Vital Vox Festival Celebrates Power of the Human Voice at Roulette, 3/25-26

The Vital Vox Festival-an event that explores the myriad power of the human voice in its solo and ensemble forms across a multitude of genres-will take place at 8pm tonight, March 25 and tomorrow, March 26, 2013 at Roulette, located at 509 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, NY (2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, G, D, M, N, R, B & Q trains and the LIRR).

Tickets are $15 ($10 Students/Seniors/Members) and can be purchased at www.roulette.org or by calling 917-267-0363. More information on the festival and the performers can be found at www.vitalfoxfest.com. The fourth annual festival has been rescheduled from October 29 & 30, 2012 due to Hurricane Sandy.

Over the course of two diverse evenings, the Vital Vox Festival will explore the theme of 'vox electronics,' featuring artists who expand their sonic vocabulary with electronics of all kinds. Performances will draw from wide-ranging international influences and genres including jazz, experimental, contemporary, free improvisation, interactive electro-acoustic and world music, as well as audio sampling.

The March 25 program includes vocalist Philip Hamilton performing "Vocalscapes: Solitude", vocalist/composer Sabrina Lastman performing her original piece "An Encounter with 'El Duende'", and Unearthish-a duo comprised of violinist/composer/vocalist Sarah Bernstein and percussionist/electronic musician Satoshi Takeishi-performing Bernstein's compositions.

The March 26 program includes composer/vocalist/video and performance artist Lisa Karrer in collaboration with composer/multi-instrumentalist David Simons performing "Collision Theory: Works & Premieres for Voice & Multi-Media", composer/vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Sasha Bogdanowitsch performing his new song cycle "Timbre Tree seeds" with interdisciplinary theater group Loom Ensemble, and composer/performer Pamela Z performing works for voice, live processing and video. (Full program and performer details below.)

VITAL VOX premiered in May 2009 at Teatro IATI (International Theatre Arts Institute) in the East Village then continued in 2010 at ISSUE Project Room before moving to Roulette in 2011. Since its founding, the Festival has brought together some of the most talented & creative vocalists in NYC and featured nearly 20 projects and 30 vocalists. Sasha Bogdanowitsch & Sabrina Lastman are Artistic Directors for the festival, which is produced by World in One & Roulette. Roulette is a major New York City venue for contemporary music and inter-media art, internationally recognized for the presentation and promotion of experimental contemporary music, an incubator for young talent, and a laboratory where new ideas and new technologies are examined, appraised and developed.

VITAL VOX 2013 PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS:

MONDAY, MARCH 25, 8pm

Event link: http://roulette.org/events/vital-vox

PHILIP HAMILTON - Vocalscapes: Solitude
Vocal explorer Philip Hamilton takes audiences on a Journey of sounds using his voice, percussion and electronics. Hamilton, creator of the hit a cappella show "VOICES", uses vocal styles from across the globe to expand the imagination. (www.voicestheshow.blogspot.com)

SABRINA LASTMAN - An Encounter with 'El Duende'
Sabrina Lastman will present excerpts from her original piece "An Encounter with 'El Duende'", a multidisciplinary music performance for voice, sound, bowed psaltery, megaphone, percussion & visuals. Federico Garcia Lorca's eerily passionate world comes to life through this re-imagination of his written & visual artistry. Visuals by Shige Moriya. (www.sabrina-lastman.com)

SARAH BERNSTEIN - UNEARTHISH
Unearthish is the duo of Sarah Bernstein (voice, violin, electronics) with Satoshi Takeishi (percussion), performing Bernstein's compositions. Minimalist motifs meet avant-jazz formations, integrating sung and spoken poetry with acoustic and electric sound sculpture. (www.sarahbernstein.com)

TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 8pm

Event link: http://roulette.org/events/vital-vox-2

LISA KARRER - Collision Theory: Works & Premieres for Voice & Multi-Media
Lisa Karrer (in collaboration with composer/multi-instrumentalist David Simons) will present works for voice, electronics, interactive video, triggered theremin and keyboard, including premieres of Karrer's "Meeting Max: Vocal Experiments with Interactive Video Mixer", and Simons's "The Opera Within the Opera". (http://www.simons-karrer.com)

SASHA BOGDANOWITSCH with Loom Ensemble - Timbre Tree seeds
A new song cycle for solo voice, vocal trio & instruments that explores the 'reflecting glass' of live looping & processing. The work delves into the intersection between sung text and vocables, and is accompanied by an assortment of original instruments, such as wind instruments like the syrinx, fujara, and koncovka. All of this is intermingled with the tenori-on, a unique visual electronic instrument. The work will also feature dance and vocals from interdisciplinary theater group Loom Ensemble (Andrew Broaddus, Helen Joyce, Raphael Sacks, Kate Hamilton and Michael Bauer on Cyr Wheel). (www.sashabmusic.com)

PAMELA Z - Works for Voice, Live Processing, and Video
Pamela Z will perform short works for voice, live processing, gesture-controlled samples and interactive video, including excepts from her piece "Memory Trace". (www.pamelaz.com)

VITAL VOX 2013 PERFORMER BIOS:

Philip Hamilton one of the most captivating voices in music today. Possessed with a voice that conveys a Warrior's strength, a Blues man's soul, a Romantic's heart and a Muezzin's spirit, The New York Times calls this inventive vocalist/composer "contemporary and cutting-edge" for his explosive recordings and performances. Hamilton worked with John Cage as a teenager which helped shape his love for sound and the unexpected; as such, Hamilton is a true original who has performed or recorded with some of the leading musical minds of our time, including the Pat Metheny Group, Spyro Gyra, Steely Dan's Donald Fagan, Gilberto Gil, Mike Stern and John Cage. His solo performances challenge audiences to redefine the voice and celebrate its limitless potential. His larger ensembles also cross musical boundaries as they take listeners on journeys inspired by the blues, rock, jazz, classical, as well as sounds from around the world. His ensembles have featured some of the music world's best and brightest performers including Greg Osby, Chieli Minucci, John Medeski, Matt Garrison, Bill Evans, Mike Manieri, Richard Bona, Gil Goldstein, Ottmar Liebert and Vernon Reid. Philip Hamilton is also recognized as the leading contemporary composer of music for dance. The recipient of 2004 New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) for his Body of Work in the field of Composition for Dance. He has composed for the world's leading choreographers and dance companies, including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ron Brown, Mia Michaels, Ballet Hispanico, Rennie Harris, Robert Battle and Ann Reinking, the Tony award-winning choreographer of Chicago and Fosse. Ezekiel's Wheel, Hamilton's critically acclaimed work with Danny Buraczeski/Jazzdance is hailed as "a modern masterwork" in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. His globe trotting hit a cappella show "VOICES" blends vocal styles from around the corner and around the world. (www.voicestheshow.blogspot.com)

Sabrina Lastman (Uruguay/ Israel) is a New York-based vocalist and composer born in Montevideo, Uruguay. Drawing from jazz, Latin American and contemporary music, often integrating extended vocal techniques, Sabrina concentrates her work on jazz projects like the Sabrina Lastman Quartet and the creation of interdisciplinary new music performances combining voice, sound, movement and visuals. Such works include: Dialogues of Silence, On Becoming & Inelement (with SoCorpo), River of Painted Birds, and An Encounter with El Duende. Sabrina has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Classical Guitar Association of New York, Blues Alley Jazz, Blue Note, Juilliard, New York University, City University of New York, La Mama, Roulette, and ISSUE Project Room. She has played with musicians such as Fernando Otero, Bakithi Kumalo, Tali Roth, Pablo Aslan, Emilio Solla, Pedro Giraudo, David Silliman, Sasha Bogdanowitsch, Meg Okura, Alexander Norris, The M6 and Philip Hamilton. Sabrina was awarded grants by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) & New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA), and the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). Her album The Folds of the Soul was nominated by the Graffiti Award 2008 as one of the best jazz albums of the year. Sabrina has toured internationally playing in many musical and interdisciplinary projects from Tango to New Music. She graduated from The Jerusalem Academy of Music & Dance in Israel. Her latest album The Candombe Jazz Sessions (ZOHO Music) was released in March 2012. (www.sabrina-lastman.com)

Sarah Bernstein is a violinist, composer, improviser, vocalist and poet. She leads the duo Unearthish with Satoshi Takeishi, presenting minimalist motifs with avant-jazz song form and original poetry, and is part of The Improv trio Iron Dog with Stuart Popejoy and Andrew Drury, which showcases her sonic range on processed violin and spoken word. The recently debuted Sarah Bernstein Chamber Project introduces new acoustic compositions for nine instruments in various configurations. She performs and records with artists such as Anthony Braxton, Adam Rudolph, Joseph Daley, Dave Scott, and the Jazz & Poetry Choir Collective. Her film scores include the web documentaries of photojournalist Katja Heinemann. Originally from San Francisco, Sarah lives in Brooklyn, New York. She holds a BFA in Violin Performance from the California Institute of the Arts and an MA in Jazz Studies from CUNY Queens College. (sarahbernstein.com)

Satoshi Takeishi, a drummer, percussionist, and electronic musician, is a native of Mito, Japan. He studied music at Berklee College of Music in Boston, then lived in Colombia and Miami, Florida before moving to New York in 1991. He has performed and recorded in a vast variety of genres from world, jazz, contemporary classical to experimental electronic music, with musicians such as Ray Barretto, Carlos 'Patato' Valdes, Eliane Elias, Marc Johnson, Eddie Gomez, Randy Brecker, Dave Liebman, Anthony Braxton, Mark Murphy, Herbie Mann, Paul Winter Consort, Rabih Abu Khalil, Erik Friedlander, Ned Rothenberg, Michael Attias, Shoko Nagai, Paul Giger, Toshiko Akiyoshi Big Band, Ying String Quartet, Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, Dhafer Youssef, Lalo Schifrin and Pablo Ziegler. He continues to explore multi-cultural, electronic and improvisational music with local and international musicians.

Lisa Karrer is a composer, vocalist, video and performance artist, and collaborates with numerous artists and ensembles, including projects in Estonia, Western Europe, Israel, and Indonesia. She has produced albums for the ensembles Music For Homemade Instruments and Gamelan Son of Lion, and with co-composer David Simons, has recorded and released their chamber opera The Birth of George on Harvestworks' TELLUS label. Lisa's compositions for Gamelan orchestra appear on Gamelan Son of Lion albums Bending the Gending and Sonogram, released on Innova Records. Other large-scale multi-media works include Puhamu, a music theatre project premiered in Estonia, her wayang opera Woman's Song: The Story of Roro Mendut, co-produced by the Kitchen and the World Music Institute, and Schismism pt 1: Fractured America produced by The Flea Theater in 2007. Schismism: Natural Law, based on the life of Charles Darwin premiered at NYC's Living Theatre in October 2008; since then it has been produced in NYC and at venues across the U.S. Lisa's video and sound installations have been exhibited at galleries such as Garnerville Arts Center, Rockland Center for the Arts, and A.I.R. Gallery in Brooklyn. Her multi-media works include collaborations with visual artists such as Gregory Barsamian, Jenny Lynn McNutt, Mary Ziegler, Peeter Laurits, Jackie Shatz, Pat Hickman and Bill Hochhausen. Recent appearances include the Microtonal Festival with Skip LaPlante, and The Stone with The Hunter Gatherers. Lisa's new chamber work "The Language of Life", commissioned by NYC's Flexible Orchestra premiered October 25 at the Ukranian National Home in downtown Manhattan. (http://www.simons-karrer.com)

David Simons is a composer and performer specializing in percussion, Theremin, electronics, homemade instruments, and World Music. Recordings of his works include two CDs on Tzadik records, Fung Sha Noon (2009) and Prismatic Hearing (2005); three CDs for Gamelan Son of Lion including compositions "Kebyar Leyak", "Cool it Wayang" and "Naked We Stand"; his string quartet Cipher on the new NYFA Collection released on Innova Records; the opera The Birth of George (Tellus/Harvestworks) with Lisa Karrer; and on albums by God is My Co-Pilot, Stockhausen, Shelley Hirsch, Denman Maroney, Music for Homemade Instruments, and many others. David's work in music for theater and dance has brought him to Europe, Asia, Guantanamo, Honolulu, and Bali. He has been awarded a Rockefeller Bellagio residency, NYFA fellowships, commissions from American Composers Forum, Mary Flagler Cary, Meet the Composer; travel grants from Artslink and Arts International. Simons' composition "Odentity for the Harry Partch instruments" was premiered by Newband in 2007, and is featured on his newest Tzadik CD, FUNG SHA NOON. David is currently writing an opera influenced by the work of Marshall McLuhan. His writings on music and sound are published in Radiotexte (Semiotexte#16), EAR magazine, and Soundings.

Sasha Bogdanowitsch is a composer, vocalist & multi-instrumentalist whose work ranges from music for theater, dance, and film to interdisciplinary performance and original songs. For the voice, Sasha often uses a language of sounds and has developed a way of singing that incorporates his studies in world, early, and contemporary new music. He has worked with many artists and companies such as Loom, SoCorpo, Meredith Monk, Lou Harrison, Erdem Helvacioglu, and the American Festival of Microtonal Music, and has performed throughout the world and at various NYC venues including Carnegie Hall, Whitney Museum, Symphony Space, BAM, La MaMa and the Stone. He is co-artistic director of Vital Vox and a co-founder of the arts non-profit World In One (www.worldinone.org) as well as the Loom Ensemble (www.loomensemble.com). Sasha is currently active composing and performing solo as well as with interdisciplinary theater ensemble Loom, and vocal duo SoCorpo. (www.sashabmusic.com)

Pamela Z is a San Francisco-based composer/performer and media artist who works primarily with voice, live electronic processing, sampling technology, and video. A pioneer of live digital looping techniques, she creates solo works combining experimental extended vocal techniques, operatic bel canto, found objects, text, digital processing, and MIDI controllers that allow her to manipulate sound with physical gestures. In addition to her solo work, she has composed and recorded scores for dance, theatre, film, and new music chamber ensembles. Her large-scale multi-media works have been presented at venues including Theater Artaud and ODC in SanFrancisco, and The Kitchen in New York, and her media works have been presented in exhibitions at the Whitney Museum (NY) , the Diözesanmuseum (Cologne), and the Krannert Art Museum (IL). Her multi-media opera Wunderkabinet - inspired by the Museum of Jurassic Technology (co-composed with Matthew Brubeck) has been presented at The LAB Gallery (San Francisco), REDCAT (Disney Hall, Los Angeles), and Open Ears Festival, Toronto. Pamela Z has toured extensively throughout the US, Europe, and Japan. She has performed in numerous festivals including Bang on a Can at Lincoln Center (New York), Interlink (Japan), Other Minds (San Francisco), La Biennale di Venezia (Italy), and Pina Bausch Tanztheater Festival (Wuppertal, Germany). She is the recipient of numerous awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Creative Capital Fund, the CalArts Alpert Award in the Arts, The MAP Fund, the ASCAP Music Award, an Ars Electronica honorable mention, and the NEA and Japan/US Friendship Commission Fellowship. She holds a music degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder. (www.pamelaz.com)

RELATED LINKS:
Vital Vox: www.vitalfoxfest.com
Roulette: www.roulette.org
Vital Vox - March 25 Event Page: http://roulette.org/events/vital-vox
Vital Vox - March 26 Event Page: http://roulette.org/events/vital-vox-2

Pictured: Vital Vox 2013 Performers (clockwise from upper left): Philip Hamilton, Sabrina Lastman, Sarah Bernstein, Pamela Z, Sasha Bogdanowitsch, and Lisa Karrer with David Simons.