Saturday June 23rd, 2009
Gino Robair is visiting Chicago for the first time in 19 years! In
addition to performances at Elastic and on WNUR, I am pleased to
announce that Gino will be conducting a workshop on group
improvisation. Please distribute this announcement widely. The more
participants, the better. Also, please feel free to contact me about
specific questions or for more information about the event at
AndrewTRoyal at gmail dot com1-5 PM: Workshop on Strategies for Multidisciplinary Group Interaction
(see description below) at Enemy (3rd Floor)
10 PM: Workshop Participants Perform “I, Norton” as a culmination of
the afternoon’s activities at Heaven Gallery (2nd Floor) as part of
the Protest Heaven concert series
Open to: instrumentalists, vocalists, electronic musicians, dancers,
visual artists, videographers, computer artists, etc.
NO EXPERIENCE WITH IMPROVISATION NECESSARY! PARTICIPANTS OF ALL SKILL
LEVELS WELCOME AND APPRECIATED!
Price: $25
RSVP to
AndrewTRoyal at gmail dot com or
GroupImprovWorkshop at gmail dot comDetails and updates available at
groupimprovworkshop.tumblr.com.
Description of workshop:
In this workshop, we will create a multi-movement piece that combines
open-ended structures and free improvisation. The result will be
somewhat of a “guerrilla opera,” using conduction (hand cues), graphic
scores, and memory-improv structures. The workshop is open to any
type of artist: musicians, singers, dancers, painters, videographers,
sculptors, and computer-based artists. We will focus in particular on
strategies of interdisciplinary group interaction.
The literary element of the workshop is based on the writings of
Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico.
Norton declared himself emperor in 1859 and promptly abolished
Congress, decreed bridges be built over the ocean, and printed his own
money. Consequently, the piece may have a political subtext that
resonates with the current geo-political situation. The words,
letters, rhythms, and structure of Norton’s texts will be used as
source material by each participant.
Gino's Bio:
Gino Robair is a composer/percussionist who has written music for
film, dance, theater, radio, and television (including commercials for
MTV and Starbucks). He was the music director for the CBS animated
series The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat, and composer in residence
with the California Shakespeare Festival for five years. As an editor
at Electronic Musician magazine for 10 years, Gino wrote about music
technology, and he has authored two books on the subject. The most
recent is The Ultimate Personal Recording Studio (Thompson; 2006).
Gino is also one of the “25 innovative percussionists” included in the
book Percussion Profiles (SoundWorld, 2001). He has recorded albums
with Tom Waits, Anthony Braxton, Terry Riley, Lou Harrison, John
Butcher, Derek Bailey, Peter Kowald, Otomo Yoshihide, the ROVA
Saxophone Quartet, and Eugene Chadbourne, among many others. He has
performed with numerous artists and ensembles spanning rock, jazz, and
classical music, including John Zorn, Nina Hagen, and the Kronos
Quartet. Gino is a founding member of the Splatter Trio and Pink
Mountain. In addition, he runs Rastascan Records, a label devoted to
creative music.
His opera “I, Norton” has been performed in San Francisco and Oakland,
California; Seattle, Washington; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Miami,
Florida; St Louis, Missouri; Tokyo, Japan; and Milan and Palermo,
Italy. In addition, the ROVA Saxophone Quartet has performed a reduced
version of the piece across Europe and North America.
Gino maintains a web-presence at
myspace.com/ginorobair.
