Voutchkova/Thieke Duo
Biliana Voutchkova and Michael Thieke have worked together intensively within (and in between) both compositional and improvisational methods since 2011 presenting their work in various festivals/concert series in Europe. They released their first album “Already there” on the Swiss label Flexion records. The music of the duo focuses on the detail in music, micro tonality, imagery and intensely dynamic, but often slowly moving soundscapes – chiseled beauty and expressive communication. The granulation of sound into exquisite detail was once confined to the electronic musician, but Biliana and Michael utilize this aesthetic and approach, applying the material of a whole new world of music to “traditional” instruments.
John McCowen Trio
John McCowen /
Kanoko Nishi-Smith /
Gino RobairJohn McCowen is a clarinetist/composer/improviser based in Oakland, CA. His main work is focused around compositions based around clarinet & contrabass clarinet. This work embraces electronically-generative musics as a starting point for acoustic composition (a post-electronic process). John began as a vocalist in hardcore punk music, which after years of touring, led him to academia and improvised music.
Kanoko Nishi-Smith is a performer currently based in SF/Bay Area. Though classically trained on piano, receiving a BA in Classical Music Performance from Mills College, her recent interest has primarily been in performing 20th century and contemporary musical compositions for piano as well as for koto (Japanese 13-string zither), and free-improvisation in various different contexts, with musicians, as well as dancers, poets, and visual artists.
Gino Robair has performed and recorded with Tom Waits, Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, Nina Hagen, Terry Riley, Lou Harrison, John Butcher, Derek Bailey, Peter Kowald, Otomo Yoshihide, and the ROVA Saxophone Quartet. He is one of the “25 innovative percussionists” included in the book Percussion Profiles (SoundWorld, 2001). His opera, I, Norton, based on the life of Norton I, Emperor of the United States, has been performed throughout North America and Europe.
Voutchkova and Thieke’s U.S. tour is made possible by support from The Goethe Institut and the Trust for Mutual Understanding.
Cost: $5, free for members
Videos featuring musicians playing at this event
Gino Robair and John Butcher, 2008