[NewMusicEvents] Laetitia Sonami at Mills College Nov. 17

[Steed Cowart]

The Mills College Music Department and Center for Contemporary Music
(CCM) present:

2007 David Tudor Composer-In-Residence
LAETITIA SONAMI

Program:

"The Invention of Perspective (The Appearance of Silence)"
A live, interactive work in progress with Sonami's unique instrument
"the lady's glove" controlling sounds in real-time thru gestures.

"I.C.You"
A live film in collaboration with Sue Costabile.

"Chairs"
A project in collaboration with the Mills Community using chairs as
listening sites. Installations and performances by Brendan Aanes, Chris
Brown, Wiljago Jean Cook, Kristin Erickson, Chris Konovaliv, Ayako
Kataoka, Seve Martinez, Peter Musselman, Maggi Payne, Jennifer
Rannells, Kate Rannells, Marty Windhal and Suzanne Thorpe. At locations
around the Mills Campus.

Saturday, November 17, 2007
8:00  pm
Lisser Hall
$12 general, $6 seniors and non-Mills students

Mills College
5000 MacArthur Blvd
Oakland, CA  94613
510.430.2296
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Laetitia Sonami, the 2007 David Tudor Composer-in-Residence at Mills
College, is a composer, performer and sound installation artist who
designs and builds her own instruments. Since 1991 she has developed
and adapted new gestural controllers to musical performance and
composed works with these materials. Her unique instrument, the lady's
glove, is made out of black lycra and is embedded with sensors which
track the slightest motion of each finger, the hand and the arm. The
performance thus becomes a small dance where the movements shape the
music. Sonami's sound installations combine audio and kinetic elements
embedded in every day objects such as lamp bulbs, kitchen gloves and
bags.

Current performances include "I.C. You", a live film in collaboration
with video artist Sue Costabile, shot and scored from two suitcases, a
bowl of water and a piece of ice, "The Appearance of Silence (the
invention of perspective)," a solo performance with the lady's glove
and "AIR" with a new instrument, the Bellow.

Sonami has performed in numerous festivals across the United States,
Canada, Europe and Japan, among which the Ars Electronica Festival in
Linz, the Bourges Music Festival in France, the Sonambiente Festival in
Berlin, the Interlink festival in Japan, Bang-on-a Can, The Kitchen and
Other Minds, S.F.  Her awards include the Alpert Award in the Arts
(2002), Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts Award (2000), the
Civitella Ranieri Fellowship (2000), Studio Pass-Harvestworks residency
(2001) and a Creative Work Fund award (2000).

During her residency, Sonami will work with Mills College students to
collaboratively create “Chairs,” an installation project. Students from
various classes and disciplines will create listening spaces using
chairs as site, instrument and point of departure. “Chairs” will be
presented on Saturday, November 17. Sonami will perform "The Appearance
of Silence (the invention of perspective)," her solo work with the
lady’s glove, on Saturday, November 17 at 8:00pm in Lisser Hall.