021811 Roomful Bios
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Roomful of Teeth Friday, February 18, 2011 Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall Composer Biographies Caleb Burhans Composer, violinist/violist, singer, and multi-instrumentalist Caleb Burhans was born in Monterey, CA, and has lived in New York since 2003. He has been heralded by the New York Times as, “animated and versatile”, being a, “sweet voiced countertenor” as well as a “new music virtuoso”. His compositions have often been premiered by (and commissioned by) ensembles he works with, including his setting of Psalm 118 (for mixed choir, children’s choir, brass, and organ) commissioned by Trinity Church, Wall Street for Easter 2008; his arrangement of John Adams’s “Coast” from Hoodoo Zephyr commissioned by Carnegie Hall and Alarm Will Sound (and premiered at Carnegie Hall by AWS in 2006); and his upcoming oh ye of little faith… (do you know where your children are?) commissioned by Lincoln Center for the re-opening of Alice Tully Hall, which will be premiered by Alan Pierson and Alarm Will Sound on March 3, 2009. Other compositions include An Advent Song, Commissioned by Trinity Wall Street and premiered on December 7th, 2008, by Robert Ridgell and the Trinity Wall Street Choristers; In a distant place, commissioned by the Bloomingdale School of Music, premiered on June 20, 2008, at Christ and St. Stephens Church by Clay Greenberg and students of the Bloomingdale School of Music; and Amidst Neptune, commissioned by Brad Lubman and premiered by Brad Lubman and Eastman’s Musica Nova at Kilbourn hall in March of 2003 (which was also performed at the Whitney Museum in 2006 by Alan Pierson and Alarm Will Sound as part of Steve Reich’s 70th birthday celebration and at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall by Alan Pierson and AWS in a concert curated by John Adams). His works have been performed by faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory, Eastman School of Music, University of Wisconsin Madison and Smith College. They have won awards such as the Music Educators National Conference Composition Competition and Eastman’s Bernard and Rose Sernoffsky Prize. He has been featured on newmusicbox.org performing his own works. His performing activities have included playing or singing (sometimes both) with groups including the All- American Rejects, Anti-Social Music, the Charleston Symphony, the Bach Choir at Holy Trinity, Ensemble21, Ethel, the Madison Symphony, the Michael Gordon Band, the Milwaukee Symphony, the New York New Music Ensemble, Nexus, Ossia, the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Slee Sinfonietta, SO Percussion, Spring Awakening (On Broadway), Stars of the Lid, the St. Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, The Hold Steady, the Todd Reynolds Situation, Trinity Wall Street Choir, the VOX Vocal Ensemble, the Wordless Music Orchestra, and the Zankel Hall Band. As a violin soloist, he’s also played with the Beloit Janesville Symphony, Eastman’s Ossia Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound and Eastman’s Collegium Musicum. As a countertenor soloist he’s sung with the Brockport Symphony, Rochester Bach Ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, Trinity on Wall Street Choir, Manhattan School of Music Percussion Ensemble, Eastman’s Musica Nova and Eastman’s Collegium Musicum. As a string player, Caleb has played with the Charleston Symphony, Madison Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, Steve Reich Ensemble, Michael Gordon Band, Ensemble21, Tactus Contemporary Ensemble, University at Buffalo’s Slee Sinfonietta, Susie Kelly String Quartet, Ensemble Multicolour and the Rochester Bach Ensemble. * * * Merrill Garbus/tUne-yArDs tUnE-yArDs is the singular musical project of New England native Merrill Garbus. Possessing an expansive sound that marries a coarse folk ingenuity with the bold pop sensibility of an R&B siren, BiRd- BrAiNs was assembled with a staunch DIY aesthetic. Recording herself using a digital voice recorder and assembled using shareware mixing software, she was described by Stereogum as “a self-contained Sublime Frequencies compilation, jumping between blues, African tunes, shiny reggae-esque sprawls, and lo-fi folk”, infusing the worldly sonic palette of M.I.A. or post-punk pioneers The Raincoats. * * * William Brittelle William Brittelle was raised in the 1980’s in small town North Carolina by his mother, a painter, and his father, a former pro athlete. He has spent the majority of his artistic life attempting to bridge the gap between pop music and NYC’s revitalized downtown classical scene. His primary mentors include Mike Longo, longtime pianist/arranger for Dizzy Gillespie, and Pulitzer prize-winning composer David Del Tredici. In 2003, his piece Seven Songs of Zen, Love, and Longing was released on Peacock Records by Anti-Social Music. With his rock band The Blondes, he performed on stages like Irving Plaza on bills with members of The Ramones, Pere Ubu, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Secret Machines. The Blondes’ debut album, produced by legendary punk guitar god Richard Lloyd (Television), was noted a number of top-ten lists and received mainstream and indie radio play. In 2004, Brittelle suffered a career ending vocal injury while performing at NYC’s Knitting Factory, forcing The Blondes to disband and leading Brittelle to start lip-synching his vocal parts. In 2006, Brittelle received an emerging composer grant from the American Composers Forum with funds provided by the Jerome Foundation for the creation of Mohair Time Warp, a full-length art-music concept album featuring live musicians, and lip-synched vocals. Brittelle has since been featured on All Things Considered, in Time Out NY, on WYNC’s Soundcheck (CD pick of the month) and New Sounds, in Seattle’s Icebreaker Festival curated by Alex Ross and Kyle Gann, the Festival Internacional in Chihuahua, Mexico, Pittsburgh’s Music on the Edge series, and New Music New College in Sarasota, Florida. Upcoming composition projects include Future Shock for violist Nadia Sirota, a new electro-acoustic album with ACME (the American Contemporary Music Ensemble), and the release of his second full-length New Amsterdam release entitled Television Landscape. The apocalyptic yet hopeful concept album features an 18-person mixed-genre ensemble including strings, guitars, horns, saxes, flutes, and choir. In addition to his composing and performing schedule, Brittelle is co-director of New Amsterdam Records. Performer Biographies Cameron Beauchamp Cameron Beauchamp, bass, is in demand throughout the country as a soloist and chamber musician. In Boston, Cameron is a member of Blue Heron, Exsultemus, Cut Circle, Schola Cantorum, Boston Secession, and the choir of the Church of the Advent. He also sings with Austin’s Conspirare, Miami’s Seraphic Fire, Atlanta’s New Trinity Baroque, and the Santa Fe Desert Chorale. A native of San Antonio and ten-year resident of the DFW area, Cameron frequently performed with the Dallas Bach Society, Texas Camerata, Orpheus Chamber Singers, Texas Choral Artists, the Helios Ensemble, and the Orchestra of New Spain, and was a regular soloist for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He received his musical training from the University of North Texas, where he doubled in voice and jazz trombone. While at UNT, Cameron sang at two national ACDA conventions with the A Cappella choir, and won a prestigious Downbeat award with one of the university’s world famous jazz ensembles. Cameron has participated in recording projects for numerous record labels, including Harmonia Mundi, Edition Lilac, Pro Organo, Klavier, and GIA. He has also performed for BBC Radio, WGBH Boston, and WRR Classical Radio of Dallas. With Conspirare he will perform on a future television project for PBS. * * * Dashon Burton Bass Baritone Dashon Burton enjoys many different kinds of singing, and has been a student of many disciplines. Raised in New York City, he settled into his current love for music while in high school in Williamsport, PA. Dashon began his professional studies at Case Western Reserve University as a Music Education major before he transferred to the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. He graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Perfomance after studying with George Vassos and Gerald Crawford. After leaving Northeast Ohio, he moved out to the Midwest, where he joined the professional men’s vocal ensemble Cantus in 2005. Based in Minneapolis, he traveled all around the country with Cantus (including a few stops in Canada and even all the way to Cameroon) giving concerts, educational clinics, and lectures. He has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, and the Boston Pops. Dashon will be moving (yet again) to begin vocal studies at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music in the fall. * * * Martha Cluver Soprano Martha Cluver has been hailed by the New York Times for her “sweet, pure” and “soulful soprano” voice. Focusing on contemporary music, Cluver performs frequently with the ensembles Alarm Will Sound, Signal, SEM, So Percussion and the Vox Vocal Ensemble. She has performed numerous works by composer Steve Reich under the direction of Brad Lubman, David Robertson and Alan Pierson. Cluver traveled to the Czech Republic in the summer of 2007 for the Ostrava Days New Music Festival, where she performed Neither by Morton Feldman, with conductor Peter Rundel and the Janáček Philharmonic. Cluver has since then returned to the Czech Republic, where she performed the demanding soprano role in George Benjamin’s opera Into the Little Hill with Prague Modern. In September of 2009, she will be premiering the new opera La Douce by Emmanuel Nunes with Rundel and the Remix Ensemble in Porto, Portugal. As a chamber musician, Cluver has premiered works by John Zorn, O&A, Caleb Burhans, Nico Muhly and Brad Lubman. She sings regularly with the Vox Vocal Ensemble, Antioch, and the Choir of TrinityWall Street, and has performed under choral directors such as Andrew Megill, Owen Burdick, Stefan Parkman and Simon Carrington. Cluver’s discography includes Nonesuch, Sweet Spot DVD, Cantaloupe, and Tzadik.