Hildegard Westerkamp
Westerkamp grew up in post-war Germany and emigrated to Canada in 1968. As a freelance composer/audio artist, she has completed numerous compositions since 1975, all of which deal with aspects of the acoustic environment. They have been performed in concert and broadcast on radio internationally. Beneath the Forest Floor, commissioned by CBC's Two New Hours, received a mention in the radio music category of Prix Italia 1994. She has taught courses in Acoustic Communication at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and has given many lectures, workshops and seminars on sound, noise, acoustic ecology and music. For the last three years, she has been the editor of The Soundscape Newsletter, the offical voice of the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology. More recently, she has conducted soundscape workshops internationally and is currently working on a larger audio work, Visiting India, A Sonic Journey in Two Parts.
All Releases by Hildegard Westerkamp
Randy Weston
"In African music," Randy Weston observed in a 1998 interview, "there aren't the categories of the past, the present and the future. Music is a timeless thing." He proves it every time he touches a piano or puts pencil to composition paper. Weston descends from a long line of seers who build on what the ancestors left us to create music of startling originality-music of the future. This is why Ancient Future (a title lovingly borrowed from Dr. Wayne Chandler's new book Ancient Future: The Teachings and Prophetic Wisdom of the Seven Hermetic Laws of Ancient Egypt) so perfectly defines Weston's approach to music and life. Like Dr. Chandler's book, Weston's music reveals the wisdom of the ancient world, where art, science, and spirituality were one, where music was not entertainment-for-sale but a life-force at the core of civilization itself. Weston demolishes distinctions between traditional and modern, composition and improvisation, enveloping us with what really counts: the music's spiritual essence. And what better way to capture the spiritual dimensions of this great music than Weston, in his solitude, singing, praying, meditating, shouting, through the medium of Bosendorfer piano which he transforms into a giant talking drum or a 97-stringed kora?
Julia White
Julia White is a visual artist who is passionate about the power of creativity to heal and transform us, both personally and globally. Her most recent work, for example, Threads of Peace was initiated out of a need to reconnect with her own inner peace. Julia spends each day with her children, ages 1 and 2; a rich and wonderful experience! However, when friends would ask how she was coping, she would often reply, "I am holding a thread." Listening to herself, she realized- this thread was peace. So, with thread in hand, Julia embarked upon a new creative journey, where art is ritual and peace...she discovered, is within.
Frances White
(b. 1960) is a composer working primarily in the medium of music for instruments and tape. Her more recent works include: Resonant landscape (1990), an ineractive computer-music installation which was presented for two weeks in 1990 at the Kelvingrove Art Galleries in Glasgow; Trees (1991) for six instruments and tape, a commission by the Groupe de musique experimentale de Bourges; and Winter Aconites (1993) for six instruments and tape, a commission by the ASCAP Foundation in memory of John Cage. Ms. White lives in Princeton, New Jersey with her husband, writer James Prichett, their two cats, and an ever-expanding collection of species and hybrid orchids.
Brian Willson
Brian Willson has traveled from rock and roll to jazz to club dates to oldies bands to Broadway shows to contemporary music. He is an accomplished performer in both the jazz and classical worlds, and an ardent improviser. After touring the world as percussionist and musical director with several Broadway shows he has dedicated his musical pursuits to jazz drumming, improvisation, conducting contemporary music, and performing and touring as Assistant Conductor with the Brooklyn College Percussion Ensemble. He recently recorded a series of duets with Pauline Oliveros, AS IT IS and a DVD of improvised music called JUST PLAYIN', to be broadcast on CUNY TV. He is co-leader of a straight ahead jazz quartet, The Salim Washington-Brian Willson Quartet. Mr. Willson began improvising circa 1977 after hearing Sun Ra and his Arkestra in Chicago.
Danielle Woerner
Soprano, Danielle Woerner, a performer, recording artist and voice teacher, Danielle commands an impressively broad repertoire of music, from classical and operatic to jazz, popular, folk, world music and musical theater, spanning the middle ages to the present day. She consistently delights audiences with her beautiful voice, artful singing and powerful stage presence.
