Baltimore’s 12th Annual High Zero Festival of Experimental Improvised Music Again Set to Organize Chaos

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
8.31.10




High Zero Festival of Experimental Improvised Music
September 23rd - 26th, 2010
@ The Theatre Project   45 W Preston St., Baltimore

site: highzero.org

twitter: @highzero

PR contact: diymummy@gmail.com



Baltimore’s 12th Annual High Zero Festival of Experimental Improvised Music Again Set to Organize Chaos


"High Zero Festival is the premier showcase for spontaneous sound." NPR

“An utterly confounding yet utopian vision of musical possibilities.” Wire

High Zero is the premier festival of Improvised, Experimental music on the East Coast, being fully devoted to new collaborations between the most inspired improvisors from around the world.

“A fertile laboratory of musical possibility without equal.” Signal to Noise

The festival brings together 28 core musicians each year, but also involves a much larger subculture of musicians in Baltimore and on the East Coast. Musicians play sets of improvised music alongside improvisers they are often meeting for the very first time on stage. Unlike many related festivals, High Zero is not narrow in terms of sensibility or subculture, but rather widely inclusive of all the different types of experimental music-making in the moment.

“The continent’s finest four days of all-in improv and otherwise musical exploration.” City Paper

"Baltimore is becoming a crucible for serious experimental music produced outside of academia and concert halls." ArtPapers

The fact that half of the festival's core participants are from Baltimore speaks to the depth of Baltimore's experimental music subculture, which in recent years has grown to be one of the richest cities in the country for experimental art.

“Best Music Festival” City Paper and Baltimore Magazine

"A striking glimpse into the avant-garde and a creative process limited only by the imagination." Baltimore Sun

The festival has a unique structure. HIGH ZERO is focused solely on new collaborations in freely improvised experimental music. Internationally famous musicians play side by side with younger "unknowns," united by their commitment to the musical imagination. Each year, Baltimore becomes a fertile meeting-ground for a large group of inspired players, drawn from a fascinating international subculture.

"Could there possibly be a better place for a festival of cutting edge, improvised music than Baltimore?" Washington Post

The festival exposes large audiences to this radical music in its pure form. Large-scale public concerts, recording sessions, workshops, and guerrilla street performances are all part of the heady mix. The players are carefully selected by the festival's organizers for their intense, unique music, whether it is based around dramatic intensity, humor, specially designed instruments, original approach, raw sound, or nearly superhuman instrumental technique. The resulting collaborations challenge the limits of music and delight by their audacity, expressiveness, immediacy, and innovation. It isn't about stars or established projects; it is about the most uncompromising and stimulating new improvised music we can bring together.

High Zero Festival of Experimental Improvised Music

September 23rd - 26th, 2010
@ The Theatre Project   45 W Preston St., Baltimore

Musicians from Afar

Karen Borca (NYC): bassoon
Shayna Dunkelman (NYC): percussion
Ju Suk Reet Meate (Portland): trumpet
Hans Koch (Switzerland): bass clarinet
Andrea Neumann (Germany): inner piano
Tuna Pase (Istanbul): voice, flute, laptop
Juanjosè Rivas (Mexico City): circuit bending
Tomoko Sauvage (Paris): porcelain bowls, water
Gary Smith (United Kingdom): guitar
Li Tieqiao (China): saxophone
Keith Fullerton Whitman (Boston): electronics
Wobbly (California): electronics



Musicians from Baltimore


Shelly Blake-Plock: stringed instruments
Ami Dang: sitar, voice, electronics
Drew Daniel: electronics
Dan Deacon: electronics, tuba
Tiffany Defoe: saxophone
Owen Gardner: strings
Ayako Kataoka: electronics
Liz Meredith: viola
Marc Miller: guitar
Stewart Mostofsky: electronics
Michael Muniak: feedback
M.C. Schmidt: electronics



High Zero Special Projects


Dan Deacon (Baltimore)
Ayako Kataoka (Baltimore)
Dr. Johannes Rosenberg (Australia)
Dragos Tara (Switzerland)


High Zero Festival Sound Installations


September 21st - 26th, 2010
@ Gallery Four   4th Floor / 405 W Franklin St., Baltimore

Sound Installations
Tristan Perich (NYC)
Karl Ekdahl (Baltimore)
Julie Benoit (Baltimore)




For set lists and information about High Jinx street happenings, see: www.highzero.org


###