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ICAM 2020: Charmaine Lee & Zach Rowden in Conversation

September 23, 2020
Submitted By: Adam Lenz & Ricardo Reyes

Hartt Composition and the Joseloff Gallery are pleased to present the Institute of Contemporary American Music (ICAM) this fall with support from The Hartt School and the Hartford Art School Endowment, Inc. Through this series, the University of Hartford will host Charmaine Lee & Zach Rowden, Helga Davis, Audra Wolowiec, and Carlos Soto for public conversations at the intersection of contemporary music and art. 

Over the last seven decades, ICAM has been a platform for engaging students and the greater Hartford Community with many of the major figures in American Music. Past guests have included Milton Babbitt, Martin Bresnick, John Cage, Aaron Copland, Meredith Monk, Tristan Perich, and hundreds more. In taking the necessary precautions during the COVID-19 pandemic, all events will be held remotely on Zoom and will be presented free of charge. 

ICAM 2020

Sept. 30 - Charmaine Lee & Zach Rowden

Oct.14 - Helga Davis

Nov. 4 - Audra Wolowiec

Nov. 18 - Carlos Soto 

Wednesdays 5 p.m. - 6:20 p.m. (ET)

The series begins on Sept. 30 with a conversation between experimental composer-performers Charmaine Lee & Zach Rowden. Situating themselves at the cutting edge of the experimental music scene, they are leading the charge for a new generation of avant-garde musicians. They will discuss their approaches to improvisation and explore their collaborative work, including their upcoming release on Notice Records. They will also present short performances.

Charmaine Lee is a New York-based vocalist. Her music is predominantly improvised, favoring a uniquely personal approach to vocal expression concerned with spontaneity, playfulness, and risk-taking. Beyond extended vocal technique, Charmaine uses amplification, feedback, and microphones to augment and distort the voice. She has performed with leading improvisers Nate Wooley, id m theft able, C. Spencer Yeh, and Ikue Mori, and maintains ongoing collaborations with Conrad Tao, Victoria Shen, Zach Rowden, and Eric Wubbels. She has performed at ISSUE Project Room, the Kitchen, Roulette, the Stone, and MoMA PS1, and participated in festivals including Reso- nant Bodies, Huddersfield Contemporary, and Ende Tymes. She has been featured in group exhibitions including The Moon Represents My Heart: Music, Memory and Belonging at the Museum of Chinese in America (2019). As a composer, Charmaine has been commissioned by the Wet Ink Ensemble (2018) and Spektral Quartet (2018). In 2019, she was an Artist-in-Residence at ISSUE Project Room. Charmaine is currently a member of the Editorial Board of Sound American.

Zach Rowden MM’16 is a singular young voice in the American experimental music scene, dealing with the acoustic and performative possibilities of the upright/electric bass, violin and tape machines. Whether embracing microtonal fiddle music in his duo Tongue Depressor, contributing as a member and soloist in Iancu Dumitrescu and the late Ana-Maria Avram’s Hyperion Ensemble, collaborat- ing with Tyshawn Sorey, Leila Bordreuil, Michael Foster and many others, Zach lends a distinct focus and sense of adventure to everything he touches.

Zoom Meeting Link:

https://zoom.us/j/99908130332?pwd=UU5JakkzS0h3RlJUN3RlMjZDaWxiUT09

Meeting ID: 999 0813 0332
Passcode: soloduo