Biliana Voutchkova is part of the reason why this exists, the site, the concerts, my (me the president's) love of free music. It was at a performance in LA, at the now defunct Blue Whale in koreatown, that Jessica and I heard for the first time free-improvisation, Biliana performing alongside pianist Vardan Ovespian. What we heard changed our lives.

In the past year or so, I've only come to realize what an important person Biliana is, founding the DARA string festival, premiering all sorts of musical works, and producing sounds which shake us to our core.

She'll be joined by Isidora Edwards, cellist, synthesist, scholar. At the bleeding edge of thought and sound, I'm genuinely excited for the novel and bold ideas that will emerge. It is with great pride and joy that I present to Philadelphia these outstanding artists.

Returning from their ad-hoc trioing in Obligatory Oblivion, centered around the movements of Vyette Tiya scored responsively by embodied electronicist Levi Lu (laptop/body percussion) and acoustic wild card Aaron Pond (horn/voice/flutes/percussion)

$18 to $36 Advance tickets are highly recommended

door 7:30 Show 8pm

Bios

Biliana Voutchkova is a dynamic, thoroughly engaged interdisciplinary artist, violinist, composer-performer, improvisor and curator with highly individual, unconventional artistic language. Through the prism of listening, her early training in classical music and the years of development as contemporary artist-performer, she explores states of spontaneity and intuitive resonance embodied in her multifaceted activities. Her work spans the widest possible range of sound, vision, movement and includes concert performances of improvisation, contemporary composition and original site specific work, exhibitions, long durational / multidisciplinary performances, audiovisual works and installation formats with focus on the interconnection between inner world and sound space. Biliana works internationally as a soloist and in collaboration with many renowned artists and ensembles. She is the founder and curator of the DARA String Festival, faculty at the Academy of Arts Bern/HKB, SHAPE+ Platform artist for 2022/2023, co-founder and member of Voutchkova/ Thieke duo, Jane in Ether and the L a n d S t a g e s Collective, and a recent recipient of the Berlin Residency Stipends at Cité des Arts / Paris, Villa Aurora / Los Angeles, the Composition Stipend from the Berliner Senate, grands from INM/Berlin, Musikfonds, the National Culture Fund/Bulgaria and the Trust for Mutual Understanding/New York.

ISIDORA EDWARDS is a Chilean cellist, improviser and composer, currently a PhD researcher at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she is actively exploring the ways in which women shape their performative praxis in sound under patriarchal biases. As a soloist and in collaboration with artists from different disciplines and ensembles, she has been part of many international experimental music and contemporary dance festivals. Isidora holds a MMus in Creative Practice from Goldsmiths and graduated and as a music performer from the PUC Music Institute, Chile. She lives in London with her son Nicanor and is an ANID Becas Chile scholarship holder.

Qiujiang Levi Lu/卢秋江 (they/them) is a Beijing-born, NYC-based performance artist, vocalist, experimental improviser, composer, and lecturer. For their solo performance art practice, Lu designs Max/MSP-based electroacoustic feedback systems with cyborg-like body augmentations inspired by Objectophilia/animism, which include special microphones and speakers placed within bodily orifices, augmented amplified laptop, and a custom-mapped flight joystick controller. Their resulting performances consist of choreographed, ritualistic improvisations that build on ancient Chinese drumming traditions and explore body dysmorphia, sexuality, spirituality, and mortality, linking together sound, movement, and violence in divine ceremony.

As a composer, Lu writes instructed improvisation pieces for acoustic and electronic performers and improvisers. Lu’s commissioned works often take a meta, unorthodox approach to music technology, exploring human-machine relationships, audio-visual interactivity, mind-body connection, and the phenomenology of musical performance. Lu holds a Master of Music in Computer Music from Peabody Conservatory and currently works as a lecturer and an audio engineer in the Department of Music at the University of Pennsylvania.

Aaron Pond is a musician, concert promoter, and community organizer active in Philadelphia. His improvisational practice is drawn from early atonal music, the playful spirituality of the AACM, and a South Florida childhood spent in synagogues and swamps. His scholarly pursuits center the universal aesthetic structures of spirit possession and the marking power of ritual. Aaron wishes to find himself in the turbulent seas of sensation. You can find him performing in his many bands (BORBS, Inverse and Obverse, Argyle Torah, Toro Bravo, and Boldt Fog) and with the wonderful denizens of Philly's dance community.

Vyette Tiya (she/her) is a Kenyan-American dancer and performance artist based in Philadelphia. Vyette’s work explores ideas around ancestry, lineage, interpersonal dynamics, belongingness, and external stimuli. Her movement vocabulary includes African, hip hop, contemporary, and jazz. She is most interested in interdisciplinary collaboration, improvisation as practice, and centering movement as a way to tap into our authentic selves. Among others, Vyette has performed in works by Keila Cordova/3 Pony Show, Britta Joy Peterson, Omari Wiles, Davalois Fearon, and Extreme Lengths Productions. Currently, Vyette is an administrator and teaching artist with Philly Dance Class Share, a collective that hosts classes for all levels and forms. Vyette holds a Bachelor’s from American University and a Master’s degree from Princeton University. Connect with her at vyettetiya.com or @vyettetiya on social media.

NOW is NOW- Biliana Voutchkova/Isidora Edwards

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