Metasax/DRUMthings (Matthew Burtner/Morris Palter) October 14, 2006

Saturday 14 October, 2006
Metasax/DRUMthings (Matthew Burtner/Morris Palter)
Classic Avant series

Time:
8PM

Tickets:
$15 regular/$10 member + senior/$5 student

Event Details:
Metasax/DRUMthings merges intense human/computer polyrhythms with live signal processing using sensor-based gestural technologies. From structured, experimental works to free improvisation with rhythmic signal processing machines, to ambient pulse-based sound art, Metasax/DRUMthings concerts present a high-energy, rhythmic show combining experimental, electronic, free jazz and punk influences. The duo is formed of Morris Palter (percussion and computer) and Mathew Burtner (metasaxophones, polyrhythmicon, computer and composer). This concert is sponsored by Apple Computers, Ayotte Drums, and Metasaxophone systems.

Morris Palter
Born in Canada, Morris was a founding member of the Juno nominated alternative rock band treble charger (RCA/BMG) from 1993 to 1996. Upon leaving the group, Morris moved the The Netherlands to study percussion at the Koninklijk Conservatorium, Den Haag, and then to California to pursue a Doctorate degree under renowned percussionist Steven Schick at the University of California, San Diego.

Morris's wide range of musical interests has found him performing throughout North America and Europe at various festivals and concert venues. Some of these have included the Acousmania Festival in Bucharest, the Agora Festival (IRCAM) in Paris, Disney Hall in Los Angeles, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) 2004 and 2005, the Quincena Festival in Spain, the Music Gallery in Toronto, as well as at the Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall under famed conductor/composer Pierre Boulez. He has also performed solo recitals and guest lectures at the University of Birmingham, UK, Stanford University, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Queens College, Mercer University, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the University of Virginia.

As a Novelty Jazz Xylophonist, Morris founded the Speak-Easy Duo in 2003 and has appeared at the Rocky Mountain Ragtime Festival in Boulder, CO, the Rotterdam Conservatory, the Orange County RagFest, the West Coast Ragtime Festival, the Ragtime Xylophone Institute in Delaware, and the Koninklijk Conservatorium, Den Haag.

In 2000, Mr. Palter co-founded NOISE (San Diego New Music), and was a member of the percussion group redfish bluefish (Artistic Director, Steven Schick) from 1999-2005. Mr. Palter is also actively involved with theatre, having been a composer and performer at both The Old Globe Theatre (A Midsummer Night's Dream) and the La Jolla Playhouse (The Scottish Play). In February of 2005, Morris composed music for the McCaleb Dance Company for the piece entitled Post and Lintel. Morris has also made recordings for various on and off Broadway plays.

Morris actively commissions both solo and chamber works and has collaborated with artists such as Steven Schick, Bob Becker, Pierre Boulez, Roger Reynolds, Evelyn Glennie, David Lang, Matthew Burtner, Stewart Saunders Smith, Philip Manoury, Chris Tonkin, Scott Wilson, and Colin McAllister.

Mr. Palter has been published in Percussive Notes Magazine and the San Diego Troubador Newspaper, and currently has endorsement contracts with Black Swamp Percussion products, Ayotte Drums, and Paiste Inc. He Has received degrees from the University of Toronto, the Koninklijk Conservatorium, Den Haag, and the University of California, San Diego, where he received his Doctorate of Musical Arts in 2005. Morris can be heard on Mode Records, Centaur Records, New World Records, and on John Zorn’s label, Tzadik.

Matthew Burtner
Matthew Burtner’s music and sound art has been described by The Wire as “some of the most eerily effective electroacoustic music I’ve heard,” and 21st Century Music writes "There is a horror and beauty in this music that is most impressive." First prize winner of the Musica Nova International Electroacoustic Music Competition he has also received honors and awards from Bourges, Gaudeamus, Darmstadt, Prix d’Ete, Meet the Composer, ASCAP, Luigi Russolo, AMC, and Hultgren Biennial. Commissioners include CrossSound, Quincena Festival (Spain), Musik-I-Nordland (Norway), Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Peabody Trio, SpectriSonori, Augsburg Festival (Germany), Ascolto (Germany), and Ensemble Noise. His work has been recorded for DACO (Germany), The WIRE (U.K.), Centaur (USA), Innova (USA), and Euridice (Norway).

Burtner teaches composition and computer music at the University of Virginia where he is Associate Director of the VCCM Computer Music Center. Originally from Alaska, he studied philosophy, composition, saxophone and computer music at St. Johns College, Tulane University, Iannis Xenakis's UPIC-Studios, the Peabody Institute/Johns Hopkins and Stanford University/CCRMA. In 2005 and 2006 he was an Invited Researcher at IRCAM/Centre-George-Pompidou, Paris. He has been composer-in-residence at Musikene (Spain), Banff Centre (Canada), Simon Fraser University (Canada), the IUA/Phonos-Institute (Spain), and the Cite-International-des-Arts (France).

Related Links:
http://ccrma-www.stanford.edu/~mburtner/MetasaxDrumthings.html

Official Website: http://www.musicgallery.org