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composer	Keeril Makan (b. 1972)
performers	The Paul Dresher Ensemble Electro-Acoustic Band: Karen Bentley, violin Peter Josheff, bass clarinet Paul Dresher, electric guitar Marja Mutru, keyboard Joel Davel, Marimba Lumina Gene Reffkin, electronic drum set
publisher	Lambhat Press (ASCAP)http://www.keerilmakan.com
label	Tzadik 8053http://www.tzadik.com
duration	11:11

about the music

Keeril Makan:

"Threads extends the sonic boundaries of the violin and bass clarinet by combining their timbres with digitally modified samples of viola, bass clarinet, electric guitar, vibraphone and bass. A bowed and distorted electric guitar is the sonic glue that holds together the acoustic and electroacoustic sound worlds. Time is suspended throughout."

about the composer		back to top

Keeril Makan (b. 1972):

"My approach to composing places the body, hands, and breath at the forefront of the creative process. I start by playing the instruments with assumed naiveté, learning how to extract sounds from them through experimentation. I am on a sort of archeological excavation: I know that the object in my hands is a musical instrument, but the means of eliciting sound from it must be discovered, reconstructed."

Makan was raised in Livingston, New Jersey by a family of mixed Indian and Russian Jewish heritage. Trained as a violinist, he received degrees in music and religion from Oberlin College and Conservatory in Ohio and composition at the University of California, Berkeley. His principal teachers were Randolph Coleman, Richard Hoffman, Edmund Campion, Jorge Liderman, and Richard Felciano. Makan continued his studies abroad through a Fulbright scholarship to the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland, and the George Ladd Prix de Paris to study with Philippe Leroux in Paris, France.

Commissions of Makan's work include the American Composers Orchestra, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Carnegie Hall, Del Sol String Quartet, Kronos Quartet, and The Paul Dresher Ensemble. He has received awards from the Fromm, Gerbode, and Hewlett Foundations, and the 2008 Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome. Festival performances include MATA in New York City, Other Minds in San Francisco, Le Domaine Forget in Quebec, Gaudeamus in the Netherlands, and Voix Nouvelles in France. Makan has collaborated with poet Jena Osman and choreographer Benjamin Levy, and frequently works with the Del Sol String Quartet, percussionist David Shively, and mezzo-soprano Laurie Rubin. His music has been recorded on the innova and Tzadik labels.

Makan has taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and is currently on faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Upcoming projects include commissions from the California EAR Unit and the Harvard Musical Association.

related websites
http://www.keerilmakan.com

about the performers		back to top

The Paul Dresher Ensemble brings contemporary chamber music and new music theater to audiences across the US, presenting works that bridge the gap between different musical genres and traditions. Among its many theater productions include Dresher's The American Trilogy (1988-1990), the John Adams/Peter Sellars production I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw The Sky (1995), and the Steve Mackey/Rinde Eckert solo opera Ravenshead (1998). The ensemble was founded in 1985 by artistic director and composer Paul Dresher; in 1993, to meet the technological and expressive demands of contemporary composers, Dresher also formed The Electro-Acoustic Band. Comprised of six musicians and a sound engineer, the Band performs works from diverse musical traditions, and has commissioned such composers as John Adams, Anthony Davis, Bun-Ching Lam, David Lang, Ingram Marshall, Terry Riley, and Roger Reynolds. In 2001 The Paul Dresher Ensemble premiered Sound Stage, a performance comprised of large-scale, invented musical instruments created in collaboration with Zeitgeist and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The ensemble's performances can be found on the innova, MinMax, New World, Sri Moonshine, Starkland, and Tzadik labels.

related websites
http://www.dresherensemble.org