A performance for voices/cello/electronics by Carmina Escobar and Theresa Wong, plus a surprise.
Carmina Escobar is a singer and multimedia artist from Mexico City exploring a diversity of sonorous languages such as contemporary music, opera, medieval music, folk music, electronic music and experimental trends involving interdisciplinary collaborations and multimedia. As a soloist she has performed concerts of contemporary repertoire for solo voice, the premieres of works by young composers and performances of her own compositions. She has appeared in diverse forums and festivals all around the Mexican Republic, USA and Europe collaborating with artists of diverse disciplines and backgrounds as Thollem McDonas, ROVA saxophone quartet, Vinny Golia, Carole Kim, Theresa Wong, Mia Makela, Don McLeod, Denis Kolokol, Partch Ensemble, Estamos Ensemble, Ricardo Castillo, Fernando Vigueras, Esteban Montes, David Attie, Rebecca Levy, Apeiron Teatro, among many others. As an active improviser, in a solo context as in a group context, she utilizes real-time vocal processing and the use of concrète elements through electronic media.
Theresa Wong is a cellist, vocalist, composer and improviser whose work encompasses music, theater and the visual arts. Her training in classical music and design fused during a fellowship at Fabrica Center in Treviso, Italy where she recognized the possibility of creative performance through encounters with Lawrence Weiner, Koichi Makigami and Alexander Balanescu. Bridging areas of musical and visual expression, Wong seeks to find the opportunity for transformation in each work for both the artist and receiver alike. Her current projects include: O Sleep, a multi-faceted improvised opera which explores the conundrum of sleep and dream life and The Unlearning, a collection of songs for cello, violin and two voices inspired by Francisco Goya’sDisasters of War etchings. Her compositions include Castings performed by sfSound,Meet Me at the Future Garden performed with the Magikmagik* Orchestra for Performa 09’s Music for 16 Futurist Noise Intoners, What Orbs! premiered by Luciano Chessa at the San Francisco Conservatory and Call It Culture a duo for two cellos performed by Joan Jeanrenaud and herself. Wong was invited by dance visionary Anna Halprin to perform a leading vocal role in Spirit of Place, a site-specific performance honoring Stern Grove. She is also a cast member on cello, voice and piano in Carla Kihlstedt’sNecessary Monsters theater project. In addition, she has collaborated with such artists as Fred Frith, Kanoko Nishi, Joelle Leandre, Gianni Gebbia, Ellen Fullman and ROVA Saxophone Quartet. Her performances have been included at the Fondation Cartier in Paris, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, Festival Internacional de Puebla, Mexico, Unlimited 21 Festival in Wels, Austria, Other Minds Brink series in San Francisco, Radio France broadcast, A L’improviste and at The Stone in New York City. Wong currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.