Guest mix on Signal To Noise
I have a few of my favorite tunes up as guest mixologist on Nick Roseblade’s UK radio show Signal To Noise. Tracks include pieces by Luciano Chessa, the Danish string quartet Halvcirkel’s performance of Terry Riley’s music and justly tuned pieces by Chris Brown, Harry Partch and yours truly, performed by vocalist David Castillo. Listen at: totallyradio.com and live via www.slackcity.org.uk
Interview with Annie Lewandowski
I’m pleased to share a recent interview I did with composer and performer Annie Lewandowski (aka powerdove) about her research and compositions involving whale songs. This is part of a newly launched online writing project headed by violist Frantz Loriot, centered around the nature of recordings in music. Check it out here: www.recordedness.org
Guest interview on florilegio.org
Thanks to the curators of Florilegio.org for inviting me to do a Pochemuchka interview! Feeling grateful to share my work and standing in solidarity with my fellow Asian Americans in these dark days.
On the waves of BBC 3
You can hear an excerpt from Live at Zoom-In, my duo with violist Frantz Loriot on BBC 3’s show Freeness, along with other recently released improvised music. Many thanks to host Corey Mwamba and producer Rebecca Gaskell for including our music! The program will be available for the next 27 days @ https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000rld2
Guest on Majel Connery's podcast, EQ
Huge thanks to Majel Connery for inviting Ellen Fullman and me to be on her podcast, EQ. Take a listen and enjoy our musings on work, music and finding joy in isolation! Listen to the episode on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3ILOgAPja92itlHRFKeU7W
Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/eq-2
Or download at Buzzsprout:
http://eqmusicinterviews.buzzsprout.com/
Photo taken in front of an installation by Yayoi Kusama.
"Harbors" in the Wire's 2020 Releases of the Year
Harbors makes the Wire’s 2020 Releases of the Year! I’m feeling grateful that this work could see the light and reach so many ears in such a terribly dark year. This duo composed with Ellen Fullman was released on room40.org and is now available on my bandcamp as well.
Review of Live at zoom in
“I will not hesitate in placing Live at zoom in among the finest improvisational sets heard in recent years…” Thank you to Massimo Ricci for his review of Live at zoom in for Squidco. Take a listen or purchase the album here on my bandcamp.
As We Breathe premiering at the Long Beach Opera Ungala
As We Breathe is a newly commissioned work for the Long Beach Opera Ungala’s “2020 Songbook”, which will premiere online on Sunday, Nov. 15th at 5pm PST. The 2020 Songbook includes 20 new works written by emerging composers asked to reflect on some of the experiences and events from the past year. As We Breathe features baritone David Castillo and is part of my ongoing exploration into installed songs, which combine visual media, sculpture, architectural space and song form. The song is written in just intonation drawing upon Harry Partch’s 11-limit tonality diamond and will be part of the online extravaganza featuring several new works by composers mentored by Anthony Davis, Annie Gosfield, David Lang, George Lewis, and Du Yun. The event will be hosted by beloved countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo and will benefit Long Beach Opera’s 2021 Season of Solidarity.
She Dances Naked Under Palm Trees at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
Sarah Cahill will give a UK premiere of She Dances Naked Under Palm Trees as part of her online performance at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Commissioned by Sarah for her project The Future Is Female, the piece will be included along with other works by Deirdre Gribbin, Annea Lockwood, Maria De Alvear, Aida Shirazi, and Gabriela Ortiz. See event details here.
Del Sol Quartet's Joy Project
I’m finishing up a new piece for Del Sol Quartet’s Joy Project, commissioned as a part of a set of pieces the quartet is performing for free outdoors for the purpose of bringing JOY to people. Stay tuned here for upcoming dates and to hear other works by Terry Riley, Tania León, Gabriela Lena Frank and many more.
New piece in the works for the San Francisco Girls Chorus
I’m thrilled to be working on a new piece for the Grammy Award winning San Francisco Girls Chorus along with new music champion Sarah Cahill on keyboard. Stay tuned for more details and news of their 2021 collaborations here. Photo: Ben La
In conversation with Jon Leidecker on KPFA's Over The Edge
Some good cheer in the midst of some very hard days of smoke and fires in the Bay Area. In this 3 hour mix, Ellen Fullman and I talk about our recent release of Harbors, along with Jon’s creative mix of our trax from the past. Enjoy the archived broadcast from KPFA 94.1 on September 11th here.
Harbors in the press
The Majesty and Magic of Ellen Fullman and Theresa Wong’s Sound Art An interview with Phil Freeman on Bandcamp Daily
Pitchfork: 6 New Albums You Should Listen to Now
Pitchfork review
The Wire - review by Louise Gray
The Quietus – Jennifer Lucy Allan
Vinyl Factory: Our Ten Favorite New Vinyl Release This Week
Boomkat
Soundohm - included in Best of 2020
SilenceAndSound
Attn:Magazine review by Jack Chuter
Stream on the thewire.co.uk
Listen on BBC Late Junction
Listen on ORF1
Harbors - out on room40.org
HARBORS is officially out on the Australian label room40! This piece is a collaboration with Ellen Fullman for Long String Instrument, cello + electronics which draws inspiration from the soundscapes, stories and atmospheres that manifest around bodies of water that propagate exchange. Tremendous gratitude to Lawrence English of room40 and special thanks to all of the curators and producers who presented this work as we developed it through performance: Georg Rasmussen, Click Festival, Elsinore, Denmark (2015); Tom Welsh, Cleveland Museum of Art, Transformer Station (2015); Dena Beard, The Lab, San Francisco (2016); Shelly De Vito and James Porter, Les Moulins de Paillard, Poncé-sur-le-Loir (2016); Wendy Coutau and Anny Serrati, Dampfzentral, Bern, and ARCOOP, Geneva (2016); Kerry O’Brien, Nief-Norf Summer Festival, Knoxville (2017); Lawrence English, Australia tour, Sydney Festival, MONA FOMA, and the Substation Melbourne (2017) and to Perrin Meyer and Meyer Sound for the loan of a sound system for our recording session in Berkeley (2018). LP/digital available at: room40.bandcamp.com/album/harbors.
In the WIRE
Thrilled to have a feature in the September issue, discussing some current releases with Julien Cowley including Harbors with Ellen Fullman, Live at zoom in with Frantz Loriot and Some Center by Chris Brown. Many thanks to Julien, photographer Nicholas Albrecht and the entire team at the Wire!
Del Sol's Fast Forward Fund
I'm so thankful to be one of the recipients of the Del Sol Quartet’s Fast Forward Fund. Here is a video of a chat I had recently with violist and fearless founder of the quartet, Charlton Lee. If you stick through my ecstatic rambling on about microphones, there is a video at the end from a 2019 performance at Grace Cathedral of "To Burst To Bloom", written for Vajra Voices and performed with Kitka Vocal Ensemble. A very special concert that was - especially looking back in these times.
Review of "Harbors" in The Wire
Thanks to Louise Gray for these words on Harbors in the August issue of The Wire. I’m so thrilled to share this new release, which will be out on LP/Digital in August on room40.org.
Video from the 2019 premiere of "To Burst To Bloom"
Here is an excerpt from a performance of To Burst To Bloom, premiered by Vajra Voices and Kitka Vocal Ensemble in 2019 at “The Eve of the March” concert in Grace Cathedral. Huge gratitude to Karen Clark, director of Vajra Voices and to the Ghiberti Foundation at Grace Cathedral for making this memorable night possible.
Berkeley Art Museum presents Duets in Social Distance
Here’s a look + listen into what Ellen Fullman and I have been doing in lock-down. Thanks to Sean Carson at the Berkeley Art Museum for the chance to share some sounds from the deep isolation booth.
On The Wire's “Virtual Office Ambience” playlist
I'm delighted to be included in The Wire's "Virtual Office Ambience" July playlist. The album “Live at zoom in” is a duo of improvised music with violist Frantz Loriot, recorded in the magnificent acoustic of the Bern Minster Cathedral in 2017 at our performance for the zoom in festival, curated by Christian Kobi. You can check out the playlist here and also stream or purchase the entire performance on bandcamp:
theresawong.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-zoom-in