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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE transPOPsitions: The California EAR Unit celebrates 24 years of new music at REDCAT with special guest Julius Fujak September 14, Los Angeles--Renowned new music ensemble, The California EAR Unit, comes to REDCAT on Wednesday, September 28, with a new program, inviting Slovak composer and visual artist Julius Fujak to perform his multimedia work, transPOPsitions, with the group. Further exploring the influences of pop culture on new music, the evening's program includes the world premiere of Shaun Naidoo's Burning the Future, the piece Disco by preeminent Dutch composer Louis Andriessen, Jacob Gotlib's Filaments, and an excerpt from hip-hop composer Daniel Bernard Roumain's Fast Black Dance Machine. In transPOPsitions Fujak sets pop video clips by performers such as Britney Spears, Robby Williams and Michael Jackson to ironic musical commentary. The video clips, sometimes with changed colors and tempo, act like visual "scores" that the musicians can improvise "to" or "against." Born in 1966 in the former Czechoslovakia, Fujak studied aesthetics and musical sciences at the University Comenium in Bratislava. He was a member of the alternative rock groups Teória Odrazu and Otras (1988-1998) Since 1996 he has lectured on the history of musical styles in the 20th century and the interpretation of contemporary music at the Institute of Literary and Art Communication and is the organizer of an international festival of contemporary music, Hermes' EAR, both based in Nitra, Slovakia. Dubbed "wizards of new music" by the LA Daily News, The California EAR Unit is a chamber ensemble dedicated to the creation, performance, and promotion of the music of our time. The Unit was founded in March 1981 by a group of performers and composers with the goal of developing the first true repertory ensemble for new music in Los Angeles. The ensemble has recently garnered awards including "Best Classical Ensemble" from the LA Weekly, the 1999 "Letter of Distinction" from the American Music Center and "Best of the Year" from online CDNOW. The California EAR Unit ensemble is: Dorothy Stone, flute; Phil O'Connor, clarinet; Robin Lorentz, violin; Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick, cello; Vicki Ray, piano; Amy Knoles, percussion, with sound design by Gregory T. Kuhn. Noted by The New York Times, "The EAR Unit performs with exuberance and razor sharp precision." They have collaborated with artists such as Rachel Rosenthal, Lula Washington and the Contemporary Dance Theater, Wadada Leo Smith, and Don Preston, among others. In addition, The Unit presents children's workshops in the L.A. area, particularly in at-risk and underserved areas, reaching close to 10,000 children annually, and has performed all over the world. For additional information: http://www.earunit.org. REDCAT, CalArts' downtown center for innovative visual, performing and media arts, is located at the corner of W. 2nd St. and S. Hope St., inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex. The California EAR Unit performs Wednesday, September 28; at 8:30 p.m. Tickets range from $20-16. Student ticket discounts available. Seating is general admission. Tickets may be purchased at the REDCAT box office--located at the corner of 2nd and Hope Streets, by calling 213.237.2800, or by clicking here. The California EAR Unit is funded in part by grants from the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, The James Irvine Foundation, InterArts funded by the LA County Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts, Fromm Foundation at Harvard University, BMI Foundation, Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, Meet the Composer and its Global Connections Fund provided by The Ford Foundation, the Amphion Foundation and other generous supporters. REDCAT benefits from an endowment created through the generosity of The Walt Disney Company; The Sharon D. Lund Foundation; Robert B. Egelston; Lee and Lawrence J. Ramer; and Dorothy R. Sherwood. REDCAT's 2005-06 season programming is generously supported by The Herb Alpert Foundation; American Composers Forum of Los Angeles; The Annenberg Foundation; Anonymous; Argosy Foundation Contemporary Music Fund; California Community Foundation; The Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation (Corporate matching gift); CEMAT (Centri Musicali Attrezzati, Rome); City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department; CONACULTA; Margit Sperling Cotsen and Lloyd Cotsen; Cultural Services of the French Embassy; Delphi Capital Management, Inc.; e-flux; Étant Donnés, The French-American Fund for the Visual Arts, a program of the French American Cultural Exchange; The French-American Fund for Contemporary Music, a program of FACE; French Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Harriet and Richard Gold; Lenore S. and Bernard A. Greenberg; Elyse and Stanley Grinstein; Henson International Festival of Puppet Theater; IIC (Instituto Italiano di Cultura, Los Angeles); The Japan Foundation/Performing Arts JAPAN; La Colección Jumex; kurimanzutto; L.A. Louver Gallery, Inc.; The Sharon D. Lund Foundation; Steve Martin; National Dance Project; National Endowment for the Arts; E. Nakamichi Foundation; Phaedrus Foundation; Vicki Reynolds Pepper and Murray Pepper; The Puffin Foundation, Inc.; V. Joy Simmons; The Skirball Foundation; SONORA, in collaboration with Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Italy; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and White Cube Gallery, London. As CalArts' downtown center for innovative visual, media and performing arts, REDCAT, the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater, introduces diverse audiences, students and artists to the most influential developments in the arts from around the world, and gives artists in the Los Angeles region the creative support they need to achieve national and international stature. REDCAT is a center for experimentation, discovery and charged civic discourse. |
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