PROJECTS
Selected Dance, Concert, Film and Theater Premieres and Performances featuring
music and/or sound design by David Karagianis.
Aside from beginning a new job as Music Director for the Department of Dance and Theatre Arts at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles in August 2006 the past year or so has been a busy and productive one for me. My music, sound design and performance contributions have included chamber music, dance, performance art, site-specific performance, dance video and multi-media genres for performances all around California, and around the US (Utah, Texas, Michigan, New York and Virginia), in Europe (London and Manchester, England, Strasborg, France, Prague, Czech Republic, Innsbruck, Kufstein, St. Johann and Graz, Austria) and Asia (Chennai and Bangalore, India).
As a bit of a news junkie everyonce in awhile I just can't resist grabbing hold of a set of soundbites provided by one of our public servants. Here in its entirety is a little treat I whipped up in response tp Sen. Larry Craig's recent pronouncements Let Me Be Clear! (listen to song). Check it out.
Collaborations with Ledges and Bones Dance Company I created an ambient
infused score in four sections for “Departures From Common” Passengers
(listen to excerpt) choreographer Holly Johnston’s Ledges and Bones Dance
Company’s premiere at the Ford Ampitheater in Los Angeles in June 2007.
I also served as a guest artist for Ledges and Bone’s SummerLAB Dance
Intensive during May 2007 where for the first time ever for me I restricted
myself to only performing with electronics (computer and synthesizers) in
real time. Music I created for choreographer Holly Johnson’s Ledges and
Bones dance company's Evidence [Embedded] premiered at Diavolo Space in Los
Angeles during the month of November, 2006 was performed again March 9-11,
2007.
Upcoming CD! I’ve been working on a new CD, my 4th, hopefully,
to be released in the not too distant future as well as a collection of re-mixes,
most requested works and stuff I like. Here’s a little excerpt from the
new CD called
You Knew (listen to excerpt) which features snippets uttered by Rep Heather
Wilson R-N.M. during the Congressional Hearings on Indecency part of the aftermath
of Janet Jackson’s so-called “wardrobe malfunction”during the
Superbowl. Interesting how this Republican’s moral outrage doesn’t
appear to extend to her Gun Lobby backers…You know I just can't resist
using the words of various Repulican public figures as source material. I'm
currently having way too much fun with Sen. Larry Craig and, of course, half
the time George Bush opens his mouth there's a few potential gems to work
with. Now if I can only get something good from Cheney...
2007 was also a year in which I worked on several projects which fused lyrical
piano writing with sound processing and voice in collaboration with student
choreographer’s at Loyola Marymount University. Re-mixed versions of
one or two of these pieces which premiered at LMU in April 2007 may also show
up on my new CD. Here's an excerpt of Unspoken
Words (listen to excerpt), choreographer Rachel Butler-Green.
My music and sound design was be part of “A Stretch of Life: views of
the Vaigai River in South India". A
Stretch of Life (listen to excerpt). This is and audio-visual installation
by myself along with renowned author/cultural anthropologist Peter Nabokov
and Indian musician/composer J. Rajasekaran first presented at UCLA’s
Glorya Kaufman Hall in February 2007 and will be presented as a two month
long installation during the Fall of 2007 at Gavilan College near Santa Cruz,
California.
At the 2007 ACDFA Southwest Regional Conference music by David Karagianis
accompanied works representing three of Southern California’s schools:
Loyola Marymount University, UCLA and Moorpark College in adjudicated performances!
Music by David Karagianis created for The Post Natyam Collective’s “Meet
The Goddess” received performances in Bangalore, India on December 2006,
as part of The Other Festival in Chennai, India, December 2006, as well as
in Prague during the month of September 2006.
On November 2, 2006 David performed as a percussionist in composer Robert
Een’s collaboration with choreographer Kristen Smiarowski’s "GROUNDSWELL:
a site-specific dance for the Ballona Freshwater Marsh," presented by
Loyola Marymount University's 2006 Bellarmine Forum on Environmental Responsibility.
An hour long ambient score as well as a sound installation performed live
by David Karagianis created for performance artist Denise Uyehara’s “The
Museum: Bones of occupation, war and (mis)translation” premiered as part
of the COLA 2006 Individual Artist Fellowship Exhibit in Los Angeles in April,
2006.
Music by David Karagianis was featured in choreographer John Penningtons’s
“Hearing Change” performed at the Lester Hortons Award’s at
the El Portal Theater in North Hollywood, California in April, 2006.
“Iyanu”, a score David Karagianis created for Nigerian choreographer
Bode Lawal’s Manchester, England based Sakoba Dance Theatre, received
various performances in 2006 included critically acclaimed performances at
The Place in London in March 2006.
Music and sound design by David Karagianis was featured in two new works by
choreographer Jose Reynoso as part of “Border Zones” which premiered
in March 2006 at the Glorya Kaufman Dance Theater as part of the UCLA Department
of World Arts and Culture’s MFA Upstarts Series.
At The Door (listen to excerpt) Rock meets Electronica in this score to a short dance film by Liam Clancy created in late 2004. This film premiered at UCLA in January 2005 and will be shown in upcoming film festivals including Dance Camera West at REDCAT in Los Angeles on June 18, 2005.
David has recently completed sound design work on two works by choreographer David Rousseve, "Bittersweet" a short film created in collaboration with Roberta Shaw, which premiered at Dance Camera West at REDCAT in Los Angeles on June 18, 2005, and "Slaves in Love" which premeired in Washington DC during Spring 2005. "Bittersweet" was screened at several addtional Dance For Camera Festivals in the US during 2006 including Dance On Camera at Lincoln Center, New York in January 2006, University of Michigan's Fifth Annual Dance On Camera Festival, in Ann Arbor in March 2006, and at Dance on Camera presented by Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia in September 2006.
Flux (listen to excerpt)Electro-acoustic chamber work comprised of multiple sampled acoustic quitars composed for choreographer Maria Gillespie premiered at UCLA in 2004. "Flux" (9:10) is available on "Brave New Age" SD 2004-1. Along with accompanying Maria Gillespie's Advanced Modern Classes at UCLA several times a week, sound design as well as a recording of David performing Erik Satie's "Gnossienne No.1" accompany performances of Maria's solo "Peak" - a work in her current company repereratory.
"Eggs and Bones" (listen to excerpt) a
61-minute score for an installation/performance from "The Museum of Human
Beings," by Denise Uyehara, with choreography by Taisha Paggett.
at Highways Performance Space for the 18th Street Arts Center BIG open house,
Santa Monica, CA. Also created sound design for Denise Uyehara's "Mammoths/Itoman"
from "The Museum of Human Beings" -REDCAT Studio, Los Angeles.
.
Terra Incognita (listen to excerpt from Terra Incognita) 20-minute dance-theater score in four parts created for choreographer J’aime Morrison premeired at Cal State Northridge, Northridge, CA, 2003. "Terra Incognita" (5:01) is available on "Brave New Age" SD 2004-1
The Living Room Project (listen to excerpt Brave New Age from The Living Room Project) 40+ minute score created in collaboration with composer Robert Kaplan for A Ludwig Dance Theatre premiered at Tempe Performing Arts Center, Tempe, Arizona, 2003. "Brave New Age" (7:20) is available on the CD "Brave New Age" SD-2004-1. An arrangement of several other sections from "The Living Room Project" is available on Rob Kaplan's "Then and Now, vol. 1" SD 2004-2.
Mirror Meditation (listen to excerpt from Corridors) Multiple section score created for Anjali Tata (choreographer/director) Highways, Santa Monica, 2002. "Corridors" (6:16) and "Mirror Meditation" (4:15) are available on "Brave New Age" SD 2004-1.
Ajar (listen to excerpt from Hunter/Hunted renamed Predator) Erica Rebollar (choreographer) Highways, Santa Monica, 2002. "Predator" (4:37) is available on "Brave New Age" SD 2004-1
Hover (listen to excerpt from site-specific installation Scape) Alesia Young (choreographer/director) Kinross Building, UCLA, 2002.
Generations
(listen to excerpt) _Pat
Catterson (choreographer) St. Marks Church, New York, 2000.
"At St. Mark's Church last week, the program with Pat Catterson &
Tina Croll was stupendous--and David Karagianis even had a memorable pivotal
movement role in his own piece. Pat Catterson credited David with wonderful
musical advice for her part in the entire program." "Generations"
is available on "Without Words" SD 2000-1. Pat Catterson's choreography
featuring this score will premiere as part of Utah Reperatory Dance Theater's
reperatory in Salt Lake City on October 4, 2004.
-Katherine Teck author of Ear Training for the Body-A Dancer’s Guide
To Music
"…Catterson’s 1999 "Generations", to a lively score
by David Karagianis…
-Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice
"It is so wonderful to work with someone with David’s intelligence,
knowledge, breadth, standards, wit, integrity, and sensitivity. He is not
just an academic. He is an artist".
-Pat Catterson, Choreographic Faculty, The Julliard School
Elysium _(listen to excerpt of Deadline) Sen Hea Ha (choreographer), Fest der Kontinente, Munich, Germany, 2001.
Open House
_Concept, music, text, 6-channel installation
and choreography by David Karagianis, premiered as part of The Last Big Event
UCLA, Kaufman Hall Los Angeles, 2001.
Listen: Regents (listen
to excerpt) _
Listen: Shape (listen
to excerpt) _
(un-pinned). Rebecca Bryant (choreographer), MFA Thesis,
Kaufman Hall, UCLA, 2001.
Listen: Machine Music
(listen to excerpt). "Machine Music" re-named
"My Process" (2:36) is available on "Brave New Age" SD
2004-1. "Machine Music" is a variation upon "Big Business"
a track available on "Without Words" SD 2000-1..
_
Lineage. _(listen
to excerpt of Free-range
Chicken) _Sen Hea Ha (choreographer),
Gedung Kesenian Jakarta International Festival, 2000. "Free-range Chicken"
(5:44) is available on "Without Words" SD 2000-1
Chains. Chamber work for piano and vibraphone in performances led by Kostas Theodorakos, Athens, Greece, 2000.
David's electro-acoustic realization of "Chains" (9:27) is available
on "Brave New Age" SD 2004-1.
"David Karagianis’ "Chains" for piano and vibraphone never
strays from its repetitive jazzy rhythms, but the tintinnabular tinklings
that suggest water droplets- syncopating in the rain- evolve well beyond its
sunny minimalist beginnings."
- David Buendler, The Pasadena Star-News
"The composition {"Chains" by David Karagianis} has been skillfully
crafted…"
-John R. Raush, Percussive Arts Journal
Urchin.
Sen-Hea Ha (choreographer), Hamburg, Berlin and Munich, Germany, 1999-2000.
"Urchin" (2:23) is available on "Without Words" SD 2000-1.
"Sen Hea Ha’s…. {performance featured}… exquisite dramatic
work by David Karagianis and György Ligeti."
-Malve Gradinger, Münchner Merkur
The Witch’s Dance. 10-minute
score for Sen-Hea Ha (choreographer), Hamburg, Berlin and Munich, Germany,
1999-2000. "The Witch's Dance" (3:13), a section of the original
score, is available on "Without Words" SD 2000-1.
"David Karagianis’ original percussive music provided the perfect
complement to this evocation of women’s roles, as Ha alternated between
spare, ascetic moves and the dreamlike quiverings of her slight body."
–Victoria Looseleaf, The Los Angeles Times
At the Edge. _(listen
to excerpt of Morning of
the World) _A short film by
Sharon Kinney (director/choreographer), premiered at UCLA in 1999. "Morning
of the World" is available on "Timeless" PDM199601.
Creation. _(listen
to excerpt of Spirit Dance)
_Festival des artes de Saint-Sauveur, Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts,
Québec, 1998. "Spirit Dance"( 2:49) is available as part
of "Threshold" (23:48) on "Timeless" PDM 199601 and as
a re-mixed stand alone track on "Without Words" SD 2000-1.
A Matter of Time. Janis Brenner (choreographer) American College
Dance Festival Eighth National Festival "Gala", Kennedy Center Terrace
Theater, Washington D.C., 1998.
Listen: Into the Light
(listen to excerpt). "Into the Light"
(6:14) is available on "Timeless" PDM 199601.
"The movements of one half of each couple seemed controlled by the passage
of time, thanks to David Karagianis’ score {"A Matter of Time"
for Janis Brenner & Dancers} of metronome and clock sounds."
-The Morning Call, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
"This quartet {"A Matter of Time"} is buoyed, like all the
dancers on Brenner’s concert... by David Karagianis’ sensitive,
breathy score."
-Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice
Between Earth and Heaven.
A 19-minute score featuring cello, piano and ambient sound design created
in collaboration with choreographer Kathryn Eggert premiered at UCLA in May
1996 inspired by the Viegland Sculptural Garden in Oslo, Norway. Kathryn Eggert
(choreographer) UCLA Dance Company, Theater 200, Los Angeles, 1996. Most recent
performances with ensemble Tanz in, Zurich, Switzerland in December 1998.
An abbreviated version of this score premiered at UCLA in 2002 as part of
choreographer alesia Young's "Passages". "Between Earth and
Heaven" (19:19) is available on "Timeless" PDM 199601.
Episodes of the Heart. Score created for "Portraits"
an evening of choreography UCLA MFA Lauren Winslow-Kearns as part of "Upstart
Series" at UCLA in February 1998. "Episodes.." is a 17-minute
work in four sections combining power funk, fusion, world music, jazz and
blues elements. "Eventual Fruit" (6:50) is available on "Without
Words" SD 2000-1.
Listen: Eventual Fruit
(listen to excerpt)
May Day! May Day!. Ananda Ray (choreographer) Ark III Dance
Company, Dean Lesher Regional Theater, Walnut Creek, California 1997, upcoming
performances in September 2001.
mud floors; glass ceilings. Live electronics with Rob Kaplan
(electric guitarist) The Icehouse Phoenix, Arizona, 1997.
Sound Dance.is part of
SOUND DANCE, the International Guild of Musicians Conference at Arizona State
University in early January 1997, David directed and composed "Sound-Dance"...a
live and taped music score and sound installation for a site-specific work
at the Nelson Fine Arts Complex on the grounds of Arizona State University.
The performance featured percussionists Tigger Benford, Skip LaPlante and
Stacey Fox, dancer-choreographers Elina Mooney and Deena Burton and visual
artist Dee Sparrow.
"[In]Sound-Dance, a site-specific performance with music by David Karagianis,
choreography by Elina Mooney... Music is air in motion, a dance of its own.
Dance is movement in rhythm, music unto itself. When the two come together,
all sorts of relationships flourish."
- Kenneth LaFave, The Arizona Republic
Matrix. Composition and live 8-channel sound installation for
choreographer-visual artist Nina Kaufman’s evening length multi-media
work premiered at the UCLA New Wight Art Gallery in December 1997.
Everyman At The Mall. Composition and sound design originally
created for Cornerstone Theater’s site-specific production of "Everyman"
set and utilizing the visual and aural attributes of Santa Monica Place-a
large shopping mall in Santa Monica, California in 1995 completed its second
critically acclaimed run in several malls in Southern California during Fall
1997.
"David Karagianis’ superlative sound design {"Everyman in the
Mall" for Cornerstone Theater} was essential..."
-F.X.Feeney, Los Angeles Times
Storyteller. Score for piano and narrator to choreography by
Angelia Leung and Text by Ruth Gendler for Chopsticks and Sneakers performances
at Footwork in San Francisco in December, 1996 and Redlands University in
February,1997.
"For my own dance collective, chopsticks and sneakers, David and I worked
collaboratively in my choreographic work, resulting in a wonderful score and
collaborative experience which I do not think I will ever be able to duplicate".
-Angelia Leung, Vice Chair, UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures
Listen: Worry
Threshold. A 24 minute music-dance video, completed in July
1996, was created in collaboration with director Danny Kaufman and choreographer
Doug Neilsen. In September, 1996 "Threshold" won a Gold Plaque in
the Arts & Culture category of Intercom, the Chicago based International
Communication Film & Video Festival. "Threshold" (23:48) is
available on "Timeless" PDM 199601, additionally a re-mixed stand
alone versions of "Running", "Spirit Dance" and "Beyond
the Threshold" are available on "Without Words" SD 2000-1.
Listen Running
(listen to excerpt) R"running_
Listen: The Knowing
(listen to excerpt)
Cage. A twenty- minute, four movement electronic
combining elements of musique concréte, heavy metal, and minimalism
composed for choreographer William Gordon received its premiere with Dance
Theater of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon in March 1995. "Cage" (5:16),
Section 1 of the original score, is available on "Without Words"
SD 2000-1.
"The most evocative piece in the concert was William Gordon’s "Cage".
[David Karagianis’] electronic music created an unrelentingly harsh urban
environment."
-Patricia Knaus, The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon
2 Places, 3 Songs. Settings incorporating Celtic and Irish folk
melodies premiered with Rose Polsky & Dancers, sung by Stacey Tappan and
featuring dancer Janet Eilber premiered at the Luckman Theater at Cal State
Los Angeles in October 1995.
"So did the notable and strong guest artists for whom Polsky created
difficult solos-Janet Elber (Two Places, Three Songs")... Live singers
included Stacey Tappan (Scottish songs, arranged discreetly by David Karagianis)".
-Chris Pasles, Los Angeles Times
