PinkNoise
Johnna Wu, violin
Simon Kanzler, electronics
Roberta Michel, flutes
Kaichi Hirayama, clarinets
Iva Casian Lakos, cello
Chi-Wei Lo, piano

PinkNoise is a New York-based chamber ensemble dedicated to musical improvisation and compositions in acoustic and electronic mediums. They will present improvisations involving live electronics interspersed among a program exploring sonic and dramatic space featuring “Black as a Hack for Cyborgification” by Jessie Cox with the UC Davis Percussion Ensemble, “2.5 Nightmares for Jessie” by Natacha Diels, “The people here go mad. They blame the wind” by Clara Iannotta and “random/control” by Simon Kanzler. 

Program

Jessie Cox: Black as a Hack for Cyborgification (2020)

Black as a Hack for Cyborgification was commissioned by the PinkNoise Ensemble in April of 2020. The open instrumentation project, written by Swiss artist and percussionist Jessie Cox, uses Afrofuturism and other contemporary influences as a basis for the work. The score—marked with different sections with titles such as Venus, Earth, Jupiter, the North Star, and the Sun—is a sort of map where different performers can borrow (or hack!) bits and pieces from different areas of the map and combine them. Jessie’s music has been performed by other renowned contemporary ensembles, including Ensemble Modern, the LA Phil, Sun Ra Arkestra, and the JACK Quartet.

Natacha Diels: 2.5 Nightmares for Jessie (2014)

Clara Iannotta: The people here go mad. They blame the wind (2013–14)

Simon Kanzler: random/control (2021)

About the Ensemble

PinkNoise is a New York-based chamber ensemble dedicated to musical improvisation and compositions in acoustic and electronic mediums as a reaction and response to the conditions of our community and our society. Our mission is to reveal how improvisation in musical performances lies at the intersection of historical and contemporary works, and how it is a synthesis of multifarious cultures and styles from the past and the present that connect us to our conscience in society. We also believe in performing new works by composers in acoustic and electronic mediums and collaborating with visual artists and writers to present music as a collaborative and interdisciplinary art form.​

Each member of the ensemble is a performer, composer, and creator committed to inverting, translating, reflecting, and transcending the boundaries of both old and new music to present a kaleidoscopic range of performances that connect us to our sensibilities and conscience.​

PinkNoise is a recipient of grant awards from the Amphion Foundation and the Fritz Reiner Center for Contemporary Music.