composers (this could mean you!) for a solo show this summer, once I drum up the funding. This spring I will be performing in the Master's Thesis recitals of Wesleyan composition students Kyle Brenders and Eric Paul as well as performing a solo piece by Eric Paul for a James Tenney tribute concert.

To make a living, I work as a Catalog Assistant at Yale's Sterling Memorial Library. Next summer, I will begin working towards an on-line Master of Library Sciences from the University of Illinois, so that someday I can be an actual librarian, preferably a music cataloger, and make the big bucks. In addition, I am the soprano soloist for First Congregational Church of Waterbury, sing in the Connecticut Opera chorus, and take other gigs as they come.

Besides music and work, I'm compulsively domestic and am constantly seeking time to work on sewing, embroidery, and various "crafting" projects, and to cook decadent carnivorous meals for my husband and myself. I'm an avid bird-watcher, and a lover of pet rats, Pembroke Welsh Corgis, and all other furry mammals. Finally, I am a fashion junkie and could easily fritter away all my hard-earned money on clothing, shoes, and makeup that hardly fit my lifestyle.

Thanks for visiting. Check back soon for new stuff; I'm just getting situated.