Prague based artist George Cremaschi brings his challenging and raw improvised electronic improvisations to CNMAT for a collaborative evening with Matthew Goodheart (computer controlled metal percussion), Garth Powell (percussion) and David Wessel (electronics).
George Cremaschi - electronics
George Cremaschi was born in New York City, where he studied music and composition. Using mostly contrabass and electronics, his work attempts to dissolve the boundaries between music, sound art, and noise, and extend their existing language, vocabulary and discourse.
He has played with, and composed for, dancers, improvisers, installation artists, poets, film, folk musicians, theater groups, orchestras, rock bands and pop divas. He has worked with a long list of fantastic musical artists including Nicolas Collins, Evan Parker, Franz Hautzinger, Liz Allbee, Gino Robair, Greg Goodman, dieb13, Mats Gustafsson, Lê Quan Ninh and Matthew Ostrowski among many others.
As an interpreter, he has performed works by many major composers including Feldman, Tenney, Cage, Xenakis, Penderecki, Andriessen etc, and has appeared on over 30 recordings on the Apestaartje, Evolving Ear, Black Saint, Leo, Beak Doctor, Emanem, Rastascan, Music & Arts, Nine Winds and 482 Music labels. He currently lives in Prague, Czech Republic.
Matthew Goodheart – computer controlled metal percussion
Performing professionally since age 17, native San Franciscan Matthew Goodheart has gained an international reputation as an improviser, composer, and sound artist. His work has been featured in concerts and festivals throughout the US, Canada, and Europe, and has been the recipient of the Nicola DiLorenzo Award, the A.H. Miller Prize in Composition, the New Langton Arts Bay Area Artists Award, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Honorary Fellowship. His work has been performed at the International Spectral Music Festival, June in Buffalo, Klappsthulfest, The Illuminations New Music & Arts Festival, Festival Jazzwelten, and many others. His sound installations have been featured throughout the U.S. and Europe, including the Spark Festival of Electronic Music & Art, Institute Intermedia in Prague, Istanbul Technical University, the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival, Axel Obiger Gallery in Berlin, and many others.
In addition to numerous solo CDs, he has recorded as part of Zen Widow, the Glenn Spearman Trio, the Marco Eneidi Creative Music Orchestra, and Gino Robair’s “I, Norton: An Opera in Realtime.” He has performed with such luminaries as Wadada Leo Smith, Fred Frith, Pauline Oliveros, Glenn Spearman, Gianni Gebbia, Vladimir Tarasov, and Jack Wright, and performs frequently with the new music ensemble sfSoundGroup. He is presently a candidate in advanced standing at the University of California at Berkeley, where he is pursuing a Ph.D. in music composition.
David Wessel - electronics
David Wessel is particularly interested in live-performance computer music where improvisation plays an essential role. He has collaborated in performance with a variety of improvising composers including Roscoe Mitchell, Steve Coleman, Ushio Torikai, Thomas Buckner, Vinko Globokar, Jin Hi Kim, Shafqat Ali Khan, and Laetitia Sonami, and has performed throughout the US and Europe.
Garth Powell - drums-percussion
For a percussionist/composer - time, rhythm, and pulse are undeniable, non-negotiable components of the craft. Yet, the sonic domain remains for many, a peripheral concern. Timbre is not only of equal importance; it is an integral part of the harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic construct. All four exist in the parallel sub-division of frequencies and waves. This relationship demands understanding, discipline, and mastery. In Garth’s music, these elements are meticulously combined, creating a transcendent force enveloping the listener. Ultimately, we are drawn into the ecstatic, and the inexplicable.
Garth has performed extensively throughout North America and Europe, and is currently a Rastascan, Roadcone, Leo, Beak Doctor, Evander, and 9 Winds recording artist. He has performed and/or recorded with such notable artists as Marshall Allen, Bonnie Barnett, Jaap Blonk, John Butcher, Eugene Chadbourne, Nels Cline, Gianni Gebbia, Vinny Golia, Greg Goodman, Mats Gustafsson, Peter Kowald, London Improvisors Orchestra, Eddie Moore, all members of the ROVA Saxophone Quartet, Wadada Leo Smith, Glenn Spearman, Dave Tucker, Bert Turetzky, Saadet Turkos, and Peter Van Bergen.