New York Times on the MATA Festival

The New York Times on Matthew Wright's MATA-commissoned installation in The Gallery:

Mr. Wright’s installation, which is alternating with other new electronic pieces in the bar area through Thursday night, is largely self-sustaining, with audience members using computer track pads installed on the bar to modify the sounds being produced. But for 40 minutes on Monday Mr. Wright took control of his gear for a duet with Evan Parker, a prodigious English improviser, whose chirrups and flurries on soprano saxophone neatly meshed with the swirls and flutters of Mr. Wright’s turntable.

Read the rest here.

Tonight is the last night of the MATA Festival, and Argento Chamber Ensemble will be performing a free show! Doors are at 6:45pm. Come on by!

MATA Festival at LPR

Brooklny Vegan did an extensive post on the MATA Festival, which is going on this week at LPR. Check out the below interview with one of this year's composers, Julian Day.



MATA is a non-profit organization that has, for the past thirteen years, been dedicated to commissioning and showcasing works by young composers. The festival kicked off last night in The Galley with Matthew Wright's audio/video installation Totem for Gobi-New York, and will run through Thursday with several shows including tonight's performance by the Calder String Quartet. Tickets are still available for tonight's show, and you can head over here for more information on the rest of the performances.

Listen: Missy Mazzoli and Victoire on WNYC

WNYC is currently streaming an in-studio performance with Missy Mazzoli and Victoire, who recently performed at LPR.

Missy Mazzoli, the composer, keyboardist, bandleader and curator from Brooklyn, N.Y., is at the center of a group of emergent musicians who are classically trained, but who've also had experience working in rock bands. Mazzoli plays keyboards (note that I didn't say "piano" -- her keyboards tend to be electronic) and leads an all-female quintet called Victoire. Violin, clarinet, bass and two electronic keyboards add up to a sound that exists somewhere between chamber music and the vaguely defined, mostly instrumental "post-rock" scene. Some of her works include taped sounds of voices, machinery and the like, and her approach to tonality is refreshingly strange.

Head over here to listen to their performance and read the rest.

Missy Mazzoli is also the director of the MATA Festival, which begins tonight with a free event, MATA Sound Works with Matthew Wright, in The Gallery at LPR. We've seen them setting up all day, and it looks awesome. You should come by and check it out.

The MATA Festival runs through Thursday and will feature performances by Calder String Quartet, Lisa Moore, Ensemble Pamplemousse, Argento Chamber Ensemble, and L'Arsenale. Head over here to see details on all of the events and purchase tickets!

Just Announced: MATA Festival 2010

ON SALE TUESDAY AT NOON. MEMBERS CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT ABOUT HOW TO GET PRE-SALE TICKETS.



MATA's 2009 Festival drew strong critical acclaim from the press and music community's alike. Over four nights at Manhattan's (Le) Poisson Rouge, audiences were treated to performances of works by twenty-two young composers from around the world, including ten world premieres and four works commissioned by MATA. So Percussion, NOW Ensemble, The Knights, Ne(x)tworks, Bing and Rut and Sawako gave each of these works truly stellar, distinctive performances.

Check here for more information about performers in the coming months.