NOISE is an ensemble of accomplished soloists with a deep commitment to chamber music. NOISE presents concerts that are energetic and engaging as well as intellectually stimulating and technically sophisticated. We believe that music which is sometimes called complex, difficult, or avant-garde is accessible to any audience when performed with passion and conviction. The repertoire of NOISE is focused on three artistic trajectories, their histories, and their intersections:
• Complexism, high notation precision, threshold performative challenges, experimental notation and performative techniques. NOISE repertoire includes works by representative composers Brian Ferneyhough, Franklin Cox, Christopher Burns, Juan Campoverde Q., Erik Ulman, Anton Webern, Elliot Carter, Stuart Saunders Smith, and Sidney Boquiren, among many others.
• High-intensity grooves demanding of focused concentration, minimalism, postminimalism. NOISE repertoire includes works by representative composers Christopher Adler, Louis Andriessen, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Frederic Rzewski, Tom Johnson, Bill Ryan, and Evan Ziporyn.
• Evocative aural soundscapes. NOISE repertoire includes works by representative composers include John Luther Adams, Matthew Burtner, Sidney Corbett, Morton Feldman, Orland Jacinto Garcia, Kaija Saariaho, and Toru Takemitsu.
"One is utterly disarmed by their charm, their seriousness, and total lack of pretension. ...
A more dedicated or more talented group would be hard to imagine."
—David Gregson, review of soundON 2007 for sandiego.com, June 17, 2007
Founded in 2000 as the ensemble-in-residence with San Diego New Music, NOISE presents an annual festival, the soundON Festival of Modern Music at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla, California. NOISE has also performed at Stanford University, the California Institute of the Arts, the University of Virginia, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the University of California, Santa Cruz, the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, the University of California, San Diego and the University of San Diego.
NOISE is active in commissioning and premiering works by emerging composers, including Sidney Marquez Boquiren, Nathan Brock, Christopher Burns, Matthew Burtner, Derek Keller, David Lipten, Erik Ulman, Rosalind Page, and Abigail Richardson. With the inauguration of the soundON Festival of Modern Music, NOISE began an annual international call for scores the winners of which are featured on each festival.
"Tonight, NOISE has given us technical perfection and the passion that every composer craves."
—Cathy Robbins, live blog from soundON 2007 for voiceofsandiego.org, June 17, 2007
NOISE appears on Christopher Adler's 2008 CD Ecstatic Volutions in a Neon Haze (Innova) and on Derek Keller's 2007 CD, Impositions and Consequences (Tzadik).
NOISE has performed with many guest artists, including Franklin Cox, Mark Menzies, Felix Fan, Jackie Leclair, John Fonville, Harvey Sollberger, Kathleen Gallagher, Robert Zelickman, Päivikki Nykter, Aiyun Huang, Rob Esler, Don Nichols, Alan Lechusza, Luciane Cardassi, Jane Rigler, Carol Plantamura, Ivan Manzanilla, Greg Stuart, Rand Steiger, Christopher Williams, Lois Martin, Martha Renner, Lorie Kirkell, Derek Keller, Aleck Karis, Sandra Brown, Reiko Manabe, Carolyn Lechusza, Joscha Oetz, founding member cellist Reynard Rott, and former member cellist Geoffrey Gartner.
Advisory Board
Mark Dresser
Orlando Jacinto García
Celin Romero
Stuart Saunders Smith
Harvey Sollberger
Evan Ziporyn
"performing with high energy and dedication" —Stephen Eddins,
from a review of Derek Keller's Impositions and Consequences (Tzadik, 2007)
"a young group of extremely brilliant performers" —Paul Bergen,
quoted in the La Jolla Light, October 13, 2005
"played with energetic precision" / "brilliant ensemble moments"
from a review of NOISE at the Library Jan. 28, 2007 concert, by Kenneth Herman, sandiego.com, Jan. 29, 2007
NOISE
c/o San Diego New Music
PMB 316
9700 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, CA 92093-5010
(858) 232-3388
sdnm@yahoo.com
musical excerpt:
Illuminaciones, by Juan Campoverde Q.
photos by Supeena Insee Adler