An Evening of New Music -- Program - Reston Community Center
An Evening of New Music -- Program - Reston Community Center
An Evening of New Music -- Program - Reston Community Center
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<strong>Center</strong>Stage<br />
the<br />
2011-2012<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essional Touring Artist Series<br />
Zoë Keating, Noveller (Sarah Lipstate)<br />
& Low End String Quartet<br />
<strong>An</strong> <strong>Evening</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>New</strong> <strong>Music</strong><br />
Saturday<br />
April 14, 2012<br />
8:00 p.m.
<strong>Reston</strong> <strong>Community</strong> <strong>Center</strong> Presents<br />
AN EvENiNg <strong>of</strong> NEw <strong>Music</strong><br />
Low ENd striNg QuArtEt<br />
Jonathan Matis – Guitar<br />
<strong>An</strong>drea Vercoe – Violin<br />
Natalie Spehar – Cello<br />
Jonathan Steele – Bass<br />
NovELLEr (Sarah Lipstate)<br />
Guitar and Filmmaker<br />
Zoë KEAtiNg<br />
Avant-Cello<br />
2<br />
The Low end<br />
STring QuarTeT<br />
The Low End String Quartet was formed<br />
by composer/guitarist Jonathan Matis. The<br />
instrumentation differs from the standard<br />
string quartet model, adding a bass, dropping<br />
a violin, and swapping a guitar where the<br />
viola should be. This “new and improved”<br />
string quartet lineup is much better suited to<br />
clubs and bars than the classical model, and is<br />
better equipped for rumbling your ribcage.<br />
In addition to performances at a variety <strong>of</strong><br />
bars and galleries, the quartet has performed<br />
at venues such as the Kennedy <strong>Center</strong>,<br />
Strathmore, and in festivals including DC<br />
Sonic Circuits and the Northern Virginia Fine<br />
Arts Festival.<br />
The group’s lineup includes <strong>An</strong>drea Vercoe (violin), Natalie Spehar (cello), and<br />
Jonathan Steele (bass).<br />
The Low End String Quartet has received support from The Argosy Foundation<br />
Contemporary <strong>Music</strong> Fund, The Randy Hostetler Living Room <strong>Music</strong> Fund, The<br />
Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, DC Commission on the Arts and<br />
Humanities, Maryland State Arts Council, Prince George’s County Arts Council,<br />
and many wonderful individuals with matching funds provided by USA Projects,<br />
and the Cheswatyr <strong>Music</strong> Commissioning Fund.<br />
http://lesq.alkem.org<br />
Bios<br />
3
Bios<br />
noveLLer (Sarah Lipstate)<br />
Described by the <strong>New</strong> York Times as “hypnotic, rich-textured electric guitar works” and<br />
as “simultaneously soothing and mind-wrecking noise, along with a compositional<br />
depth that most loud-for-the-hell-<strong>of</strong>-it guitar droners never reach” by the <strong>New</strong> York<br />
Press, Noveller is the solo project <strong>of</strong> Brooklyn-based guitarist and filmmaker Sarah<br />
Lipstate. Handling the electric guitar as her muse, Lipstate summons a sonic palette so<br />
rich as to challenge the listener to conceive <strong>of</strong> how it’s housed in a single instrument<br />
manipulated by a solitary performer. Her one-woman guitar soundscapes have<br />
captured the attention <strong>of</strong> NPR, The Village Voice, Time Out <strong>New</strong> York, and The Wall<br />
Street Journal. In addition to recording and performing music as Noveller, Lipstate<br />
has recently started working with composer Nathan Larson on several feature film<br />
scores. Lipstate has collaborated with<br />
several renowned musicians, including<br />
live improvised duo performances<br />
with Carla Bozulich, David Wm. Sims,<br />
and Lee Ranaldo. She has previously<br />
performed as a member <strong>of</strong> Cold Cave,<br />
Parts & Labor, and One Umbrella.<br />
Lipstate has also participated in Rhys<br />
Chatham’s Guitar Army, Ben Frost’s<br />
“<strong>Music</strong> for 6 Guitars,” and Glenn<br />
Branca’s 100 guitar ensemble.<br />
4<br />
Bios<br />
Into the Midnight Sun is my First composition<br />
for quartet.<br />
The unique instrumentation <strong>of</strong> the Low End<br />
String Quartet presented an opportunity<br />
to expand the voice that I’ve cultivated<br />
over years <strong>of</strong> solo electric guitar<br />
performance. When composing music<br />
for my solo project, Noveller, the<br />
challenge has always been in<br />
discovering new ways to augment the<br />
sound <strong>of</strong> a solitary electric guitar-cultivating<br />
a sonic palette as diverse<br />
and expansive as possible. While<br />
composing for the Low End String Quartet, an entirely new challenge<br />
presented itself: “Can I unify four unique instruments into a cohesive<br />
voice refLective <strong>of</strong> Noveller’s spirit?” To answer this, I considered<br />
the electric violin, ampliFied cello, and electric upright bass not as<br />
individual instruments, but as extensions <strong>of</strong> the techniques and tropes<br />
that I so <strong>of</strong>ten explore through electric guitar.<br />
The result <strong>of</strong> many months <strong>of</strong> experimentation and revision is the piece<br />
that you will hear this evening. Into the Midnight Sun feels hopeful to<br />
me. Its music drifts across a land where darkness looms but the sun’s<br />
glow remains unyielding.<br />
- Sarah Lipstate<br />
5
Bios<br />
Zoë KeaTing<br />
Zoë Keating is a one-woman orchestra. She<br />
uses a cello and a foot-controlled laptop<br />
to record layer upon layer <strong>of</strong> cello, creating<br />
intricate, haunting and compelling music.<br />
Zoë is known for both her use <strong>of</strong> technology<br />
- which she uses to sample her cello onstage -<br />
and for her DIY ethic which has resulted in the<br />
sale <strong>of</strong> over 45,000 copies <strong>of</strong> her self-released<br />
albums and a devoted social media following.<br />
For the last year, Zoë has been slowly touring<br />
North America, young baby in tow, to support<br />
her latest album, Into The Trees, which spent<br />
49 weeks on the Billboard classical charts,<br />
peaking at #7. She is working on a third<br />
album scheduled for release in late 2012.<br />
Zoë’s grassroots, label-less approach has garnered her much public attention and<br />
press. She speaks regularly on artist-empowerment, sustainable careers and the<br />
concept <strong>of</strong> artist-as-entrepreneur, has been pr<strong>of</strong>iled on NPR’s All Things Considered,<br />
named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and awarded a<br />
performing arts grant from the Creative Capital Foundation. She serves on the boards<br />
<strong>of</strong> the San Francisco chapter <strong>of</strong> the Recording Academy, the Magik Magik Orchestra<br />
and CASH <strong>Music</strong>, a nonpr<strong>of</strong>it organization that builds open source digital tools for<br />
musicians and labels.<br />
Born in Canada and classically trained from the age <strong>of</strong> eight, Zoë obtained a liberal arts<br />
degree from Sarah Lawrence College and spent her 20s working in s<strong>of</strong>tware. While<br />
moonlighting as a cellist in rock bands, she worked as an information architect on<br />
6<br />
Bios<br />
interfaces for arts and humanities digital libraries. She eventually combined the cello<br />
and the computer, developing her signature style <strong>of</strong> live-layered music by improvising<br />
for late night crowds at her San Francisco warehouse.<br />
Zoë has performed and recorded with a wide range <strong>of</strong> artists, including Imogen<br />
Heap, Amanda Palmer, Tears for Fears, DJ Shadow, John Vanderslice, Rasputina,<br />
Pomplamoose and Paolo Nutini. She has collaborated and performed with WNYC’s<br />
Radiolab and is also known for her work in film and dance. Commissions include music<br />
for the San Francisco MOMA and soundtracks for the films Ghost Bird, The Devil’s Chair<br />
and Frozen <strong>An</strong>gels. Her music has been used by countless entities, including the BBC,<br />
ITV, PBS, NPR, NBC, Intel, IBM, Apple, Patagonia, Specialized Bikes, the Alonzo King<br />
Lines Ballet, Alvin Ailey Dance,<br />
Parsons Dance and<br />
San Francisco’s ODC, and was<br />
recently in the Broadway play<br />
Wit starring Cynthia Nixon.<br />
Her cello playing can be<br />
heard on Mark Isham’s<br />
scores The Conspirator,<br />
Warrior and The Secret<br />
Life <strong>of</strong> Bees.<br />
7
William G. Bouie<br />
Carol <strong>An</strong>n Bradley<br />
John Gasson<br />
William Keefe<br />
Leila Gordon<br />
Executive Director<br />
Paul Douglas Michnewicz<br />
Arts & Events Director<br />
Linda Ifert<br />
Technical Director<br />
Mark Brutsché<br />
Assistant Technical Director<br />
Alex Gómez<br />
Assistant Technical Director<br />
Kevin Danaher<br />
<strong>Community</strong> Events Director<br />
Cheri Danaher<br />
Arts Education Director<br />
Gloria Morrow<br />
Arts Education Assistant<br />
William D. Parker<br />
Box Office Manager<br />
Coming Soon<br />
International<br />
Chamber Soloists<br />
Sunday, April 29, 2012<br />
2:00 p.m.<br />
Tickets available online at:<br />
www.restoncommunitycenter.com<br />
$15(<strong>Reston</strong>)/$30(Non-<strong>Reston</strong>)<br />
Board <strong>of</strong> Governors<br />
Beverly Cosham, Chair<br />
Roger Lowen<br />
William Penniman<br />
Cathy Vivona<br />
Vicky Wingert<br />
Thomas Ward<br />
Deputy Director<br />
RCC Arts & Events Staff<br />
Brian Biel<br />
Shannon Catlett<br />
Box Office Assistants<br />
Alison Reinfeld<br />
House Manager<br />
BeBe Nguyen<br />
Director <strong>of</strong> Communications<br />
Kristin Terrill<br />
Public Information Officer<br />
Samantha Pallo<br />
Graphic Artist<br />
Ryan Irving<br />
Web Architect<br />
Christopher Robin<br />
Laura Reichert<br />
Technicians
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