Part of Fall 2007
Tickets: $20 door/$15 advance / $15 for Pleasure Dome & Music Gallery members / $10 students
SOUNDplay performance pass $45 door / $35 advance & PD/MG members / $25 students
Advance Tickets are available via Ticketweb, Soundscapes (572 College St.), Pages Bookstore (256 Queen St. W), or at the NAISA Space (103 Beaconsfield Ave.).
A co-presentation with Adventures in Sound Art and the Goethe Institut, Toronto
As part of three evenings of experimental sound infused with media art, SOUNDplay &lrquo;˜07 presents Text of Light, a New York-based music group which will feature the three founding members: guitarists Lee Ranaldo and Alan Licht, and saxophonist Ulrich Krieger. Text of Light formed in 2001 to perform improvised music to films by Stan Brakhage and other members of the American underground of the 1950s and 1960s. Brakhage’s Text of Light was screened for the premiere performance and became the name of the group. The performances are not soundtracks; Brakhage’s works, for example, are intended to be shown silently. Rather, the group uses the films as an element to stimulate improvisation, like an additional player, juxtaposing light and sound in a real-time event. Mirroring the abstract, experimental nature of the works they play with, the members of Text of Light create a soundscape structured to fit the unconventional language of the film – a live, multi-media, multi-dimensional collage.
Join us for an Artist Panel on Sunday, October 28, 12 noon, moderated by Ben Portis with SOUNDplay artists and members of Text of Light. SOUNDplay artists will expand on the connections between music and abstract cinema and the way they intersect in their individual practice. This connection between the two artforms is evident in the performances and installations showcased in this year’s SOUNDplay specifically the performances by Michael Snow and Text of Light (Lee Renaldo, Alan Licht and Ulrich Krieger) as well as the emerging genre of videomusic as seen in the videomusic installations. Free.
Lee Ranaldo has a long history in New York’s art-musical underground. He played in the electric-guitar choirs of Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca before joining Sonic Youth at its founding in 1981. Like the band’s other members, Ranaldo has championed avant-garde subcultures in literature, art, film and music that were formative for his work. Alan Licht is a New York writer, composer and guitarist whose music fuses elements of pop, noise and minimalism. He most recently visited Toronto to perform with Michael Snow and Aki Onda in October 2006. Ulrich Krieger is a Berlin-based musician who has performed widely through the European and American music undergrounds. He has made a specialty of arranging noise and minimalism for classical chamber ensembles, such as compositions by Merzbow, Throbbing Gristle and Terry Riley. His concert version of Lou Reed’s album Metal Machine Music (featuring Reed) has just been released.
New Adventures in Sound Art presents
The 6th annual SOUNDplay Festival
September 27 – October 28, 2007
Performance weekend October 26, 27, 28 @ Latvian House & the Music Gallery
Installations Sept 27 &lrquo;” Oct 28 @ the Gladstone & NAISA Space
SOUNDplay is a meeting point for experimentation in new media and sound art pushing the boundaries and encouraging new fusions of image, sound and text. SOUNDplay &lrquo;˜07 includes multi-media performances, interactive installations, workshops and videomusic screenings. SOUNDplay performances will feature world premières by François Girouard, Monique Jean, Michelle Irving and the Michael Snow trio as well as a Toronto premiere of David Lang’s “Elevated” and the New York-based Text of Light. 416-910-7231/ naisa@naisa.ca / www.soundplay.ca
