Tyondai Braxton by Bradley Buehring
Yarn/Wire plays new pieces for percussion and piano quartet by two of NYC's most exciting musicians, composer/multi-instrumentalist Tyondai Braxton and trumpeter/composer Peter Evans. The evening will feature two world premieres for the quartet, a solo performance of Peter Evan's signature trumpet improvisations, and a duo set from Tyondai Braxton + LAAND.
Yarn/Wire is a chamber quartet specializing in the performance of 21st century music. A unique instrumental combination of two percussionists (Ian Antonio and Russell Greenberg) and two pianists (Laura Barger and Ning Yu) allows Yarn/Wire to interface with both traditional performance practice and emergent stylistic trends with ease. Founded in 2005 at Stony Brook University, the members of Yarn/Wire have extensive performance and pedagogic experience encompassing international and domestic music festivals, college and university residences, and substantive work in the avant-garde theater and DIY/punk worlds. Frequent collaborations with composers on new work form a significant portion of the ensemble’s activities. In addition to presenting multiple US premieres, Yarn/Wire has given the world premieres of over two dozen new works written specifically for the ensemble.
Peter Evans is an American trumpet player based in New York, who specializes in improvisation and avant-garde music. Evans has been a member of the New York City musical community since 2003, when he moved to the city after graduating from The Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Peter currently works in a wide variety of areas, including solo performance, chamber orchestras, performance art, free improvised settings, electro-acoustic music and composition. In addition, he performs regularly as part of the Festival of New Trumpet Music, which is held annually in New York City.
Tyondai Braxton is an American composer and electronic musician. He studied music composition at The Hartt School of the University of Hartford in West Hartford, Connecticut with Robert Carl, Ingram Marshall and Ken Steen. His music incorporates electronic and modern orchestral elements, creating pieces ranging from solo pieces to music for large orchestra and electronics. Tyondai is also the former frontman of the experimental rock band group Battles.
LAAND is a visual & sound manipulation project by Grace Villamil. Inspired by exploring and connecting both geographic and cultural landscapes, Grace's video footage and images of earth are manipulated in real time to create a hyperrealistic form of nature; dissolving perceived boundaries and enabling the viewer to cross into a new environment. Grace Villamil is a visual artist from California based in nyc. She studied Photography and Linguistics at California State University Fullerton with Eileen Cowin. Known for her dreamlike photographs where subject, object and background dissolve into each other, her photo book on the Philippines Pasalubong is released this Spring. Her iconic 3 dimensional serpent of flowers installation debuted last year at the Spring/Break Artshow during Armory Week.