The John Cage Centenary Celebration occurred at California Institute of the Arts during the month of February, 2012. On February 5, students performed different selections from his work "Song Books," which he composed using chance operations, Walden, and Zen Buddhism as source materials and inspiration. During this performance, I became the only person in history to realize at least a section of each of the 90 works during a single performance.
Asterozoa
MFA Graduation Recital
ASTEROZOA, MFA graduation recital
This is my MFA Performer-Composer Graduation Recital, presented by the Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts on Tuesday, March 19, 2013 in the Roy O. Disney Concert Hall. All performers are CalArts students or alums. Special thanks to Marc Lowenstein, my composition professor and conductor of the third movement, as well as to Barry Schrader, Vinny Golia, and David Rosenboom. It's dedicated to the memory of Shane Summers, a colossal talent and good friend who performed on fifth piano. The composition exhibits five meditations on the numeral five, which is the smallest possible sum of different real prime numbers. These two primes happen to be the building blocks of all rhythm in the human experience, 2 & 3, yet 5-meter is markedly rare in popular music.
The full movement list and credits are as follows:
I. Autotomy (To Write a Song), for voice, banjo and electronics
Shan Shan Ding, Chris Schunk, Kristin Erickson, Ingrid Lee, Shane Summers
Rehearsal direction by Andreas Levisianos
Conducted by Marc Lowenstein
IV. Ambulacral Groove, for five Ewe drums (31:30)
Master drum - Dan Ogrodnik
Bell and shaker - Josh Carro
Kidi - Brian Foreman
Sogo - Tony Gennaro
Kaganu - Amir Oosman
V. Abyssal, for voice and electronics, et al. (36:42)
Paul Matthis
All electronic processing was produced by two guitar pedals: a Digitech Whammy pitchshifter and a Boss DD20 Giga Delay.
Asterozoa is a subphylum in the phylum Echinodermata. Characteristics include a star-shaped body and radially divergent axes of symmetry. The word is Greek for "star animal", but in modern vernacular zoa is also an insult, and so can also be interpreted as "dumb person of the stars", a phrase which in my opinion covers a lot of ground. When threatened, asteroidea may also sever their own limb to escape a predator. This defense mechanism is called autotomy, a process I find remarkably similar to engaging in music. These lyrics from the opening movement are lifted from my music theater work, Lunatic Sun, Performed December 1, 2012 in the Coffeehouse Theater at CalArts.
The oldest echinoderm fossil is Arkarua adami, dating back roughly 530 million years. The imprint preserves a five-lobed central region representing five ambulacral grooves, which are characteristic of echinoderms. It was discovered in the Flinders Ranges of Australia, home to the Adnyamathana people for tens of thousands of years and counting. It takes its name from Arkaroo, their version of the enormous Rainbow Serpent that inhabits the Dreamtime. Referred to as either male or female, Arkaroo came from far beneath the ground and created huge ridges, mountains, rivers and gorges as it pushed upward. It battled other mystic spirits, protecting the region from drought and famine, drinking dry and then replenishing the water of the salt flats. As it rests, Arkaroo’s belly rumbles, shaking the Flinders Ranges to their core. The instrumentation for Ambulacral Groove is for five Ghanan Ewe drums.
The purpose of this recital composition is to take an open approach to my personal rhythmic aesthetic while diversifying from 3 and 4 metered exploration. I grew up with electronic music, but (just like you don’t need an oud to make Arabic music) you don’t always need electronics to make electronic music. If there’s one thing I’ve learned at CalArts, it’s that my aural landscape isn’t tied to any specific timbre, genre or instrumentation. It’s tied to something more fundamental that I haven’t found any suitable name for yet (but it seems to have a lot to do with post-minimalism). From RJD2's remix of Steve Reich to Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works, the only thing I'm sure of is that music is just another path toward deeper understanding. Video here.
Contemporary Dance
Collaborations with solo choreographers and dance companies.
Stills from live performances of collaborations with contemporary choreographers and dance companies.
Fairy Queen
Performance as Francis Flute in Purcell's opera.
A performance of Henry Purcell's "Fairy Queen," a Baroque opera following the story of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Film
Stills from film performances and scores.
A performance of Henry Purcell's "Fairy Queen," a Baroque opera following the story of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Musical Mini-Golf
Performance in Kristin Erickson's doctoral thesis as Blortus (Tenor).
A fun and completely bonkers immersive theater experience in which the audience tried to play a game of mini-golf as performers inhibited their progress in various ways along the way. My character was Blortus the Chef, who cooked a giant hotdog with the help of the Condiments Chorus.
Interval
From Lollieworks contemporary dance performance for Celebrate Dance 2014.
Stills from two different performances of Interval, by the Lollieworks dance company.
Toxikos
Deena Selenow's Greek myth mashup.
Greek myth meets Britney Spears in this group-composed musical mashup. Performed at REDCAT.
Lunatic Sun
A workshop performance of my original urban fantasy rock musical, Lunatic Sun.
My first original musical performance was a feature-length workshop of Lunatic Sun, peformed at the Santa Clarita Coffeehouse Theater at CalArts in December 2012. Putting this together was without a doubt one of the most difficult endeavors of my life. It had been in the works for several years and the experience was a landmark for me. I will never forget the friends and geniuses that worked together to make it happen.
Mad Apple
My band.
Social media promos, a live shot or two, and an early recording session of my hard folk blues burlesque band, Mad Apple.
Miscellany
Random photos. Mostly selfies.
Various promos and experiences along the way. Also just fun some stuff that didn't fit anywhere else.
The House Is Open
Opera Performance in Alex Vassos's opera as Doctor (Tenor).
The groundbreaking debut work The House Is Open by Alexander Vassos. This work was later selected by The Industry as part of their First Take series.
Prosper Springs
Performance as Tenor in Chaz Underriner's avant garde opera.
The operatic debut of Prosper Springs, written by DMA candidate Chaz Underriner. The work, set in the Old West town of Prosper Springs, features an old broken down saloon, a gold rush, a dust bowl, and an epic gun fight.
Online Collaborative Workshops
Cyber Cypher with NYC & Tabla workshop with Korea.
Live interactive collaborations with various international institutions, including a performance with the Cyber Cypher with Hip Hop Re:Education in New York and a North Indian tabla workshop with Randy Gloss and the Korea National University of the Arts.
The Outdoors!
Hiking, backpacking, traveling, etc.
I come from an international family and have both lived and traveled extensively abroad. Like my dad, I'm an avid hiker and backpacker, and I've taken several treks up mountains with my brother Jon.
