July 15, 2006
Berkeley, CA

BEAM awards two Commissions for NuRoque Composers

The BEAM Foundation awarded two composers with commissions for pieces to be played by TrioMetrik, the world's first networked interactive string trio.

Receiving the commissions are Margeret Schedel and Zachary Watkins.

Margaret Anne Schedel is a composer and cellist specializing in the creation and performance of ferociously interactive media. A DMA in composition at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music is almost within her grasp. She is a founding member of the NeXT Ens, an ensemble with the unique mission to perform and support the creation of interactive electroacoustic works. Currently she is serving the International Computer Music Association as a Director-At-Large and Array Editor, as well as co-editing an issue of the peer-reviewed journal Organised Sound with the theme Collaboration and Intermedia. Her opera, A King Listens, premiered at the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center in June 2004 and was profiled by apple.com. She has just returned from China where her residency at the Sino-Nordic Arts Space was supported by the Presser Foundation.

Zachary Watkins studied composition with Janice Giteck, Jarrad Powell, Robin Holcomb and Jovino Santos Neto at Cornish and has also studied with Chris Brown and Fred Frith. As a recording engineer, Zachary has worked with composer James Tenney, free jazz trio Floss on Monktail Records, Paul Rutherford, Harris Eisenstadt, poet Stephen Ratcliffe as well as his own compositions. He has collaborated with choreographer Becca Levy and Butoh choreographer Christina Braun on works performed at the South Pasadena High Performing Arts Center and the Temescal Arts Center in Oakland, CA. A recent collaboration with choreographer Lola A. Katie was premiered on March 18th at the Mills Dance Thesis presentations. A Cornish College of the Arts commission yielded the new work Aircraft Without Life premiered on March 4, 2006.

The new works will be premiered in 2007.