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Member Biographies



 















Joan La Barbara (voice), composer, performer, sound artist, has been hailed as "one of the great vocal virtuosas of our time" (San Francisco Examiner). Her multi-layered compositions often utilize her signature extended vocal techniques, garnering her awards including Guggenheim Fellowship in Music Composition, DAAD Artist-in-Residency in Berlin, 7 NEA grants, numerous commissions and the 2008 Letter of Distinction from the American Music Center, in honor of her her significant contribution to New American Music. Recordings of her works include "ShamanSong" (New World), "Sound Paintings" and "Voice is the Original Instrument" (Lovely Music). "73 Poems", her collaboration with text-artist Kenneth Goldsmith, was included in "The American Century Part II: SoundWorks" at The Whitney Museum of American Art. "Messa di Voce", her interactive media performance work composed in collaboration with Jaap Blonk, Golan Levin and Zachary Lieberman, premiered at ars electronica 2003 and will receive its U.S. premiere February 23, 2009 at NYU's Loewe Theater. La Barbara creates sound scores for film, video and dance and has premiered landmark compositions by Robert Ashley, David Behrman, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Philip Glass, Alvin Lucier, Steve Reich, and Morton Subotnick. She is currently composing a new opera.

Joan La Barbara's website

Kenji Bunch (viola) has quickly emerged as one of the most prominent, prolific, and versatile American composers of his generation. His unique blend of wit, exuberance, lyricism, unpredictable stylistic infusions, and expert craftsmanship has brought critical acclaim for his two symphonies, five concerti, chamber opera, numerous chamber works, and many non-classical and experimental compositions.

Mr. Bunch's symphonic music has been performed by over thirty American orchestras, and his genre-defying chamber works have been performed in premiere venues on six continents, are regularly broadcast on national radio, such as NPR, BBC, and NHK, and have been recorded on labels including Sony/BMG, EMI Classics, Koch, Kleos Classics, RCA, Pony Canyon, GENUIN, Capstone, MSR Classics and Crystal.

A native of Portland, Oregon, Mr. Bunch studied at the Juilliard School, receiving his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in viola with Toby Appel, and in composition with Robert Beaser. Other composing mentors include Eric Ewazen and Stanley Wolfe.

Mr. Bunch still maintains an active career as a performer. As a solo and collaborative musician, he continues a presence as one of New York’s premiere interpreters of new and experimental music in solo performances and as a member of the performing composers collective Ne(x)tworks. He also performs with the band Citigrass, and has appeared on stage and in recordings with many prominent rock and jazz artists including Ornette Coleman, Lenny Kravitz, and The Who.

A dedicated teacher, Mr. Bunch has developed and conducted residencies, workshops, and master classes across the country in composition, viola performance, improvisation, and music appreciation to students ranging in age from kindergarten to adult professionals. He currently resides in Brooklyn and teaches viola at the Juilliard Pre-College.

Kenji Bunch's website

Kenji
Shelley Burgon (harp & electronics) has spent many years performing in and around New York City and has had the pleasure to play and record with many legendary people in a variety of genres that include everything from avant-rock to free improv to classical. She is a member of the band Stars Like Fleas. Their highly anticipated second album The Ken Burns Effect will be released in September 2007 for Talitres and in the US, winter '08. Shelley's duo with bassist Trevor Dunn, recently released a full-length, improvised, live record for Skirl Records titled Baltimore. For the 2008-2009 season Shelley will join seven other stellar musicians in a collaboration with the legendary Merce Cunningham Dance Company as part of the Dia: Beacon Events series. She holds a BA in Jazz Studies from SFSU and and MFA in Electronic Music from Mills College. Currently she is working on a solo record of her original music.

Shelley Burgon's myspace site
Throughout his career, Yves Dharamraj has developed a reputation as a dynamic cellist who blends an immaculate command of the instrument with deep musical understanding to express his fresh artistic interpretations. Regarded as “a strikingly mature and gifted musician” (Edmonton Sun), the young Franco-American cellist enjoys a career that takes him to major venues across the United States, Canada, and abroad.

Mr. Dharamraj has performed as soloist with numerous orchestras including the Florida Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony, and Atlantic Classical Orchestra. An avid chamber musician, he was a founding member of the prize-winning Amaranta Quartet and Branford Piano Trio and toured with the Grammy-nominated Yale Cellos from 1998-2004, which is set to release a Bach/Brubeck CD on the Naxos label in 2005. Mr. Dharamraj has appeared in many prestigious festivals and his radio broadcasts have been aired on WFMT 98.7 Chicago and KUHF 88.7 FM Houston.

In 1998 following studies with Mussie Eidelman and Scott Kluksdahl, he matriculated at Yale University where he graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History, a Master of Music degree, and an Artist Diploma under the guidance of the renowned pedagogue Aldo Parisot. He now pursues Graduate and Doctoral studies in Joel Krosnick and Darrett Adkins’s studio at the Juilliard School as the recipient of the 2004 Victor Herbert Scholarship.

Heralded by The New York Times as one of the "new faces of new music," Cornelius Dufallo (violin) is quickly rising to the forefront of the American contemporary music scene. Currently he is director of the creative music ensemble Ne(x)tworks, and a member of the world-renowned amplified string quartet known as ETHEL. His ongoing commitment to cutting edge musical innovation has produced fascinating collaborations with many of today's most compelling performers and composers. Dufallo regularly writes and arranges music for his own groups, ETHEL and Ne(x)tworks. In the 2007-2008 season his compositions were performed around the US and Europe. Recently commissioned works include Senescence Music (premiered by the ETHEL), Mindscape 1 (written for OTHERSHORE dance company), and Night Visions (recorded by pianist Jenny Lin on her new CD, American Insomniac. Dufallo is a composer and publisher member of ASCAP.

Cornelius Dufallo's website

Neil
Miguel Frasconi (glass instruments & electronics) is a composer, performer, and sound artist who uses glass objects, electronics, keyboards, and devolved instruments to create music that sounds from a uniquely imagined tradition. His recent collaborations include new works with choreographer Alonzo King, electronic music pioneer Morton Subotnick, and the new music ensemble Gamelan Son of Lion. His background includes work with John Cage, Brian Eno, Jon Hassell, and James Tenney, and studies ranging from the music of South India and Indonesia to the Dada and Fluxus movements. Past collaborations include new works with Balinese composer I Dewa Berata, operatic tenor John Duykers, and Tibetan songwriter Techung, with whom he has performed in concerts throughout India. Miguel has created over three dozen dance scores and has performed with modern dance pioneer Anna Halprin at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Miguel's early work includes ten years as a founding member of The Glass Orchestra, the internationally acclaimed new music ensemble featuring all glass instruments.

Miguel Frasconi's myspace site
Pianist Stephen Gosling’s playing has been hailed as “electric” and “luminous and poised” (New York Times), and possessing “utter clarrity and conviction” (Washington Post) and “extraordinary virtuosity” (Houston Chronicle).

Mr. Gosling earned his Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees at the Juilliard School. During his tenure he was awarded the Mennin Prize for Outstanding Excellence and Leadership in Music and the Sony Elevated Standards Fellowship. He was also featured as concerto soloist an unprecedented four times.

Mr. Gosling is a member of New York New Music Ensemble, Ensemble Sospeso and Columbia Sinfonietta. He has also performed with Orpheus, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, American Composers Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Riverside Symphony, Speculum Musicae, Ensemble 21, DaCapo Chamber Players, Continuum, SEM Ensemble, the League of Composers/ISCM Chamber Players, and Da Camera of Houston.

Mr. Gosling has recorded for Albany, Bridge, Centaur, CRI, Innova, Koch, Mode, Morrison Music Trust, Naxos, New World Records, and Rattle Records.

Noted by the Minneapolis Star Tribune for being “a superb musician, playing with assurance and flair,” violinist Ariana Kim recently completed a season of serving as the interim concertmaster of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in New Orelans and in March of this year, gave her New York recital debut at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall. She has made extensive solo and collaborative appearances with orchestras and artists that have taken her throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and most recently, South Africa. After making her debut with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra at the age of 17, Ariana went on to be a featured soloist on the Schubert Club International Young Artists Series and has since become one of the budding young artists of her generation.

An avid chamber musician of both the contemporary and traditional repertoire, this year marks Ariana’s fourth season as a member of the New York Times-acclaimed new music ensemble, Ne(x)tworks, with whom she with whom she composes, improvises, performs, and records. Their most recent CD of Earle Brown chamber works was released on Mode Records in April of 2007. She performs regularly at such New York venues as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, The Tenri Institute, The Kitchen, Issue Project Room, and The Stone, among others, and is also a newly appointed senior artist of the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota based in St. Paul. In the winter of 2005, Ariana appeared with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, with whom she made the world premiere of "Concertino," written especially for her by the late Andrew Imbrie, and shortly thereafter traveled to Spain where she performed Beethoven's "Triple Concerto" with cellist Adolfo Gutierrez, pianist Alasdair Beatson, and the Orbon Chamber Orchstra. During her summers, she has participated in chamber music festivals such as Courchevel MusiqueAlp and the Ravinia Steans Institute, and serves on the faculty of the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra Ensemble Workshop and the Northern Lights Chamber Music Institute.

Currently, Ariana co-resides in New York City and Chicago amidst completing dissertation research for her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Juilliard where she studies with Robert Mann. Her most recent engagements have included two solo appearances with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, a return to her native Minnesota for subscription concerts with the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota, and a performance of Beethoven's "Violin Concerto," as well as a Ne(x)tworks residency at the Chelsea Art Museum in downtown Manhattan during which "Patterns," a work of her own, was premiered. Ariana is also a member of The Knights, an imaginative and diverse ensemble that performs programs ranging from conductorless string orchestra works to the great symphonic masterpieces of the 20th century. In October of 2008, The Knights completed a recording of American works featuring Copland, Ives, and Dvorak for SONY Classical Records. Ariana's upcoming plans include fulfilling an invitation to return to Carnegie Hall for a second New York recital, performances with The Chamber Orchestra of New York, and the release of a CD of chamber works for two violins.

Ariana Kim's Website
Ariana
Christopher McIntyre (trombone/electronics) leads a multi-faceted career in the contemporary arts as a solo and ensemble performer, composer, and curator/producer. The diversity of his activities led Time Out New York to note that "...with every passing week, trombonist-composer Chris McIntyre becomes more central to the new-music experience in New York." (Feb. '08) He performs on trombone and synthesizer in a variety of settings that often incorporate improvisation within notation. Current projects include leading TILT Brass and 7X7 Trombone Band, and collaborative efforts such as Ne(x)tworks. In his composing, McIntyre has experimented with conceptual elements such as spatialization, recontextualized notated material, and improvisative strategy, along with ideas of scale, symmetrical pitch constructions, and self-similarity. He has contributed work to the repertoire of TILT, Ne(x)tworks, 7X7 Trombone Band (for choreographer Yoshiko Chuma), Flexible Orchestra, and B3+ brass trio. Beyond performing and creating music, McIntyre is active as a curator and concert producer. He is currently Artistic Director of the MATA Festival, and frequently presents independent projects at venues including The Kitchen, Issue Project Room, and The Stone (June 2007). Visit cmcintyre.com for more info.

Christopher McIntyre's website