Dan Joseph - Composer

The Old Stone House, a historic interpretive center and community resource in Park Slope, presents a concert of contemporary music featuring composer and hammer dulcimer player Dan Joseph with cellist Loren Dempster and glass instrument specialist Miguel Frasconi. Veterans of both the Downtown and Bay Area experimental avant-gardes, these three musicians are drawn together by a shared interest in merging natural acoustic materials with contemporary technology. While Dempster and Joseph have maintained an active collaboration since 2002, melding a lyrical minimalism with ambient improvisation, with performances in New York and San Francisco this will be their first collaboration with Frasconi. The program will include a mix of solos, duos and trios mixing traditional and non-traditional instruments with live computer processing.

Dan Joseph began his career as a drummer in the vibrant punk scene of his native Washington, DC. During the late 1980s, he was active in the experimental tape music underground, producing ambient-industrial works for independent labels in the U.S. and abroad. He spent the ‘90s in California where he studied at CalArts and Mills College. His principal teachers include Pauline Oliveros, Alvin Curran and Terry Riley. As an artist who embraces the musical multiplicity of our time, Dan works simultaneously in a variety of media and contexts, including instrumental chamber music, free improvisation, and various forms of electronica and sound art. Since the late 1990s, the hammer dulcimer has been the primary vehicle for his music. As a performer he is active with his own chamber ensemble, The Dan Joseph Ensemble, as well as in various improvisational collaborations and as an occasional soloist.

Raised on the west coast, Loren Dempster received cello performance degrees from the University of Washington and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Shortly afterwards he became a touring musician with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company starting in April 1999 with the premiere of Biped with music by Gavin Bryars, and the premiere of Interscape, which uses John Cage's solo cello work "one to the 8th power." A New York City resident since 2002, Dempster is an active performer, composer, and educator. He regularly plays with several contemporary music ensembles including Anti-Social Music, American Composer's Alliance, Dan Joseph Ensemble, Jessica Pavone Ensemble, Left Hand Path Ensemble and Till by Turning. He is a regular collaborator with numerous choreographers and dance companies, most recently playing music by Chris Lancaster for Zenon Dance Company's New York season in July. He has numerous 2007-08 European tour dates with Berlin based choreographer Jeremy Wade and performances this fall performing Biped with the Merce Cunningham Company.

Miguel Frasconi uses glass objects, electronics, keyboards, and "de-evolved" instruments to create music that sounds from a uniquely imagined tradition. His glass instruments have been called "a beautiful menagerie of pealing contraptions" (Time Out NY), while his music has been called "lyrical and stormy" (New York Times). He is a founder of the Toronto-based Glass Orchestra as well as the Bay Area sound sculpture band Mobius Operandi, and has performed extensively with the Paul Dresher Ensemble and with trumpeter Jon Hassell. His recent activities include a new score for choreographer Alonzo King, performances with electronic music pioneer Morton Subotnick, a newly commissioned work for Gamelan Son of Lion, and concerts with the New York-based composers collective Ne(x)tworks.

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	Contact: Dan Joseph, 718-930-2286, dcomposer@earthlink.net FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 12, 2008, 8PM ANCIENT INSTRUMENTS AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES: Dan Joseph, Loren Dempster and Miguel Frasconi THE OLD STONE HOUSE 5th Avenue btw 3rd and 4th Streets Park Slope, Brooklyn 11215 718-768-3195 • www.theoldstonehouse.org Subway: F or the R to Fourth Avenue, or the R to Union Street.
	The Old Stone House, a historic interpretive center and community resource in Park Slope, presents a concert of contemporary music featuring composer and hammer dulcimer player Dan Joseph with cellist Loren Dempster and glass instrument specialist Miguel Frasconi. Veterans of both the Downtown and Bay Area experimental avant-gardes, these three musicians are drawn together by a shared interest in merging natural acoustic materials with contemporary technology. While Dempster and Joseph have maintained an active collaboration since 2002, melding a lyrical minimalism with ambient improvisation, with performances in New York and San Francisco this will be their first collaboration with Frasconi. The program will include a mix of solos, duos and trios mixing traditional and non-traditional instruments with live computer processing. Dan Joseph began his career as a drummer in the vibrant punk scene of his native Washington, DC. During the late 1980s, he was active in the experimental tape music underground, producing ambient-industrial works for independent labels in the U.S. and abroad. He spent the ‘90s in California where he studied at CalArts and Mills College. His principal teachers include Pauline Oliveros, Alvin Curran and Terry Riley. As an artist who embraces the musical multiplicity of our time, Dan works simultaneously in a variety of media and contexts, including instrumental chamber music, free improvisation, and various forms of electronica and sound art. Since the late 1990s, the hammer dulcimer has been the primary vehicle for his music. As a performer he is active with his own chamber ensemble, The Dan Joseph Ensemble, as well as in various improvisational collaborations and as an occasional soloist. Raised on the west coast, Loren Dempster received cello performance degrees from the University of Washington and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Shortly afterwards he became a touring musician with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company starting in April 1999 with the premiere of Biped with music by Gavin Bryars, and the premiere of Interscape, which uses John Cage's solo cello work "one to the 8th power." A New York City resident since 2002, Dempster is an active performer, composer, and educator. He regularly plays with several contemporary music ensembles including Anti-Social Music, American Composer's Alliance, Dan Joseph Ensemble, Jessica Pavone Ensemble, Left Hand Path Ensemble and Till by Turning. He is a regular collaborator with numerous choreographers and dance companies, most recently playing music by Chris Lancaster for Zenon Dance Company's New York season in July. He has numerous 2007-08 European tour dates with Berlin based choreographer Jeremy Wade and performances this fall performing Biped with the Merce Cunningham Company. Miguel Frasconi uses glass objects, electronics, keyboards, and "de-evolved" instruments to create music that sounds from a uniquely imagined tradition. His glass instruments have been called "a beautiful menagerie of pealing contraptions" (Time Out NY), while his music has been called "lyrical and stormy" (New York Times). He is a founder of the Toronto-based Glass Orchestra as well as the Bay Area sound sculpture band Mobius Operandi, and has performed extensively with the Paul Dresher Ensemble and with trumpeter Jon Hassell. His recent activities include a new score for choreographer Alonzo King, performances with electronic music pioneer Morton Subotnick, a newly commissioned work for Gamelan Son of Lion, and concerts with the New York-based composers collective Ne(x)tworks.
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