October 26, 2020 at 8pm CT
Option presents Zeena Parkins
New York based electro-acoustic composer / improviser and pioneer of contemporary harp practices Zeena Parkins joins the Option series for what is sure to be a sensational night of music and conversation with Option curator Ken Vandermark.
“We are excited to close the 2020 season of the Option Series on a high note by welcoming the legendary harpist, composer, and improvisor Zeena Parkins to the quarantine stage. Zeena’s contributions to the creative arts are invaluable and her discography is as varied as her approach to sound making. Do not miss your chance to hear one of the true giants of creative music!” – Tim Daisy // Option Programmer
New York based electro-acoustic composer/improviser Zeena Parkins is a pioneer of contemporary harp practices. Through the use of expanded playing techniques, object preparations, and electronic processing she has re-defined the instrument’s capacities. Concurrently, Parkins self-designed a series of one-of-a kind electric instruments. She leans into the harp’s physical limitations pushing into its boundaries and impossibilities. In her compositions, Parkins utilizes collections, recombinations, social proximities, geography, tactility, and movement. Sonic presence, history, and personality is revealed in sudden bursts, feedback, questions of intuneness, subtle timbral shifts, gestural intervals, perception, and residues.
Parkins is a recent recipient of the Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in Composition. New projects include a LP release with Jeff Kolar and their duo project SCALE on Two Rooms, an upcoming release of Glass Triangle with Ryan Sawyer and Mette Rausmussen on Relative Pitch Records, and a limited edition project on her own imprint, Casestudy Records, LACE, BOX SET Vol. I.
Photo by Heike Liss