The Squid's Ear Magazine


Zorn, John: Femina (Tzadik)

A beautifully packaged work performed by Sylvie Courvoisier, Iku Mori, Laurie Anderson, Jennifer Choi, Carol Emanuel & Shayna Dunkelman in Zorn's tribute to women in the Arts.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Jennifer Choi-Violin

Sylvie Courvoisier-Piano

Carol Emanuel-Harp

Okkyung Lee-Cello

Ikue Mori-Electronics

Shayna Dunkelman-Percussion



Special Guest



Laurie Anderson-Opening Narration


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




Includes a 52 page booklet of images by Kiki Smith.

UPC: 702397737728

Label: Tzadik
Catalog ID: TZA-CD-7377
Squidco Product Code: 11937

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2009
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardstock Gatefold sleeve in a clear plastic sleeve
Recorded December 16-18, 208 and mixed January 26, 2009 at EastSide Sound by Marc Urselli. Mastered by Scott Hull.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Structured as a colorful tribute to women in the arts, Femina is a triumphant return to the file card technique that has produced some of Zorn's most shockingly original compositions. Much like an aural film, the music jumps from scene to scene with breathtaking precision, following its own peculiar logic. Hildegard von Bingen, Meredith Monk, Simone de Beauvoir, Frida Kahlo, Madame Blavatsky, Isadora Duncan, Hélène Cixous, Gertrude Stein, Abe Sada, Sylvia Plath, Louise Bourgeois, Margaret Mead, Loie Fuller, Dorothy Parker, Yoko Ono and the moon goddess En Hedu'Anna are just a few of the figures who are referenced, reflected and summoned in this soulful and exhilarating tribute to some of the greatest hearts and minds that ever lived. Featuring an all-woman band of some of the downtown scene's most creative and talented musicians, Femina is one of Zorn's deepest and most profoundly beautiful creations. Unique packaging contains artwork and a booklet of images by Kiki Smith, one of the world's greatest and most important art visionaries."-Tzadik


Includes a 52 page booklet of images by Kiki Smith.


This album has been reviewed on our magazine:

The Squid
The Squid's Ear!

Artist Biographies

"Jennifer Choi has charted a career that breaks through the conventional boundaries of solo violin, chamber music, and the art of improvisation. Hailed by The New York Times as an "excellent violinist," "soulful, compelling," and by Time Out New York as "passionate," and "adventurous", Jennifer has performed worldwide in venues such as the Library of Congress in Washington D. C., the RAI National Radio in Rome, Hong Kong National Radio, and the Mozartsalle in Vienna since giving her debut recital at Carnegie Hall's Weill Hall in 2000. Having gained a significant reputation as "a leading New York new music violinist," (Boston Globe), Jennifer has pioneered new works and engaging performances to the forefront of todays contemporary music scene.

A prominent chamber musician, Jennifer was a former violinist of the Miró String Quartet. With her involvement, the group won Grand Prize at Fischoff National Competition and First prize at Coleman chamber music competition. She has performed for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, The Metropolitan and Guggenheim Museums, MOMA Summer Garden Series, Ravinia Festival, Barge Music, Caramoor Music, Strathmore Mansion series, Ridotto, and numerous other chamber music series across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. She joined ETHEL during their 2011-2012 season, and previous to that, was member of Fireworks Ensemble and Sirius String Quartet. Currently, Jennifer is a principle violinist of Either/Or and ECCE new music ensembles.

Jennifer's recent highlights include collaborations with TALUJON Percussion Ensemble in Lou Harrison's Concerto for Violin and Percussion, guest artist appearances at the Skaneateles Festival, Austin Classical Guitar Society, and Fayetteville Chamber Music Festival.

A frequent collaborator with today's most exciting composers, Jennifer has performed solo works written for her including Randall Woolf's Holding Fast for violin and video, Wadada Leo Smith's violin concerto Afrikana 2, Orlando Garcia's violin concerto Una Marea Cresciente. She has given numerous world premieres of solo and chamber works by John Zorn, and U. S. premieres of Jacob TV and Helmut Lachenmann and can be heard on over a dozen albums for TZADIK record label, New Focus Records, New World Records, Starkland label, and on her self-released album, Violectrica- Works for Solo Violin and Electronics.

In 2001, Jennifer found another voice with her violin through the art of improvisation when she joined the Susie Ibarra Trio with drummer, Susie Ibarra and pianist, Craig Taborn. Her first show as an improvisor was at the Walker Museum of Art in Minneapolis. From that day forward, she began a dual career as a creative improvisor with tours of Europe and North America leading to subsequent collaborations with jazz greats Wadada Leo Smith, Ikue Mori, Erik Friedlander, Mark Feldman, Trevor Dunn, and Ches Smith. Through these collaborations, Jennifer has found a unique connection between classical and improvised repertoire as a source for unparalleled expression in performances.

A dedicated music educator, Jennifer is a veteran Teaching Artist for the New York Philharmonic and the 92nd Street Y. She has created in-school curriculums, given lectures, and instrument demonstrations to over 1000 school children. She has also served numerous residencies and continues to give master classes, composer readings, and recitals at universities around the world including of the Vermont College of Fine Arts, the University of Freiburg, Shanghai Conservatory, Zhengzhou University, Mannes School of Music, Oberlin, and Tulane University.

Jennifer is a graduate of the Juilliard School and Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and can be heard on the Golden Globe winning series, Mozart In the Jungle."

-Jennifer Choi Website (https://www.jenniferchoi.com/bio)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Sylvie Courvoisier is a pianist, composer and improviser. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, Courvoisier moved to New York in 1998 and has lived in Brooklyn since that time.

Courvoisier has led several groups over the years and has recorded over 25 records as a leader or co-leader for different labels, notably ECM , Tzadik and Intakt Records and 30 cds as a sideperson. She has performed and recorded with John Zorn, Mark Feldman, Yusef Lateef, Ikue Mori, Tony Oxley, Tim Berne, Joey Baron, Joëlle Léandre, Herb Robertson, Butch Morris, Evan Parker, Mark Dresser, Ellery Eskelin, Lotte Anker, Fred Frith, Michel Godard, Tomazs Stanko among others. She has been commissioned to write music for concerts, radio, dance and theater. Since 1996, she has been touring widely with her own groups and as a side person in USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and Europe.

Currently, Courvoisier is the leader of her TRIO with Kenny Wollesen and Drew Gress. She performs regularly Solo and since 1997, in Duo with violinist Mark Feldman. She co-leads the Sylvie Courvoisier/Mark Feldman Quartet with Scott Colley and Billy Mintz. Since 2000, she has been a member of Mephista, an improvising collective trio with Ikue Mori and Susie Ibarra. She is currently playing and touring in different projects of John Zorn including Cobra and Masada Marathon. She is also playing in Erik Friedlander's Trio, Herb Robertson's Quintet and Nate Wooley's Quartet. Since 2010, she has been working as a pianist and composer for flamenco dancer Israel Galvan's project "la Curva" with more than 150 performances around the world.

Awards include Switzerland's 1996 Prix des jeunes créateurs; Zonta Club's 2000 Prix de la Création; Switzerland's 2010 Grand Prix de la Fondation Vaudoise de la Culture; 2013's NYFA (NewYork Foundation For the Art) Music/Sound Fellowship."

-Sylvie Courvoisier Website (http://www.sylviecourvoisier.com/bio.htm)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Carol Emanuel is one of New York's leading contemporary harpists. Her music encompasses Western Classical, New Music, and Afro-Brazilian idioms, all of which she combines in her improvisations. After earning degrees from the University of Rochester and the California Institute of the Arts, she studied and performed with Gunther Schuller and Ran Blake at the New England Conservatory Of Music.

In the new music field, she has performed with Anthony Braxton, Earl Howard, Bobby Previte, Arto Lindsay, Lawrence "Butch" Morris, and John Zorn.

Ms. Emanuel was a featured artist in Women In Improvisation at Symphony Space, and her group Verde performed her compositions at the Kitchen. Her theatrical credits include Martha Clarke's Vienna: Lusthaus and Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival. She performed in John Zorn's Track and Field at the Kool Jazz Festival and she has appeared at jazz festivals in Germany, Holland, and Austria.

In the classical field, Ms. Emanuel has performed with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and toured with the Goldovsky Opera Company, and has played with the Springfield, MA and Albany, NY Symphonies. She was a featured soloist with the Gregg Smith Singers at Alice Tully Hall, and at contemporary music festivals in San Diego, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles, and has given chamber recitals at the Brooklyn Museum, Wave Hill, and the Bloomingdale School of Music.

In Las Vegas, she has performed in shows headlined by Juliet Prowse, Neil Sedaka, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Tony Orlando, and Peter Allen, among others. Ms. Emanuel's playing is featured on over 25 recordings, including Leo Smith's critically acclaimed "Spirit Catcher" (Nessa Records) with her two sisters, Ruth and Irene, also harpists.

Working with the composer John Zorn for over 20 years, Carol is the harpist on the groundbreaking Spillane and Godard as well as Filmworks, the recent Femina and many other recorded scores. In 2008-2009 Carol performed Zorn's Shir Hashirim at the Guggenheim Museum, the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland, and in Paris at the Jazz a la Villette Festival and at the new La Scala in Milan.

Carol's first CD, Tops of Trees on Koch Jazz was an adventurous exploration of harp in unusual new settings created by many of the top composers of the downtown scene in New York City -- Bobby Previte, Butch Morris, Bill Frisell, Marty Ehrlich, Guy Klucevek and John Zorn.

Carol Emanuel is also on recordings by Bobby Previte, Danny Elfman's Oingo Boingo, Seigen Ono and Hal Willner and Cyndi Lauper."

-Carol Emanuel Website (http://carolemanuelharp.com/)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Okkyung Lee, a New York-based artist and South Korea native, has created a body of work blurring genre boundaries through collaborations and compositions while pushing the limitation of contemporary cello performance techniques. Her music draws from noise and extended techniques, jazz, Western classical, and Korean traditional and popular music.

Since moving to New York in 2000, She has released more than 20 albums including the latest solo record Ghil produced by Lasse Marhaug on EditionsMego/Ideologic Organ, Noisy Love Songs (for George Dyer) on Tzadik.She has performed and recorded with numerous artists from wide ranges such as Laurie Anderson, David Behrman, Mark Fell, Douglas Gordon, Jenny Hval, Vijay Iyer, Christian Marclay, Ikue Mori, Lawrence D "Butch" Morris, Marina Rosenfeld, Jim o'Rourke, Evan Parker, Wadada Leo Smith, C Spencer Yeh and John Zorn to name just a few.

Since 2010, she has been developing a site-specific duo project with New York based dancer/choreographer Michelle Boulé. They have performed at Issue Project Room, Mount Tremper Art Center and send+receive fesival in Winnipeg, Canada and scheduled perform at The Met Breuer Building on March 12th, 2016 as a part of the inaugural program, curated by pianist/composer Vijay Iyer. She opened for a legendary experimental rock group Swans in May, 2015 in Northern Europe and UK. In early 2015, Okkyung presented new compositions commissioned by London Sinfonietta as a part of Christian Marclay's exhibit at White Cube Gallery in London.

Okkyung was rewarded with prestigious Doris Duke Performing Artist Award in 2015 and received Foundation For Contemporary Arts Grant in 2010.

She received a dual bachelor's degree in Contemporary Writing & Production and Film Scoring from Berklee College of Music in 1998 and a master's degree in Contemporary Improvisation from New England Conservatory of Music in 2000."

-Okkyung Lee Website (http://www.okkyunglee.info/about)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Ikue Mori moved from her native city of Tokyo to New York in 1977. She started playing drums and soon formed the seminal NO WAVE band DNA, with fellow noise pioneers Arto Lindsay and Tim Wright. DNA enjoyed legendary cult status, while creating a new brand of radical rhythms and dissonant sounds; forever altering the face of rock music.

In the mid 80's Ikue started in employ drum machines in the unlikely context of improvised music. While limited to the standard technology provided by the drum machine, she has never the less forged her own highly sensitive signature style. Through out in 90's She has subsequently collaborated with numerous improvisors throughout the US, Europe, and Asia, while continuing to produce and record her own music. 1998, She was invited to perform with Ensemble Modern as the soloist along with Zeena Parkins, and composer Fred Frith, also "One hundred Aspects of the Moon" commissioned by Roulette/Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust. Ikue won the Distinctive Award for Prix Ars Electronics Digital Music category in 99.

In 2000 Ikue started using the laptop computer to expand on her already signature sound, thus broadening her scope of musical expression. 2000 commissioned by the KITCHEN ensemble, wrote and premired the piece "Aphorism" also awarded Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship. 2003 commissioned by RELACHE Ensemble to write a piece for film In the Street and premired in Philadelphia. Started working with visual played by the music since 2004. In 2005 Awarded Alphert/Ucross Residency.

Ikue received a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts in 2006. In 2007 the Tate Modern commissioned Ikue to create a live sound track for screenings of Maya Deren's silent films. In 2008 Ikue celebrated her 30th year in NY and performed at the Japan Society. Recent commissioners include the Montalvo Arts Center and SWR German radio program and Shajah Art foundation in UAE. Current working groups include MEPHISTA with Sylvie Courvoisier and Susie Ibarra, PHANTOM ORCHARD with Zeena Parkins, project with Koichi Makigami and various ensembles of John Zorn. New duo Twindrums project with YoshimiO  workshop/lecture in various schools include University of Gothenburg, Dartmouth Collage, New England Conservatory, Mills Collage, Stanford University, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago"

-Ikue Mori Website (http://www.ikuemori.com/bio.html)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson (born June 5, 1947) is an American avant-garde artist, composer, musician and film director whose work spans performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and sculpting, Anderson pursued a variety of performance art projects in New York during the 1970s, making particular use of language, technology, and visual imagery. She became widely more known outside the art world in 1981 when her single "O Superman" reached number two on the UK pop charts. She also starred in and directed the 1986 concert film Home of the Brave.

Anderson is a pioneer in electronic music and has invented several devices that she has used in her recordings and performance art shows. In 1977, she created a tape-bow violin that uses recorded magnetic tape on the bow instead of horsehair and a magnetic tape head in the bridge. In the late 1990s, she developed a talking stick, a six-foot (1.8 m) long baton-like MIDI controller that can access and replicate sounds.

Anderson started dating Lou Reed in 1992, and was married to him from 2008 until his death in 2013."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_Anderson)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Part 1 11:42

2. Part 2 10:11

3. Part 3 10:16

4. Part 4 3:17

Related Categories of Interest:

Tzadik

Improvised Music
Jazz
Compositional Forms
NY Downtown & Jazz/Improv
Zorn. John
Mori, Ikue

Search for other titles on the label:
Tzadik.


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