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Princeton Sound Kitchen presents Mixtape 2
Presented by Princeton Sound Kitchen
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date & time
Tue, Nov 14, 2023
8:00 pm - 10:00 pm
ticketing
Free, unticketed.
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PSK’s second Mixtape concert for the academic year, in which various artists and ensembles perform new works by Princeton University graduate student composers. New works by Ellie Cherry, Bobby Ge, Travis Laplante, James Moore, and Gemma Peacocke.
PERFORMERS
Brian Chase, drumset and percussion Ellie Cherry, electronics
Henry Wong Doe, piano
Shayna Dunkelman, drumset and percussion Erika Dohi, piano
Bobby Ge, piano
Maxwell Hinton, piano
Ches Smith, drumset and percussion
Program
James Moore Slight Songs
Travis Laplante Spiral to the Beloved
Gemma Peacocke Redshift
Bobby Ge Hymns After Laurie Spiegel
Ellie Cherry The Butterfly Effect
Program Notes
James Moore
Slight Songs
Brian Chase, drumset and percussion Shayna Dunkelman, drumset and percussion Ches Smith, drumset and percussion
When I first started thinking about writing a composition for percussionists, I got stuck on the idea of getting my favorite drummers in the room together and seeing what could happen. Ches, Brian, and Shayna are not only lovely friends and colleagues of mine, but three of my favorite players, each possessing monster skills as performers, improvisers, composers, and sound artists.
I developed the earliest version of Slight Songs with fellows at Sō Percussion’s Summer Institute in 2019, and expanded the material for a performance by this trio at The Stone in January 2020. We were then slated to perform at a PSK in the Spring of 2020 and, well, you know what happened. So this performance is a long time in the making, and I am excited to revisit, adapt, and expand the material once again. Many thanks to these three and to the PSK team for making this happen!
Travis Laplante
Spiral to the Beloved
Erika Dohi, piano
Spiral to the Beloved is inspired by the shape of the path of life, which for me has resembled a spiral much more than a line. I often have no idea if I’m making progress as a human or as a musician. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, I keep coming back to daily practices of sound and silence. Sometimes I can feel that there is so much love in my heart that I don’t actually know what to do with it, and at other times fear gets the most to me. Despite this, somewhere deep down I trust that if I’m in a position of receptivity, there is a chance that the great lover will take my hand and lead me into the bottomless well of nothingness. If and when this happens is completely out of my hands.
This piece is a reflection of experiences in meditation when, despite my mind’s resistance and all of the horror in the world, I feel a hand extend that leads me to a place of unification and unconditional love, shattering all I know. This hand is inside of all of us.
A very special thank you to Erika Dohi, not only for her stunning musicianship, but for her attentive listening in conversation and her receptivity to embark on a piece with this kind of intimacy and insanity behind it. Her unspoken understanding is a great gift to me as a person. I look forward to deepening both our friendship and collaboration as time moves on.
Gemma Peacocke
Redshift
- . . .the trillion trillion trillion lovely others sail outward
- I have walked this far without you
III. inexactproportiontothismoment
Henry Wong Doe, piano
Most galaxies are moving away from our own. We know this because of a phenomenon called “redshift,” where the wavelengths of light from distant stars are stretched so that starlight looks as though it is shifted towards the red part of the spectrum. The stars themselves aren’t necessarily moving; they are becoming further from our galaxy because the space of the universe itself is expanding.
For me, the ever-increasing isolation of our galaxy is sometimes a disquieting feeling and sometimes a calming one. I’ve tried to capture a sense of expansion and contraction in Redshift, as well as one of remoteness.
The titles of the three movements are taken from the poem “Red Shift” by David Baker (Poetry, August 1989).
Bobby Ge
Hymns After Laurie Spiegel
I. Expanse
II. Patchwork Eventide III. PentachromeHymnal
Maxwell Hinton, piano
When I first encountered the sprawling and obsessive beauty of Laurie Spiegel’s music, I was amazed by its experimentation, technical craft, and deeply realized spirituality. Most moving to me was how intensely alive it all felt despite being entirely electronic. Contemplative at turns and pulsatingly rhythmic at others, her work was suffused with an organic sense of discovery: listening to her music, I felt as though I was hearing a master improviser discover a new set.
I myself frequently improvise at the keyboard as I compose. After playing for long enough, though, my jam sessions almost invariably return to the transparent harmonies and voicings of the church hymns I grew up accompanying. Despite their ascetic nature, these songs, too, felt alive to me. Their ritualistic manner, instead of alienating me, often invited me into a place of meditation.
Hymns After Laurie Spiegel was written during a very emotionally tumultuous time. To ground myself during the composition process, I considered two hymns that have been especially meaningful to me—Abide With Me and Nearer, My God, to Thee—and sought to place them within the spacious grandeur of Spiegel’s cosmic soundscapes. This piece is dedicated with much gratitude to pianist and commissioner Stephen Ai, as well as my friends Annie Hart and Timo Andres who introduced me to Spiegel’s music in the first place. I have much love and admiration for all of them.
Ellie Cherry
The Butterfly Effect
Ellie Cherry, electronics Bobby Ge, piano
The butterfly effect is a concept in chaos theory that demonstrates how drastically different outcomes may result from tiny differences in initial conditions. I thought it would be fun to explore this phenomenon in a piece of aleatoric music that intentionally worked with feedback loops. The Butterfly Effect does this using a series of overdub algorithms that are constantly capturing, processing, and playing back the sounds created by the soloist; what is more, the algorithm is doing the same for the sounds played through the house speakers, meaning it is also repeatedly listening to and processing itself. Since every sound captured through the microphone is constantly looped and re-recorded until the end of the piece, the earlier on a sound occurs, the more it influences what we hear at the end.
About
Brooklyn-based musician Brian Chase is the drummer for Grammy-nominated rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs, NYC’s experimental music community, and Drums and Drones, a solo project with a compositional focus on the harmonic resonances of drums and percussion. In 2018, Chase started an independent record label, Chaikin Records, which spotlights pioneering figures of the avant-garde. The inaugural release on Chaikin Records was Drums and Drones: Decade, a triple album with 144 page book, described in The Wire as “an indispensable statement on how drummers hear sound.” Additional releases by Chase on Chaikin Records include albums with harpist Zeena Parkins, pianist Anthony Coleman, saxophonist Catherine Sikora and a collaboration with visual artist Keti Katveli. As an educator Chase has taught at Bennington College, was a guest artist at So Percussion’s SoSI festival and Yarn/Wire’s annual summer institute. Chase’s writings have appeared in John Zorn’s Arcana series, culture blog Talkhouse and drumming trade magazine Modern Drummer. For more info visit chasebrian.com and chaikinrecords.com.
Ellie Cherry is an electroacoustic composer fundamentally compelled by the belief that as an artist she is first and foremost an observer: be it the acoustic properties of the bark of a beech tree or the childhood experiences of an audience member, every element in our shared reality is worthy of consideration. Her composition therefore takes a holistic approach, in which spectral theory, physics, psychoacoustics, and historical and political context are all thoughtfully intertwined. She is particularly interested in exploring how new music composition can provide an effective platform for activism, frequently addressing topics such as environmentalism, gender and class inequality, and trauma.
Born in Auckland, New Zealand, Henry Wong Doe has received top prizes, including two “Audience Favorite” awards in the Arthur Rubinstein, Busoni, and Sydney International Piano Competitions. Performance highlights include venues such as Carnegie Hall, New York, Heinz Hall, Pittsburgh, St. Martin-in-the-Fields London, Esplanade-Theatres on the Bay Singapore, the Sydney Opera House in Australia, and the Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv, Israel. He has performed as soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, Australian Chamber and Auckland Philharmonia Orchestras. He has collaborated with conductors Christopher Hogwood, Mendi Rodan, Edvard Tchivzel, Michael Christie, Marko Letonja and Tobias Ringborg. Highlights of the 2023 — 2024 season include a performance with the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra, solo performances in New York City and San Diego, and a three-concert tour of New Zealand. An accomplished recording artist, Henry Wong Doe has released seven recordings on the Trust, Rattle, Klavier and HR Recording labels. Four of the seven albums feature new or recently composed New Zealand music. His performances and albums have been featured on New Zealand’s Concert FM radio program, WNYC (New York), WFMT (Chicago) and WQED (Pittsburgh) radio stations. Jed Distler of Classics Today gave his album Landscape Preludes (Rattle RAT-D046) a 9/10 rating for both artistic and sound quality, writing “the selections are appreciably varied, well crafted for piano … [Wong Doe] mastered the notes and assimilated the music to the highest standards.”
Henry’s chamber recordings include an album for Klavier Records (K11193) of woodwind chamber music with the Keystone Chamber Winds, and two albums (E161HR and E162HR) for HR Recordings of rediscovered works for cello and piano with Michael Kevin Jones. Most recently, Henry was awarded an Arts Grant from Creative New Zealand (Arts Council of New Zealand) for his latest commissioning and recording project, Perspectives. The project features six new works for piano by New Zealand composers, with the goal to illustrate each composer’s perspective of events of the last two years. Following the world premiere performance, Perspectives will be recorded and released on Rattle Records in November 2023. Henry Wong Doe studied at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and Indiana University Bloomington, before earning a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The Juilliard School in New York. His teachers have included Susan Smith-Gaddis, Bryan Sayer, Evelyne Brancart, Leonard Hokanson, and Joseph Kalichstein. Henry Wong Doe holds a faculty position as Professor of Piano and Keyboard Area Chair at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. When not playing the piano, he enjoys snow skiing, jogging, and playing tennis. For more information, please visit henrywongdoe.com.
Described as “virtuosic” (The New York Times) and “barrier-defying artist” (Mix Magazine), Osaka-born and New York-based pianist Erika Dohi is a multi-faceted artist with an eclectic musical background. From highly polished traditional classical to bold improvisation, she is a dynamic performer whose timeless style and unidiomatic technique sets her apart in contemporary New York City avant-garde circles. I, Castorpollux, Dohi’s debut solo album, which was released in May 2021 under 37d03d, the label founded by Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Aaron Dessner, and Bryce Dessner (The National), is a profound personal excavation set to a gripping landscape of wild, genre-fluid composition; a virtuosic, but emotionally generous convergence of the technical and the spiritual. With understated piano and keyboards at its center, I, Castorpollux is equal parts hazy nostalgia, science-fiction soundtrack, and electro-acoustic experimentation. The project features contributions from Channy Leaneagh (Poliça), Andy Akiho, Immanuel Wilkins, Ambrose Akinmusire, Jeremy Boettcher, Emily Wells, Zach Hanson, and is produced by William Brittelle, a vital modern composer himself. The album has received “The Best Ambient Albums in May 2021” (Bandcamp), “Best of the Week” (Brooklyn Vegan and JAZZIZ Magazine), described as a “retro-futuristic piece of poetry” (Mixmag), and was featured on The New York Times’ Playlist and WNYC’s New Sounds/Soundcheck. Erika is the co-founder of BLUEPRINTS Piano Series and accompanying festival, In Visible Roads, in collaboration with Metropolis Ensemble, as well as RighteousGIRLS, whose album gathering blue has been hailed by Downbeat as “one of the most adventurous new music debut albums in recent years.” Dohi has performed William Brittelle’s Spiritual America with Metropolis Ensemble at The Hollywood Bowl opening for Bon Iver and TU Dance, the Central Park Summer Stage with Ensemble LPR, and has made appearances at international festivals including the D.C. Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music, Tokyo Experimental Festival, INTERSECT Festival in Bryant Park, and at the Time’s Arrow Festival. She is a part of the six-piano ensemble Grand Band, most recently performed at Peak Performances at Montclair State University. The performance was featured at WNET’s ALL ARTS in January 2021, featuring the works by Julius Eastman, Kate Moore, Julia Wolfe, and Missy Mazzoli. As an improviser, she is a pianist for the avant-garde trumpeter, Wadada Leo Smith’s Golden Quintet, and performed at SFJazz as part of ECM 50th Anniversary.
Shayna Dunkelman is a musician, percussionist and composer based in New York. Dunkelman is known for her versatile and unique techniques, and use of electronics to access a sonic pallet not found in acoustic percussion. In addition to solo performances, Dunkelman performs and tours with Pulitzer Award-Winning and Grammy nominated composer Du Yun, Puerto Rican band Balún, Grammy Award Winning artist Attacca Quartet, Pakistani singer and author Ali Sethi and NOMON, a percussion duo with her sister Nava Dunkelman. Born and raised in Tokyo, Japan to an Indonesian mother and an American father, Dunkelman became a multi-instrumentalist performing alongside her mother, a musician and composer active in Asia and the Middle East. Dunkelman graduated with honors in both music and mathematics from Mills College in Oakland, CA in 2007, where she studied percussion with William Winant. Dunkelman became increasingly active in the alternative music scene as a member of the band Xiu Xiu, touring the world for 6 years. As part of Xiu Xiu, Dunkelman shared stages with Genesis P-Orridge (Psychic TV), Blonde Redhead, Sun Ra Arkestra, Alessandro Cortini (Nine Inch Nails), St. Vincent, and Deerhoof to name a few. Dunkelman has recorded or performed with pioneers of avant-garde experimental musicians such as Yuka C. Honda, John Zorn, Yoko Ono, Thurston Moore, and performed at The Broad, Carnegie Hall, Centre Pompidou, The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts (Bard College), Lincoln Center, The MET, Noguchi Museum, O2 Arena, Palazzo Grassi, Pioneer Works, STUK, Tanzhaus NRW, Tanzquartier, Terminal 5, Thalia Hall, UC Berkeley, Walt Disney Concert Hall, QAGOMA among others.
Bobby Ge is a Chinese-American composer and avid collaborator who seeks to create vivid emotional journeys that navigate boundaries between genre and medium. He has created multimedia projects with the Space Telescope Science Institute, painters collective Art10Baltimore, the Scattered Players Theater Company, and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. Winner of the 2022 Barlow Prize, Ge has received commissions and performances by groups including the Minnesota Orchestra, the New York Youth Symphony, the Albany Symphony, the US Navy Band, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Harbin Symphony Orchestra, Interlochen Arts Academy, Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, Guangzhou Symphony Youth Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Youth Orchestra, Music from Copland House, the Pacific Chamber Orchestra, the Bergamot Quartet, and Mind on Fire. He is currently pursuing his PhD at Princeton University as a Naumberg Fellow, and holds degrees from UCBerkeley and the Peabody Conservatory.
Maxwell Hinton, a pianist hailing from the sun-kissed city of Brisbane, Australia, is passionate about presenting the music of 20th and 21st-century composers, ultimately aiming to create performances that transport his audience to a realm of transcendence, awe, and fun! Composers that Maxwell has performed or recorded works by include Steve Reich, Christopher Cerrone, Pierre Jalbert, and Bobby Ge. The next project Maxwell is eager to embark on is performing the complete Sonatas and Interludes by John Cage. Recently he has performed music by Arnold Schoenberg and Toru Takemitsu at Steinway Hall in New York City, and chamber music by Felix Mendelssohn and Cecile Chaminade at Lake George Music Festival. Prizes include 4th place at the Brevard Music Center Piano Competition, 2nd place in the Queensland Piano Competition, and 2nd place in the Ross Peters 4MBS Chamber Music Prize. Maxwell completed his undergraduate degree at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, and after graduating taught piano for five years and presented solo piano recitals throughout Brisbane. He is currently pursuing his Masters of Music in Performance under Rieko Aizawa at Brooklyn College Conservatory, CUNY. Previous teachers include Craig Nies, Daniel de Borah, and Jenni Flemming.
Travis Laplante is a composer, improviser, and saxophonist. Laplante leads the acclaimed tenor saxophone quartet Battle Trance, as well as Subtle Degrees, his duo with drummer Gerald Cleaver. Recently, Laplante has composed long-form works for new music ensembles such as the JACK Quartet, Yarn/Wire, and the ~Nois Saxophone Quartet. Laplante is also known for his raw solo saxophone concerts and being a member of the avant-garde quartet Little Women. He has performed and / or recorded with Tyshawn Sorey, Caroline Shaw, Ches Smith, Peter Evans, Sō Percussion, Ingrid Laubrock, Mary Halvorson, International Contemporary Ensemble, Michael Formanek, Buke and Gase, Darius Jones, Mat Maneri, Julia Bullock, and Matt Mitchell, among others. Laplante has released 12 critically acclaimed albums as a leader or co-leader on New Amsterdam Records, Aum Fidelity, Skirl, Tripticks Tapes, Out of Your Head Records, and NNA Tapes. Laplante has toured his music extensively and has appeared at many major international festivals such as The Moers Festival (Germany), Jazz Jantar (Poland), Saalfelden (Austria), Jazz em Agosto (Portugal), Earshot (Seattle), Hopscotch (North Carolina), and the NYC Winter JazzFest. As a composer, Laplante has been commissioned by the Lucerne Festival (Switzerland), the JACK Quartet, Roulette Intermedium, Yarn/Wire, the Yellow Barn Music Festival, the MATA festival, and The Jerome Foundation.
James Moore is a composer, guitarist, and bandleader who is currently in his sixth year of the composition program at Princeton. In addition to writing concert music and leading his own ensembles, he performs extensively as a chamber musician, soloist, and a collaborator in theater, dance, and multimedia projects. He can often be found playing with the raucous electric guitar quartet Dither, the whimsical acoustic group The Hands Free, and the avant- grunge/sloppy-math band Forever House.
Gemma Peacocke is a New Jersey-based composer from Aotearoa New Zealand. She writes avant-pop music for chamber ensembles, soloists, and orchestras, and she also writes a lot of music with electronics. Part of the Kinds of Kings composer collective, she lives in Princeton with her family and her most intense fan, a smallish standard poodle called Mila.
California-born, New York-based drummer, percussionist, and composer Ches Smith has been hailed by The New York Times as “one of the wiliest drummers on the experimental scene,” a description that captures his canny and unpredictable approach to a wide spectrum of musical situations. Smith’s singular voice and adroit perspective have led to collaborations with artists spanning (and melding) scenes and genres, including Marc Ribot, Tim Berne, John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Nels Cline, Dave Holland, David Torn, Mary Halvorson, Terry Riley, Craig Taborn, Kris Davis, Trevor Dunn, John Tchicai, Xiu Xiu, Secret Chiefs 3, Theory of Ruin, Mr. Bungle, and many others. Smith’s ten albums as a leader showcase the range of his stylistic curiosity and exploratory instincts. His latest, Interpret It Well, adds legendary guitarist Bill Frisell to Smith’s acclaimed trio with pianist Craig Taborn and violist Mat Maneri for a richly textured delve into the drummer’s minimal yet evocative compositions. The album is a pendulum swing from its predecessor, Path of Seven Colors, the second release by We All Break, Smith’s project fusing boundary-stretching jazz and traditional Haitian Vodou music. Both expand upon a continually surprising catalogue that includes the investigative virtuosity of Smith’s solo project Congs for Brums and the exhilarating combustibility of his all-star quintet These Arches. Originally from Sacramento, California, Smith came of age playing punk and indie rock on a scene that regularly crossed streams with experimental jazz and free improvisation. He has continued to lead parallel lives in the avant-jazz and avant-rock worlds, working with such bands as Xiu Xiu, Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog, Theory of Ruin, Mr. Bungle, and Secret Chiefs 3. With bassist Devin Hoff, he recorded five albums of punk-adrenalized free jazz as Good For Cows. As a drummer, percussionist, bandleader, composer, and collaborator, Smith continues to reveal unexpected inspiration, adept at explosive power and nuanced subtleties alike. The stunning breadth of his work was summed up by The Guardian, which raved that, “the nondescript term ‘drummer’ doesn’t get near the chemistry of earworm hooks, sharp-end jazz innovation and global-musical openness of New York percussionist / composer Ches Smith.”
About PSK
A lab for Princeton University composers to collaborate with today’s finest performers and ensembles, Princeton Sound Kitchen is a vital forum for the creation of new music. Serving the graduate student and faculty composers of the renowned composition program at the Department of Music at Princeton University, PSK presents a wide variety of concerts and events throughout the year.
Program Notes
James Moore
Slight Songs
Brian Chase, drumset and percussion Shayna Dunkelman, drumset and percussion Ches Smith, drumset and percussion
When I first started thinking about writing a composition for percussionists, I got stuck on the idea of getting my favorite drummers in the room together and seeing what could happen. Ches, Brian, and Shayna are not only lovely friends and colleagues of mine, but three of my favorite players, each possessing monster skills as performers, improvisers, composers, and sound artists.
I developed the earliest version of Slight Songs with fellows at Sō Percussion’s Summer Institute in 2019, and expanded the material for a performance by this trio at The Stone in January 2020. We were then slated to perform at a PSK in the Spring of 2020 and, well, you know what happened. So this performance is a long time in the making, and I am excited to revisit, adapt, and expand the material once again. Many thanks to these three and to the PSK team for making this happen!
Travis Laplante
Spiral to the Beloved
Erika Dohi, piano
Spiral to the Beloved is inspired by the shape of the path of life, which for me has resembled a spiral much more than a line. I often have no idea if I’m making progress as a human or as a musician. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, I keep coming back to daily practices of sound and silence. Sometimes I can feel that there is so much love in my heart that I don’t actually know what to do with it, and at other times fear gets the most to me. Despite this, somewhere deep down I trust that if I’m in a position of receptivity, there is a chance that the great lover will take my hand and lead me into the bottomless well of nothingness. If and when this happens is completely out of my hands.
This piece is a reflection of experiences in meditation when, despite my mind’s resistance and all of the horror in the world, I feel a hand extend that leads me to a place of unification and unconditional love, shattering all I know. This hand is inside of all of us.
A very special thank you to Erika Dohi, not only for her stunning musicianship, but for her attentive listening in conversation and her receptivity to embark on a piece with this kind of intimacy and insanity behind it. Her unspoken understanding is a great gift to me as a person. I look forward to deepening both our friendship and collaboration as time moves on.
Gemma Peacocke
Redshift
- . . .the trillion trillion trillion lovely others sail outward
- I have walked this far without you
III. inexactproportiontothismoment
Henry Wong Doe, piano
Most galaxies are moving away from our own. We know this because of a phenomenon called “redshift,” where the wavelengths of light from distant stars are stretched so that starlight looks as though it is shifted towards the red part of the spectrum. The stars themselves aren’t necessarily moving; they are becoming further from our galaxy because the space of the universe itself is expanding.
For me, the ever-increasing isolation of our galaxy is sometimes a disquieting feeling and sometimes a calming one. I’ve tried to capture a sense of expansion and contraction in Redshift, as well as one of remoteness.
The titles of the three movements are taken from the poem “Red Shift” by David Baker (Poetry, August 1989).
Bobby Ge
Hymns After Laurie Spiegel
I. Expanse
II. Patchwork Eventide III. PentachromeHymnal
Maxwell Hinton, piano
When I first encountered the sprawling and obsessive beauty of Laurie Spiegel’s music, I was amazed by its experimentation, technical craft, and deeply realized spirituality. Most moving to me was how intensely alive it all felt despite being entirely electronic. Contemplative at turns and pulsatingly rhythmic at others, her work was suffused with an organic sense of discovery: listening to her music, I felt as though I was hearing a master improviser discover a new set.
I myself frequently improvise at the keyboard as I compose. After playing for long enough, though, my jam sessions almost invariably return to the transparent harmonies and voicings of the church hymns I grew up accompanying. Despite their ascetic nature, these songs, too, felt alive to me. Their ritualistic manner, instead of alienating me, often invited me into a place of meditation.
Hymns After Laurie Spiegel was written during a very emotionally tumultuous time. To ground myself during the composition process, I considered two hymns that have been especially meaningful to me—Abide With Me and Nearer, My God, to Thee—and sought to place them within the spacious grandeur of Spiegel’s cosmic soundscapes. This piece is dedicated with much gratitude to pianist and commissioner Stephen Ai, as well as my friends Annie Hart and Timo Andres who introduced me to Spiegel’s music in the first place. I have much love and admiration for all of them.
Ellie Cherry
The Butterfly Effect
Ellie Cherry, electronics Bobby Ge, piano
The butterfly effect is a concept in chaos theory that demonstrates how drastically different outcomes may result from tiny differences in initial conditions. I thought it would be fun to explore this phenomenon in a piece of aleatoric music that intentionally worked with feedback loops. The Butterfly Effect does this using a series of overdub algorithms that are constantly capturing, processing, and playing back the sounds created by the soloist; what is more, the algorithm is doing the same for the sounds played through the house speakers, meaning it is also repeatedly listening to and processing itself. Since every sound captured through the microphone is constantly looped and re-recorded until the end of the piece, the earlier on a sound occurs, the more it influences what we hear at the end.
About
Brooklyn-based musician Brian Chase is the drummer for Grammy-nominated rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs, NYC’s experimental music community, and Drums and Drones, a solo project with a compositional focus on the harmonic resonances of drums and percussion. In 2018, Chase started an independent record label, Chaikin Records, which spotlights pioneering figures of the avant-garde. The inaugural release on Chaikin Records was Drums and Drones: Decade, a triple album with 144 page book, described in The Wire as “an indispensable statement on how drummers hear sound.” Additional releases by Chase on Chaikin Records include albums with harpist Zeena Parkins, pianist Anthony Coleman, saxophonist Catherine Sikora and a collaboration with visual artist Keti Katveli. As an educator Chase has taught at Bennington College, was a guest artist at So Percussion’s SoSI festival and Yarn/Wire’s annual summer institute. Chase’s writings have appeared in John Zorn’s Arcana series, culture blog Talkhouse and drumming trade magazine Modern Drummer. For more info visit chasebrian.com and chaikinrecords.com.
Ellie Cherry is an electroacoustic composer fundamentally compelled by the belief that as an artist she is first and foremost an observer: be it the acoustic properties of the bark of a beech tree or the childhood experiences of an audience member, every element in our shared reality is worthy of consideration. Her composition therefore takes a holistic approach, in which spectral theory, physics, psychoacoustics, and historical and political context are all thoughtfully intertwined. She is particularly interested in exploring how new music composition can provide an effective platform for activism, frequently addressing topics such as environmentalism, gender and class inequality, and trauma.
Born in Auckland, New Zealand, Henry Wong Doe has received top prizes, including two “Audience Favorite” awards in the Arthur Rubinstein, Busoni, and Sydney International Piano Competitions. Performance highlights include venues such as Carnegie Hall, New York, Heinz Hall, Pittsburgh, St. Martin-in-the-Fields London, Esplanade-Theatres on the Bay Singapore, the Sydney Opera House in Australia, and the Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv, Israel. He has performed as soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, Australian Chamber and Auckland Philharmonia Orchestras. He has collaborated with conductors Christopher Hogwood, Mendi Rodan, Edvard Tchivzel, Michael Christie, Marko Letonja and Tobias Ringborg. Highlights of the 2023 — 2024 season include a performance with the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra, solo performances in New York City and San Diego, and a three-concert tour of New Zealand. An accomplished recording artist, Henry Wong Doe has released seven recordings on the Trust, Rattle, Klavier and HR Recording labels. Four of the seven albums feature new or recently composed New Zealand music. His performances and albums have been featured on New Zealand’s Concert FM radio program, WNYC (New York), WFMT (Chicago) and WQED (Pittsburgh) radio stations. Jed Distler of Classics Today gave his album Landscape Preludes (Rattle RAT-D046) a 9/10 rating for both artistic and sound quality, writing “the selections are appreciably varied, well crafted for piano … [Wong Doe] mastered the notes and assimilated the music to the highest standards.”
Henry’s chamber recordings include an album for Klavier Records (K11193) of woodwind chamber music with the Keystone Chamber Winds, and two albums (E161HR and E162HR) for HR Recordings of rediscovered works for cello and piano with Michael Kevin Jones. Most recently, Henry was awarded an Arts Grant from Creative New Zealand (Arts Council of New Zealand) for his latest commissioning and recording project, Perspectives. The project features six new works for piano by New Zealand composers, with the goal to illustrate each composer’s perspective of events of the last two years. Following the world premiere performance, Perspectives will be recorded and released on Rattle Records in November 2023. Henry Wong Doe studied at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and Indiana University Bloomington, before earning a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The Juilliard School in New York. His teachers have included Susan Smith-Gaddis, Bryan Sayer, Evelyne Brancart, Leonard Hokanson, and Joseph Kalichstein. Henry Wong Doe holds a faculty position as Professor of Piano and Keyboard Area Chair at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. When not playing the piano, he enjoys snow skiing, jogging, and playing tennis. For more information, please visit henrywongdoe.com.
Described as “virtuosic” (The New York Times) and “barrier-defying artist” (Mix Magazine), Osaka-born and New York-based pianist Erika Dohi is a multi-faceted artist with an eclectic musical background. From highly polished traditional classical to bold improvisation, she is a dynamic performer whose timeless style and unidiomatic technique sets her apart in contemporary New York City avant-garde circles. I, Castorpollux, Dohi’s debut solo album, which was released in May 2021 under 37d03d, the label founded by Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Aaron Dessner, and Bryce Dessner (The National), is a profound personal excavation set to a gripping landscape of wild, genre-fluid composition; a virtuosic, but emotionally generous convergence of the technical and the spiritual. With understated piano and keyboards at its center, I, Castorpollux is equal parts hazy nostalgia, science-fiction soundtrack, and electro-acoustic experimentation. The project features contributions from Channy Leaneagh (Poliça), Andy Akiho, Immanuel Wilkins, Ambrose Akinmusire, Jeremy Boettcher, Emily Wells, Zach Hanson, and is produced by William Brittelle, a vital modern composer himself. The album has received “The Best Ambient Albums in May 2021” (Bandcamp), “Best of the Week” (Brooklyn Vegan and JAZZIZ Magazine), described as a “retro-futuristic piece of poetry” (Mixmag), and was featured on The New York Times’ Playlist and WNYC’s New Sounds/Soundcheck. Erika is the co-founder of BLUEPRINTS Piano Series and accompanying festival, In Visible Roads, in collaboration with Metropolis Ensemble, as well as RighteousGIRLS, whose album gathering blue has been hailed by Downbeat as “one of the most adventurous new music debut albums in recent years.” Dohi has performed William Brittelle’s Spiritual America with Metropolis Ensemble at The Hollywood Bowl opening for Bon Iver and TU Dance, the Central Park Summer Stage with Ensemble LPR, and has made appearances at international festivals including the D.C. Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music, Tokyo Experimental Festival, INTERSECT Festival in Bryant Park, and at the Time’s Arrow Festival. She is a part of the six-piano ensemble Grand Band, most recently performed at Peak Performances at Montclair State University. The performance was featured at WNET’s ALL ARTS in January 2021, featuring the works by Julius Eastman, Kate Moore, Julia Wolfe, and Missy Mazzoli. As an improviser, she is a pianist for the avant-garde trumpeter, Wadada Leo Smith’s Golden Quintet, and performed at SFJazz as part of ECM 50th Anniversary.
Shayna Dunkelman is a musician, percussionist and composer based in New York. Dunkelman is known for her versatile and unique techniques, and use of electronics to access a sonic pallet not found in acoustic percussion. In addition to solo performances, Dunkelman performs and tours with Pulitzer Award-Winning and Grammy nominated composer Du Yun, Puerto Rican band Balún, Grammy Award Winning artist Attacca Quartet, Pakistani singer and author Ali Sethi and NOMON, a percussion duo with her sister Nava Dunkelman. Born and raised in Tokyo, Japan to an Indonesian mother and an American father, Dunkelman became a multi-instrumentalist performing alongside her mother, a musician and composer active in Asia and the Middle East. Dunkelman graduated with honors in both music and mathematics from Mills College in Oakland, CA in 2007, where she studied percussion with William Winant. Dunkelman became increasingly active in the alternative music scene as a member of the band Xiu Xiu, touring the world for 6 years. As part of Xiu Xiu, Dunkelman shared stages with Genesis P-Orridge (Psychic TV), Blonde Redhead, Sun Ra Arkestra, Alessandro Cortini (Nine Inch Nails), St. Vincent, and Deerhoof to name a few. Dunkelman has recorded or performed with pioneers of avant-garde experimental musicians such as Yuka C. Honda, John Zorn, Yoko Ono, Thurston Moore, and performed at The Broad, Carnegie Hall, Centre Pompidou, The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts (Bard College), Lincoln Center, The MET, Noguchi Museum, O2 Arena, Palazzo Grassi, Pioneer Works, STUK, Tanzhaus NRW, Tanzquartier, Terminal 5, Thalia Hall, UC Berkeley, Walt Disney Concert Hall, QAGOMA among others.
Bobby Ge is a Chinese-American composer and avid collaborator who seeks to create vivid emotional journeys that navigate boundaries between genre and medium. He has created multimedia projects with the Space Telescope Science Institute, painters collective Art10Baltimore, the Scattered Players Theater Company, and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. Winner of the 2022 Barlow Prize, Ge has received commissions and performances by groups including the Minnesota Orchestra, the New York Youth Symphony, the Albany Symphony, the US Navy Band, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Harbin Symphony Orchestra, Interlochen Arts Academy, Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, Guangzhou Symphony Youth Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Youth Orchestra, Music from Copland House, the Pacific Chamber Orchestra, the Bergamot Quartet, and Mind on Fire. He is currently pursuing his PhD at Princeton University as a Naumberg Fellow, and holds degrees from UCBerkeley and the Peabody Conservatory.
Maxwell Hinton, a pianist hailing from the sun-kissed city of Brisbane, Australia, is passionate about presenting the music of 20th and 21st-century composers, ultimately aiming to create performances that transport his audience to a realm of transcendence, awe, and fun! Composers that Maxwell has performed or recorded works by include Steve Reich, Christopher Cerrone, Pierre Jalbert, and Bobby Ge. The next project Maxwell is eager to embark on is performing the complete Sonatas and Interludes by John Cage. Recently he has performed music by Arnold Schoenberg and Toru Takemitsu at Steinway Hall in New York City, and chamber music by Felix Mendelssohn and Cecile Chaminade at Lake George Music Festival. Prizes include 4th place at the Brevard Music Center Piano Competition, 2nd place in the Queensland Piano Competition, and 2nd place in the Ross Peters 4MBS Chamber Music Prize. Maxwell completed his undergraduate degree at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, and after graduating taught piano for five years and presented solo piano recitals throughout Brisbane. He is currently pursuing his Masters of Music in Performance under Rieko Aizawa at Brooklyn College Conservatory, CUNY. Previous teachers include Craig Nies, Daniel de Borah, and Jenni Flemming.
Travis Laplante is a composer, improviser, and saxophonist. Laplante leads the acclaimed tenor saxophone quartet Battle Trance, as well as Subtle Degrees, his duo with drummer Gerald Cleaver. Recently, Laplante has composed long-form works for new music ensembles such as the JACK Quartet, Yarn/Wire, and the ~Nois Saxophone Quartet. Laplante is also known for his raw solo saxophone concerts and being a member of the avant-garde quartet Little Women. He has performed and / or recorded with Tyshawn Sorey, Caroline Shaw, Ches Smith, Peter Evans, Sō Percussion, Ingrid Laubrock, Mary Halvorson, International Contemporary Ensemble, Michael Formanek, Buke and Gase, Darius Jones, Mat Maneri, Julia Bullock, and Matt Mitchell, among others. Laplante has released 12 critically acclaimed albums as a leader or co-leader on New Amsterdam Records, Aum Fidelity, Skirl, Tripticks Tapes, Out of Your Head Records, and NNA Tapes. Laplante has toured his music extensively and has appeared at many major international festivals such as The Moers Festival (Germany), Jazz Jantar (Poland), Saalfelden (Austria), Jazz em Agosto (Portugal), Earshot (Seattle), Hopscotch (North Carolina), and the NYC Winter JazzFest. As a composer, Laplante has been commissioned by the Lucerne Festival (Switzerland), the JACK Quartet, Roulette Intermedium, Yarn/Wire, the Yellow Barn Music Festival, the MATA festival, and The Jerome Foundation.
James Moore is a composer, guitarist, and bandleader who is currently in his sixth year of the composition program at Princeton. In addition to writing concert music and leading his own ensembles, he performs extensively as a chamber musician, soloist, and a collaborator in theater, dance, and multimedia projects. He can often be found playing with the raucous electric guitar quartet Dither, the whimsical acoustic group The Hands Free, and the avant- grunge/sloppy-math band Forever House.
Gemma Peacocke is a New Jersey-based composer from Aotearoa New Zealand. She writes avant-pop music for chamber ensembles, soloists, and orchestras, and she also writes a lot of music with electronics. Part of the Kinds of Kings composer collective, she lives in Princeton with her family and her most intense fan, a smallish standard poodle called Mila.
California-born, New York-based drummer, percussionist, and composer Ches Smith has been hailed by The New York Times as “one of the wiliest drummers on the experimental scene,” a description that captures his canny and unpredictable approach to a wide spectrum of musical situations. Smith’s singular voice and adroit perspective have led to collaborations with artists spanning (and melding) scenes and genres, including Marc Ribot, Tim Berne, John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Nels Cline, Dave Holland, David Torn, Mary Halvorson, Terry Riley, Craig Taborn, Kris Davis, Trevor Dunn, John Tchicai, Xiu Xiu, Secret Chiefs 3, Theory of Ruin, Mr. Bungle, and many others. Smith’s ten albums as a leader showcase the range of his stylistic curiosity and exploratory instincts. His latest, Interpret It Well, adds legendary guitarist Bill Frisell to Smith’s acclaimed trio with pianist Craig Taborn and violist Mat Maneri for a richly textured delve into the drummer’s minimal yet evocative compositions. The album is a pendulum swing from its predecessor, Path of Seven Colors, the second release by We All Break, Smith’s project fusing boundary-stretching jazz and traditional Haitian Vodou music. Both expand upon a continually surprising catalogue that includes the investigative virtuosity of Smith’s solo project Congs for Brums and the exhilarating combustibility of his all-star quintet These Arches. Originally from Sacramento, California, Smith came of age playing punk and indie rock on a scene that regularly crossed streams with experimental jazz and free improvisation. He has continued to lead parallel lives in the avant-jazz and avant-rock worlds, working with such bands as Xiu Xiu, Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog, Theory of Ruin, Mr. Bungle, and Secret Chiefs 3. With bassist Devin Hoff, he recorded five albums of punk-adrenalized free jazz as Good For Cows. As a drummer, percussionist, bandleader, composer, and collaborator, Smith continues to reveal unexpected inspiration, adept at explosive power and nuanced subtleties alike. The stunning breadth of his work was summed up by The Guardian, which raved that, “the nondescript term ‘drummer’ doesn’t get near the chemistry of earworm hooks, sharp-end jazz innovation and global-musical openness of New York percussionist / composer Ches Smith.”
About PSK
A lab for Princeton University composers to collaborate with today’s finest performers and ensembles, Princeton Sound Kitchen is a vital forum for the creation of new music. Serving the graduate student and faculty composers of the renowned composition program at the Department of Music at Princeton University, PSK presents a wide variety of concerts and events throughout the year.