GROUP IMPROVISATION WORKSHOP WITH GINO ROBAIR

Group Improvisation Workshop with Gino Robair, 5/23

Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 1550 N. Milwaukee Avenue

1-5 PM: Workshop on Strategies for Multidisciplinary Group Interaction at Enemy, 3rd Floor

10 PM: Workshop Participants Perform “I, Norton” as a culmination of the afternoon’s activities at Heaven Gallery, 2nd Floor, as part of the Protest Heaven concert series

Price: $25

RSVP to AndrewTRoyal@gmail.com or GroupImprovWorkshop@gmail.com

Open to: instrumentalists, vocalists, electronic musicians, dancers, visual artists, videographers, computer artists, etc.

NO EXPERIENCE WITH IMPROVISATION NECESSARY!  PARTICIPANTS OF ALL SKILL LEVELS WELCOME AND APPRECIATED!

Group Improvisation in a Multimedia Environment

Workshop Description:

In this workshop, we will create a multi-movement piece that combines open-ended structures and free improvisation.  The result will be somewhat of a “guerrilla opera,” using conduction (hand cues), graphic scores, and memory-improv structures.  The workshop is open to any type of artist: musicians, singers, dancers, painters, videographers, sculptors, and computer-based artists.  We will focus in particular on strategies of interdisciplinary group interaction.

The literary element of the workshop is based on the writings of Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico.  Norton declared himself emperor in 1859 and promptly abolished Congress, decreed bridges be built over the ocean, and printed his own money.  Consequently, the piece may have a political subtext that resonates with the current geo-political situation.  The words, letters, rhythms, and structure of Norton’s texts will be used as source material by each participant.

Gino Robair Bio

Gino Robair is a composer/percussionist who has written music for film, dance,
theater, radio, and television (including commercials for MTV and Starbucks). He was the music director for the CBS animated series The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat, and composer in residence with the California Shakespeare Festival for five years. As an editor at Electronic Musician magazine for 10 years, Gino wrote about music technology, and he has authored two books on the subject. The most recent is The Ultimate Personal Recording Studio (Thompson; 2006).

Gino is also one of the “25 innovative percussionists” included in the book Percussion Profiles (SoundWorld, 2001). He has recorded albums with Tom
Waits, Anthony Braxton, Terry Riley, Lou Harrison, John Butcher, Derek Bailey, Peter Kowald, Otomo Yoshihide, the ROVA Saxophone Quartet, and Eugene Chadbourne, among many others. He has performed with numerous artists and ensembles spanning rock, jazz, and classical music, including John Zorn, Nina Hagen, and the Kronos Quartet. Gino is a founding member of the Splatter Trio and Pink Mountain. In addition, he runs Rastascan Records, a label devoted to creative music.

His opera “I, Norton” has been performed in San Francisco and Oakland, California; Seattle, Washington; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Miami, Florida; St Louis, Missouri; Tokyo, Japan; and Milan and Palermo, Italy. In addition, the ROVA Saxophone Quartet has performed a reduced version of the piece across Europe and North America.