Wayne Horvitz Gravitas Quartet
Biographie Wayne Horvitz Gravitas Quartet
Wayne Horvitz
is a composer, pianist and electronic musician who has performed extensively throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America. He is the leader of Gravitas Quartet, Sweeter Than the Day, Zony Mash, Pigpen, The Four plus One Ensemble and co-founder of the New York Composers Orchestra. He has performed and collaborated with Bill Frisell, Butch Morris, John Zorn, Robin Holcomb, Fred Frith, Julian Priester, Philip Wilson, Michael Shrieve and Carla Bley, among others. He has been commissioned by the NEA, Meet the Composer, Kronos String Quartet, Seattle Chamber Players, Mary Flagler, BAM, Earshot Jazz and others. Collaborations with choreographers include work with Paul Taylor with the White Oak Dance Project, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, and Crispin Spaeth. film work includes music and sound design for 3 PBS specials and Gus Van Sant’s Psycho.
Cellist, composer, and improviser Peggy Lee performs frequently locally and abroad, and her music has been presented in festivals in France, Portugal, The Netherlands, The US and across Canada. She has also created music for the Standing Wave ensemble, Vancouver New Music, Talking Pictures; for the dance companies EDAM, Dancecorps, Frozen Eye; and for the theatre companies Rumble Theatre and Ruby Slippers. In 2009 Peggy wrote and performed the score for Fugue Theatre’s production of the operetta Via Beatrice with librettist Jenn Griffen and in 2010 she wrote and performed music for Western Gold and Presentation House’s co-production of Eugene Stickland’s play Queen Lear for which she received a Jessie Richardson award for original composition. Peggy is currently a member of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, Standing Wave, Wayne Horvitz’s Gravitas Quartet, Talking Pictures, and the Tony Wilson Sextet. Peggy also leads her own groups, Film in Music, and The Peggy Lee Band––which has released four compact discs that feature her original compositions. In 2004 Peggy was the recipient of the Freddie Stone Award which is awarded for integrity and innovation in music.
Sara Schoenbeck, bassoonist, is dedicated to expanding the sound and role of the bassoon in the worlds of contem- porary notated and improvised music. The Wire magazine places her in the “tiny club of bassoon pioneers” at work in contemporary music today. Sara has performed with Yusef Lateef, Anthony Braxton, Leo Smith, Miya Masaoka, Gino Robair, Fred Frith, John Butcher, Mark Dresser, Pauline Oliveros, and Nels Cline, among others. She is currently a mem- ber of Vinny Golia’s Large Ensemble, the LA contemporary music group, Ensemble Green, Dakah Hip-Hop Orchestra and Adam Rudolph’s GO Organic Orchestra. Sara has performed in jazz orchestras backing Stevie Wonder, Diane Reeves and under the baton of Quincy Jones. She has recorded for television and major motion pictures, including the Matrix trilogy, Dahmer and Spanglish, and has performed throughout North America and Europe at a variety of major festivals.
Denver trumpeter Ron Miles’ resume includes time with Bill Frisell, Don Byron, the Ellington Orchestra, and Fred Hess’ Boulder Creative Music Ensemble. Besides being solicited all over the world for his unique sound, Ron is a staple of the Denver jazz scene and his recent releases as band leader show off his skills as a composer and arranger as well as a “phenomenally gifted trumpeter” (Bill Milkowski). Ron Miles was widely recognized as a musical director and arranger with the release of Ginger Baker’s Coward of the County (Atlantic 1999). His compositions anchor that record and highlight the varied influences from which Ron draws inspiration. Hailed as an inventive composer and gifted trumpeter on his solo releases, Ron cruised through the 1990s with a series of well received releases on Gramavision (My Cruel Hearth, Woman’s Day) and Capri (Witness, Ron Miles Trio).
