Rebecca Himelstein's (supercollider) and Billie Howard's (violin) work offers expressions of emotional extremes as a means of re-experiencing and making meaningful their affective spaces. Through the composition of close and shifting frequencies, extreme dynamics, and over or undersaturation, they compose visceral experiences of the depth, density and complexity of disorientation, destruction, anger, loneliness, vertigo, and awe through synthetic and acoustic sound.
Hayden Beck will be presenting a new work for an amplified, live-processed, prepared piano soundboard featuring lfo modulated radio, small motors, speakers, and telephone pickups.
Rebecca Himelstein (supercollider) and Billie Howard (violin) began performing together over the summer of 2017 at the invitation of sound artist, Andy Slater, as part of Slater’s “Duets” series. Their combined work offers expressions of emotional extremes as a means of re-experiencing and making meaningful their affective spaces. Through the composition of close and shifting frequencies, extreme dynamics, and over or undersaturation, they compose visceral experiences of the depth, density and complexity of disorientation, destruction, anger, loneliness, vertigo, and awe through synthetic and acoustic sound.
Billie Howard is a Chicago-based pianist, violinist and educator. As a performer, she is inspired by contemporary and experimental music on the farthest ends of the volume spectrum, ranging from the quietest sounds to fully-amplified extremes. She frequently works in collaboration, often with one of her groups: NbN Trio, a.pe.ri.od.ic, and The Paver. She also composes under the moniker Akosuen, which ranges from a solo endeavor to a full 6-piece band with chorus. Howard recently scored the short film, Olion, which was accepted to the 2017 Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival. Billie also maintains a large piano studio and teaches theory and music courses at Concordia University. In demand as a freelance violinist and pianist, she has performed with Bobby Conn, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Wrekmeister Harmonies, Chicago Composer’s Orchestra, Lykanthea, Ronnie Kuller, the Heritage Chorale of Oak Park, and Classical Revolution. An active session musician, she has been featured on studio recordings by American Idol winner Lee DeWyze, Grammy-nominated children’s artist Justin Roberts as well as many other recording artists. In addition, Billie is a dedicated arts curator and producer, working as the Artistic Planning Manager for High Concept Labs. She holds a M.Mus. from Northwestern University and B.A. from Montana State University.
Rebecca Himelstein is an interdisciplinary artist, musician, presenter, researcher and writer. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Visual and Critical Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is a curator of the experimental music series Gather at the Comfort Station, and a current artist in Residence in the Chicago Artists Coalition’s 2016-2017 Hatch Program. She is also a member of Chicago Balinese Gamelan, and has performed in the [Tiny Garage] Series at Defibrillator Gallery, Andy Slater presents at Café Mustache, as well as the Comfort Station, Archer Beach Haus, and Ballroom Projects.
Hayden Beck is a multi-disciplinary electronic artist, pianist, composer, and sound designer from Chicago Illinois. He is seeking to demonstrate the sonorous relationships between rural and urban noise environments. He has released two full length albums, Geometry (2016) and The Hadron Pond (2017), under the moniker Color Television, a collaboration with fellow creator, Jared Netzel. Color Tevelvision has been featured in The Deli, Chicago Reader, Third Coast Review, and Midwest Action and has performed at The Empty Bottle, The Elbo Room, and Deadbolt.
