Upcoming

Title: Pandaemonium - Rova at Other Minds 15
Rova Premieres Carla Kihlstedt's Pandaemonium at Other Minds Festival 15

Date: Saturday, March 6, 2010 8:00pm

Address:
Kanbar Hall
Jewish Community Center, SF
3200 California Street
http://www.otherminds.org/shtml/Concerts15.shtml
7:00 panel discussion with Carla Kihlstedt, Tom Johnson and Gayan Riley

Description:
At the Other Minds Festival 15 in early March, the Quartet will premiere Pandaemonium, a new piece written by composer, improviser, violinist and vocalist Carla Kihlstedt for the ROVA Saxophone Quartet. It is inspired by a book of the same name compiled by Humphrey Jennings which illustrates ''the imaginative history of the Industrial Revolution" through the voices of the people who most closely watched its speedy approach. The piece is based on a handful of letters and documents written between 1660 and 1880 in response to the coming of the machine. Composed in opposition to our current age of infinite reproducability, Pandaemonium is a one-of-a-kind piece of tactile art made from individually sewn cloth graphic scores. It is also a vehicle for the well-honed chemistry of ROVA, world-class improvisors. The texts will be read by actors Joan Mankin and Matthias Bossi. Pandaemonium was made possible by a grant from the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation.

Joan Mankin has performed with the American Conservatory Theater, the Center Theater Group in L.A., California Shakespeare Theaater, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, San Diego Repertory Theater, Marin Theater company, The Magic Theater, Aurora Theater, Theaterworks, A Traveling Jewish Theater, and the San Jose Stage Company. She has been a company member of several leading Northern California physical theater ensembles, including the San Francisco Mime Troupe, the Pickle Family Circus, and the Dell'Arte Players Company. Film credits include appearances in Bee Season, Made in America and Desert Hearts. She has directed for the Magic Theater, Travelling Jewish Theater, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Make-A-Circus, the Phoenix Theater, Th eaterworks of Colorado Springs, and the Bricks and Earth Circus of Calgary, Canada; as well as several workshop productions at the Mark Taper Forum. She directed performances for the San Francisco New Vaudeville Festival which were made into an HBO special, and has worked extensively with solo performers and improvisationsal comedy troupes. Joan has taught at San Francisco State University, University of California at Santa Cruz, Antioch University in Ohio, the American Conservatory Theater, the Dell'Arte School of Physical Performance, the High School of Performing Arts in San Francisco, and the Clown Conservatory at the San Francisco Circus Center.

Matthias Bossi, a graduate of the New England Conservatory, is the drummer for Rock-Against-Rock pioneers Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, and was a member of NYC's Grammy-nominated Skeleton Key. As a founder of The Book of Knots, a Brooklyn-based recording collective, he has had the pleasure of collaborating with Tom Waits, Mike Watt, Jon Langford, David Thomas, Carla Bozulich, Zeena Parkins, and author Rick Moody. He is currently touring with guitarist Fred Frith in his new project, Cosa Brava. In recent years he has contributed to the recordings of John Vanderslice, St. Vincent, and the Tiger Lillies.

Equally at home in the theatre, Bossi has worked with the Pickle Family Circus, Oakland Metro Opera, Shotgun Players, Blixa Bargeld and Nanos Operetta, Berkeley's Central Works, and Erica Schuch's Performance Project. Choreographers Jo Kreiter, Joe Goode, Deborah Slater, and Shinichi Iova-Koga have commissioned music from Bossi and his wife, violinist Carla Kihlstedt.

Title: Rova and “Art of the Improviser” in Chicago

Date: Tuesday, March 16, 2010 7:00 pm

Address:
Chicago Cultural Center
78 East Washington St
Chicago, Illinois 60602
312-744-894 www.chicagoculturalcenter.org

Description:
Rova returns to the Chicago Cultural Center - this time to convene with special guests from Chicago’s vibrant improvised music scene - for the 2010 Art of the Improviser concert. The eight musicians will perform 90 minutes of free and structured improvisations, in ensembles ranging from 3 to 8 players. Hopefully the bandstand will be lifted throughout the evening.

The concert is free admission, taking place in the beautiful Preston Bradley Hall of the Chicago Cultural Center.

Tonight’s players:
Fred Lonborg-Holm – anti-cello
Lou Malozzi – electronics
Julia Miller – multi-speaker MIDI guitar
Jason Roebke – bass
and
Rova: Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin - Saxophone




Title: Rova Sax Quartet concert at The Hideout in Chicago

Date: Wednesday, March 17, 2010, 9:30 pm

Address:
The Hideout www.hideoutchicago.com
1354 West Wabansia Avenue Chicago, IL 60642-1519 (773) 227-4433

Description:
Performing 2 sets of Rova originals for saxophone quartet. First quartet show in Chicago since 2004.




Title: Rova at Krannert Art Museum in Champaign, Illinois. Gelvin Noel Gallery

Date: Thursday, March 18, 2010 7:30 pm

Address:
500 East Peabody Dr
Champaign IL 61820

Description:
Performing 2 sets of Rova originals for saxophone quartet.



 
Title: Rova at Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit

Date: Friday March 19, 2010 8:00 pm

Address:
Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit | MOCAD
4454 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, MI 48201 313 832 6622 T | 313 832 4665 F
bhernandez@mocadetroit.org | www.mocadetroit.org

Description:
Performing 2 sets of Rova originals for saxophone quartet. First quartet show EVER In Detroit!




Title: Rova at The Stone, New York City with John Zorn

Date: Saturday, March 20, 2010 8:00 pm

Address: The Stone is located at the corner of Avenue C and 2nd Street

Description:
Set 1 at 8pm: original quartet compositions
Set 2 at 10 PM: John Zorn sits in on the set for some quintet improvisations, both structured and unstructured, plus quartet pieces to round it out.

The Stone is a small, intimate listening space for new music, mostly of the improvised variety. The space is owned and directed by John Zorn; the shows are curated by a different musician monthly or bi-weekly. Rova’s Larry Ochs is curating from March 15 to March 31. Featuring artists and bands from the West Coast as well as a special “Word and Music Series”. Calendar: www.thestonenyc.com




Title: Rova at The Make Out Room, San Francisco

Date: Monday, April 5, 2010 at 8:30 pm

Address:
The Makeout Room is on 22nd Street between Mission and Valencia, San Francisco
Admission free, donations encouraged

Description:
This is the first anniversary show of the “first Monday” series at this intimate spot in San Francisco. Tonight’s show features veterans of the improvised music scene, most of whom have been here 20 to 30 years. Bring your walker and come on out.  Rova plays second of three bands. The complete line-up:

PLANET (8:30pm)
Dave Slusser - sax, keys, bass
Marc Weinstein - drums
Len Paterson - guitar
Steve Clarke - guitar

ROVA (9:30 pm)
Larry Ochs - saxophones
Jon Raskin - saxophones
Bruce Ackley - saxophones Steve Adams - saxophones

Myles Boisen's PAST PRESENT FUTURE (10:30 pm)
Myles Boisen - guitar
Seth Ford-Young - acoustic bass
John Hanes - drums