Weave: Personnel
Sarah Weaver - Artistic Director
Sarah Weaver is the Artistic Director of Weave, a contemporary arts performance group based in New York City. Weaver has performed with Soundpainting for 10 years, leading her own groups and as Associate Conductor of the Walter Thompson Orchestra. Weaver plays trombone, didjeridu, and conch shell, and has performed at venues including Roulette (NYC), The Stone (NYC), Lincoln Center (NYC), Now Lounge (Toronto), Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago), Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago), Austin Lyric Opera House (Austin), and Trummerflora Festival (San Diego). Recent projects include research and performance of Telematic Music - co-located performance via the internet - with collaborators Pauline Oliveros and Jonas Braasch (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY), Chris Chafe (Stanford University, CA), Mark Dresser (University of California San Diego), and collaborators world-wide in the virtual reality environment Second Life. Performances with other major contemporary music figures include Marilyn Crispell, Karl Berger, David Liebman, and Stuart Dempster, among others. Weaver has led workshops at University of Michigan, University of Iowa, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Association for Improvising Musicians Toronto, Illinois Music Educators Conference, and New York State School Music Association Conference. Weaver is Executive Director of the International Society for Improvised Music and an Apprentice of Deep Listening - the sound practice of composer Pauline Oliveros.
Nicole Poole - Actor
Nicole Poole is a performer and writer based in New York City with dichotomic passions for classical and experimental art forms. A former visiting member of England's Royal Shakespeare Company, Nicole is also a core improvisational actor with the Walter Thompson Orchestra, performing and developing the international conducting language of Soundpainting. A new member of Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble, Nicole is helping to develop and produce Soundpaintingshakespeare, a collaboration between Soundpainting artists in the U.S. and France. Nicole has performed with companies ranging from the Tony Award-Winning New Group, Playwrights Horizons and Long Wharf to Monkey Wrench Theater and the Present Company. To support her theatrical obsessions, Nicole is a professional voice-over artist for regional and national campaigns and regular narrator for Recorded Books. She has also appeared in critically-acclaimed works such as Dunny (Official Selection, Berlin International Film Festival, Cinequest Film Festival) and The Agency (Official Selection, New York Television Festival). Finally, Nicole represents the artwork of her father, O. Gail Poole, and works as the U.S. Contact for dear friends and amazing artists Didier 'Crisse' Chrispeels and Cecile Brousseau.
Leese Walker - Actor
Leese is a Dartmouth grad who began her professional career as a member of the Irondale Ensemble, NYC. She was profoundly influenced by the improvisational methods and ensemble-based approach to developing material at Irondale. While with Irondale, she played Antigone in Antigone, Didi in Waiting For Godot, and St. Juste in Danton’s Death. Leese has performed extensively with the Judith Shakespeare Company in NYC including roles as: Richard II, Cressida, Dromio of Ephesus in Comedy of Errors and Helena in All’s Well That Ends Well. She has danced, acted and played Lakota flute with the Wendy Osserman Dance Company (Dance Theater Workshop, UBU Rep, Union Square Park), and has been improvising as an actor with the Walter Thompson Orchestra since 1997, (Lincoln Center, NYC Jazz Vision Festival, HERE, Knitting Factory). In addition to all of her performance work, Leese freelances as a teaching-artist with the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Roundabout Theatre Company, and MCC Theater. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Network of Ensemble Theatres, a national consortium of ensemble companies.
Michael-David Gordon - Actor
Michael-David Gordon began work with Irondale as an actor and workshop facilitator of Irondale Ensemble Project’s AIDS Team in 1990. Mr. Gordon has performed in all of Irondale’s Off-Broadway productions since becoming a member of Irondale. He is also a member of Actor’s Equity. His roles have included Barrachio in Much Ado About Nothing, The Stage Manager in Our Town and the title role in Danton’s Death.
Katie Down - Flute
Katie Down is a multi-instrumentalist, sound designer, and sound artist. Her work includes installation, performance, and commissioned work for theatre. She sings and plays her ukulele as often as possible and mostly with her group, The Ukuladies. She also leads the Sephardic music ensemble, Adelantre. Her instruments include flute, banjo uke, baritone uke, soprano uke, guitar, various kinds of Middle Eastern percussion and home made instruments including the steel cello, the lithophone, glass objects and glass harmonica. She has recently returned from South Africa after two months, where she was teaching music and of course ukulele at the Topsy Center near Johannesburg, and she is currently pursuing her master's degree in music therapy at NYU.
Justin Foster - Flute
Justin Foster is a musician with 20 years experience playing the flute. His musical ambition is to break free from the constraints of standard technique and explore the full range of sounds and emotions that can be created through his flute. By expanding musical boundaries, Justin hopes to use his music as a vehicle for increasing understanding and tolerance in society. Justin also plays with the Irish rock band Lucky O'Shady.
Andrea La Rose - Flute
Andrea La Rose plays flute, writes music, likes to cook, and enjoys making weird noises. Her pride and joy since 2002 has been her work as a flutist/composer/board member with the punk-classical antagonists known as Anti-Social Music. Most recently, she’s been heard on cd with World/Inferno Friendship Society and His Name Is Alive, and live with Mohair Timewarp and her own improv trio with Bernadette Speach and Jeffrey Schanzer, baj.
Julie Ferrara - Oboe
Julie Ferrara is an active woodwind doubler in the New York/New Jersey area. Her primary instruments are oboe and English horn, while her doubles include all flutes, clarinets, saxophones and many ethnic instruments. She currently subs on several Broadway shows, including Jersey Boys, Curtains, Spamalot, Drowsy Chaperone, Legally Blonde, and American Girl. She also subbed on The Producers, The Wedding Singer and 110 in the Shade prior to their closing. Ms. Ferrara has been a member of the Walter Thompson Soundpainting Orchestra since 2000 and is excited to now be involved with Weave. She also continues to perform classical oboe with such ensembles as Regina Opera, NYMVAE Opera and the Bronx Symphony, among others. Ms. Ferrara earned her Bachelor of Music Performance at the University of Maryland in 1997 and her Masters of Multiple Woodwind Performance at New Jersey City University in 2005.
Alan Brady - Clarinet
Alan Brady, clarinet, has appeared as a soloist with the Benny Goodman Orchestra, played lead alto with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, and was featured in the orchestras of Ray Charles, Patti Austin, Tommy Tune and Artie Shaw. Alan has also played with the Sammy Kaye Orchestra, the Harry James Orchestra, the New Sousa Band, Joe Gallants Illuminati, and the Walter Thompson Orchestra. He is principal woodwind for the Irondale Theatre Ensemble, and appears with the Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble. Since 1996 he has led The Alan Brady Trio, which in 1999 released the CD Threeology. Alan has toured internationally as Principal Clarinet with the Mantovani Orchestra for twelve seasons. He was Principal Woodwind and Orchestra Manager with Seaside Music Theatre in Florida for eleven seasons.
Bohdan Hilash - Bass Clarinet
Bohdan Hilash, clarinet, has toured extensively in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia. He regularly performs orchestral music, chamber music, jazz, opera, Broadway musicals, and ethnic music. Bohdan also performs as a soloist. He has appeared at many concert venues and music festivals including Bayreuth, Spoleto, Tokyo, Evian, Lincoln Center, Rome, and Aspen. Bohdan has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, and has worked with conductors Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta and Leonard Slatkin. He is active in the field of contemporary music and has premiered new compositions written for him. Bohdan has performed on numerous recordings and soundtracks for feature films. He has collaborated with theater companies and directors including Lee Breuer and Michael Landon. Bohdan has recorded on the ECM, RCA Victor, Chandos, CRI, Mode, CBC, Finlandia, CCNC, RCA, Capstone, RP, and New World labels.
Jody Espina - Saxophone
Jody Espina is a highly regarded New York City Jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and flutist with a unique and personal sound, and is in demand for sessions, jingles, Broadway pit orchestras, pop, R & B, and funk bands, as well as the thriving downtown New York avant-garde music scene. He is also a respected Jazz educator. Espina is a regular substitute in the orchestra of the Broadway hit, The Full Monty. He has been a featured soloist on the soundtracks to three Mirimax films, and a documentary about Holland entitled, "Sex, Drugs and Democracy," as well as Guiding Light, The Reading Rainbow, and television shows in Japan and Spain. He has recorded with Illuminatti, Brilliant Coroners, Feed The Meter, Splatt, and The Walter Thompson Orchestra, whom he plays with regularly. Tours include The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and Illuminatti.
Michael Attias - Saxophone
New York City-based saxophonist/composer Michael Attias was born in Haifa, Israel in 1968. He had a Parisian childhood, Moroccan parents, and a Midwestern adolescence. Concerts in clubs and festivals throughout the US, Europe, and the Middle East have brought him together with musicians such as Anthony Coleman, Ellery Eskelin, Marty Ehrlich, Mark Helias, Oliver Lake, Mat Maneri, Jim Pugliese, Tom Rainey, Herb Robertson, Han Bennink, Jean-Jacques Avenel, and many others. Since moving to New York, Michael’s performed as sideman and leader at venues such as the Knitting Factory, Tonic, Roulette, Cornelia Street Café, 55 Bar, and at the What is Jazz?, Visions, Bell Atlantic, and JVC Jazz festivals.
Joe Giardullo - Saxophone
Joe Giardullo is a saxophonist/composer known for solo soprano concerts and his large ensemble G2 music for creative chamber orchestra. Joe has worked with such artists as Steve Lacy, Bill Dixon, Marilyn Crispell, Milford Graves, and Joe McPhee, and has performed at venues and festivals throughout the US , Canada and Europe. He has been Artist in Residence at centers in Poland, Portugal, Holland and the US, and his most recent recordings are his solo soprano homage No Work Today—9 for Steve Lacy (Drimala Records) and the new Red Morocco (RogueArt Records), music for 14 musicians. Critics have described Joe's music as "a combination of toughness and lyrical creativity" (Signal to Noise). www.joegiardullo.com
Rob Henke - Trumpet
Rob Henke, trumpet, has recorded, performed, and toured with numerous groups including Dr. Nerve, Gary Lucas Fast and Bulbous, The Spirit of Life Ensemble, Marie McAuliffes Ark Sextet, Joe Gallants Illuminati, The Walter Thompson Orchestra, The Henke/Sturm Duo, and Diane Mosers Composers Big Band. He has three recordings as a leader: The Bride, White Paws, and A Tale of Trevor Nor. He recently wrote and recorded a one-act radio play called Listening. Rob also works as an actor and co-director with Good Clean Fun, an educational theater company. He has performed with The Likeable War Criminals at the Upright Citizens Brigade theater, and has worked as a playwright with the Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble, in residence at St. Clements theater in New York.
Eyal Maoz - Guitar
An accomplished guitarist and composer, Maoz is the founder and composer in various ensembles of experimental, ethnic, jazz, rock and progressive. His latest album, Edom, which he cooperated with organist John Medeski on, was released on Tzadik Records. He has led his various ensembles at festivals such as the 2006 Montreal Jazz Festival, 2007 NYC Jazzfest, 2007 Brooklyn BAM next festival, Verizon Jazz Festival, and the Red Sea International Jazz Festival as well as performing with John Zorn's Cobra at the Guggenheim Museum in NYC. Eyal recorded for Tzadik, Piadrum, Keonix and WMD Records. His music has been featured on NPR and MTV. His latest film work, the music for Keepers Of Eden, will be presented at the Vancouver and the San Paulo Film Festivals. www.eyalmaozmusic.com
Julianne Carney - Violin
Julianne Carney, a Brooklyn-based violinist from Detroit, MI, has performed or recorded with Jay-Z, Sufjan Stevens, Jenny Scheinman, Bill Frisell, Adam Matta (beatbox), Luminescent Orchestrii, My Brightest Diamond (formerly AwRY), Pilotram, and her improvisation project Ahnfinod; she has appeared at Royal Albert Hall, Radio City Music Hall, Apollo Theater, Joe's Pub, Café Lena, Tonic, Knitting Factory, and the Beachland Ballroom. She was a recipient of the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship in 2001-02, & received her Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance, Summa Cum Laude, at Lawrence University, in Appleton, WI. Julianne teaches violin at the Harlem Children's Zone, maintains a Brooklyn Violin Studio, & is currently a teacher-trainee at the NY Suzuki School for Strings.
Meg Schedel - Electric Cello, MAX/MSP
Margaret Anne Schedel is a composer and cellist specializing in the creation and performance of ferociously interactive media. Her works have been performed throughout the United Stated and abroad. While working towards a DMA in music composition at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, her thesis, an interactive multimedia opera, A King Listens, premiered at the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center and was profiled by apple.com. She is working towards a certificate in Deep Listening with Pauline Oliveros and has studied composition with Mara Helmuth and McGregor Boyle. She serves as the musical director for Kinesthetech Sense and sits on the boards of the BEAM Foundation, the Electronic Music Foundation Institute, the International Computer Music Association, the New West Electro Acoustic Music Organization, and Organised Sound. She can now be found at SUNY Stony Brook where she teaches in the music department and CDACT.
Carol Purdy - Cello
Carol Purdy currently performs with the Island Chamber Symphony and the New York Soundpainting Orchestra. Carol presents improvisation workshops through the Music for People Organization, at colleges and universities and for music educators associations, and has been a public school music teacher for over thirty years. She is also a member of the NYSSMA Committee for Composition and Improvisation.
Diana Wayburn - Piano/Flute
Diana Wayburn (pianist/flautist/composer) attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the University of Indiana’s Bloomington School of Music as a Piano Performance major. She has worked as a jazz pianist in many NYC clubs and restaurants, as an accompanist and improviser for modern dance studios, and as a composer, musician, and arranger for numerous theater productions in NYC. She is currently a member of the NY Soundpainting Orchestra with Walter Thompson and ZAHA, a soundpainting ensemble directed by Evan Mazunik. She has also performed soundpainting productions with Sarah Weaver and participated in Butch Morris’s Conductions. She has presented original compositions and improvisations at Judson Memorial Church, St. Mark’s Church, The Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Roulette, The Tank, 5C Café and CBs Lounge. Hank Shteamer of Time Out NY has called her “a compelling performer.”
Rich Rosenthal - Guitar
Guitarist Rich Rosenthal was born 1964 in Bronx NY.He started playing guitar at age 12.Was inspired to study jazz and Avant-Garde music by teacher David Moreno. Began attending concerts in NYC lofts such as Soundscape, Studio Rivbea, and many others. Witnessing this music at such a young age had a major impact on him. Going to see such musicians as: Cecil Taylor, Jimmy Lyons, Sam Rivers, Sun Ra, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Steve Lacy, Ornette Coleman, and Frank Wright. He befriended many musicians who were eager to educate him on the music, particularly, Glen Spearman and Raphe Malik. Earning a B.F.A from the New School Jazz a Contemporary Music program Rosenthal had the privilege of studying with such masters as Andrew Cyrille and Reggie Workman. He has played and or recorded with such musicians as: Joe Giardullo, Joe Mcphee, Jackson Krall, Dominic Duval, Mike Bisio, Dom Minasi, Rosi Hertlein, David Arner, Daniel Levin, Dee Pop, Ahmed Abdullah.
James Ilgenfritz - Contrabass
James Ilgenfritz approaches the art of making music as an archeologist would unearth a fossilized relic. Carefully examining rarified aspects of his instrument's sonic palette, James strives to give new meaning to the classically overlooked gems of the physical and hypothetical properties of sound. Most recently, James has been in close dialogue with contemporary composers to develop new works that explore the metaphorical relationship to the practical complexity of daily life. www.jamesilgenfritz.com
Betsey Biggs - Laptop
Betsey Biggs is an artist and composer working with sound, video, interactivity, installation and performance. Her work aims to engage the audience, to expose the beautiful in the mundane, and to explore the tension between spontaneity and form, and has been seen and heard at venues including Issue Project Room, Experimental Intermedia, Sundance Film Festival, The Berkeley Art Museum, and MASSMoCA. Biggs studied music at Colorado College and Mills College, and is currently completing her Ph.D. at Princeton University, where she is researching narrative and participation in sound art. Upcoming projects include a multimedia collaboration with flautist Margaret Lancaster, a video performance at the Schenectady Museum, and a continuing series of soundtracks for cinematic experiences in real places, Park Bench Cinema.
Advisory Council
Ione
William Jastrow
Pauline Oliveros
H. Robert Reynolds
Michael Rogers
Stephen Rush
Edward Sarath
Walter Thompson
Board of Directors
John Ross, President
James Ilgenfritz, Vice President
Justin Foster, Treasurer
Jesse Johnston, Secretary
Sarah Weaver, Artistic Director