July-August 2008
SoNu will be performing Anne LeBaron's Sucktion as part of the New Original Works Festival 2008 at the CalArts REDCAT Theater at Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, July 31 - August 2, 2008. Sucktion tells the story of a woman's cyber-erotic transformation from abject housewife into a self-sufficient cyborg, and features a libretto by Douglas Kearney and direction from Nataki Garrett.
Nina completed her Ph.D. at UC San Diego in the Department of Music in the in Critical Studies/Experimental Practices program. Her dissertation "Voice as a Technology of Selfhood: Towards an Analysis of Racialized Timbre and Vocal Performance" is now available online. Nina will be starting a position as Assistant Professor of Musicology at the Department of Musicology at University of California, Los Angeles in the fall of 2008.
May 2008
Congratulations to Håvard Gjelseth of This Way Design, designer of our excellent website! Håvard's work on this site has been featured in a prestigious compilation of music graphics, "1000 Music Graphics," available from Rockport Publishers.
April 2008
SoNu performed a residency at Appalachian State University's Hayes School of Music, culminating in a concert at Rosen Concert Hall on April 10.
February 2008
SoNu performed at the Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Arts with Ana-Maria Avram, Iancu Dumitrescu, and the Hyperion Ensemble, performing works by Avram, Dumitrescu and Phil Curtis.
Also in February, the Department of Music of the University of Southern California, San Diego released a new CD of music recorded at UCSD's studios, Sound Check Three, featuring soNu performing John Carter's Encounter with special guests Anthony Davis and George Lewis.
October 2007
Anne LeBaron's theatrical song cycle Sucktion, written for soNu and featuring the words of Douglas Kearney, has received funding from Creative Capital's Multi-Arts Production (MAP) Fund. Look for more news soon - a workshop performance is being planned for Summer 2008.
Gustavo's CD Unsettled On an Old Sense of Place (Henceforth Records, featuring soNu on three tracks, has been getting rave reviews.
June 2007
SoNu is happy to announce its presence on Gustavo Aguilar's Unsettled On an Old Sense of Place (Henceforth Records, available mid-July 2007) features the ensemble performing on three of his compositions.
In other news, soNu will be collaborating with composer Chris Shultis on a new work for Winter 2008. We are also looking forward to the further development of our work with Anne LeBaron on Sucktion, which is to become a theatrical song cycle.
In the last 9 months, Gustavo has received his D.M.A. in percussion performance from UCSD and moved to New York City. Nina has been finishing her dissertation on meaning and affect through vocal timbre for her Ph.D. in Critical Studies/Experimental Practices, also from UCSD, and has accepted a teaching position at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, which she will begin in August. Phil has been working on sound installations and is completing a large scale programming project which will be the basis for new installation work, as well as future projects with soNu.
February 25, 2007
soNu performed at Dangerous Curve in downtown Los Angeles, where we premiered new work by Anna-Maria Avram (Four Orphic Sketches) and Iancu Dumitrescu (Other Time - Out of Time), and performed a new versions of Julio Estrada's Memorias and Annea Lockwood's Monkey Trips.
January 19, 2006
soNu just completed 3 full days in the studio. We recorded a brand new piece, Sucktion Suite, by Anne LeBaron with words by Douglas Kearney. On some pieces by soNu members and Albert Ayler, Anne also joined us playing the harp and Mary Oliver the violin and viola. Joe Kucera was our excellent engineer.
A small part of Gustavo's set up!
Nina, Phil, Anne and Mary after the session. Thanks, Anne and Mary!
November 10, 2005
soNu enjoyed a week in NYC rehearsing and performing with Earl Howard and Tom Buckner at the Merkin Concert Hall, as part of the Interpretations concert series.
Concert just finished…!
October 16, 2005
Performance of “Ronda 3” (by Earl Howard) at the CalArts Alumni Event at Barnsdall.
Two generations of CalArts alumni.
October 2005
soNu had the pleasure of having Earl Howard in San Diego for a week of rehearsal, preparing for concerts in L.A. and N.Y.C.
August 2005
soNu with special guest Morten Carlsen had a great time in Norway. We even had time for hiking the Jendem mountain (where Nina grew up).
February 2005
soNu with Anthony Davis, Mark Dresser, Carolyn Lechusza, Steve Schick and Fabio Oliveira played a beautiful composition by Gustavo Aguilar, “The Last Stop.”
Gustavo and Mark Dresser.
Steve Schick, Nina and Phil.
September 2004
It was a real treat to collaborate with choreographer and dancer David Shimotakahara, Groundworks Dance Theater and Dennis Dugan on the dance piece “Still Life.”
Amy being fitted for costume.
July 2004
Anyone wants to have dinner at Pasta Basta?! Thank you, Morten and Randi for a great time in Copenhagen.
Nina, Phil, Randi Pontoppidan, Gustavo and Alan at Huset.
Phil checking his e-mail at Huset!
July 2004
We spent some beautiful days in Warsaw at the Crossdrumming International Percussion Festival.
Gustavo and Alan walking towards old town to have dinner.
Gustavo participating in a panel discussing the future of percussion music with (l to r): [unidentified], Karol Szymanowski, Gustavo, Fritz Hauser, Heinz von Moisy.
May 2004
soNu played at Joe's Pub during the American Composers Orchestra's Improvise! Festival.
Gustavo obscured by equipment?