Meridian Music and Thingamajigs present Markus Wettstein, Betsey Biggs, Dylan Bolles, and Edward Schocker July 20, 2012

Berlin composer/performer Markus Wettstein joins Bay Area natives Betsey Biggs, Dylan Bolles & Edward Schocker for a concert of new works and improvisations for solos, duos, trios and quartets. From human voices and scrap metal to Asian instruments and live electronics these artists create unique sound textures in each performance setting.

Markus Wettstein -scrap metal, melodica
Betsey Biggs -electronics
Dylan Bolles -bamboo instruments
Edward Schocker -Sho, hichiriki & glass

BIOS:

Markus Wettstein was born near Zürich (Switzerland). Alongside traditional instruments and the voice, his work also makes regular use of found objects and unconventional sound-producers. Examples of these are a full-length spatial work for 33 pieces of scrap metal and four players, and a piece for toy instruments relating to Japanese Gagaku music. Markus Wettstein is very interested in irregular tonal systems and the use of micro-intervals. Many of his works have a spatial or music-theatrical aspect. His composition is substantially influenced by his experience of freely improvised music. He has been living in Berlin (Germany) as a freelance composer and conductor since 1987. He is the head of ensemble xenon, a professional ensemble for contemporary music founded in 2009. http://www.markus-wettstein.de/

Betsey Biggs is an artist, composer and creative catalyst whose practice in music, sound, video, photography and installation aims to explore the resonance between sound and image, to actively engage the audience, and to explore the relationships among sound, memory, and geography. Her work has been described by The New Yorker as "psychologically complex, exposing how we orient ourselves with our ears." She has collaborated with musicians and artists including Margaret Lancaster, Evidence, The Now Ensemble, The BSC, So Percussion, Tarab Cello Ensemble, the Nash Ensemble and filmmakers Jennie Livingston and Amy Harrison. Her work has been seen and heard at venues as disparate as ISSUE Project Room, Abrons Arts Center, the Conflux Festival, MASSMoCA, Sundance Film Festival, and on the streets of Oakland, Red Hook, Williamsburg and the Gowanus. Biggs holds a Ph.D. in Music Composition from Princeton University and is currently a visiting scholar at Brown University. http://www.betseybiggs.org/

Dylan Bolles makes performances with people and environments, many of which involve the design and construction of new musical instruments and the cultivation of co-creative relationships based in listening practice. His activities include a wide range of performance-based collaborations, time-based arts, installations, and sound compositions rooted in shared temporal experience.

Edward Schocker is a composer and performer who creates music with made/found materials and alternate tuning systems. Edward’s artist in residence and commissions include Stanford Lively Arts, the St. Ignatius Choir directed by Jonathan Dimmock in San Francisco, Firebird Youth Chinese Orchestra directed by Gordon Lee in San Jose, and Youkobo Art Space in Tokyo. In 2006 he was awarded The NEA/Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Fellowship to research Japanese musical instruments and tuning systems, and in 2010 received a 6-month residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts.
As a performer, he has presented work at festivals around the world, including Internationales Klangkunstfest in Berlin, Playback in San Francisco and Pacific Exchange in Japan. Currently, Edward is an ensemble member of the Thingamajigs Performance Group, creating works in a group process with Dylan Bolles, Suki O’Kane and Zachary Watkins. The group is presently in a multi-year collaboration with literary artist Stephen Ratcliffe in creating long-duration multimedia works. www.edwardschocker.com

Thingamajigs is a genre-crossing arts organization that promotes, presents and performs music and other art forms created with made and found materials or alternate tuning systems.

Our mission is to develop and nurture the exploration of alternate materials and methods of creating sound, as well as promote collaborative efforts within other artistic disciplines not generally associated with festivals of music. With open workshops and performances, we welcome audiences/participants of all ages and backgrounds to join in a wonderful tradition started in the Bay Area by such composers as Harry Partch, Lou Harrison, and John Cage. www.thingamajigs.org

Official Website: http://www.meridiangallery.org/en/concerts/wettsteinbiggsbollesschocker.htm