http://vimeo.com/19489025
https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/eriklund/Compost%20Q%20Sound%20Files/
http://roulette.org/events/compost-q-morgan-powell-dorothy-martirano-yu-chen-wang-erik-lund-armand-beaudoin-kirstie-simson-2/
compostQ
a seasoned, multi-dimensional collective steeped in improvisation • composition • dance
urbana/champaign • illinois
dorothy martirano, violin • yu-chen wang, gu-zheng erik lund, trombone • chris reyman, accordion & keyboards armand beaudoin, double bass • kirstie simson, dance
A music & dance collective of considerable depth and experience, presenting active, rich, organic, and finished collaborations. Together and independently, group members have spent their lives committed to innovation and excellence in the areas of sound and motion. Our concerts unite improvisation and composition in a blend that insures exciting, one-of-a-kind performances that have received strong, positive responses from our audiences. You can check out this video of the group, made at our November 2011 concert at Roulette Intermedium in New York City. http://vimeo.com/19489025
“compostQ presented the essence of improvisation and collaboration: cohesiveness and open- mindnedss. The concert demonstrated their experience, dedication, and deep commitment to the art- making process. Their discussion with students epitomized the spirit of this group, which is to create something greater than what any individual can do alone. It was definitely one of the most engaging experiences for all of us. “
– Kyong Mee Choi, Roosevelt University, Chicago
Contact: Erik Lund
University of Illinois • School of Music • 1114 W. Nevada, Urbana, IL 61801 217.621.7061 • eriklund@illinois.edu
Violinist Dorothy Martirano has performed extensively in North, Central and South America, Europe and Asia, and most
recently in France, Thailand, and Italy. She plays locally and regionally with several groups, including Ms. M. and the Jokers, Tangotta, Motherless Pearls, Maria and Company, and Roadsong. She specializes in contemporary music, and during 2009 premiered new works for violin (by Morgan Powell and Erik Lund) and for violin, tape and dancer (by Ross Feller).
She toured and recorded during the 1980s and early 90s with Composer/Performer/Inventor Salvatore Martirano, doing solo performances of music composed for her, and duos with "Four not Two" a composing/performing interactive computer/MIDI synthesizer system for improvisation.
She has performed and recorded with the Tone-Road Ramblers, the Cal Arts Contemporary Chamber Players, and the University of Chicago Contemporary Chamber Players. Concertmaster of the CUSO since 1990, she has also performed with the Springfield
Symphony, the Illinois Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia da Camera, the Prairie Ensemble, and others. She has recorded for Centaur, Polydor, New World Records, Hal Leonard, Paramount Pictures, Einstein Records, the Korean Broadcasting Corp, CUCD, and Pogo Studios, among others. In addition, she is the Queen of Spain.
A native of Taiwan, Yu-Chen Wang is a graduate of the Tainan National University of the Arts where she studied Gu-Zheng with
Dong-He Ling and Hao-Yin Huang; and composition with Siao-Wun Jhuang and Chao-Min Dong. She has performed in master classes for Yan-Jia Zhou, Li Meng, Ji Qiu, Yuan Sha, Ji Wei, and Lei Zhu. Ms. Wang is the winner of the Gold Prize at the “Golden
Lotus” International Youth Music Competition in Macau, the First Prize at the Taiwan National Music Competition (on three separate occasions), the First Prize at the Chinese Musical Instrument Association’s Competition, and the winner of the Taiwan
Young Concert Artist Competition. Ms. Wang has appeared as soloist with the Tainan National University Chinese Orchestra, the National Chinese Orchestra, and the Kaohsiung City Chinese Orchestra. She has performed many solo recitals and has toured to
Germany with the Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Wang’s compositions are a blend of western classical music and traditional Chinese music. She is interested in expanding the usual instrumentation and forms used in Gu-Zheng ensembles. Since 2009 summer, she has lived in Champaign-Urbana and is working on spreading the Gu-Zheng.
Erik Lund is a composer & trombonist interested in both composed and improvised music. His compositions have won the League
of Composers, International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) and ASCAP composition competitions, and he has received grants for his work from the Musik Biennale-Berlin Festival, Meet the Composer, ASCAP, the Illinois Arts Council, and the Research
Board of the University of Illinois. His works have been commissioned and/or performed by more than a dozen ensembles, including the Arditti Quartet (UK), Orchestra Giovanile Italiana (Italy), Crash Ensemble (Ireland), Wolpe Trio (Germany), Tone
Road Ramblers (USA), and C2 Duo (USA), as well as by notable soloists. Lund’s works have been performed at major festivals in the United States, Europe, Ireland, Taiwan, and South Korea, and are recorded on Opus One Records, Cybele Records, Centaur Records,
and Einstein Records. As a trombonist he has recorded works by Vinko Globokar, Anthony Braxton, and Morgan Powell, and with the Walleye Improvisation Ensemble and Analogue Ensemble. He is a professor of music composition at the University of Illinois.
Chris Reyman maintains a multifaceted career as a pianist, accordionist, composer, improviser and educator. He is a member of several Champaign-Urbana area ensembles, including Almost “A” Quintet, Don’t Ask and Tangotta. He completed his DMA in Jazz
Piano Performance from the University of Illinois in 2011. He currently teaches improvisation, music theory, composition, applied piano and directs small jazz ensembles at Millikin University in Decatur, IL. He also teaches piano, accordion and directs ensembles
at the Community Center for the Arts in Urbana, IL. Through his current work, he seeks to merge art, performance, composition, improvisation, meditative practices and aspects in everyday life. He currently resides in Champaign with his cat.
Armand Beaudoin plays bass & cello. He has worked as a sideman with several jazz greats, including Mary Lou Williams, Charlie Byrd, Mose Allison and Sheila Jordan. Presently, he enjoys working with many fine artists in the vibrant community of
Champaign-Urbana. He is a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois, and has bridged his engineering skills with his interest in experimental and improvised music.
Kirstie Simson (UK) has been a continuous explosion in the Contemporary dance scene, bringing audiences into contact with the vitality of pure creation in moment after moment of virtuoso improvisation. Called "a Force of nature" by the New York Times, she
is an award-winning dancer and teacher who has "immeasurably enriched and expanded the boundaries of New Dance" according to Time Out Magazine, London. Simson’s eternal subject is freedom, as she dares to go beyond the boundaries of form and structure to create movement out of the rhythm of life itself. For the past thirty years Kirstie has collaborated with many dancers and musicians who share a common interest in Improvisation, including Julyen Hamilton, Steve Paxton, Nancy Stark Smith, Simone Forti, Darrell Jones, Michael Schumacher, Katie Duck, Russell Malliphant, Le Quan Ninh and countless others. She was awarded a London Time Out ‘Dance and Performance Award’ as "a unique figure in the dance world” and Jennifer Dunning of the New York Times said of her dancing "Kirstie Simson is justly celebrated in Britain for exquisite, sensuous dancing that seems to come from some simple force of nature". She is renowned today as an excellent teacher and captivating performer who is a leading light in the field of dance improvisation and she is currently involved in making a film about Dance Improvisation with Scottish filmmaker Katrina McPherson.In January 2008 Kirstie joined the faculty of the Dance Department at the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign.