PRESS RELEASE: Charity Chan - February 04, 2008

HzCollective Presents: NanoHz No.10 - an evening of difficult music and impovisation.


Monday February 4, 2008
@ Ghostprint Gallery
220 W. Broad St.
Richmond, Virginia
8:00 PM [sharp]
$3 [suggested donation]


For More Information:
Contact: Kenny (804) 317.1938
Visit: http://www.hzcollective.com/



:::: Charity Chan (Oakland, CA) + Philip White (electronics)
[ http://www.myspace.com/charitybingaichan ]


:::: Robert Bryant (Richmond, VA)
[ http://www.myspace.com/robertpaulbryant ]


:::Anduin (Richmond, VA)
[ http://www.myspace.com/anduinore ]


::: Clifford Schwing (Richmond, VA)
[ N/A ]




BIOS:


CHARITY CHAN
Charity's live performances focus on the evocation of alternative timbres from the piano, and the combination of these sounds with more traditional performance techniques. The immediacy of physical gesture and collaborative communication are also strong influences in her improvisations. While her creative work is primarily in contemporary improvised music, she has also worked and studied extensively in the classical and contemporary classical idioms. Charity has performed throughout Canada and in the United States. Selected collaborations include: Lori Freedman, Anthony Martin, Sam Shalabi, Steve Bagnell, Dave Chokroun, Scott Thomson, Gordan Allen, John Heward, Damon Smith, Gino Robair, Simon Rose, Fred Frith, Maggie Nichols, Frank Gratkowski, Jean Derome, Isaiah Ceccarelli, Nicolas Caloia, Joane Hétu, and Danielle Palardy Roger. As a member of the trio Fenaison (Kris Covlin, saxophones; Rémy Bélanger de Beauport, amplified cello), she is an Ambiances Magnétiques recording artist with their first album arriving in Fall of 2007. In 2006, she conducted a tour of the Pacific Northwest (USA and Canada), performing with Noah Phillips, Scott Thomson and Jordan Glenn . She has conducted workshops in improvisation at the 1412 Gallery in Seattle WA and the 20-20 Arts Collective in Victoria BC. The summer of 2007 will include her debut at The Stone in New York City with the Ensemble Supermusique and the WONDEUR Quartet. Having earned a Bachelor of Music degree (piano) from McGill University (Montreal, QC), she is currently completing a Master of Fine Arts degree in Contemporary Improvisation at Mills College on full scholarship. There, her primary instructors are Fred Frith and Joëlle Léandre. Prior to that, she worked with Lori Freedman, Tom Plaunt, Sara Laimon, Jesse Stewart, Heather Toews, and the Penderecki String Quartet. She has also participated in workshops with Jean Derome, Malcolm Goldstein, The Sun Ra Arkestra, Joe McPhee,William Parker, Oluyemi Thomas, Lé Quah Ninh, Maggie Nichols and Frédéric Blondy. In 2006 Charity organized the inaugral "Free Improvisation Series Masterclass and Concert Series" at McGill University and has also worked as the Contemporary Performance Ensemble and Music Improvisation Ensemble at Mills College (under the direction of Steed Cowart and Fred Frith, respectively). Her academic research approaches music from a socio-cultural perspective, and focuses on embodiment, aesthetics, ethics and legitimacy, and cultural memory in improvisation. Her master's thesis is focused on the idea of expectation in different areas of improvisation: pedagogy, institutionalization, performace, reception, and aesthetics. She is a member of the International Society of Improvising Musicians and the American Musicological Society. Her academic work has been presented at the 2006 Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium (University of Guelph), the 2006 International Society for Improvised Music (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) and the Fourth Annual Interdisciplinary Jazz Colloquium, 2007 (University of Kansas).

PHILIP WHITE
In 2003 Philip received his BA in Music from the
College of Charleston with a double emphasis in composition
and jazz performance. There he was awarded departmental honors and the
outstanding music student award as well as frequently performing and
premiering works on the Piccolo Spoleto Jazz Series. Shortly
thereafter, he developed an interest in
computer-based music and sound leading to many multi-media projects
including Variations on a Dream, a fifteen movment suite in
collaboration with film artist Kevin Taylor which was featured on the
Seattle-based television
program The American Avant Garde and Quid Pro Quo, a collaborative
effort with Matt Smithson, Daniel Offinger and Kevin Hackler that won
an honorable mention in Stash DVD magazine. In 2005 Philip co-founded
the
New Music Collective, a non-profit organization deliriously promoting
and producing new music and art in the Southeast. In October of that
same year he curated A Separate Reality, a group multimedia art show
culminating in his 35 minute work Contractions for choir and
electronics performed in complete darkness.In addition to his work as
a composer, Philip's installation work can be seen and heard in and
around the Southeast and California including his spot as featured
artist in the Redux New Media Festival. In the summer of 2007 Philip
toured the United Staes with electro-acoustic flutist Suzanne Thorpe
in thenumber46, a duo exploring psycho-acoustic and visual phenomena
through acoustic manipulation of feedback and light. Currently he is
working on the score for Carl Jane's upcoming feature based on the
myth of Icarus. Additional work includes numerous film score
commisions, his own experimental films, recording and production
credits. In 2006 Philip moved to California to pursue his MFA at Mills
college where he has studied with Chris Brown, Hilda Paredes and James
Fei.

ANDUIN
Anduin is the experimental / electronic solo project of Jonathan Lee (also of Souvenir's Young America).


ROBERT BRYANT
Richmond based avant bass guitarists and electro acoustic experimentalist who has been collaborating with other local improvisors such as Ben Scott, SARS, Clifford Schwing, Marty McCavitt, Jimmy Gaphery, etc.


CLIFFORD SCHWING
Clifford Schwing hails from Richmond, Virginia as an improvising saxophone player utilizing different techniques and pushing the intrument to it's extreme limits. Lately he's been experiment with electro acoustics and feeback, using his saxaphone as a basis for controlling the feedback but not necessarily a source for sound.