CrossSound 2009 "Refugium" Musicians

conductor
Matthew Burtner (Anchorage)

Matthew Burtner(b.1970) grew up on the North Slope and in Naknek. He studied philosophy, composition, saxophone and computer music at St. Johns College, Tulane University (BFA Summa Cum Laude 1993), Iannis Xenakis's UPIC Studios (1993-94), the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University (MM 1997), and Stanford University's CCRMA (DMA 2002). He has been composer-in-residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, and the IUA/Phonos Institute in Barcelona. His original computer music research is presented regularly at international conferences, and has been published by journals such as "Organized Sound," the "Journal of New Music Research" and the "Leonardo Music Journal." Matthew Burtner's music has been described as "shimmering, pulsating and thunderous" by the Norwegian Fremover, and The Wire has called it "some of the most eerily effective electroacoustic music I've heard." His work regularly combines instrumental ensembles, computer technology, interactive acoustics and multimedia. First prize winner in the Musica Nova International Electroacoustic Music Competition, Burtner's music has also received honors and awards from Meet the Composer, ASCAP, the American Music Center, the Luigi Russolo International Computer Music Competition, the Gaudeamus International Young Composers Competition, the Hultgren International Cello Biennial, Darmstadt, Prix d'Ete, SCI, and others. His music has been commissioned for performers such as the Spectri Sonori Ensemble, Noise Ensemble, MiN Ensemble, Phyllis Bryn Julson and Mark Markham, the Peabody Trio, Ascolto, Ensemble Noise, CrossSound 2008 guest soprano Haleh Abghari and others. His commercial recordings include "Incantations" on the German DACO label (DACO 102), "Portals of Distortion," on Innova Records (Innova 526), and "Arctic Contrasts," on the Norwegian Euridice label (EUCD 012-2000). Matthew Burtner is currently Assistant Professor of composition and computer music at the University of Virginia where he is Associate Director of the VCCM Computer Music Center.

More info at: ccrma-www.stanford.edu/~mburtner/

more info at www.threezeeplus.com

IIIZ+: Officially formed in Darmstadt, Germany in 2001, IIIZ+ ("three zee plus," in English, "drei zett plus" in German, etc.), a quartet born out of musical interests and experiences of Jocelyn Clark, and nurtured with Il-Ryun Chung's artistic input, features a unique combination of the three bridged east Asian zithers: Korean kayagûm, Japanese koto, and Chinese zheng--"plus" Korean percussion.

Increasingly known for performances that defy the conventional boundaries of their instruments, IIIZ+ continues to break new ground, offering surprising insights into musical and cultural interactions between China, Korea, and Japan in the context of America and Europe (indeed each player —originally from Alaska, Japan, Taiwan, and Germany respectively — speaks with a different native tongue). IIIZ+'s focus on the large-bridged zither instrument family brings into sharp relief both the archetypical similarities and differences among East Asia's individual living music traditions .

More than an "East-meets-West" experiment, the ensemble's complex, organic sound flows together onto an estuarial musical floodplain -- like the Arctic Chukchi Borderland, or the dramatic Drake Passage, where the Atlantic and Pacific oceans flow into each other. In the marine world, the merging of the two oceans creates a ring of aquatic energy, which turns into the world's largest ocean current. Similarly, in IIIZ+ musical and cultural elements in Asian and Western musics and cultures embodied in each of the ensemble's players flow naturally into each other to create a potent, vivid, entirely new transnational sound -- a "sea change" in traditional notions of "chamber," "world," or "new" music that reverberates beyond any given performance.

IIIZ+ has been featured in festivals such as Musica Vitale in Berlin (Germany), Le Festival de l'Imaginaire at the Maison des Cultures du Monde in Paris (France), at 38e Rugissants in Grenoble (France), at "Tokyo Summer" Music Festival, and the Taiwan Traditional Music Festical. The ensemble has toured Toulouse (France), Utrecht (The Netherlands), Antwerp (Belgium), Nürnberg (Germany), Darmstadt (Germany), New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Berea (KY), and Middletown (CT) in the US. Recent grants include a Commissioning Music/USA grant from Meet the Composer for a new work from Chinese-American composer Fred Ho, a Chamber Music America Residency Grant to work at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA, a grant from the Korea Foundation to tour the US East Coast, and several grants from the Taiwan Culture and Arts Foundation for various tours.

kayagûm [gayageum] | Korean 12-stringed zither
Jocelyn Clark (Juneau)

A founder and director of CrossSound, Inc., Jocelyn Clark grew up in Juneau, Alaska (JDHS 1987) playing the piano, clarinet, and oboe. After a year in Japan, she started studying the koto at age 18 with the Sawai Koto Academy under Yagi Michiyo, and later Maruta Miki at Wesleyan University (CT). In 1990-1 she studied zheng at the Nanjing Academy of Arts in China, and then in New York with master Wang Changyuan. From 1992 to 1994 she received a scholarship to study traditional Korean music majoring in kayagûm performance at the National Classical Music Institute in Seoul, Korea where she studied in the beginning with YI Jiyeong, and then with JI Aeri and “National Intangible Human Cultural Asset” KANG Jeongsuk. She returned to Korea in 1995 on a grant from the Harvard Korea Institute, and again between 1999 and 2001 on consecutive Fulbright and Seonam Foundation Fellowships. In 2001 one she founded the ensemble IIIZ+ in collaboration with percussionist Il-Ryun Chung with which she's toured in Western Europe, East Asia, and North America. She is also a member of the AsianArt Ensemble, Berlin. Having premiered more than 20 new works for kayagûm (and koto), she has appeared as a soloist at the Jeonju Sanjo Festival, Opera Latenight in Nürnberg, the Global Ear Series in Dresden to name a few. Her writing on the kayagûm appears in the liner notes of Dr. Hwang Byung-Ki's 2001 re-release box set in English, Korean, Japanese, and French, in the forthcoming book "Sanjo" published by the National Centre for Korean Traditional Performing arts, and "Alaska at 50: Past, Present, and Future" publsihed by UAA Press. She has a 2005 Ph. D. from Harvard University in East Asian Languages and Civilizations where she wrote on the genre Kayagûm Pyôngch'ang.

Korean percussion
Il-Ryun Chung (Berlin)

Il-Ryun Chung was born in Frankfurt/M. in 1964.
From 1967 to 1971 he lived inSeoul/Korea. Chung's musical development began rather late, at the age of 16, when he taught himself to play the guitar. In 1984 he went to Berlin, where he found his first teacher and supporter, Carlo Domeniconi. From 1989-1995 he completed his studies in composition at the Berlin University of Arts (HdK Berlin) with Prof. Jolyon Brettingham-Smith. A further encounter of great significance was his acquaintance with the Korean master drummer Kim Duk-Soo,who introduced Chung to Korean percussionmusic and thus made a lasting impression upon Chung's rhythmic perception. In the year 2000 he founded together with Jocelyn Clark the Ensemble IIIZ+ for contemporary and classical Asian music. Together with the violinist Matthias Leupold he founded in 2007 also the "Duo Berlin Strings & Percussuion for violin, guitar and korean percussion instruments. Most recently he co-founded the AsianArt Ensemble with CrossSound 2006 guest artist Wu Wei (Chinese mouth organ, sheng).

zheng [guzheng] | Chinese 21-string zither
Yi-Chieh Lai (Taipei)

A native of Taiwan, Yi-Chieh Lai received a B.A. in zheng performance under under Jui-Yü Wang and Li-Ch'iung Chang at National Taiwan University of Arts. She also spent time in Mainland China studying zheng with Wang Zhou (Beijing), Ningxin Rao (Guangdong) and Manqin Zhao (Henan). In 2008, Lai received an M.A. in Musicology at Taipei National University of the Arts. Working with contemporary composers and performers, Lai pays special attention to subtleties and tensions created through exploring the zheng's timbres. Blending the traditional with the contemporary, Lai builds upon articulations and gestures contained in works that expand the zheng's repertoire and techniques. As a soloist and a member of the China Found Music Workshop (2002-2005) and the Asian zither ensemble IIIZ+ (2006- ), Lai has been invited to perform in Taiwan, China, Japan, Korea, America, Germany and France. Her first album “Transformation” made the final list of Golden Melody Award.

koto | Japanese 13-string zither
Naoko Kikuchi (Japan)

Born in Sendai Japan, as a child, Naoko studied koto with her grandmother and mother. Starting in 1989 she took lessons from Tadao Sawai and Kazue Sawai. At Sophia University, Tokyo, she joined the Sawai Kazue Koto Ensemble world tour and participated in recordings by d'c records. Naoko graduated from the NHK (Japanese National Broadcasting Company) School for Performance of Traditional Japanese Instruments and received a master licence with honors. Subsequently, she was selected as cultural intern by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Naoko has been active as a musician commissioning new works for koto from composers and collabolating widely with artists in other fields (dance, drama, art). In 2007, she received a year-long fellowship from the Japanese Government's "Overseas Study Programme for Artists" to work in Frankfurt, Germany where she is a member of IEMA(International Ensemble Modern Academie). From this experience she has been expanding her skills in contemporary and ensemble music. Naoko performs and teaches regularly in Japan and Germany. More information at www.naokokikuchi.com

UnitedBerlin photos by Mathias Bothor: www.mathiasbothor.com

more information at www.unitedberlin.de

The ensemble UnitedBerlin was founded in 1989 with the symbolic purpose of reconnecting classical musicians in a city long divided by the Cold War. Since its inception the ensemble has been transcending barriers both musically and geographically. Performances at festivals in Albania, Brazil, Hungary, Israel, Poland, Russia, China, South Korea, Spain and Switzerland form an important part of unitedberlin’s musical presence alongside its regular concert seasons in Berlin. Recent international engagements include concerts at the ‘Venice Biennale’ 2008, at the ‘Steirischer Herbst’ in Graz (Austria), and at the German Academy in Rome, Villa Massimo.

UnitedBerlin’s focus lies in presenting a wide range of contemporary music in the context of modernist repertoire ranging from Schönberg and Webern to Nono and Cage. Several concert programs were created in close collaboration with composers of our time such as Mauricio Kagel, György Kurtág, Helmut Lachenmann, Wolfgang Rihm, Mark Anthony Turnage, Christian Wolff, Toshio Hosokawa and Vinko Globokar, yielding a variety of formats such as lecture concerts, instrumental workshops and documentary projects.

One characteristic feature of unitedberlin is its openness to interdisciplinary approaches. A series of five concerts took to exploring sonic intersections with the visual arts. The ongoing «Transfigurations» series looks at unusual connections between video art and musical composition while music theatre projects have included performances of Schönberg's «Die Glückliche Hand», Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s satire «Simplicius Simplicissimus», Christian Josts «Death Knocks» based on a film by Woody Allen, or Vinko Globokar's music theatre piece «The Emigrants».

Current projects include a four part series in Berlin’s eminent Konzerthaus commemorating the 10th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with works of composers from East and West Germany.

unitedberlin has released several CDs on the Wergo, Col legno and Ars musici labels that have received international acclaim. Paul Griffiths wrote of the ensemble’s disc with works by Luigi Nono (WERGO 6631-2): "There have been a lot of Nono releases since the composer's death in 1990. This is one of the best." (New York Times, Dec. 29, 1998)

violin
Andreas Bräutigam (Berlin)

Andreas Bräutigam studied at the "Franz Liszt" conservatory in Weimar, majoring in violin; he has worked as a violinist in orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin; he is the founder and director since 1989 of the Ensemble UnitedBerlin. More information at www.unitedberlin.de and www.tangopunkt.de

violin
Stephan Kalbe (Berlin)

Stephan Kalbe studied music at the Hochschule "Carl Maria von Weber" in Dresden under Christian Funke. Since then he has been a violinist in the orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin. Stephan is a founding member of UnitedBerlin.

viola
Jean-Claude Velin (Berlin)

Jean-Claude Velin received a degree in violin performance at the Conservatoire National de Paris (Premier Prix) and studied with Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School in New York. He was a member of the Metropolitan Opera in New York and later, the Berlin Staatsoper and the Komische Oper Berlin. He now lives between Germany and France as a freelance chamber musician (violinist and violist).

cello
Lea Rahel Bader (Berlin)

Lea Rahel Bader studied at the Hochschule for Music "Hanns Eisler" Berlin with Prof. Stephan Forck. At the Oberstdorfer music in the summer of 2006, she received the Chamber Music Prize, and 2008, the "Hanns Eisler Prize" for her interpretation of contemporary music. Since 2008, she has had been funded by "Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now" scholarship.

Formed in 2005 for CrossSound's first production in Southcentral Alaska, KnikKlang, an ensemble of Anchorage Symphony leaders, University of Alaska faculty, and other distinguished musicians from around Alaska, has performed in four CrossSound productions.

conductor
Linn Weeda (Anchorage)

Born and raised in Alaska, Linn Weeda received his bachelor’s degree at the University of Alaska, where he had formative studies with James Kowalsky in trumpet and Gordon Wright in conducting. He earned his master's degree at Boston University where he won the concerto competition and was student of the year under Armando Ghitalla and Roger Voisin (trumpet). Further studies included instruction by Julio Tancredi (trumpet), Larry Scripp (solfege), Charles Bruck (conducting—Pierre Monteux School for Advanced Conductors), and Gunther Schuller (conducting—Schwietzer Institute). He has also studied with the principal trumpeters of the Atlanta, London, Los Angeles, and Rotterdam Orchestras.

Weeda's professional career as a musician, conductor, and educator has been varied. As a conductor, Linn has led orchestras on tour to a variety of locations in the United States, as well as Australia, New Zealand, and Germany. He has been music director of the Fairbanks Youth Symphony and the Tupelo Community Orchestra (which he founded). He was active in New England as a conductor and was staff conductor of the Greater Boston Youth Symphony. He has guest conducted a variety of orchestras, including both the Fairbanks and Anchorage Symphonies. He has worked with the Anchorage Festival of Music, most recently as conductor of a concert of baroque music. He regularly conducts the Anchorage Symphony in the annual Halloween Concert and Young People’s Concerts. In 2009 he conducted the Anchorage Youth Symphony and a chorus of 200 in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at the Sydney Opera House.

Currently, Linn is Assistant Music Director and Principal Trumpet of the Anchorage Symphony, Principal Trumpet of the Anchorage Opera, and is the Music Director of the Anchorage Youth Symphony.

Lyric-soprano
Jaunelle Roberta Celaire (Fairbanks)

Jaunelle Roberta Celaire enjoys a musical career as a teacher, soloist, conductor and performer. Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Dr. Celaire is internationally known; performing music that ranges from cabaret to music theatre to solo recitals to opera. She has made solo appearances with the Maumee Symphony Orchestra and the Lima Symphony Orchestra in Ohio. In August of 2003 Dr. Celaire joined the University of Alaska Fairbanks voice faculty. Dr. Celaire is a continuing Guest Artist to the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival and the Rio International Cello Encounter in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Dr. Celaire holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Voice Performance from Anderson University, a Master of Music degree from Bowling Green State University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan. Her teachers include Greta Domenic, Myra Merritt and George Shirley.

violin
Kathryn Hoffer (Anchorage)

Kathryn Hoffer studied with George Perlman in Chicago and at the Eastman School of Music with Carroll Glenn and John Celentano. She has been a member of the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra since 1974, and concertmaster since 1982. Other ensembles of which she is an active member include the Arioso Chamber Ensemble, a group which enjoys performing contemporary music, particularly music written by women; and the Capriccio String Trio, a group which plays for social functions in the Anchorage area. Kathryn has been an orchestra teacher for the Anchorage School District responsible for the beginning orchestra programs in 7 elementary schools. Currently she is the music director of the Anchorage Elementary Honor Orchestra program. The orchestra is open by audition to 6th grade students. Ms. Hoffer is married to Martin Hoffer, principal bassoonist of Anchorage Symphony. She plays a violin made in Genoa, Italy, in 1756 by Bernardus Calcanius.

cello
Jared Carlson (Juneau)

Jared Carlson is a native of the midwest. He received Bachelors degrees in both Cello Performance and Environmental Studies from Lawence University, in Appleton WI, where his principal teacher was Professor Janet Anthony. While at Lawrence, Jared attended the Soundfest Chamber Music Festival in Falmouth, MA on scholarship where he and his string quartet were coached by the Colorado Quartet. Jared originally found his way to Juneau, Alaska three summers ago as a raft guide on the Mendenhall River, and has happily spent the past summers exploring the skies and glaciers of Southeast Alaska as a Glacier Trekking Guide with Northstar Trekking — a helicopter-based glacier trekking company serving clients primarily from the cruise ship industry. While in Juneau, Jared has served as Principal Cellist of the Juneau Symphony and the Juneau Lyric Opera, performed as both a soloist and ensemble member in the Juneau Symphony's annual Showcase Concert, performed at the Juneau Folk Festival, and performed as a chamber musician and soloist in several recitals. He maintains a studio of cellists in Juneau, teaching members of the Juneau Symphony as well as younger students from the community.

flute
Laura Koenig (Anchorage)

Laura Koenig teaches flute and music history at UAA. She received her doctorate from the University of Iowa as the first performer ever awarded the prestigious Iowa Fellowship. Her dissertation on experimental music in eighteenth-century France received both the Stanley Fellowship for Research Abroad and the Indiana University Press Award. Dr. Koenig also holds music degrees from UCLA and UC San Diego, and she has completed graduate course work at Oxford University. As a specialist in baroque and contemporary music, Dr. Koenig has performed throughout the U.S., Europe, and Australia, including the Australian Broadcasting's Young Artist Series, the Darmstadt Festival, and the National Flute Association's Annual Convention. She has taught at Knox College and the University of Iowa. Since moving to Anchorage in 1997, Dr. Koenig has performed in the Anchorage Festival of Music, Anchorage Symphony Orchestra, Anchorage Opera Orchestra, and as a regular member of the John Damberg Latin Jazz Ensemble.

clarinet
Mark Wolbers (Anchorage)

Mark Wolbers is Professor of Music at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) where he is the Wind and Percussion Division Head, and Conductor of the University Wind Ensemble and is currently the State of Alaska Chair for the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA). Prior to his current position at UAA, Dr. Wolbers taught at San Jose State University, San Jose City College, and as a graduate assistant at the University of Michigan. His doctoral degree in Clarinet Performance was earned at the University of Michigan where he was the Associate Conductor of the U of M Youth Band & Wind Ensemble and recipient of both Rackham and School of Music Fellowships. As a chamber musician Wolbers has performed with the Fontana Ensemble, Sitka Music Festival, CrossSound, and performs annually with members of the DeVere String Quartet. He is a founding member of the UAA faculty trio Alaska Pro Musica (violin, clarinet, and piano). With Alaska Pro Musica, Dr. Wolbers has performed on three acclaimed concert tours to South America, released a CD titled Contrasts and commissioned a major addition to the trio repertoire by Seattle composer Ken Benshoof. The trio has also premiered works by Alaska composers Craig Coray, Garth Hangartner, and George Belden.

trombone
Christopher Sweeney (Anchorage)

Dr. Christopher R. Sweeney, Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Alaska Anchorage, was raised in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. He received a B.S. in Music Education and a B.S. in Music Therapy from Duquesne University, an M.M. and a Ph.D. in Music Education from the University of Miami. He has taught elementary through high school band, choir and guitar in the McKinley County Public Schools, New Mexico, and the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Florida. Prior to working at UAA, Dr. Sweeney served as Assistant Professor of Music at Limestone College, Gaffney South Carolina, where he was the coordinator of the Music Education and Music, Jazz emphasis programs. At Limestone he also served at the Head of Teacher Education. In addition, Dr. Sweeney is an active clinician, adjudicating and rehearsing bands throughout New Mexico, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina. His research interests are in helping musicians, especially at the beginning levels, make home practice more efficient.

piano
Susan Wingrove (Anchorage)

Susan Wingrove has been the Principal Keyboard player for the Anchorage Symphony for 26 years. An East Anchorage HS graduate, she earned a Bachelor's degree in Piano Performance and a Master of Arts in Teaching at Indiana University and did post-grad work in theatre and directing at Roosevelt University. Wingrove is the accompanist for the annual All State High School Mixed Choir and accompanies numerous choirs and student soloists in festivals and performances. She has also played harpsichord with the Alaska Chamber Singers and piano/harpsichord in many chamber music programs. Wingrove writes the program notes and presents pre-concert lectures for the Anchorage Symphony and Sitka Summer Music Festival and is the board president for the ACLU of Alaska. She is currently the Fine Arts Department Chair and drama teacher at Bartlett High School.

percussion
Morris Palter (Fairbanks)

Born in Canada, Mr. Palter performs regularly at festivals and concert halls throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. In 2000, Morris co-founded NOISE (San Diego New Music) and in 2003, he founded the “Speak-Easy Duo,” a group that frequently appears at various ragtime and jazz festivals worldwide. Morris completed his DMA under Steven Schick at the University of California, San Diego and is endorsed by Black Swamp Percussion, Paiste Inc. and Ayotte Drums. Palter was a lecturer in music at UCSD in 2006/07 and is currently an assistant professor in music at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Palter has recorded for Sony/BMG, Mode, Innova, New World Records, and Tzadik Records, and his solo CD, Remedy, is available on Centaur Records. www.morrispalter.com

percussion
Shawn Savageau (Fairbanks)

Shawn Savageau is a young contemporary percussionist residing in the state of Alaska. Through various opportunities, Shawn has been able to perform in venues in Alaska, Louisiana, and Greece as well as Boston and New York. He has had the privilege of being on stage with amazing artists such as Matthew Burtner, Christopher Adler, Bob Becker, Valerie Naranjo, Another Language Performing Arts Company, Michael Finnissy, Stephen Drury, and the Helsinki Computer Orchestra. He is currently a member of Ensemble 64.8 and the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra. Shawn is a student at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, pursuing a master's degree under the guidance of Dr. Morris Palter.