Randy Raine-Reusch is a composer and international concert artist specializing in new music for world instruments He has the distinction of studying with "master" musicians in Thailand and Malayasia, as well as brief studies with two "national treasures" in Korea and Japan. He has composed pieces for Expo 86 Vancouver and Expo 88 Brisbane, as well as numerous film and dance scores. Many of his scores are based on "essential composition" which directs the performer through a series of musical "essences" which can either be played directly or improvised upon. Recent works include pieces for kayageum (Korean long zither) and saxophone, nigenkin (Japanese two string zither) and synthesizer, and dan bau (Vietnamese monochord), prepared kayageum and saxophone. He is a founding member of the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology.
Experimental multi-instrumentalist, composer/improvisor, author and visual artist, Hal Rammel has been designing and building musical instruments since 1977. He has performed with Russell Thorne, Davey Williams, LaDonna Smith, Jack Wright, Johannes Bergmark, Steve Nelson-Raney, Susan Rawcliffe, Terri Kapsalis and John Corbett. As an author and graphic artist, his work has appeared in the pages of Experimental Musical Instruments, the improvisor, Cultural Correspondence and Arsenal. He resides in southeastern Wisconsin where he teaches musical instrument invention at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and at Milwaukee's A.E. Burdick Elementary School. He is the radio host of Alternating Currents in 20th Century Music on WMSE-FM in Milwaukee.
Dana Reason is a pianist/composer/improvisor from Montr�al, Canada. Ms. Reason has appeared at the San Francisco Jazz Festival, Frau Musica (Nova) Cologne, Beyond the Pink Festival, (LA), Guelph Jazz Festival, Banff Arts Festival, Knitting Factory (NYC), Music Gallery (Toronto), and Newfoundland Sound Symposium. She has performed with Pauline Oliveros, George Lewis, Cecil Taylor, Joe McPhee, Lisle Ellis, and Richard Teitlebaum among others. She has been featured on National Public Radio, and Radio Canada. Ms. Reason has recorded for Music & Arts, Red Toucan, Deep Listening, Sparkling Beatnik and Ryokan labels. Ms. Reason contributes writing to the Twentieth Century Music Journal, Musicworks, and Improvisor magazines. Her music has been reviewed in Cadence, Coda, Musicworks, 20th Century Music Journal, Wire, Jazz Critique (Japan) and Outside Magazines. Ms. Reason was the co-organizer of the ground-breaking symposium Improvising Across Borders (1999) held at the University of California, San Diego. Reason holds a Bachelor of Music from McGill University, a Master of Arts in Composition from Mills College and is a Ph.D candidate in the music program Critical Studies/Experimental Practices at the University of California, San Diego.
Dick Robinson received Master's degrees in composition and violin at the American Conservatory in Chicago. Further studies in electronic/computer music were with Robert Moog, Hugh LeCaine, Charles Dodge, Kurt Hebel, and Carla Scaletti. He founded the Atlanta Electronic Music Center in 1965. In 1970 the piece Ambience was co-winner of the first prize in the Dartmouth International Electronic Music Competition and is recorded on Vox. Robinson played violin with the Atlanta Symphony for 36 years, retiring in 1987 to devote his full time to composition. His electronic and computer music has been performed in colleges and universities throughout the United States, as well as at the '91, '96, and '99 SEAMUS conferences, and in Europe at the Groupe de Recherches Musicales in Paris, the Institute for Sonology in Utrecht, the Festival de Musique d'Aujourd'hui (Extasis 89), in Geneva, Switzerland, and the Futura 1994 series in Crest, France. An early piece, MLK (1968) is recorded on the album Mighty Risen Plea (Sacred Frame Records).
Roberto Juan Rodriguez – producer/composer/percussionist
Born in East Havana, Cuba, percussionist and composer Roberto Rodriguez draws upon his influences of world music, pop, rock, jazz, electronic, avant garde and classical, making him one of the most versed performers as well as a unique artistic voice. Rodriguez, a Grammy nominee and American Music Award Recipient, and winner of the BB3 Radio World Music Award has performed with notable artists such as: Rufus Wainwright, Joe Jackson, Celia Cruz ,Israel "CACHAO" Lopez, Paquito D'Rivera, Julio Iglesias, Miami Sound Machine, Paul Simon, Lloyd Cole, Dr. L Subramaniam, Kavita Krishnamurti, Lester Bowie, John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Wadada Leo Smith and Maurice El Medioni.
Rodriguez can be heard on recordings:
Maurice el Medioni meets Roberto Rodriguez: Descarga Oriental, Piranha Records
Electric Kulintang: Dialects Susie Ibarra & Roberto Rodriguez, Plastic Records.
Roberto Rodriguez ~ Baila! Gitano Baila! ~El Danzon de Moises, Tzadik Records.
Joe Jackon Live - Two Rainy Nights, SONY Records.
Marc Ribot & Los Cubanos Postizos, Atlantic Records.
John Zorn, Taboo & Exile, Tzadik Records.
Folkloriko, Susie Ibarra, Tzadik Records.
Miami Sound Machine, Into the Light and Cuts Both Ways, Epic Records.
An active composer and performer of computer music since the late 1970s, Rolnick performs on a portable computer music system and concertizes regularly in a wide variety of contexts throughout North America and Europe. He has appeared as featured soloist with ensembles such as The California E.A.R. Unit, Relache, Gerard Schwarz's Music Today Ensemble, Musical Elements, and the Albany Symphony Orchestra. Born in 1947 in Dallas, Texas, he earned a BA in English literature from Harvard College in 1969. He studied musical composition with Darius Milhaud at the Aspen Music School, with John Adams and Andrew Imbrie at the San Francisco Conservatory, and with Richard Felciano and Olly Wilson at the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned a Ph.D. in musical composition in 1980. He studied computer music at Stanford University with John Chowning and James A. Moorer, and worked as a researcher at IRCAM in Paris, France, from 1977 to 1979. He currently teaches and directs the EAR Studios at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Composer, pianist, acoustical systems designer, specialist in digital audio research, co-founder and president of Good Sound Foundation. He has directed research in digital recording and editing systems, digital audio signal processing, simulation of acoustic environments, and development of intelligent systems for musical analysis. His I'll See You in My Dreams for amplified orchestra and audio tape (1973), commissioned by Niklaus Wyss and the San Francisco Symphony, is the first composition to employ the artistic use of amplification of a symphony orchestra. His Song and Dance (1975), commmissioned by Seiji Ozawa and the San Francisco Symphony, is the first orchestral composition to employ computer-generated digital synthesis in performance.
Elizabeth T Russell holds an undergraduate degree in music. On a bassoon scholarship, she earned her law degree from the Pace University School of Law. Ms. Russell is the author of Art Law Conversations: A Surprisingly Readable Guide for Visual Artists. Her practice serves literary, visual and performing artists and related businesses in the arts and entertainment industry. Ms. Russell is a member of the Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law section of the New York State Bar Association, the Sports and Entertainment Law Section of the State Bar of Wisconsin and the Copyright Society of the United States. She is admitted to practice in New York, Connecticut and Wisconsin.
From 1987 until 1994 Elizabeth Russell was a senior attorney in the Counsel's Office of the New York State Education Department. She then absented herself from the practice of law and worked for several years in arts administration. Ms. Russell served as development director for the Albany Symphony Orchestra in Albany, NY; director of individual giving for the Madison Repertory Theatre in Madison, WI; and as managing director of Opera for the Young, a professional opera touring company.
Ms. Russell returned to law in 2000 and opened her own firm, concentrating in arts and entertainment, copyright, trademark, business and nonprofit law. Every day, her practical experiences in the arts inform her legal work with artists, musicians and arts-related businesses.
Elizabeth Russell is a frequent lecturer on legal issues in the arts. For more information on her practice, please visit www.erklaw.com.