Biographies




Anti-Group; Cybernetic Research Toward The Melting of Spirit and Machine: An Audio-Visual Prothesis.
The Anti Group is, strictly speaking, not a group, but a collection of individual psychophysicists working under the code name of TAGC. Our primary concern is with the advancement of consciousness applied via the use of computers and audio-visual technology. Our last recorded works were concerned with A.S.B. audio stimulation of the brain, particularly our pieces under the title "AAA" (Audio Alpha Activity there is a more concise approximation of this test at the end of this article). These recordings are available as "Meontological Research Recording Record 1" and "Meontological Research Record 2–'Teste Tones'". Presently, we are engaged in research towards record number three in the series, which will take our research further into the role of frequencies and rhythms, particularly, the codification of rhythmic structures employed in Voodoo rituals to attain trance states. The main point of the work, however, will be based on the pioneering experiments conducted by Michael Berfiaux, currently residing in Leogane, Haiti, where he works with "La Couleuvre Noire".

Bertiaux has developed a system of esoteric engineering–a form of meta-mathematical reality. He has also constructed machines capable of receiving impulses from trans-Neptunian areas of space. The Meontological series is based on Bertiaux's neologism MEON. Ontology is the science of the metaphysics of being–MEONTOLOGY, therefore, goes beyond this to a fourth-dimensional extension of parapsychology, and concerns areas beyond current maps that seem to have existed anterior to modern man. Its references to the expansion of consciousness make it all the more relevant in the light of ESB developments, BFT, Cyberspace, and virtual reality.

Sam Auinger; Composer and musician from Linz, Austria. Has compiled artistic projects under the name of "swap" with Werner Pfeffer.
"Musik in 1000 Informationen" Ars Electronica 1986; Acoustics-design for the Upper Austrian Exhibition in 1987, "Arbeit, Mensch, Maschine", Radio Features Exhibitions in Berlin within the scope of E 88 and in Warsaw. "Experiment 50Y' syriphonic sound architecture and CD-production for Chemie Holding, premiered in October 1989; Theatre music for Turrini's "Minderleister", Phbnix Theater Linz 1990.

Studio Azzurro, has been working for several years in the field of audio-visual research on works of photography, cinema, video and theatre. Studio Azzurro was founded in Milan at the end of the 70's. At first they continued to operate as a photo studio then the group extended their activities as new members joined the Studio Azzurro, among whom are Armando Bertacchi, Gianni Basso, Maurizio Fabbri and Massimo Sangiorgi. In 1982 Fabio Cirifino, Paolo Rosa and Leonardo Sangiorgi compiled a project with video and film. Since then, video installations and performances are the group's special working field (amongst which "Il Nuotatore", "Vedute", the cycles "Storie per corse" and "Osservazioni sulla natura"). The experience gained from working with video consequently leads to interaction with other systems and their synthesis. In 1985 collaboration commences with Giorgio Barberio Corsetti with the video opera "Prologo", "Correva come un hingo segno bianco" and "La camera astratta" for opening documenta 8, premiered in Kassel in 1987. UBU prize for theatre in 1988. Musical video-theatre originates from the double video "Il combattimento di Ettore e Achille", music by Giorgio Battistelli and "Delfi" music by Piero Milesi.

Fabio Cirifino: Photographer, works with photography in the audio-visual research field. Paolo Rosa: Diploma from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Milan, involved in visual art and directing.

Leonardo Sangiorgi: Diploma from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Milan, involved in audio-visual communication and production.

Further involved are: Mario Coccimiglio, Cinzia Rizzo, Luca Scarzella, Katja Noppes, Elmar Bartlmae

Klaus Balzer, born 30/4/1946 in Kassel, Germany. Studied music in Vienna (classical guitar, electroacoustics, comparative musicology), in Bombay (sitar, tabla, vina) and Berlin (musicology). Since 1978 freelance composer in Berlin. Commissioned works for motion pictures, the theatre (Burgtheater Wien, Schillertheater Berlin, Schauspielhaus Bochum and others), television and radio. Live performances with various groups in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, France, etc.

Since 1986 research work for compositional software and software for sound production in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Bernd Streitberg. In 1987 foundation of the group "Ars Electrologica" (consisting of Balzer, Lepinat, Streitberg). Lectures and performances at ICMC 1988 in Cologne and at Steirischer Herbst 1989 in Graz.

Giorgio Battistelli, born on April 25,1953 in Albano Laziale near Rome. Graduated from "A. Casella" Conservatory of Music in L'Aquila, where he studied composition with Giancarlo Bizzi, musical analysis and history with Claudio Annibaldi, and piano with Antonello Neri. In 1974 he was co-founder of the experimental and research group "Edgar Varèse" and of the instrumental group "Beat 1972" in Rome. 1985—86 he was Composer in Residence on a DAAD grant in Berlin. Giorgio Battistelli's compositions include works for musical theatre, for orchestra, for choir and orchestra, for solo instrument and orchestra; furthermore chamber music, works for voice only, for solo instruments, as well as electro-acoustical composition and music for radio broadcasts.

His strict composing style is based on his search for expressive possibilities including new instrumental techniques as well as multimedia arts; this search has developed aesthetics of its own deriving from the multitude of poetical elements. His compositions have been performed at international festivals not only in Europe, but also in the USA and Japan. Presently, he is teaching at Perugia Music Conservatory.

Sarrun Bennett was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1957. He has travelled in North and West Africa, where he studied with several master drummers, as well as studying with many leading American percussionists, including Andrew Cyrille, Milford Graves and Barry Altschul. Bennett has performed extensively with such musicians as John Zorn, Butch Morris, Elliott Sharp, George Lewis, Ned Rothenberg, Zeena Parkins, and in solo performances throughout North America. Western Europe and Japan. He currently heads his own group–Chunk, with whom he is preparing a new recording for release in early 1991. Samm Bennett was recently awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts Grant in Music Composition. He lives in New York City.

Timothy Breese: Bass-baritone from New York. Had his first experience with musical theatre in his high school days. Singing lessons and training at various American colleges, spezializing in classical singing (classical lied repertoire and opera literature). Following this were engagements with various American opera houses, e.g. Miami Opera: Gulgielmo in Mozarts's Cosi Fan Tutte", Minnesota Opera: Escamillo in Bizet's "Carmen", Houston Opera: A leading role in the premiere of the Philip Glass Opera "The Making of the Representative for Planet 8". Has been a member of the Vienna Opera Studio since September 1988 and took part in premieres, e.g. as Strschnjew in Mussorgski's "Khovanshchina", as Alcalde in Verdi's "La Forza del Destino" as well as repertoire for the Vienna State Opera. Still engaged as a member of the Vienna Opera Studio for the 1989/90 season in addition to the engagement as Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera at the theatres "Theater an der Wien" and "Raimund Theater", as from November 1989.

Joe Chung is a graduate of the MIT media lab and is currently programming for Apple Computers, Inc. He has designed and implemented many advanced and original interactive computer programs for sound and video systems which have been used extensively by Richard Teitelbaum, Tod Machover and other composers.

Alvin Curran, was born in Providence, Rhode Island (USA) December 13,1938. He studied both piano and trombone from an early age and was especially attracted to the popular forms of music for brass band, dance orchestra and the Jewish liturgy with which his father Martin Curran was professionally involved. This became the foundation for his general interest in all improvised music–American popular music and jazz in particular. At Brown University he studied music composition with Ron Nelson (B. Mus. 1960) and at Yale School of Music with Elliott Carter and Mel Powell (M. Mus. 1963). That year he received both the Beams and BMI composition awards and was invited by Carter to Berlin on the initial year of the DAAD program. In 1965 he moved to Rome where together with Richard Teitelbaum and Frederic Rzewski he co-founded the MEV (Musica Elettronica Viva) group. Much of Curran's music since 1970 reflects, in one way or another the collective processes involved in the early experimental work with MEV. It continues, as well, MEV's tendency to combine electronics, traditional instruments, unskilled performers (usually vocalists) and "natural" sounds.

Having lived for many years in Italy, Curran could not fail to be influenced by that country's humanist tradition: in his own words, his music "brings the lyricism of the Mediterranean in touch with the pragmatism of the new world and at the same time is deeply rooted in the human spiritual traditions. It shuns neither anarchy nor immobility and often tries to conciliate the two". (Frederic Rzewski)

Franz Josef Czernin, born in Vienna on January 7, 1952, living in Rettenegg, Styria. Member of the Grazer Autorenversammlung and of the Bielefeld Colloquium for New Poetry.

Serge Dutrieux: After having worked with various orchestras (Ensemble Intercontemporain, Itinéraire, 2e2m, Orchestre du Capitole ... ) he codirected the Ecole Nationale de Musique de Romainville until 1989. Getting nearer and nearer to the theatre, he composed music for performances like "Les Alchemistes du Rève" (Nancy), "A l'Attaque!" (Lausanne) ... he founded the Compagnie "Train de Nuit" in order to produce his own performances.

Roy Faudree is director of No Theater of Northampton, Massachussetts. He has worked with Jane Karakula and Sheena See for the past sixteen years on the creation of such new works as THE ELEPHANT MAN, DFS (de fiance suction), LAST RESORT, DUST BOWL and PHOTOPLAY, which was recently performed in Boston. This year he directed the Tokyo production of Tod Machover's opera VALIS. Currently, he is working with the Wooster Group on their upcoming production of BRACE UP!

Shelley Hirsch is a vocalist, composer, and performer, whose work ranges from free improvisations to fully staged theatrical and multimedia pieces. Her collaboration with keyboardist David Weinstein, A CELEBRATION OF THE OBVIOUS was produced by the State Theatre in Stuttgart and her latest piece O'LITTLE TOWN OF EAST NEW YORK with Weinstein and filmmaker Eric Muzzy was premiered at the Dance Theater Workshop in New York. She has appeared on radio, television, in cinemas, concert halls, museums, clubs and theaters throughout Europe, the United States and Canada. Her latest recorded release is HAIKU LINGO a CD of Duos with David Weinstein on Review Records.

Joan Jonas is a multi-media visual and performance artist who has been performing throughout the United States and Europe since the late 1960's. She studied at Mount Holyoke College where she received a BA in Art History in 1958. She then attended the school of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, from 1958 to 1961, and received an MFA from Columbia University in 1965. Her early study of art history and sculpture provided the basis for her interest in spatial manipulation and perception. Jonas uses various elements in her performances taken from the Noh and Kabuki traditions of Japanese theater, modern theater, dance, video and the visual arts. These elements, combined with her personal vocabulary of sound, shape, and movement, create performances that can be read on a number of levels. Jonas' first use of video in a performance was in her l972 production of ORGANIC HONEY'S VISUAL TELEPATHY, in which a live camera served as an integral part of the performance.

In 1984 Jonas, in association with the CAT Fund and the Rockefeller Foundation, produced a "televised version" of her performance piece DOUBLE LUNAR DOGS, which has since been broadcast throughout the United States and overseas. Jonas is the recipient of fellowships and grants for choreography, video, and the visual arts from the New York State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Television Workshop at WXXI-TV, Rochester, the Artist TV Lab at WNET/Thirteen, New York City, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, and the CAT Fund. In 1981 she won the Hyogo Prefecture Museum of Modern Art prize at the International Video Art Festival in Tokyo, Japan. She received the Polaroid Award for Video in 1987 and this year AFI presented her with the Maya Deren Award for Video. Joan Jonas lives and works in New York City.

Elisabeth Lang, born in Vienna, studied to become a teacher (in musical education and of history) at the Music College and at the University of Vienna. Took private singing lessons from Ruthilde Boesch and Olivia Miljakovic. 1988-1990 member of the Vienna Opera Studio, actively involved in concerts at home and abroad. Took part in numerous productions of contemporary music e.g. (W. Rihm "Jakob Linz", B. Furrer "Die Blinden", J. Adams "Grand Pianola Music" …)

Jean-Pierre Larroche: As scenographer and stage designer, he has realized stage settings and graphic documents for the theatre for over 10 years. As an architect, he ranked among the twenty Honorary Mentions of the Concours International for the Opera de la Bastille. For three years he has been working on projects of scenography and visual communication for the Musée des Sciences et de l'Industrie de la Villette. He is co-founder of the Ateliers du Spectacle. In 1984, he realized the performance of "Travaux d'Ornithologie" by Bruno Ciolfi mit Mario Gonzalez and Alain Salomon, and in 1988 "le Rébus Malheureux" with Michel Rostain at the Ateliers du Spectacle.

Stefano Leone, (Genoa, 1958) conducted music and classical studies in Genoa. Doctor in "Lettere" in 1981 (University of Genoa) with the dissertation: "Estetica e Fisica del Suono alle origini della Rivoluzione Scientifica" he worked a long time on the theory of music in the Renaissance and on the relationship between science and music with Prof. Paolo Aldo Rossi in the Epistemology Department of the Facoltá di Lettere e Filosofia Università di Genoa.

He wrote and published articles and essays for journals and newspapers, and he gave lectures in Italy and France, taking part in symposiums on history, music and history of ideas. Since 1983 he has been professor of history of music and musical aesthetics in the Conservatorio Statale di Musica "A Vivaldi" of Alessandria, going on with his collaboration with prof. Paolo Aldo Rossi at the Genoa University. He also published the book: "Le armonie del mondo–La trattatistica musicale nel Rinascimento: 1470—1650" (1988).

Rolf Maedel, born in 1917 in Berlin. Studied music in Berlin and Salzburg. Has been teaching at the Salzburg "Mozarteum" since 1947. Toured in concert both as conductor and pianist (with his own compositions, too) through the whole of Europe. Assistant under Paumgartner at the Opera Studio. Rolf Maedel was appointed full professor in 1976. Since 1970 he has been involved with F. Richter Herf in expanding tonality and systematizing microsounds and isco-founder of the Institute for Basic Musical Research. His work has appeared in numerous publications and has been presented in the ORF (Austrian Broadcasting Station) and ZDF (Second German Broadcasting Station).

Mesias Maiguashca, born on December 24, 1938 in Quito (Ecuador); first studies of music at Quito's Conservatorio Nacional (1950-1958); 1958-1963 studies continued at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, major in piano and composition; 1963-1965 two years scholarship at the Instituto Di Tella in Buenos Aires, emphasis on electroacoustics and electronic music; In 1965/1966 teaches courses in composition and piano at the Conservatorio Nacional in Quito; In 1966 travels to Germany on a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service and in the following year participation in the Darmstadt summer courses and the Cologne courses for New Music; 1968-1972 on the technical-musical staff of the electronics department at the Cologne station of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk; 1969-1975 also member of the Cologne "Collegium Vocale" and the "Ballets XXème siècle" directed by Maurice Béjart, 1970 member of the Stockhausen group at the Expo in Osaka, 1972 co-founder of the "Gruppe Oeldorf"; since 1978 active at the "Centre Européen pour la Recherche Musicale" in Metz; since 1981 various invitations by IRCAM Paris for productions and lectures; since 1985 lecturer of composition and electronic music at the Musikhochschule Freiburg/Br.; lives in Baden-Baden

Shunsuke Mitamura, born, June 1936 13, Gifu in Japan. Graduated: Tokyo University of Education (presently, University of Tsukuba) 1964, BA. Studied: Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm, 1967, 69-70 Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze, 1968. Appointment: Professor at Institute of Art & Design, University of Tsukuba 1987. Has worked in 3-D constructions, with the major title of "RE-SERIES", which contains the following minor series:
1966-: "re-flection series" using mirrors
1969-: "re-construction series" by the counter-line method
1974-: "re-construction series" with the joint system
1978: Started "re-fraction series" using holograms & laser display.

Bruce Odland: Composer and performer from Colorado, USA. Bruce Odland is acquiring international acclaim as a sound-innovator with his compositions, performances and sound installations. Production manager for Laurie Anderson's "Mr. Heartbreak" 1984 tour of USA and Japan; Theatre music for Peter Sellar's "Ajax" and "Idiot's Delight"; film music for the much acclaimed Stacey Steers film "Watuna": Recordings with the Bruce Odland Big Band; Sound Installation "Riverworks", Ars Electronica 1987.

Officina Musicale Italiana(OMI) was founded in l984 under the name of "Ensemble Barattelli" with the goal to promote the muscial forces of prevalently Abruzzese origin.

OMI practise intense concert activities in Italy and abroad, cooperating with the Società Aquilana dei Concerti and have specialized on the execution of works from the modern and contemporary repertoire.

Mary Oliver (violin, viola) was born in La Jolla, California. She has degrees in violin performance from San Francisco State University (BMA) and Mills College (MFA). Currently, Oliver is an Associate Professor and doctoral student at the University of California, San Diego in the theoretical / experimental music program and is a member of SONOR and KIVA ensembles. As a performer she has participated in many international festivals including "The North American New Music Festival", Xenakis Festival at UCSD, June in Buffalo, and the Darmstadt Ferienkurse für Neue Musik (Stipendiumpreis) in 1988 and 1990.

Moni Ovadia: Actor, singer, director and producer was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, on April 16th 1946 of Jewish Sephardic descent. In 1948 he moved to Milan, Italy. At the age of 12 he begins his study of classical music (classical guitar). At the age of 17, he had his first professional experience as a musician playing and singing with the Gruppo Dell'Almanacco Popolare.

1972 he founded the Gruppo Folk Internazionale /Ensemble Havadia and remained group leader and animator till 1982. The group activity culminated in the performance of "Il Nonno di Jonni" and "Specchi/Mirrors/Miroirs/Spiegeln" throughout Europe in theatres like the De Doelen in Rotterdam, Die Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Die Fabrik in Hamburg, Hala Tivoli in Ljubljana and the Teatro Lirico in Milan. He collaborated with Wolf Biermann for a record produced by German CBS with Eva Maria Hagen performing.

In 1986 he worked in various functions on the Teatro alla Scala production of Claude Debussy "The Fall of the House of Usher", with director, Pierluigi Pieralli. In 1987 Moni Ovadia, together with Mara Cantoni, staged "Dalla sabbia ... dal tempo" "From the Sands ... from Time", a piece of musical Theatre drawing from Eastern European Jewish culture for the festival of Jewish Culture at the Salone Pierlombardo in Milan. Owing to his cosmopolitan background, and perhaps to a natural ability, Moni Ovadia can perform in Italian, English, French, German, Spanish, Sephardic Spanish, Bulgarian, Russian, Yiddish, Modern Greek and in numerous Italian dialects.

Friederike Pezold: Inventor of body language, video pioneer, performance artist, film maker, camera woman, photographer, graphics artist, sultress, and author. Lives in Vienna. Works by Friederike Pezold were shown at the most important international festivals, the biennales of Venice and Paris, at documenta in Kassel, as well as at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Pool Processing: Active since 1988 in various media festivals. Offensive thefts of aesthetical and textual production methods through the combination and networking capacities of the computer. Hypertext environments with the participation of audiences, festival newspapers and documentation, workshops, and lectures. Presently working on a book/floppy-publication: Book utopias and literary-Visions, as well as experimental literary production methods are made available to the spectator via a hypertext program. Publications: Ars Electronica, Im Netz der Systeme, Merve ed. 1990, pp 123—140 Rötzer Florian, Der digitale Schein, Suhrkamp ed. 1990: "Kunstnetzwerke: Ideen als Objekte", "Vom Hypertext in der Kunst zur Kunst des Hypertext", Meeting paper of Hypertext/Hypermedia 90, Springer ed. 1990.

Heiko Idensen: Studied German language and literature and Psychology. Training as organization programmer. Since 1986, scientific collaborator at Hildesheim University; installation of the Culture Paedagogics computer System; work in interdisciplinary promotion: Dialogue-Intertext-Hypertext. Artistic practice in theatre, performance, copyPolaroid, lectures, video magazine video voyeur, computer graphics and animation, interactive information environments.

Matthias Krohn: Diploma in Culture Pedagogy, since 1988 scientific collaborator at Hildesheim University. Use of digital media in cultural exhibitions, free-lancer with various computer producers. Artistic practice in theatre, music-performance, radio plays, computer animations, and interactive information environments

Michel Rostain, born in 1978, Michel Rostain founded "Un Théatre pour la Musique" as a working and production structure designed for the creation and renewal of lyrical works. In cooperation with Marie-Noel Rio, Michel Rostain has published two books: "Aujourd'hui l'Opéra" and "L'Opéra mort ou vif" (Editions Recherches 1980/82).

Ben Rubin makes films and develops media technology in Cambridge, Massachussetts. His work, both artistic and professional, involves the merging of computer technology with audiovisual media. He received his Master's degree from the MIT media lab in 1989. His graduate thesis incorporated the creation and production of an interactive video disc. He is currently assisting Steve Reich and Beryl Korot in their forthcoming music theatre work "The Cave" to be presented in West Germany in 1992.

Ferdinand Schmatz, born on January 3, 1952 in Korneuburg (Lower Austria). Studied German language and literature and Philosophy in Vienna. Lecturer in Tokyo, Linz and Vienna (Applied Arts College). Editor of the works of Reinhard Priessnitz. Member of the Grazer Autorenversammlung and the Bielefeld Colloquium for New Poetry.

SLP/Selektion has existed since 1982, first as an association of musicians which had been trying to break loose from label policy carried out by major companies and looking for their own type of organization and distribution channels. Selektion has been a "Company for producing and distributing information carriers" since 1984. A necessary expansion into two areas occurred in the midst of working on our first projects: Selektion Acoustics and Selektion Optics. Selektion Optics operates mainly in the area of video and copy arts. Individual projects, as SLP for example, have emerged in co-operation with both Selektion groupings; some artists have worked in the field of optics as well as acoustics. The work done in the various fields of activity planning, design, distribution and production-is largely decentralized. Selektion has created several work divisions. Selektion members are not only active as graphic artists and musicians, but also in several other professions. SLP was conceived in 1988 and performed for the first time during the International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt; SLP was newly revised for subsequent performances. The present version has remained unchanged since the middle of 1989.

Ned Rothenberg (Composer/Woodwind Performer) Ned Rothenberg's pieces vary widely in the rhythmic and emotional environments which they create. A strong underlying element in his work is the extension of the woodwind language to incorporate polyphony and accurate microtonal organization through the manipulation of multiphonics, circular breathing, overtones, and unorthodox fingering techniques. This is not just a vocabulary of effects but a response to the many musical issues inherent in world folk and contemporary forms which do not conform easily to the normal capabilities of western wind instruments. The result is not an imitation of other traditions but unique and personal music.

Ned Rothenberg performs primarily on alto saxophone and bass clarinet. He also uses tenor saxophone, flute and instruments of his own design. A graduate of Oberlin, he has worked with Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, Derek Bailey, David Moss, George Lewis, Richard Teitelbaum, Kirk Nurock and Poch Kaye among many others. He is a founding member of New Winds (with Robert Dick, flutes, and J. D. Parran, reeds) and frequently plays in a trio with Eliot Sharp, guitars, and Samm Bennett, drums.

Richard Teitelbaum was born in New York City in 1939. He received a BA from Haverford College and a Master of Music degree from Yale. After two years on a Fulbright to Italy, studying composition with Luigi Nono and Goffredo Petrassi, he brought the first Moog synthesizer to Europa, performing over 200 concerts with it, and helping to found the pioneering live electronic music group Musica Elettronica Viva, with Frederic Rzewski, Alvin Curran and others in Rome in 1966.

In 1970 he returned to the US to form the World Band with master musicians from Japan, Korea, India, Java, Ghana and elsewhere who were in residence in the World Music program at Wesleyan University. In 1971—72 he served on the faculty of the School of Music at Cal Arts. In 1972—73 he taught at the Art Institute of Chicago where he founded and directed the Electronic Music Studio. From 1973-76 he taught at York University in Toronto, serving as Co-director of the Electronic Media Studios. In 1976-77 he spent a year in Japan on a Senior Fulbright studying traditional and contemporary music at which time he wrote Blends for skakuhachi, synthesizers and percussion for his teacher, the shakuhachi master Katsuya Yokovama.

Since 1980 he has employed micro-computers to control synthesizers and acoustic pianos–the latter through a unique real-time, interactive multi-piano performances system ("The Digital Piano System"). In 1987 he was awarded a prize for this system, from the Prix Ars Electronica by the Austrian Radio. Richard Teitelbaum has received numerous awards, including a DAAD Visiting Artist grant to Berlin from the West German government in 1984-85, and commissions from the Venice Biennale, the Hessischer Rundfunk in Frankfurt, Radio Bremen, the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts. In 1986 he spent six weeks in Japan on an Asian Cultural Council grant composing Iro wa Nioedo, a vocal work for twenty Shingon Buddhist monks that was later premiered at the "Inventionen" Festival in West Berlin.

In 1988 he created and premiered a new work during his residency at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology. In March 1989, he premiered his media-opera-in-progress "Golems" at the Jewish Museum in New York City. He is currently teaching composition and electronic music at Bard College, where he is Director of the Electronic Music Studio, as well as at Vassar College, in upstate New York

Giovanni Trovalusci, graduated in Flute from Rome's Conservatory "Santa Cecilia". Post-graduate courses of the contemporary repertoire with Pierre-Yves Artaud in Paris; for the baroque repertoire with Jesper B. Christensen (performance practice, continuo and ensemble technique) and with Oskar Peter (flauto traverse) at Basel "Schola Cantorum". Esteemed soloist in music theatre and contemporary works; cooperates with numerous groups of contemporary and Old Music ("Gruppo di Sperimentazione Musicale "Edgar Varese"", "Duo Ech6s", "Gruppo Kuorum", "Orchestra Barocca Italiana", "Gruppo Strumentale I", "Il Teatro Armonico" and others). He has performed among others in Italy, France, Austria, Germany, and Switzcrland. Presently, he teaches Flute at the "Scuola Civica di Musica" in Orvieto (Italy).

Orazio Tuccella was born in Douai (France) in 1954. He studied composition with Giancarlo Bizzi and directing with Nicola Hansalik Samale at the A. Casella Conservatory of Music in L'Aquila. He is the permanent director of the Officina Musicale Italiana since its foundation. He has directed the soloists of the Bussotti opera ballet, the Ensemble of thc Orchestra Filarmonica Trentina, and the Percussion and Research Group Ars Ludi of Rome. He directed the first performances of works by Sylvano Bussotti and Carlo Crivelli. He has had concerts in Italy, Germany, Canada, the United States and in Argentina.

Frances-Marie Uitti completed her studies in the USA with Leslie Parnas and in Europe with André Navarra. After her debut with orchestra at the age of 13, she won many awards. In 1967 Frances-Marie took part in a master's course with Pablo Casals. The following year she recieved the National Endowments for the Arts Solo Recitalist Grant. Frances-Marie Uitti specialises in works for solo cello ranging from pre-Bach ricercari to the music of today, such as Takemitsu, Osborne, Feldman, Goebajdoelina. Some of the most outstanding composers, such as John Cage, Luigi Nono and Per Norgaard have written important works for her. Miss Uitti is the inventor of a revolutionary technique whereby she can produce four-part polyphony on the cello by using two bows in one hand. Giacinto Scelsi, Sylvano Bussotti and Guys Jansen, among other composers, have written works using this technique.

Frances-Marie Uitti has also developed new tuning systems (over 75 to date) for the cello and augmented its tonal range through extensive restringing techniques. She was the first to use extensive tunings and re-stringing in her own compositions. These ideas have also been used by Nono, Louis Andriessen, David Barlow, and Scelsi in works for her as well as for other instruments. Miss Uitti has toured extensively in the USA, Canada, and Europe. She has played solo recitals in several festivals. In the spring of 1987 FrancesMarie Uitti gave a very successful performance as soloist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Diego Masson. In October of the same year she presented Western contemporary music in a tour of Korea and in November participated in a Cage project in Munich. In January 1988, she recorded a piece for cello and computerised electronics for Cologne Radio. During 1987 both Dutch and German television made documentaries on Miss Uitti. Frances-Marie Uitti has invented two special genres of performances. The first is the cello marathon where she plays many works over a period of several hours. In New York in 1982 she played for 7 hours and in Nice in 1987 for 5 hours. The second genre is the Museum Cello Tour. Where she prepares a special programme focusing on the art works of the individual museum. She has given spectacularly impressive tours in the County Museum of Art in Los Angeles and in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, among others. In June '89 Uitti performed Luciano Berio's remarkable work for cello and orchestra with the Residentie Orchestra in The Hague, as well as at the Contemporary Music Festival of Middelburg. In September Frances-Marie Uitti performed Per Norgard's 'cello concerto' with the Radio Philharmonic orchestra, which the composer has written for her. In December 1989 she will perform for Spanish television. Presently, Frances-Marie Uitti is involved in a film project with Erik van Zuylen, in which sound and image will be blended in an unusual way. Frances-Mane Uitti has recorded as soloist for CRI, Chrystal Records, Attacca, Raretone, Mode Records, and Meoria Spa.

Steina Vasulka (born in Iceland, 1940) attended the Music Conservatory in Prague from 1959 to 1963, and joined the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra in 1964. She came to the United States the following year and has participated in the development of the electronic arts since 1970, both as co-founder of "The Kitchen", a major exhibition center in New York City, and as a continuing explorer of the possibilities for the generation and manipulation of the electronic image through a broad range of technological tools and aesthetic concerns. Her tapes have been exhibited and broadcast extensively in the United States and in Europe, and in 1978 she had an exhibit, Machine Vision, at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York. She was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1976 and has received various other grants. Since moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1980, she has produced a series of video tapes relating to the land, and an installation entitled, The West. She is currently working on another installation work "GEOMANIA". Recently she spent six months in Japan and is currently working on a video installation based on images brought back from the Orient.

Iannis Xenakis: Composer, architect, and civil engineer; graduated from the Polytechnic School of Athens; music composition studies with Hermann Scherchen, Olivier Messiaen. Doctor of Letters and Humanities, Université de Paris I (Sorbonne), 1976. Greek resistance fighter, World War II; condemned to death; political refugee in France since 1947; French citizenship, 1965. Architectural collaborator for 12 years of LE CORBUSIER, Paris. Innovator of stochastic and symbolic music through introduction of probability calculus and set theory into instrumental, electro-acoustic, and computerized musical composition, inventor of several compositional techniques constituting the lingua franca of the avant-garde. Realized several Polytopes: sonic and light compositions. Founder and director of the Centre d'Etudes de Mathématique et Automatique Musicales (CEMAMu: since 1966, Paris) and Center of Mathematical and Automated Music (1967-72), Indiana University; associate professor of music, Indiana University (1967-72); member of the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique, France (1970-72); professor at the Université de Paris I. Honorary Member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, 1975. Prix Beethoven, 1977. Member of the French Institute, 1983. Member of several other academies.

Carlos Zingaro: As a native of a country that has given the world many a great sailor driven by the thirst for the discovery of new horizons, Carlos Zingaro has inherited the spirit of a continuous musical quest. Zingaro wants no label, and rather than a Free-jazz musician he sees himself as a musician of passion: for his violin, for his strings, his wood, his acoustics. Zingaro's instrument retains all its handcrafted richness when accompanied by Teitelbaum's "HighTech". Zingaro, who had already teamed up with Anthony Braxton und Roscoe Mitchell, has joined Teitelbaum to offer us an enveloping, generous music.