Spectrum to Launch RETES Series with Eleonor Sandresky and More, Beg. Today

Spectrum has announced Rétes, a new collaborative series on the first Sunday of each month at 7pm, beginning July 7th. Curated by composer and choreographic pianist, Eleonor Sandresky, the series will feature collaborations with fellow composer/performers.

Leading up to each concert, she will rehearse and create a new program with each featured guest showcasing her music, their music, and collaboratively-made pieces as well culled through the creative process of exchanging ideas, arranging, improvising and rehearsing. The concerts encompass electronic elements and robotics to sitar to piano trio and a host of influences in between. The list of those involved cuts across a broad spectrum of new music, representing Sandresky's wide-ranging interests. Just as rétes is a style of pastry that is adaptable to any meal scenario, so will this series provide many different kinds and ways of music-making, all within the context of Spectrum through the prism of Sandresky's imagination.

2013 Series at a Glance:

July 7 Murmuration Philadelphia-based improv ensemble presenting a through-improvised drama Aug 4 Kurt Coble composer/violinist and inventor
Sept 1 Pat Irwin composer/musician
Oct 6 Kevin Norton composer/percussionist
Nov 3 Kamala Sankaram composer/vocalist
Dec 1 Jim Pugliese composer/drummer/percussionist

SPECTRUM is located at 121 Ludlow Street, Second Floor, New York, NY. Subway: F, M, J & Z trains to Essex/Delancey station Admission: $15. For more information, visit www.spectrumnyc.com/blog/.

Eleonor Sandresky, Composer/Pianist/Curator: Eleonor Sandresky writes music that has been described as "lovely, but enigmatic," as having "ever-varying qualities of touch, register and intensity," as "witty, liberating" and "beautiful" by The New York Times, Village Voice and AUFBAU. Her music is featured in film and on radio, and can be heard on Koch International, One Soul Records, ERM Media and Albany Records. The results of one of her more recent collaborations is currently a part of the Venice Biennale 2013. She has received grants and commissions from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York State Council on the Arts, Jerome Foundation, ASCAP, American Music Center, and Meet the Composer. Eleonor has been a composer-in-residence at Swing Space, through the LMCC, at STEIM, The MacDowell Colony, and in Hvar, Croatia. Recent works include Meditation 2, for choreographed orchestra, and Mary Oliver Songs Book 1: The Return, for choreographed pianist and Wonder Suit, a remote sensor system, with live electronics. Her latest commission is for Parthenia, a baroque consort of viols.

She is at the same time one of New York's pre-eminent new music pianists, with performances and premieres of new works by a wide range of composers from Don Byron and Philip Glass to Eve Beglarian and Egberto Gismonti. She has recorded for CRI, Nonesuch, One Soul Records, New World Records, Mode Records, and Orange Mountain Music, and has played concerts throughout the world. Working at the forefront of avant- garde concert-as-theater, Eleonor reinvented herself as a Choreographic Pianist with her evening-length composition, A Sleeper's Notebook, premiered at the Kitchen in 2003. In the choreographic works, she explores her deep interest in how motion translates to emotion through sound, mining her experience as a performer for her compositions. As a music director, she has led ensembles in a variety of theatrical settings, from dance performances with Susan Marshall to conducting live ensemble to film with the Philip Glass Ensemble, of which she was a member from 1991 - 2004. Eleonor, is co-founder of the MATA Festival. For more information on her work, visit www.esandresky.com, www.facebook.com/ChoreographicPianist, www.youtube.com/user/chorpiano13/videos.

Murmuration, July 7

Classically-based Improvisation with influences ranging from Handel to Hole. Murmuration is: Eric Coyne on cello/piano, Russell Kotcher on violin/piano and Andrew Marsh on vocals/piano. In live performance, lyrics are either fully improvised, based around previously selected material or texts taken on the spot from the audience (books, journals, a few brave cell phones). The selections provided here are

all Completely Improvised (often with no prior plan) except for Balance Act, which is the band's first effort at group composition in collaboration with Mark Zelesky on

Saxophone. Quintet features Kate Porter on cello and Rosie Langabeer on accordion. Septet features Misha Marks on accordion, Joshua Machiz on double bass, Chad Brown on percussion, and Rosie Langabeer on spoons. https://soundcloud.com/murmurationimprov

Kurt Coble, August 4

Kurt Coble returned from his second US Embassy sponsored tour of Serbia in April, performing with the P.A.M. Band, an ensemble of robotic musical instruments he invented to realize his artistic aesthetic. Over the next few years, he will perform in over 200 venues in Eastern Europe. The patent pending technology he created with his guru Richard Ryniker is also being used to assist people with disabilities to make music via an array of interfaces. He has partnered with the ENACTUS Team at Mercy College to promote the "Tesla Instrument Family" and won "Rookie of the Year" at the ENACTUS National Competition in May. Luckily, Kurt continues to be a "long time" member of the Phantom of the Opera Orchestra on Broadway, which financially supports his massive collection of unpopular original compositions. He is thrilled to continue to work with Eleonor, a collaboration dating back to 1981. For more information about the P.A.M. Band, visit www.pamband.com.

Pat Irwin, September 1

Pat Irwin has been living and making music in New York City since the late 1970's. He was a member of "the Raybeats" (1979-1985), "8 Eyed Spy" (1979-1982) and "the B-52s" (1989- 2008.) Most recently Irwin composed the score for the Showtime series, "Nurse Jackie" and prior to that composed the score for the HBO series, "Bored To Death." He also composed the music for cartoons such as "SpongeBob SquarePants," "Rocko's Modern Life," "Pepper Ann," and "Class of 3000." He received ASCAP Film and Television Awards for his contributions to the "SpongeBob" score in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Film soundtracks include "But I'm A Cheerleader" and "My New Gun." Describing Irwin's music in The New York Times, Robert Palmer wrote, "Pat Irwin was a mercurial presence on the New York rock scene of the early '80's. The bands that he helped found resemble each other only in that both had an aversion to the predictable and ordinary." www.patirwinmusic.com

Kevin Norton, October 6

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Staten Island, NY, the composer/percussionist came to jazz in an unlikely setting, befriending drummer and fellow record collector Kenny Washington as a teenager. Studies at Hunter College (in NYC) introduced Kevin to Milt Hinton and after a short period, he began to perform with Milt, eventually recording The Judge's Decision. Under Milt's encouragement, Kevin enrolled in the Masters program at Manhattan School of Music. After graduation he played every kind of gig available to a versatile percussionist: classical, jazz, blues, Dixieland, off-Broadway shows, rock, but especially taking part in the blossoming downtown New York City scene that strove to combine these "styles." Soon Mr. Norton was busy in the downtown New York Knitting Factory scene, performing with Fred Frith, Zeena Parkins and John Zorn. Returning to his jazz roots, he began to devote himself to creating projects that featured his own composition and improvisation, predominately on vibes and drums. Kevin has composed several multi- movement pieces sometimes based on extra-musical subject matter. For Guy Debord (in nine events) is a composition for quintet and woodwind soloist (originally Anthony Braxton) based on the texts of the radical French philosopher whose thought proved central to the riots of Paris, 1968. Change Dance (Troubled) Energy draws it's inspiration from another radical political activist, Kathy Change (born Kathleen Chang). Both suites are approximately an hour in duration. On February 23rd 2006 Kevin's Water and Fire Suite was premiered, commissioned as part of the national series of works from Meet The Composer Commissioning Music/USA, which is made possible by generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Helen F. Whitaker Fund, and the Target Foundation. Kevin has lead and/or co-lead 20 critically acclaimed recordings, many of them making year-end "Best of" lists. One recent recording, Time-Space Modulator integrates intricate, sophisticated composition work with the deep improvisatory skills of Kevin, Tony Malaby, John Lindberg and Dave Ballou. Kevin has also played with many highly esteemed European improvisers such as Paul Rogers, Joëlle Léandre, Paul Dunmall and Frode Gjerstad. For nearly ten years, Kevin was Anthony Braxton's main percussionist in both the "ghost trance" phase and the "standards" phase, plotting out the course for all percussionists who followed. In June of 2002, Kevin Norton was a resident composer at the MacDowell Colony. He has served on the faculty of several schools and is currently on the faculty of William Paterson University. Some of his most recent composition work can be heard in the film Anna May Wong: In Her Own Words, dir. By Y. Hong. www.kevinnorton.com

Kamala Sankaram, November 3

Praised as "strikingly original" (NY Times), Kamala Sankaram writes music for concert, theater, and film. She has received commissions from Beth Morrison Projects, HERE Arts Center, Anthony Braxton's Tri- Centric Orchestra, and Opera on Tap, among others. She was recently the recipient of a Jonathan Larson Award from the American Theater Wing, and has received grants from the MAP Fund, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Meet the Composer, and the Asian Women's Giving Circle, as well as residencies from the MacDowell Colony, the Watermill Center and the Hermitage. She was the 2011 Con Edison/Exploring the Metropolis Composer-in-Residence at the Brooklyn Youth Chorus Academy and the 2012 Composer-in- Residence at the Eugene O'Neil Theater. As a resident artist at HERE Arts Center, Kamala created MIRANDA, a steampunk murder mystery opera called "enjoyable, utterly original opera" (NY Post) and "among the very best theater achievements of 2012" (NYTheatre.com). MIRANDA was named winner of the New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical.

Known for her "coloratura fireworks" (NY Post) Kamala has performed with and premiered pieces by the Philip Glass Ensemble, the Wooster Group, Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, and eighth blackbird, among others. She is the bandleader of world music ensemble Bombay Rickey, and appears regularly with Opera on Tap's New Brew and Anti-Social Music. She has recorded with Anthony Braxton (TRILLIUM E: Braxton House), Phil Kline (Around the World in a Daze: Starkland Records), End (The Sick Generation: Hymen Records), Death Comet Crew (Dominatrix), and Anti-Social Music (The Future of Everything: Peacock Records). www.kamalasankaram.com

Jim Pugliese, December 1

Jim Pugliese is a drummer, percussionist and composer. As a freelance percussionist he is in much demand and has performed with The New York Philharmonic Horizon Series (guest artist), New York City Ballet and soloist or performer on numerous new music and jazz festivals in Europe, Japan and the USA.

He studied percussion with Raymond Des Roches and by the age of eighteen he had recorded the music of Edgar Varese and Charles Wuorinen for Nonesuch Records. He continued performing and or recording new music with John Cage, Lukas Foss, Kent Nagano and Philip Glass and has improvised recorded and toured with many of downtowns NYC's most prominent composer/improvisers including John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Zeena Parkins, Elliot Sharp, Bobby Previte and Anthony Coleman. He appears on over 100 CD's of New Music, Rock and Jazz.

Jim's latest projects are inspired by his recent association and work with Nii Tettey Tetteh, master musician from Ghana, with Milford Graves, learning drumming and healing through the heartbeat and his study of the spiritual songs of the Mbira Dzavadzimu from Zimbabwe. His latest CD "Live @ Issue Project Room NYC" was listed as "Best New Release of 2008" in "All About Jazz NY." www.jimpugliese.org

Photo by Glenn Cornett