Louder, Warmer, Denser for flute, bass flute, contrabass flute and electronics
Density 2036: part vi (2018-19)
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I had a studio visit from Claire while she was in San Francisco last summer. She brought her flutes with her so I could hear and record some of her intriguing techniques to aid and inspire my work on composing this piece for her "Density 2036" project. I also asked her if I could put her in my recording booth and interview her – telling her it would help spark ideas for the piece. I then used the recorded interview to create a text collage that became the basis of the work’s melodic and rhythmic material and its structure. What I ended up with feels, to me, like a little portrait of Claire. Her de-constructed stories, fragments of her laughter, her sighs and non-verbal sounds all conjure her for me, each time I hear them. A stretched Varèse quote also found its way into the piece, but I think of the bulk of its substance as distilled Claire Chase.
— Pamela Z
Read more about Density 2036: part vi by Jenny Judge here.
Pamela Z is a composer/performer and media artist working primarily with voice, live electronics, sampled sound, and video. A pioneer of live looping, she processes her voice to create complex sonic layers. Her solo works combine experimental extended vocal techniques, operatic bel canto, found objects, text, digital processing, and wireless MIDI controllers that allow her to manipulate sound with physical gestures. In addition to her solo work, she has been commissioned to compose scores for dance, theater, film, and chamber ensembles including the Kronos Quartet, Eighth Blackbird, the Bang on a Can All Stars, Julia Bullock with the San Francisco Symphony, and the LA Philharmonic New Music Group. Her interdisciplinary performances have been presented at venues including The Kitchen (NY), Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (SF), REDCAT (LA), and MCA (Chicago), and her installations have been presented at such exhibition spaces as the Whitney (NY), Savvy Contemporary (Berlin), and the Krannert (IL). Pamela Z has toured extensively throughout the US, Europe, and Japan. She has performed in numerous festivals including Bang on a Can (NY), Interlink (Japan), Other Minds (San Francisco), La Biennale di Venezia (Italy), Dak’Art (Sénégal) and Pina Bausch Tanztheater Festival (Wuppertal). She is a recipient of numerous awards including the Rome Prize, Foundation for Contemporary Arts Dorothea Tanning Award, United States Artists, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Guggenheim Fellowship, Doris Duke Artist Impact Award, Herb Alpert Award, an Ars Electronica honorable mention, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award. She holds a music degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder.