Innova Recordings Label Showcase INN-FEST Slated for March at National Sawdust

Inn-fest is a two-act mini-festival curated by innova Recordings and showcasing an all-star cast of composers and performers from its New York contingent.

As the label of the Minnesota-based American Composers Forum, innova is dedicated to expanding the boundaries of new music. Since 1982, innova has produced an ever-growing catalog that currently stands at over 550 albums, and promotes a staggering array of idiosyncratic genres and voices. This micro-marathon will celebrate the variety and vision that is a hallmark of the award-winning label.

The first act (7 pm) features Miya Masaoka's powerful double quartet, Eleonore Oppenheim's performance works for double-bass and electronics, Mari Kimura's astonishing violin techniques, and the Afro-Cuban inspired Bohemian Trio.

The second act (10 pm) opens with excerpts from Peter Van Zandt Lane's ballet about cyber hacking, followed by Neil Rolnick's works for laptop and piano (with Kathleen Supové), and Cornelius Dufallo performing works for amplified violin. The evening ends with a massive graphic score by Mark Applebaum interpreted by the previous artists joined by other labelmates, including Hans Tammen, Neel Murgai, Guy Barash, Gordon Beeferman, Yuki Numata Resnick, Viv Corringham, Trevor Babb, Grant Cutler, Bernd Klug, Neel Murgai, Hans Tammen, Jennie Oh Brown, and more.

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ARTIST BIOS AND PROGRAM DETAILS:

ACT ONE (7pm)

Miya Masaoka
Koto player and composer Miya Masaoka presents excerpts from the title track from her album Triangle of Resistance, inspired by her mother's experiences in a Japanese internment camp in World War II. Played by a "double ensemble" consisting of a string quartet, percussion, synthesizer, and koto, "Triangle of Resistance" conveys the horror, chaos, and stoicism of that experience. Performers: Jennifer Choi, Vln, Melissa Tong, Vln, Lev 'Ljova' Zhurbin, Vla, Alex Waterman, Cello, Ben Vida, analog modular synth, Satoshi Takeishi, Japanese percussion, Miya Masaoka, koto.

Eleonore Oppenheim
"Quietly virtuosic" (New York Times) double bassist and electric bassist Eleonore Oppenheim has a reputation as both a valued ensemble player and an engaging soloist. Her "subtle expressivity" and "particular eloquence" (San Francisco Chronicle) have made her a worthy collaborator for composers of her generation, and through these relationships she has built a rich repertoire of solo pieces. For Inn-fest she performs Crocodile by Florent Ghys; Home (the title track of her innova album) by Jenny Olivia Johnson for double bass and electronics; and Angelica Negron's La Isla Magica. Eleonore has performed and recorded with a variety of artists and groups, among them the Philip Glass Ensemble, Tyondai Braxton, Bang on a Can, Wordless Music Orchestra, Meredith Monk, My Brightest Diamond, Signal Ensemble, Steve Reich, Jonny Greenwood, and the "All-star, all-female quintet" (Time Out New York) Victoire, of which she is a member.

Mari Kimura
Mari Kimura is at the forefront of violinists who are extending the technical and expressive capabilities of the instrument. As a performer, composer, and researcher, she has opened up new sonic worlds for the violin. Notably, she has mastered the production of pitches that sound up to an octave below the violin's lowest string without retuning. This technique, which she calls Subharmonics, has earned Mari considerable renown in the concert music world and beyond. She is also a pioneer in the field of interactive computer music. For Inn-fest she performs her own works with interactive electronics: Voyage Apollonian and Eigenspace, along with Brazilian favorites by Gismonti and Pascoal.

Bohemian Trio
Few groups live up to their name as well as Bohemian Trio, whose debut album Okónkolo speaks to the true voice of America: a cacophony of cultures that together forge a new identity that transcends Old World boundaries. Their original blend of classical lyricism, jazz harmony, Latin dance and Afro-Cuban beats reflects their diverse cultural and musical backgrounds. Saxophonist/composer Yosvany Terry and pianist Orlando Alonso were born and trained musically in Cuba, while French-American cellist Yves Dharamraj is also part Trinidadian. Sax, piano and cello? This unique configuration was a conscious choice by the group to eschew traditional instrumentation for an improvising group, and it pays dividends in the sound of Okónkolo, at once refined and edgy.

ACT TWO

Peter Van Zandt Lane
Peter Van Zandt Lane's electroacoustic ballet, HackPolitik, was described as "angular, jarring, and sophisticated" (Boston Musical Intelligencer) after its Boston Premiere in 2013, and dubbed a New York Times Critics Pick for its second run of performances at Here Space Manhattan in 2014. At Inn-fest, dancers from The People Movers (Kate Ladenheim, choreographer) and musicians from Juventas New Music Ensemble will present a scene from HackPolitick, a wild collision of music, technology, and politics that brings the compelling story of cyber-dissident groups Anonymous and LulzSec to the stage. Excerpts from a new work and Peter and Kate's second collaboration, Four Passages, will also be featured.

Neil Rolnick
Composer Neil Rolnick has a thing about machines. He likes to play with them. And he likes to tell other people how to play with them. For this performance, he will present works from his latest album, Ex Machina - WakeUp and O Brother! - mashups which spin and shape alternative narratives from familiar samples. He will be joined by pianist Kathleen Supové for a performance of Digits with a video track by R. Luke Dubois.

Cornelius Dufallo
Bringing together elements of electronics, extended techniques, chance procedures, and digital interactivity, Cornelius Dufallo will perform works for amplified violin from his brand new release, Journaling 2: Missy Mazzoli's Dissolve, O my Heart, Guy Barash's Talkback II, and Kinan Azmeh's How Many Would it Take? For the past two decades, Dufallo has performed and promoted new music, as a soloist and as a collaborator. He has been a member of several notable ensembles, including the Flux Quartet (1996-2001), Ne(x)tworks (2003-2011), and ETHEL (2005-2012). Currently, it is rumored, he performs as a member of the Secret Quartet.

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IF YOU GO:

Inn-fest: innova Recordings label showcase
Saturday, March 11, 2017
7pm & 10pm (two separate bills)
National Sawdust, 80 North 6th St., Brooklyn, NY 11249
(646) 779-8455 | nationalsawdust.org

Tickets are $29 advance/$34 door.

Tickets: Act 1 (7pm): nationalsawdust.org/event/inn-fest-innova-recordings-label-showcase
Tickets: Act 2 (10pm): nationalsawdust.org/event/inn-fest-innova-recordings-label-showcase-2

For more information, visit the Facebook event www.facebook.com/events/1739768609674505. And check out the Innova Recordings label catalog at www.innova.mu.

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