Bay Area pianists MOTOKO HONDA, TING LUO, BRETT CARSON, ERIKA OBA, and ANDREW BARNES JAMIESON showcase original compositions and daring improvisations. From solos to dynamic duets and a powerful culminating quintet, these talented composer-performer-improvisers push the boundaries of traditional piano repertoire.
BIOS
MOTOKO HONDA is a critically acclaimed Japanese concert pianist, composer, and sound artist, who has created a distinctive sound through her holistic approach to music, and her exceptional sensitivity in relating to other art forms and technologies. Employing a "virtuoso technique paired with her intensely imaginative mind" (Susan Dirende, L.A. Splash Magazine), and with stylistic influences ranging from jazz, world music to contemporary prepared piano with electronics, Motoko's compositions and structured improvisations are intended to affect the skin, organs and minds of the listener rather than simple recitations of rhythmic and harmonic themes. Portrayed as a "keyboard alchemist" (Chris Barton, L.A. Times), and an "embodiment of a muse" (Greg Burk, Metaljazz), Motoko's performances transport audiences on sonic adventures that transcend the boundaries and conventions of contemporary music. At home in classical, contemporary, improvised, or electronic music, Motoko is a musical force of nature, bringing a unique and creative approach to her wide-ranging concerts and collaborations. Her appearances include major theaters, museums and jazz venues such as the Ford Amphitheater, Hammer Museum, REDCAT/MOCA, the Barnsdall Gallery Theater, Moody Center for the Arts, Montalvo Arts Center, the Herbst Theater, the Taube Atrium Theater, The Stone and Cathedral di Siena. As a specialist in structured improvisation, composition, extended piano techniques, interdisciplinary projects and electro-acoustic music strategy, Motoko also has been invited to give numerous lecture-performances by national and international universities and institutions. For her contribution to the world of new and creative music, Motoko Honda has earned the permanent residency as an Alien of Extraordinary Ability in Music in the U.S., and currently splits her time between U.S., Europe and Japan.
TING LUO, pianist, and director of New Arts Collaboration. She has performed and lectured in prestigious venues in China and U.S., advocating contemporary music. Ting Luo has curated a multimedia music and art project New Arts Collaboration since 2020. She actively collaborates with artists from multiple disciplines including visual artists, composers, and sound artists. Works by NAC have been featured in The San Luis Obispo Museum of Art’s Digital Shorts Film Festival, Fresh Inc Festival, New Music Gathering Conference/Festival, and are programmed in Old First Concert Series, The Center of New Music, Thailand New Music and Arts Symposium, Tokyo International Short Film Festival and Pune Shorts International Film Festival. Ting performed her original piano compositions as well as solo and ensemble works by classical composers and living composers in prestigious events including Bethany Arts Community Multidisciplinary Residency and Dragon’s Egg Presents at University Settlement in New York, Hot Air Music Festival in San Francisco, the Contemporary Art Music Project Festival - CAMPGround22 in Tampa, Music At Noon concert series in Sacramento, NowNet Arts Conference 2022 in Stanford, Mosswood Sound Series in Oakland and Westben Performer-Composer Residency in ON, Canada. Ting currently resides in Bay Area, California.
BRETT CARSON is a composer, pianist, improviser, poet, and theater artist based in Oakland CA. His compositional work, which has been described as "fascinatingly intense" (Stephen Smoliar, SF Classical Voice), explores the juxtaposition of a gleefully chaotic plurality of musical approaches and styles. This is combined with a penchant for surreal world-building and an exploration of the bizarre and uncanny, along with a commitment to writing for the voice and the stage. Major works include the mytho-dramatic song cycle "Mysterious Descent" (2016), an apocalyptic chamber opera "Just Visiting (X-Ray Vision)" (2017), and multimedia theater piece "The Secret Life of the Paramecium" (2022). As a pianist, he has performed internationally in the realms of free improvisation, new music, and jazz. He has worked with a wide variety of composers/performers including Bill Baird, Brian Baumbusch, Nicolas Collins, Vinny Golia, George Lewis, Nicole Mitchell, Roscoe Mitchell, Bill Noertker, Zeena Parkins, Rent Romus, and William Winant. From 2019-20, he performed as the pianist for the legendary jazz unit the Art Ensemble of Chicago.
ERIKA OBA is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and educator based in the SF Bay Area. As a composer she has written works for jazz ensembles, chamber groups, dance and theater. She is active as a performer on both piano and flute, and performs with her own groups the Oba-Bastian-Steinkoler trio, Ends Meat’ Catastrophe Jazz Ensemble, Rice Kings, and The Sl(e)ight Ensemble. She has also performed with Meredith Monk, Frances Wong, Peter Apfelbaum, Lisa Mezzacappa, Jean Fineberg, Rent Romus, and many other jazz and experimental musicians in the Bay Area. In addition to her own private teaching studio, she is a private jazz piano instructor for UC Berkeley’s Music Department. As an artist, she is interested in exploring ritual, diasporic identities, and community through performance.
ANDREW BARNES JAMIESON is a pianist, composer, and arranger, based in Oakland. He is active in faith communities and experimental music ensembles in the Bay Area, aiming to challenge white supremacy and injustice and deconstruct systems of power, in musical and faith systems, and celebrate, and remain accountable to, the Black gospel music tradition. Andrew founded the avant-gospel Trouble Ensemble, performed over almost 1100 of #1000improvisations (1111 planned daily improvisational keyboard livestreams since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic), and collaborates on duo performances with baritone, activist, and visionary Darnell Ishmel, as well as with Soyinka Rahim. He serves as music director for community worship at Pacific School of Religion, and as a keyboardist at City of Refuge United Church of Christ.