Sparks (Peter Evans+Tom Blancarte) with Joel Ryan

Hyperactive improv duo from NYC with live processing magic

6 أيار / مايو 2008

In a post-Tonic / post-Knitting Factory New York, there seems to be a new emerging scene of exciting improvised and experimental music. These younger musicians are virtuosic and versatile with their instruments, and remind us how this city has always bred amazing artists despite its hostile environment. If you listen to Evans' music it's hard not to be impressed by his playing. His duo with Blancarte is hyperactive and bursting with energy. They will be working in the STEIM studios for a couple of days with Joel Ryan, concluding in this special concert. It will be interesting to see how our own wizard of live processing will channel their energy and create another sound dimension.
Take a listen to their music: www.myspace.com/nycsparks

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Date: Tuesday, May 6
Venue: STEIM, Utrechtsedwarsstraat 134, Amsterdam
Time: 20.30 hrs.
Entrance: 5 euros
Reservations and more information: knock@steim.nl or 020-6228690

SPARKS
Sparks (Peter Evans and Tom Blancarte) has been playing together since 2005. From the beginning of the formation of the duo, they have been constantly working to push their own boundaries of density and speed of interaction while freely improvising. They have performed extensively in New York City and the U.S., and in 2008 will embark on their second tour of Europe. Since their formation the duo has performed both as a self-contained unit and as a part of larger groups, including performances with Nate Wooley, Peter Brotzmann, Han Bennink and Lisle Ellis. Their first (self-titled) CD has just been released by Creative Sources. Later in 2008 they hope to assemble a Sparks Orchestra....

Peter Evans
Peter Evans has been a member of the New York musical community since 2003, when he moved to the city after graduating Oberlin Conservatory. Peter currently works in a wide variety of areas, including solo performance, chamber orchestras, performance art, free improvised settings, electro-acoustic music and composition. As a performer, Evans has been working to break through the technical barriers of his instrument and enjoys playing with steady configurations of improvisers; each band explores a specific concept or style as much as possible. Current bands include the Peter Evans Quartet (with Brandon Seabrook, Tom Blancarte, & Kevin Shea), Moppa Elliott's terrorist bebop band Mostly Other People Do the Killing, the hyperactive free-improvisation duo Sparks (with Tom Blancarte), the free-jazz quintet Carnivalskin (with Klaus Kugel and Bruce Eisenbeil), the Language Of with Charles Evans, duos with trumpeter Nate Wooley and saxophonist Dave Reminick, the New York Trumpet Ensemble, as well as a sustained interest in solo performance.
www.myspace.com/peterevanstrumpet

Tom Blancarte
Tom Blancarte is a bassist, improviser and composer living and working in New York City. He has performed his music throughout the United States and Europe. He plays in the improvising trio Totem with Bruce Eisenbeil and Andrew Drury, Dave Smith's Who Put The Bad Mouth On Me, the Peter Evans Quartet and in various ad hoc combinations.
www.tomblancarte.com/index.html

Joel Ryan
Spawned in the first generation of computer music hackers in San Francisco’s silicon valley, Joel Ryan is a composer who has long championed the idea of performance-based electronic music. Drawing on his scientific background, he pioneered the application of digital signal processing to acoustic instruments. At STEIM in Amsterdam since 1984, he has collaborated extensively with artists and musicians including Evan Parker, William Forsyth, George Lewis, Steina Vasulka and Jerry Hunt. Formerly a Research Associate in physics at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories of the University of California, he has taught philosophy, physics, and mathematics. He is a researcher at STEIM in Amsterdam, tours with the Frankfurt Ballet and is Docent in Sonology at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. He has performed at the Theater Chatelet in Paris, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Pit Inn in Tokyo, Brooklyn Academy of Music and The Kitchen in New York. Recent work includes a series of duets with Evan Parker,Frances Marie Uitti and Joelle Leandre, EIDOS/TELOS, with William Forsyth and Roberto Zucco with the Royal Shakespear Company. Other works include Or Air, The Number Readers, Hat Moon Joy, and The Effect of Noise on the Sleep of Children
www.xs4all.nl/~jr/

This concert series is funded by Gemeente Amsterdam.

More information on concerts: www.steim.org/steim/activity.php

STEIM
(studio for electro instrumental music)
(studio voor elektro instrumentale muziek)

Achtergracht 19
1017 WL Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Tel: 020-6228690
Fax: 020-6264262
Email: knock@steim.nl
Website: www.steim.nl
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