Saturday Sept 10, 8PM
Yoshi Wada and Tashi Wada, 0th, Area C, Max Mathews Tribute (with me & Diane Douglas)
Brava! Theater Center (2781 24th Street, SF)
I’m performing on violin a tribute to Max Mathews with Diane Douglas on computer, Theme and Variations on Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 4 for Violin and Phaser Filters (2011). Max and I played together in a string quartet, and this was one of the many pieces they rehearsed together. Max and I also worked together over the last several years as he developed his Phaser Filters program, which is a live performance software based on tuned resonances capable of incredible transformation and beauty. This piece is a tribute to these two aspects of our work together.
Max Mathews’ Phaser Filters create tuned resonances within any sound played through them, the same way that a particular room will amplify certain frequencies based on its shape. Max would play these filters melodically to simulate a constantly shifting resonant space, transforming the original sound into something entirely new. He was especially fascinated by the subtlety of harmonic and emotional tones forged, for example, by changing his filter’s tuning to quarter tone, or complex chords like Risset’s Major-minor hybrid.
Diane Douglas also worked closely with Max, as he guided her to create her own version of his Phaser Filter Program in the Max/MSP environment. Input audio from a live instrument or from looped samples is passed through 5 banks of 4 of these filters which form 5 ‘chords’. This provides a new harmonic backbone for any sound they interact with. There is also a degree of randomness which can make them sound alive – as Diane can control the diatonic mode or the tempo for example, but other improvised aspects will make sure that they never sound the same twice.
Together, Diane and I will perform a piece based on some of Max’s favorite sounds- the violin and Beethoven- transformed by the sound world of Phaser Filters.
The festival lineup is killer this year, check it out: sfemf.org
Thursday, September 8th 8PM @ SFMOMA
Live and fixed sound and video works by Les Stuck & Sonsheree Giles, Sarah Howe, Tim Perkis/Tom Djll, Alba G. Corral/Kadet Kuhne, plus Milton Babbitt’s “Philomel” performed by Dina Emerson
Friday, September 9th 9PM @ Brava Theater Center
Christian Marclay featuring Shelley Hirsch, Jessica Rylan, Zachary James Watkins
Saturday, September 10th 8PM @ Brava Theater Center
Yoshi Wada + Tashi Wada, 0th, Area C, Max Mathews tribute
Sunday, September 11th 8PM @ Brava Theater Center
Kevin Drumm, JD Emmanuel, Gregg Kowalsky
Tickets & Passes: $16 General; $12 Student/Senior.
Full festival pass: $45
Purchases online at Brown Paper Tickets
or at the door (cash only)
Brava! Theater Center, 2781 24th Street, San Francisco
Phyllis Wattis Theater at SFMOMA, 151 3rd St, San Francisco