Machine Project

April Guthrie and Cassia Streb
Episode Six of Everybody Loves Difficult Music, a music and discussion series
Friday April 21st 8:00pm
Machine Project
1200 D North Alvarado Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026
213 483 8761

Free

Listen to Guthrie & Streb, the contemporary cello & viola duo, perform duets by Wadada Leo Smith, “In the Diaspora: Earthquakes and Sunrise Missions” and Cat Lamb, “Gallant Effegies of sweet sulfates: in the hour of an orange moon.” There will also be a live scoring of a new film by Mareca Guthrie. Composer Aaron Drake has been comissioned to write a work and deliver it in a sealed envelope, which the duo will open before your eyes and premiere. Come and hear the “Difficult Superhits” of tomorrow.

We, Guthrie & Streb, started working together in 2005 and already have more than 30 compositions in our repertoire–most of which were comissioned for our ensemble. In our work, we strive to create a flexible community of artists who not only depend on one another for the execution of their compositions, but also inspire one another to expand beyond those writings.

April Guthrie April Guthrie is in her second and final year of her Master’s Degree in multi-focus cello performance at CalArts. This Kansas City native received her BA in cello performance and environmental studies at Illinois Wesleyan University. During her studies at IWU she began working with Mario Pelusi and David Vayo in the realm of new music interpretation and performance, and also began her work directly with composers–Libby Larson, Mario Lavista, and Louis Andriessen (“La voce”). She has studied cello with Ludemilda Lupatcheva, Dr. Nina Gordon, and currently studies with Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick of the California EAR Unit. More recently, she founded a sextet with five vocalists, and in March of 2006 they performed the North American premiere of Greek composer George Aperghis’ “Sextour: L’origine des especes.” Ms. Guthrie is currently organizing a retrospective concert of the work of American composer Earle Brown with friends and colleagues of the late Mr. Brown performing. Her musical style is also being influenced by studies with the renowned Javanese composer Djoko Walujo WP–with whom she studies rebab and performs with in the Kyai Dorodasih Gamelan on both cello and Javanese gamelan instruments.

Cassia Streb is a violist, improviser and composer from Vancouver, Canada. She is very active in the field of contemporary and experimental music and performs regularly as a soloist as well as a chamber musician. In this area of her music, she works with Christian Wolff, James Tenney and Michael Pisaro. Cassia is involved in a range of styles of music. She performs with the Kyai Dorodasih Javanese Gamelan Ensemble and the Vinny Golia Large Ensemble. Cassia collaborates with many artists through improvisation, also with electronics, theatre and film. She studies improvisation with Vinny Golia and experimental notation interpretation with Wadada Leo Smith. As a supporter of new compositions, she has commissioned and performed a large number of works by established and emerging composers. She has worked closely with a range of artists including Jurg Frey, John Zorn, Morton Subotnik, Mark Trayle, David Rosenboom, Radu Malfatti and members of the California EAR Unit. Cassia holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Victoria and she is currently completing her Masters’ at the California Institute of the Arts where she studies with Mark Menzies and Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick.

More information on Guthrie and Streb: www.guthrieandstreb.com