Other Minds 17 Festival of New Music

Concert One
Thursday, March 1

featuring the Norwegian ensemble asamisimasa

The palindromic Norwegian ensemble asamisimasa kicks off three nights of concerts at the JCCSF with a full program of works by young mavericks Øyvind Torvund and Simon Steen-Andersen (both born in 1976). Torvund's virtuosically quirky Neon Forest Space combines influences from Purcell to Black Flag in seven sections, making use of radios, aerosol cans, bird whistles and an electric milk steamer. Audiences will also be treated to the world premiere of his new work, Willibald Motor Landscape, composed especially for asamisimasa.

Where Torvund's work harnesses an incredibly disparate collection of sounds, Steen-Andersen focuses on a kind of micro-world, amplifying barely audible instrumental gestures in both sound and video. In his words, he is "trying to approach the human being behind the instrument, because then music can suddenly be about everything that is most important: communication, being, fragility and intimacy." His set of four recent works concludes with a haunting piece for cello with a "video-shadow," bringing the concept of amplification into a multimedia context.

A panel discussion will take place at 7pm, followed by the concert at 8pm. A reception will follow the concert.

About the Festival
Now in its 17th year, the annual Other Minds Festival of New Music invites nine of the most innovative artists from around the world to the San Francisco Bay Area for a four-day residency at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in Woodside, California, and three days of concerts, panel discussions, and symposia in San Francisco. Known for featuring illustrious guest performers, a significant number of world premieres, and productions that incorporate new technologies and multidisciplinary collaborations, the Festival brings together composers who represent all points of the musical spectrum and push the creative possibilities of their respective disciplines. The Festival has also recently added a Fellowship program and concert for emerging composers, helping to nurture the most promising "other minds" of the future. The Los Angeles Times has called the OM Festival “the premier new music festival on the West Coast.”

• Venue: Kanbar Hall, Jewish Community Center of San Francisco
• Date: Thu March 1, 2012 8:00pm
• City: San Francisco
• Email: otherminds@otherminds.org
• Price Range: Standard Seating: Single Concerts $35 General, $30 JCCSF Members, $25 Students; 3-Concert Pass $89 General, $77 JCCSF Members, $64 Students. Premium Seating: Single Concerts $45 General, $40 JCCSF Members; 3-Concert Pass $115 General, $102 JCCSF Members
• Tickets: JCCSF Box Office, (415) 292-1233. Box Office hours M-F 12-7pm, Sat. 12-5 pm.

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