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Martha Mooke

The Agosto Foundation is pleased to announce its support of “Dreaming in Sound,” a performance and workshop by American composer and electroacoustic violist Martha Mooke.

 
Developed in residency at Harvestworks in New York City, “Dreaming in Sound” is the latest of Mooke’s creative-educational intermedia projects. The commissioned work will receive its world premiere on 29 April at Prague’s Institute of Intermedia as part of the the Agosto Foundation’s 2016 vs. Interpretation Festival, which will be held 27 April–1 May at several Prague locations. The premiere of “Dreaming in Sound” will be followed by a performance in the US on 5 May at National Sawdust in New York City. Mooke’s performance will be part of Creative Tech Week, a city-wide showcase of work at the border of art and technology and a partner of Harvestworks, and will also receive the support of the Foundation. “Dreaming in Sound” was inspired by the Rapid Eye Movement (“REM”) cycle and the concept of lucid dreaming. Mooke seeks to explore the disjunction between the confusion of a dream world and its apparent—if imperceptible—order. The performance blends elements of the composed and the improvised, of structure and chaos. Data collected from the audience prior to the performance is incorporated into a collaborative “DreamScore” that will be realized during the performance, manipulating the audio environment with digital effects processors and looping devices to engage, while improvising, with each audience uniquely. The composer will collaborate with renowned software artist Scott Draves, who will create a 3D visualization to accompany Mooke’s electric viola. Tommy Martinez, a New York City based guitarist, artist, and programmer and recipient of the Jacob Druckman Memorial Prize for excellence and innovation in music composition, will provide support as the project’s audio programmer and engineer and will also lead a workshop independently in Prague as part of the vs. Interpretation Festival. Martha Mooke is a pioneer in the field of electric five-string viola, transcending musical boundaries by synthesizing her classical music training with extended techniques, digital effects processing, and improvisation. A Yamaha, Eventide, and Thomastik-Infeld Artist, she is a leading clinician on electric and progressive approaches to string playing. Mooke has toured with Barbra Streisand, Peter Gabriel, Damon Albarn, Marco Antonio Solis, Andrea Bocelli and Star Wars in Concert and has performed with Sir Elton John, Bon Jovi, Moby, Enya, Tony Bennett, John Cale, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and others. She has appeared on The Tonight Show, Regis Live, The David Letterman Show, The View, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and The Rosie O’Donnell Show. Mooke is founding violist and Artistic Director of the Scorchio Quartet, which has performed with David Bowie (and played on Bowie’s Heathen CD), Philip Glass, Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Michael Stipe, Regina Spektor, Moby, Trey Anastasio, and Ziggy Marley. ASCAP, Meet the Composer and Arts International are among the many institutions to have awarded Mooke for her work. Her solo debut Enharmonic Vision and CD Café Mars (as one-half of the duo Bowing with Randolph A. Hudson III) have attracted wide critical acclaim. Her new solo CD, No Ordinary Window, is produced by multi Grammy-winning producer Cynthia Daniels.

Photo credit: Marbeth

Martha Mooke

Dreaming in Sound online form for collaborative performance data collection (to be filled out by attendees of the performance).