LOGAN HOUSE
at the Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts
Thollem McDonas brings a panoply of original creations both acoustic and electric to the Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts, playing pieces from his solo piano album, Meeting At The Parting Place (Odradek Records), an electric piece he calls "13 Billion Years To Tomorrow" that integrates the concepts from new scientific discoveries as well as a duo with special guest Emily Hay.
"Listening to Thollem McDonas play the piano is an astonishing experience. He has an innate ability to compose transcendent music using the piano as his expressive voice and to explore the depth and range of the instrument like no one else. He will take you on journeys across varied landscapes that flow effortlessly from one to the next — somehow emerging logically even in their unpredictability. Thollem creates a spectacular tapestry of different colored sounds reflecting his awareness, study and assimilation of countless influences. In Terry Riley’s own words, Thollem McDonas is ‘a true original’." (Joan Jeanrenaud, Composer, Cellist, Kronos Quartet 1978-98)
Thollem is an internationally renown pianist, keyboardist, composer, improviser, singer-songwriter, activist, author and teacher. He's spent his life skirting and erasing the edges of boundaries musically, culturally and geographically. His work is ever-changing, evolving and responding to the times and his experiences, both as a soloist and in collaboration with hundreds of artists across idioms and disciplines.
Thollem was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, studying classical piano music, composing and improvising since he was a child, absorbing the sounds of his culturally diverse upbringing. After dedicating his 20s to grassroots political activism, he refocused his attention on a breadth of musics that incorporate his myriad experiences and curiosities.
Since 2005, he has played over 1,500 concerts throughout N. America and Europe as a soloist and in collaboration with other musicians, dancers and filmmakers. In that time span, as leader or co-leader, Thollem has released over 60 albums on 21 different vanguard labels to international critical acclaim. A brief cross section of his many recent collaborators include William Parker, Pauline Oliveros, Nels Cline, Mike Watt, Yuka C Honda, Rob Mazurek, filmmaker Martha Colburn and dancer/filmmakers Germaul Yusef Barnes and Peter Sparling.
Thollem is the founding director of Estamos Ensemble, a Mexican-American cross border ensemble for musical exchange. Apart from being a professional musician, he is a published author about art and politics. He has written about his travels in The Anthology of Essays On Deep Listening and for Full Moon Magazine (Prague).
Emily Hayis a flutist, vocalist and pianist who extends the traditional roles and capabilities of her instruments by incorporating the complexity of contemporary classical technique with the spontaneity and experimentation of free improvisation. The result is startling interpretations of sound and intense ensemble interaction. Her explorations on the flute and alto flute embody unusual tone colors and soaring rhythmic structures, augmented by electronically generated effects and often overlapped by unusual vocalizations ranging from primal to operatic with lyrics and sounds from the stream of consciousness.
Hay is an active member of the Los Angeles and "left coast" music communities, and has performed in avant garde, art rock, free improvisation, electro-acoustical and contemporary classical ensembles such as Hay Fever, Mooncake, Hay-Liebig Duo, U Totem, The Motor Totemist Guild, The 5 UU's, Otherparts, I Am Umbrella, Adam Rudolph's Go Organic Orchestra, The Emily Hay Collective, The Rich West Ensemble, The Jeff Kaiser Okodektet and The Vinny Golia Large Ensemble. Recordings of her work have been released on Cuneiform Records, Recommended Records, Nine Winds, Meta, pfMentum, Public Eyesore and Dragnet Records. She has toured and performed throughout Europe, Canada and the U.S. with concert highlights at the Bimhuis/Amsterdam, the Ottomat/Italy, New Music America Festival/Montreal, Art Rock Festival/Frankfurt, Kulturni Dom/Yugoslavia, Staion de Art Sankt Peter/Cologne and the Reithalle/Switzerland.
Emily Hayis a flutist, vocalist and pianist who extends the traditional roles and capabilities of her instruments by incorporating the complexity of contemporary classical technique with the spontaneity and experimentation of free improvisation. The result is startling interpretations of sound and intense ensemble interaction. Her explorations on the flute and alto flute embody unusual tone colors and soaring rhythmic structures, augmented by electronically generated effects and often overlapped by unusual vocalizations ranging from primal to operatic with lyrics and sounds from the stream of consciousness.
