Join us for a conversation between legendary vocalist and composer Joan La Barbara and improvising vocalist, composer, and lyricist Fay Victor.
CoPA Conversations is a new series of curated talks between two artistic innovators drawn from our world-class faculty and selected guest artists. These conversations will cross genres and artistic practice areas and will touch on CoPA's core values of Socially Engaged Artistry, Experimentation & Technology, Improv & Collaboration with a focus on holistic artistic practice.
Virtuoso vocalist Joan La Barbara has explored the possibilities of voice and extended techniques such as multiphonics and glottal clicks since the '70s. She has performed with orchestras all over the world, from the New York Philharmonic to the Orchestra of the Hague, and has premiered operas including Robert Ashley's Now Eleanor's Idea and Jacob's Room by Morton Subotnick, with whom La Barbara co-wrote The Misfortune of the Immortals. This piece (also co-written by Mark Coniglio) is an example of her work melding electronics and technology into performance. Morton Feldman, Philip Glass, and James Tenney are among the American composers who have written works specifically for her. As a composer, she has also written chamber pieces, works for radio, television, and a number of film scores including the score for Anima (1991). She has worked with choreographers and artists, such as Merce Cunningham, Kenneth Goldsmith, and Lita Albuquerque. Her own recordings can be found on the Lovely Music, Music & Arts, and New World labels; she has produced a number of modern classical recordings as well. She is the recipient of fellowship awards and commissions from the NEA, Meet the Composer, Akustische International Competition Award, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and more. In addition to performing and recording, Joan La Barbara has spent much of her time educating vocalists during the '80s and '90s....
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Join us for a conversation between legendary vocalist and composer Joan La Barbara and improvising vocalist, composer, and lyricist Fay Victor.
CoPA Conversations is a new series of curated talks between two artistic innovators drawn from our world-class faculty and selected guest artists. These conversations will cross genres and artistic practice areas and will touch on CoPA's core values of Socially Engaged Artistry, Experimentation & Technology, Improv & Collaboration with a focus on holistic artistic practice.
Virtuoso vocalist Joan La Barbara has explored the possibilities of voice and extended techniques such as multiphonics and glottal clicks since the '70s. She has performed with orchestras all over the world, from the New York Philharmonic to the Orchestra of the Hague, and has premiered operas including Robert Ashley's Now Eleanor's Idea and Jacob's Room by Morton Subotnick, with whom La Barbara co-wrote The Misfortune of the Immortals. This piece (also co-written by Mark Coniglio) is an example of her work melding electronics and technology into performance. Morton Feldman, Philip Glass, and James Tenney are among the American composers who have written works specifically for her. As a composer, she has also written chamber pieces, works for radio, television, and a number of film scores including the score for Anima (1991). She has worked with choreographers and artists, such as Merce Cunningham, Kenneth Goldsmith, and Lita Albuquerque. Her own recordings can be found on the Lovely Music, Music & Arts, and New World labels; she has produced a number of modern classical recordings as well. She is the recipient of fellowship awards and commissions from the NEA, Meet the Composer, Akustische International Competition Award, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and more. In addition to performing and recording, Joan La Barbara has spent much of her time educating vocalists during the '80s and '90s.
Sound artist/composer Fay Victor hones a unique vision for the vocalist’s role in jazz and improvised music. Victor encompasses a distinctive vocalizing, language and performing approach with the foundation of the jazz vocal idiom, now encompassing an “everything is everything” aesthetic bringing in references that span the globe. Victor sees the vocal instrument in itself as full of possibilities of sound exploration, the voice a direct and powerful conduit for language and messages in an improvising context. All of these ideas aim to push the vocal envelope to forge greater expressive possibilities. In Victor’s 10 critically acclaimed albums as a leader one can hear the through line of expansive expression leading up to Victor’s most recent release, BARN SONGS (Northern Spy Records) with her Chamber Trio featuring Darius Jones (alto saxophone) & Marika Hughes (cello) that was released in November 2019. Victor’s work has been featured in media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, Rolling Stone Magazine, TimeOut New York & The Huffington Post; has worked with luminaries such as William Parker, Roswell Rudd, Nicole Mitchell, Archie Shepp, Marc Ribot & Tyshawn Sorey to name but a few.
UPCOMING EVENTS IN THIS SERIES:
August 5: Music producer, sound designer and DJ Hank Shocklee with composer/pianist Timo Andres
August 19: Violinist Jennifer Koh with vibraphonist/composer Joel Ross
Presented by the College of Performing Arts.
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