Interval 1.1 - press release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEPRESS CONTACTSChris McIntyre [MATA AD] - cmcintyre@matafestival.orgMissy Mazzoli [MATA ED] - mmazzoli@matafestival.orgZach Layton [curator] - zachlayton@gmail.com*DEBUT*MATA IntervalFriday, November 30, 8PMIssue Project RoomFeaturing: Jessica Pavone, Ray Sweeten, and Zach LaytonPERSONNELJessica Pavone setJessica Pavone String QuartetTom Swafford - violin,JP - violaLoren Dempster - celloTom Blancarte - double bassBruxismAnne Rhodes - sopranoCarl Testa - double bassZach Layton - videoRay Sweeten SetErin Flannery - sopranoEmily Manzo - pianoSarah Paden - translationsBrooklyn, NY - On November 30, 2007, MATA Festival presents the debut of Interval, a new bi-monthly performance series co-presented by Issue Project Room (IPR). Interval No. 1 features work by composer and string instrumentalist Jessica Pavone, composer/video artist Ray Sweeten, and composer/video artist and curator Zach Layton. Layton is also MATA's first Curatorial Associate, a new initiative intended to offer young participants in the field of contemporary music the opportunity to curate and produce concerts in a real-world context.Program InfoMATA's first Interval concert takes two concepts as its theme, history and collaboration, or relationship. As much as an interval evokes relationships (the relationship between two notes) it also evokes relationships in time (history or memory). MATA is pleased to have invited two composers developing this concept in their work, Jessica Pavone and Ray Sweeten. In addition, curator Zach Layton will collaborate with both composers featuring a dual channel video performance alongside Ray Sweeten and single channel video accompaniment for Jessica Pavone's Look on the Floor.Jessica Pavone will present two pieces, Look on the Floor and JPSQ (The Jessica Pavone String Quartet). Jessica Pavone's work "Look on the Floor" for pre recorded soprano, soprano and double bass was inspired by Medieval descant and tenor and explores movement through chromaticism and pulse. Her "Song Cycle for String Quartet" is, in the composer's words, "inspired by by an interest in folk songs' simplistic beauty and a belief that one's ability to accompany themselves in song as one of the more natural expressions of music. They highlight the importance that rummaging through dusty vinyl binsgrowing up has played in my musical development."Ray Sweeten's new song cycle L'Uomo Ferroso is based upon Italian translations of heavy metal lyrics, an extension of a collaboration commissioned by the visual artist Jen Liu. These songs range from the stylistic influences of black sabbath, italian disco, Monteverdi and 19th century italian coloratura vocal technique. Sweeten's work as a video artist is also rooted in a notion of the historical, as he deals primarily with an oscilloscope (used as early as 1950 by animator Ben Laposky, and evoking early abstractions by early computer art pioneer John Whitney). As a visual artist working with analog and digital techniques, Sweeten's work presents a stunning intersection between the early roots of the medium and offers mesmerizing glimpses of its future. Sweeten will present several songs for this evening's concert including "maiali guerre" and "paranoia" featuring the gifted pianist Emily Manzo and soprano Erin Flannery.Ultimately, it can be said that an interval is about relationships. It seems an analogy can be drawn between the relationship between musical pitches and individuals in a creative community. It is our hope that the Interval series will develop into an event where relationships between performers, composers and audiences can grow and harmonizeZach Layton BioZach Layton is a composer, curator and new media artist based in new york with an interest in biofeedback, generative algorithms, experimental music, biomimicry and contemporary architectural practice. His work investigates complex relationships and topologies created through the interaction of simple core elements like sine waves, minimal surfaces and kinetic visual patterns.Zach's work has been performed by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony and he has performed and exhibited at the Kitchen, Roulette, Art Forum Berlin, the New York Electronic Art Festival, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Eyebeam, Sculpture Center, Diapason, Issue Project Room, Bushwick Arts Project, St. Mark's Ontological Hysterical Theater, Dumbo Arts Festival, New York Digital Salon, Monkeytown, and many other venues in New York and Europe. He has collaborated with LukeDubois, Vito Acconci, Jonas Mekas, Bradley Eros, Andy Graydon, Matthew Ostrowski, Christine Bard, Alex Waterman, Patrick Hambrecht, Marissa Olsen, Angie Eng, Adam Kendall, Chika Ijima, Tristan Perich and Ray Sweeten among many other artists, filmmakers and musicians.Zach is also the curator of Brooklyn's monthly experimental music series "darmstadt: classics of the avant garde" which features leading local and international composers and improvisers and currently is co curator of the PS1 warmup summer music series. Zach has received grants from the Netherlands Foundation and the Jerome Foundation and is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory and the Interactive Telecommunications Program.Jessica Pavone BioBrooklyn based string instrumentalist/composer Jessica Pavone, has been active in New York City for the past eight years. She is best known for her work performing all over the world with Anthony Braxton in his current septet and twelve+1tet and for her duo project with guitarist, Mary Halvorson, which has been described as “distinct and beguiling...its core is steely, and its execution clear.” (The New York Times).As a composer, Pavone has received commissions to write chamber music from the MATA foundation and the chamber music collectives; Till by Turning and The Eastern Winds. She has been noted as having the "ability to to transform a naked tonal gesture into something special" (Wire). She currently leads and plays bass guitar and viola in her (60's soul inspired) band The Pavones (trumpet, alto, tenor, bari, guitar, bass guitar, and drums), plays viola and composes for the JPSQ (Jessica Pavone String Quartet) and a CD of her indeterminate works for solo viola was recently released by the Nowaki label in Paris, France.As an instrumentalist, she improvises in bands led by William Parker, Taylor Ho Bynum, and Matana Roberts and has interpreted new music by Glenn Branca, James Fei, Butch Morris, David Grubbs, Matthew Welch, Aaron Siegel, Loren Dempster, Jason Cady and Zach Layton.Since 2000, she has documented her music via her self-run label Peacock Recordings, which was recently awarded a grant from The Aaron Copland Fund for Music Recording Program, and her growing discography and list of works can be witnessed via her web site, Jessicapavone.com.Ray Sweeten BioRay Sweeten b.1975. Audio origins begin with antiquated tape experiments based on recorded correspondences between his late father and brother. In '89 he studied classical piano and theory at the University of Rhode Island. In '93 Sweeten entered the TIMARA program (Technology In Music And Related Arts) at Oberlin Conservatory. In '98 he acquired a residency at Fabrica, spa.Italy, where he collaborated with Michael Galasso (ECM), Robert Wilson, Chieko Mori(Tzadik). He also produced music for MTV Japan and Italy, Benetton, and performed frequently throughout Italy and Europe solo and with FabricaMusica, a collaborative ensemble comprised of musicians from diverse cultural and musical backgrounds. Ray moved to New York City in 2000 to work for Children's Television Workshop where he provided music for CD-Rom/Web games, cell phones and broadcast television. He received the Van Lier Residency for experimental electronics and oscilloscope graphics. He was also a member of the Plantains, a multi-media synth-pop outfit, and released work on Suction Records, Kinetic Media, They Shoot Homos Don't They, Ghostly, and Colette. Sweeten has performed and screened at The Kitchen, Monkey Town, Millennium Film Project, The New York Underground Film Festival, CinemaTexas, Liverpool Biennial, Pacific Film Archive, Chicago Filmmakers, Aurora Picture Show and Angel Orensantz.###