contact: andreacentazzo@andreacentazzo.com
ABOUT US
Italian American composer, percussionist and multimedia artist Andrea Centazzo in the early 70s introduced a new concept of percussion playing, migrating from the Free Jazz to a new form of improvised music, defining itself. Centazzo was one of the founders in the late 70s of the NY Downtown Music Scene with his seminal collaboration with John Zorn, and others documented in many albums. In 1976 he founded ICTUS Records recording and playing among the others with: John Zorn, Steve Lacy, Alvin Curran, Don Cherry, Lester Bowie, Evan Parker, Anthony Coleman, Derek Bailey, Tony Oxley and many others.
He left the improvised music scene in 1986, moving shortly after to Los Angeles, CA and dedicating himself to composition and video making, presenting and conducting 3 operas, 2 symphonies and almost 400 compositions for all kind of ensembles plus many award winning video films. Back to live performing in 1998, he created solo multimedia concerts, playing live in synch with videos that he shoots and edits.
The University of Bologna Library just recently dedicated to the composer the "Fondo Centazzo" where all his works are collected and made available to students and scholars.
Ellen Burr’s multifaceted musical career has won her praise in performance, improvisation and composition. Jim Santella of Cadence Magazine said, “…creative artists such as Burr, who turn the flute into a tool for exploration, give their audience a wide range of aural experiences.”
Ellen has been improvising almost as long as she's been playing and began teaching only two years after starting private lessons. Ellen appears on over 30 CD's and has received worldwide performances of over fifty of her compositions. Her improvisational card game Ink Bops is included in the graphic score anthology Notations 21, ed. By Theresa Sauer, pub. 2009.
In February of 2015, she is a featured performer clinician for the Capital University’s NOW Music Festival. She has appeared at the 40th Anniversary concerts of Creative Music Foundation, Notations 21-Concert of Graphic Scores at the Chelsea Art Museum, Vancouver New Music's presentation of Cornelius Cardew's Treatise, KNOB New Music Festival in Wichita, several ISIM Festivals, Wichita State University's Contemporary Music Festival, Vancouver Jazz Festival and Las Vegas New Music Festival, as performing in Vancouver and Portugal. Ms. Burr held a year long position as assistant professor of theory and music composition at Wichita State University.
Jeff Schwartz is co-leader of the Decisive Instant creative orchestra, principal bass of MESTO (the Multi-Ethnic Star Orchestra), a member of the Santa Monica Symphony, and is very active in the Los Angeles avant-garde music community, working regularly in groups led by Andrea Centazzo, Charles Sharp, Anna Homler, and Scott Heustis, as well as numerous temporary formations. He has also performed with visiting artists including Anthony Braxton, Glenn Branca, Dana Reason, Nicole Mitchell, Tracy McMullen, Sean Sonderegger, and Adam Rudolph, and attended the Creative Music Studio and the Vancouver Creative Music Institute, studying with Karl Berger, Henry Threadgill, and Barry Guy, among others. The author of a popular online biography of Albert Ayler, his writing has also appeared in the journals American Music, Popular Music, and Postmodern Culture, and in the forthcoming revision of A Basic Music Library.