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Two New Works by Miya Masaoka:



Channeling Scelsi: with Italian channeler Carlo Costa

This new work is an interpretation of Scelsi's 1965 composition Ygghur originally written for cello. Performed on two 13 string kotos by Akiko Sasaki and Miya Masaoka.



Swimming Through Madness: New work for two 13 string kotos



Miya Masaoka, musician, composer, performance artist, has created works for koto, laser interfaces, laptop and video and written scores for ensembles, chamber orchestras and mixed choirs. In her performance pieces she has investigated the sound and movement of insects, as well as the physiological responses of plants, the human brain, and her own body. Within these varied contexts of sound, music and nature, her performance work emphasizes the interactive, live nature of improvisation, and reflects an individual, contemporary expression of Japanese gagaku aural gesturalism.




Masaoka's work has been presented in Japan, Canada, Europe, Eastern Europe and she has toured to India six times. Venues include V2 in Rotterdam, Cybertheater in Brussels, Elektronisch Festival in Groningen, the Cleveland Performance Art Festival, The Electronik Body Festival in Bratislava, Slovakia, Radio Bremen, Germany, Festival of Lights, Hyberadad, India, and the London Musicians Collective.




Since forming and directing the San Francisco Gagaku Society, Masaoka has been creating new ways of thinking about and performing on the Japanese koto. She has developed a virtuosic and innovative approach, including improvisation and expanding the instrument into a virtual space using computer, lasers, live sampling, and real time processing.




Masaoka has been developing koto interfaces with midi controllers since the 1980's originally with Tom Zimmerman, co-inventor of the Body Glove. Since then, she has she has worked at STEIM, Amsterdam, CNMAT, and with Donald Swearingen to build interfaces with the computer and koto, at times using pedals, light sensors, motion sensors and ultrasound. With the koto connected directly to her laptop, she records her playing live, and processes the samples in real time. This new koto is able to respond dynamically and interactively in a variety of musical environments, and improvise with the processed sounds.

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$5.00 discount for Harvestworks members and DTW members.

A quintuple bill with New York-based sound artist Ikue Mori in collaboration with an electronic music robot ensemble provided by LEMUR (League of Electronic Musical; composer and media artist Miya Masaoka will present her LED Kimono Project which features a kimono fabricated from nearly 900 LEDs that interacts with the properties of sound, motion and physical conditions; Baltimore-based sound artist Peter Blasser will perform with his self-invented electronic instrument the din datin dudero; New York-based composer and media artist David Galbraith will present works based on his custom software "lgOpre" that links vintage grid pattern algorithms with vinyl record lock-groove samples; and Laetitia Sonami will perform a new work with her signature instrument, the Lady's Glove. $20/night

http://www.nyeaf.org/

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A native of Korea, Okkyung Lee has been developing her own voice in contemporary cello performance, improvisation and composition. Using her solid classical training as a springboard, she incorporates jazz, sounds, korean traditional music, and noise with extended techniques
to create her unique blend of music. Okkyung has released her debut album, Nihm on Tzadik; a duo recording with Christian Marclay on My Cat is an Alien label's split LP series; and a solo cello album I saw the Ghost of an Unknown Soul and it Said...

Marina Rosenfeld is a noted composer, improviser and artist whose works have been commissioned in recent years by the Whitney Biennial 2008 and 2002; Creative Time; Tate Modern; The Kitchen; Artists Space; Contemporary Jewish Museum; Electronic Music Foundation and many others. Frequent collaborators include Christian Marclay, DJ Olive, Lee Ranaldo, George Lewis, Ikue Mori and Kaffe Matthews, among many others.

Miya Masaoka resides in New York City and is a classically trained musician, composer and sound/installation artist. She has created works for solo koto, laser interfaces, laptop and video. She also has made works for sculpture installations and written scores for ensembles, chamber orchestra and mixed choirs. In her pieces, she often works with the sonification of data, and maps the behavior of brain activity, plants and insect movement to sound.

Seth Cluett (b. 1976, Troy, NY) is a composer and visual artist whose work includes photography, drawing, video, sound installation, concert music, performance, and theoretical writing. His pieces are an exploration of the role of sound in everyday life. Operating at the boundary between the auditory and other senses, his work engages sound's ability to be both collectively shared and distinctly personal. Many of his pieces investigate the acoustic signature of specific locations, where sound is experienced as an activity (audio tourism), architectural property, or as geological process.

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Miya Masaoka will be performing on koto, computer and Laser Koto and premiering Pieces for Plants #8, with several plants on stage, whose physiological response is made audible through medical electrodes and computer. In addition, she will premier Detritus, an interactive piece for rocks, gravel, sand, koto and video.

Masaoka resides in New York City and is a classically trained musician, composer and sound/installation artist. She has created works for solo koto, laser interfaces, laptop and video. She also has made works for sculpture installations and written scores for ensembles, chamber orchestra and mixed choirs. In her pieces, she often works with the sonification of data, and maps the behavior of brain activity, plants and insect movement to sound.

Her work has been performed throughout the world, at events and venues including the Venice Biennale, Merkin Hall, Miller Theater, V2 (Rotterdam), IRCAM (Paris), KunstRadio (Vienna), Radio Bremen, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Le Centrale (Canada), and at festivals including Moers (Germany), Victoriaville (British Columbia), the London Musicians' Collective's Festival of Experimental Music, the Other Minds Festival, Bang on a Can at the Henry Street Settlement and the Santa Fe Electro-Acoustic Music Festival. She currently is a professor in the Music/Sound department at the Milton Avery School of the Arts MFA Program at Bard College, NY.

Check out: http://www.miyamasaoka.com

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Grabbing notes from thin air from a virtual koto, Miya Masaoka brings her unique inventions of techniques, songs and contraptions to perform acoustic, Laser Koto and Powerbook. Often seen in collaboration with live insects and video, tonight she performs with a guest tabla player. Masaoka has worked with the Bang on a Can Allstars, Ornette Coleman, George Lewis, ROVA, Pharoah Sanders, Steve Coleman and many others. The Laser Koto, with its design and sensors made especially for her, runs on the MAX/MSP program.