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Soundpainters Around the World is a society of conductors/composers, theater directors, choreographers, and performing arts educators around the world who have studied and worked with Walter Thompson. These individuals now use Soundpainting both in professional and educational settings. For information on becoming a member of Soundpainters Around the World, Contact Walter Thompson. Following are some of the members of Soundpainters Around the World. Click on the link at the bottom of this page for the latest news about what these Soundpainters are doing with Soundpainting.
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California San
Diego Mark Dresser—Soundpainter, contrabass explorer, educator—is a musician in command of a unique language. Having studied with Bertram Turetzky and played in the San Diego Symphony at University of California, San Diego (B.A. and M.A. degrees), Dresser took part in the Los Angeles avant-garde jazz scene of the early ‘70s forming around figures like Stanley Crouch, Bobby Bradford, Arthur Blythe, David Murray, and James Newton. After receiving a 1983 Fulbright to Italy to study with Franco Petracchi, he was invited to join Anthony Braxton's quartet with which he performed for nearly a decade. This group was documented in Graham Locke's Forces in Motion and numerous recordings.
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Illinois Chicago Sarah Weaver—Soundpainter, trombone—works in innovations of improvised musical forms. As a Soundpainter, Weaver is the Artistic Director of Weave Soundpainting Orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. Weaver is also an Associate Conductor of The Walter Thompson Orchestra in New York City. Weaver has performed and taught Soundpainting throughout the northeast, midwest, and southern regions of the United States since 1998. As a trombonist Weaver has collaborated with artists Lisa Abbatomarco (puppets/masks/stilts), James Ilgenfritz (bass), Diana Wayburn (piano), Matt Hannafin (percussion), and Joe Giardullo (woodwinds), among others. Additionally, she is developing a book/CD of extended techniques for trombone, available in January 2005. She has also studied Deep ListeningSM—the sound practice of composer Pauline Oliveros—at Deep Listening Space in Kingston, New York. A graduate of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Weaver is working with Jazz and Improvised Studies Department Chair Ed Sarath as Executive Director of the International Society for Improvised Music (ISIM).
Chicago Jacob Worley-Hood—Soundpainter, trumpet, conductor—has been working with Soundpainting since fall 1999, when he became involved with Sarah Weaver’s Weave Soundpainting Orchestra while attending the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He spent a month at the 2001 Soundpainting Summer Residency working with Walter Thompson in Woodstock, New York, and formed his own Soundpainting orchestra in fall 2001 on returning to the university. Worley-Hood now lives in Chicago, Illinois, where he works as a classical and improvising trumpet player and is Assistant Conductor of the Weave Soundpainting Orchestra. He will pursue a master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Arts at Columbia College in Chicago beginning in September 2005.
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Iowa Iowa
City Jeffrey Agrell—Soundpainter, horn, writer, composer, guitar—is professor of horn at the University of Iowa. A recovering classical musician, Agrell teaches Introduction to Improvisation, a unique class that teaches nonjazz improvisation to traditionally trained student musicians; Soundpainting is an integral part of the course. He also gives recitals and workshops in improvisation—including Soundpainting—often with pianist/composer/improviser Evan Mazunik, and they recently produced a CD of their compositions/improvisations titled "Repercussions." Agrell's other activities include being a member of the Duende Trio with Mazunik and New York cellist Gil Selinger as well as working on a CD titled "Gregorian Chance." Further advancing Soundpainting, Agrell received a grant in October 2004 to bring Walter Thompson to UI to stage the premiere of "Columbus--A Soundpainting Opera." The grant also allowed Thompson to give several Soundpainting lectures and demonstrations to the students and the general public along with radio and newspaper interviews. Agrell first studied Soundpainting with Walter Thompson at the 2003 summer creative residence, but his interest in improvisation reaches back to his teenage years, when he first experimented with improvisation on folk and, later, jazz guitars. This interest in improvisation diversified during his college years, when he was involved in improvisational theater workshops. He never tried improvisation on horn until he became the horn professor at the University of Iowa in 2000, following a 25-year career as a professional symphony musician. Looking for a new approach, he set out on a quest to explore horn performance and pedagogy through the use of improvisation. Since accepting the university position, Agrell has been collaborating with pianist/composer Evan Mazunik, performing and recording their written/improvised pieces and offering workshops in creative improvisation for classical musicians. They use Soundpainting both in the creative workshops and in the Introduction to Improvisation course they teach at the University of Iowa. Soundpainting is adding a new dimension to Agrell’s improvisation, composition, and teaching, as well as to the new method on which he is working that combines elements of jazz, improvisation, and extended techniques with traditional study material.
Iowa
City Evan Mazunik—Soundpainter, piano—is comfortable in various musical contexts, specializing in improvisation, composition, and conducting. He founded and continues to serve as artistic director/conductor for Gamut, a Soundpainting ensemble based in Iowa City. He is currently completing a masters degree in jazz studies at the University of Iowa, where he received a bachelors degree in piano performance with high distinction in 2002. His principal teachers include Rene Lecuona, John Rapson, Robert Paredes, and Lawrence Fritts. A member of the Walter Thompson Orchestra since 2002, and now assistant conductor to Thompson, Mazunik has performed with such distinguished musicians as Carla Bley, Bob Mintzer, Dick Oatts, Bobby Shew, Michael Spiro, and Steve Swallow. He is presently keyboardist for the Steve Grismore/Paul Scea Ensemble, as well as pianist for University of Iowa's top jazz band, Johnson County Landmark, which recently premiered his composition Incandescent, orchestrated for full big band. Mazunik has also been featured as a Guest Clinician/Artist in various locations across the United States Other original work includes scoring the soundtrack to the award-winning documentary, The Checker King, screened at the 2002 DOCtober™ Film Fest in Santa Monica, California, and purchased by Cinemax to air in 2003. Mazunik also served as musical director and arranger for In Sarajevo, a groundbreaking musical by the Iowa New Play Festival. He recently was awarded a Fine Arts Council Student Art Grant by the University of Iowa to commission an album with Gamut (currently in post-production), and he is in the process of recording an album with University of Iowa faculty hornist Jeff Agrell. Mazunik offers improvisation workshops nationwide and has appeared as guest clinician at the Southeast Horn Workshop, with the Jazz Repertory Ensemble, with Johnson County Landmark, and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, among others. In addition to their recent CD release, "Countermeasures," Gamut's Soundpainting performances have included locations such as the International Society of Experimental Music, United Action for Youth, University of Iowa Museum of Art, and Sacred Garden, as well as a live radio broadcast on KSUI, the premiere performances of Columbus—A Soundpainting Opera, and a recital with guest conductor Walter Thompson.
Iowa
City Brent Sandy—trumpet, flugelhorn, composer, educator—is a creative music and lead trumpet player who is an adjunct lecturer on the jazz faculties of the University of Iowa and Grinnell College. Sandy has performed/recorded with numerous notables of the creative music world, including Paul Smoker, John Carlson, Bobby Bradford, Billy Higgins, Walter Thompson, Anthony Cox, Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, Dick Oatts, John Rapson, and Kim Richmond. Sandy is an Educational Clinician with the Conn/Selmer Company and a Conn “Vintage One” Trumpet and Flugelhorn Artist. He performs throughout the Midwest with creative music groups including OddBar, Equilateral, Grismore/Scea Group, and the Xtet, and he recently took part in the world premiere performances of Columbus—A Soundpainting Opera as a member of Evan Mazunik’s Gamut ensemble.
Iowa
City Laura Weaver—Soundpainter, trombone—is a Music Performance and Education major at the University of Iowa, Iowa City. She is the founder and conductor of Limn, a new Soundpainting ensemble at the University of Iowa, where she also performs with the Jazz Repertory Ensemble under the direction of Brent Sandy and the Symphony Band under the direction of Myron Welch. As a member of Evan Mazunik's Gamut Soundpainting ensemble, Weaver performed in the premier of Columbus—A Soundpainting Opera as well as a live radio broadcast on KSUI. She also appears on Gamut's CD titled "Countermeasures." Weaver participated in the August 2004 Soundpainting Think Tank in Woodstock, New York, culminating in a performance at the Colony Cafe led by Walter Thompson.
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Michigan Ann
Arbor Jacob Worley-Hood—Soundpainter, trumpet, conductor—has been working with Soundpainting since fall 1999, when he became involved with Sarah Weaver’s Weave Soundpainting Orchestra while attending the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He spent a month at the 2001 Soundpainting Summer Residency working with Walter Thompson in Woodstock, New York, and formed his own Soundpainting orchestra in fall 2001 on returning to the university. Worley-Hood now lives in Chicago, where he works as a classical and improvising trumpet player and is Assistant Conductor of the Weave Soundpainting Orchestra. He will pursue a master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Arts at Columbia College in Chicago beginning in September 2005.
Detroit Shannan Whitehead—Soundpainter, vocals, alto saxophone, music educator—is a native of Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. She began her music career studying private piano under the wise direction of the late Roberta Wyville (Royal Conservatory of Music--Toronto). Later moving to Michigan, she extended her artistic interests, playing alto saxophone, singing, and occasionally trying her hand at drama. She attended Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, majoring in music education (voice, saxophone). She later transferred to the University of Michigan to continue her studies and was fortunate enough to study voice with George Shirley. After graduating the University of Michigan with a degree in music education (voice), Whitehead began teaching for Detroit Public Schools, where she continues to face the exciting challenges and rewards of teaching. When she is not attempting triathlon and kickboxing training, Whitehead sings with the Detroit Cantata Academy. She is also active in learning and performing Ghanaian drumming, having spent a month in Ghana studying traditional drumming. Whitehead was introduced to Soundpainting when she attended a workshop given by Walter Thompson at the University of Michigan in 1999. She and her husband, John, later became active members of Weave, a Soundpainting ensemble under the direction of Sarah Weaver. She now uses Soundpainting often and in a variety of contexts in her music classroom at Holcomb Elementary in Detroit, and she has taught several workshops in the city. Her students' favorite Soundpainting gesture is "Laugh," and their favorite part of Soundpainting is when they get to be the conductor!
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New
York Buffalo Christian Brandjes—Soundpainter, actor—is a member of Actor's Equity Association and has performed extensively in the regional theater as well as in several professional ensembles. He was a company member at StageWest in Massachusetts for 3 years before leaving to be a founding member of the Blue Hill Performance Ensemble in the Berkshires. Brandjes has taught the Suzuki Method of Actor Training at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst), Hampshire College, and Brandeis University. He has also taught Improvisation at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, at Daemen College, and in New York City public schools. Brandjes has been Soundpainting with Walter Thompson since 1998, when he was introduced to the language through his work with the Irondale Ensemble Project, an off-Broadway ensemble that focuses on improvisation and political theatre. He recently relocated to Buffalo, New York, where he is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Daemen College, but he continues to perform and record with the Walter Thompson Orchestra. Brandjes is also Artistic Director of the Buffalo Soundpainting Ensemble, a collaborative ensemble that experiments with the idea of nonlinear narrative, ensemble scripting, and their relationship to improvisation.
New
York City Todd Reynolds—Soundpainter, violin, conductor, composer—is a committed performer and creator of contemporary music and interdisciplinary art. Violinist and assistant conductor for Steve Reich & Musicians, a member of Bang On A Can, and a founding member of Ethel, New York¹s hippest bunch of vibrating strings, his music and performances stretch across a wide variety of styles and genres as soloist and chamber musician. A former principal violinist for the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and a student of the late Jascha Heifetz, Reynolds' career has led him to play sideman to Broadway stars Betty Buckley, Bernadette Peters, and Reba McEntire while he hugs the curve of the New York avant-garde, recording, touring, and performing with artists such as Steve Coleman, John Cale, Uri Caine, Neil Rolnick's Fish Love That, and the Mahavishnu Project, of which he is a founding member. As a conductor, composer, and producer, he has created Still Life with Microphone (a multidisciplinary performance format using Soundpainting) supported by a grant from the American Composers Forum and now being developed as a solo show in version 4.0. His solo recital format, nuove uova (new eggs), debuted in December 2002 at Joe's Pub in New York City. An avid electronic musician, his sense of the violin has expanded to include hardware- and software‑based modifications which support his movement through the pop, rock, jazz, and avant-garde worlds of today's music scene. Reynolds began studying Soundpainting with Walter Thompson in 1997 and serves as Thompson's Associate Conductor.
New
York City Leese Walker—Soundpainter, actor—is the Artistic/Producing Director of the Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble, a multidisciplinary performance group comprising some of New York City’s finest jazz musicians, modern dancers, actors, designers, and video artists. Strike Anywhere addresses important sociopolitical issues, creating original performance pieces through improvisation. The company is celebrating its 5th season as artists-in-residence at the Theatre at St. Clements in New York City. Walker enjoys flipping between classical theatre, improvisation, and movement work. A Dartmouth graduate, she began her professional career as a member of the Irondale Ensemble in New York City. She was profoundly influenced by the improvisational methods and ensemble‑based approach to developing material at Irondale. While with Irondale, she played: Antigone in Antigone, Didi in Waiting For Godot, and St. Juste in Danton’s Death. Walker has also performed extensively with the New York City–based Judith Shakespeare Company including roles as: Richard II, Cressida, Dromio of Ephesus, and Helena. She has danced, acted and played Lakota flute with the Wendy Osserman Dance Company and has been improvising as an actor with the Walter Thompson Orchestra since 1996. In addition to all of her performance work, Walker freelances as a teaching-artist with over a half dozen theatre companies including: the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Theater Development Fund, Roundabout Theatre Company, and Manhattan Class Company. Walker began studying conducting with Walter Thompson in 1998 and started using Soundpainting with her Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble in 2002. The company’s most recent work, SPIN, a performance installation addressing corporate control of the media, uses Soundpainting to guide sections of the improvised performance. Walker has taught Soundpainting to high school students, young actors, performers, and audiences. Additionally, she has used Soundpainting to teach students important life skills such as empathy and cooperation as well as to train audiences’ attention onto specific political and ecologic issues such as environmental awareness.
New
York City Jim Whitney—Soundpainter, string bass, acoustic bass guitar, electric bass—is a freelance bassist living in New York City. He has performed and/or recorded with The Wayfaring Strangers, The Andy Statman Trio, The Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble, The Walter Thompson Orchestra, The Flying Neutrinos, Tony Trischka, David Grisman, Bruce Barth, Matt Glaser, Alan Dawson, Mark O’Connor, and Darol Anger. Whitney has toured extensively in Europe, Asia, and North America. Whitney is also an educator, clinician, and composer. He held a teaching position in the Bass Department at Berklee College of Music from 1994 to 1998 in addition to teaching at numerous secondary schools. He recently was commissioned to compose two new works for the Wendy Osserman Dance Company. As a recording artist, he has appeared on television and movie soundtracks including the CBS children’s show Blue’s Clues and the 2002 feature film The Rookie. Whitney earned a masters degree from New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Dave Holland, David Walter, and Cecil McBee, and he was a prizewinner at the 1993 International Society of Bassists Jazz Competition. Whitney was introduced to Soundpainting in 1998 at a residency held by Walter Thompson at the Byrdcliffe Arts Colony in Woodstock, New York. He subsequently participated in the 1999, 2000, and 2001 Byrdcliffe residencies, and he has been an active member of the Walter Thompson Orchestra since 1998. Whitney uses Soundpainting with the Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble and with a newly formed sextet (as yet unnamed), filling the roles of conductor and performer in both ensembles. These two performing groups allow the conductor(s) to move freely between conducting and playing during performance, a concept initiated by Whitney during the first sextet rehearsal in 2002.
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Pennsylvania Philadelphia Julia Haines—Soundpainter, independent composer, educator, certified music therapist, multi‑instrumentalist—dedicates her work to the journey of creative discovery in sound. As a composer, she creates works that celebrate the power, spirit, and creativity of women. As a music therapist, she teaches young people with learning differences to develop essential skills of listening, attention, creativity, emotional expression, and stress management. Haines’ recordings include Thunder: Perfect Mind, Faces of the Harp, A Room in the North, Odyssey, and WIND/WATER/LIGHT, and she has recorded with The Roots, Tommy Hayes, Juan Avila, Susan Werner, Pauline Oliveros, David Oliver, and Kay Gardner. Haines works at Stratford Friends School in Havertown, Pennsylvania, maintains a solo performing career, and holds weekly Music Meditations for Peace and Healing every Thursday evening at Chestnut Hill United Methodist Church in Philadelphia. Haines began studying Soundpainting with Walter Thompson in 1999. Her work in Soundpainting has been exclusively with elementary school students. Soundpainting provides a creative, challenging and enjoyable structure to work with students with learning differences to help strengthen memory and observation skills, increase spontaneity, teach basic music theory, stimulate motivation, develop leadership, and encourage self‑actualization.
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Denmark Copenhagen Ketil Duckert—Soundpainter, trumpet, composer, conductor—performs, tours, and records with the electronica/acoustic improv/avant-pop-rock ensemble Trio Trash. The use of laptop computers is an important component of Duckert's live performances with Trio Trash. He also performs with and composes for various pop, jazz, and contemporary music ensembles in Denmark. Duckert is an active studio musician, working as an ensemble player or soloist in many recording sessions. Duckert has a masters degree in jazz education and performance from The Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen and has been studying Soundpainting privately with Walter Thompson since 2004. Together with Gustav Rasmussen, he conducts the first Danish Soundpainting orchestra: Borderline Ensemble.
Copenhagen Gustav Rasmussen—Soundpainter, trombone, composer, educator—performs and records in many different jazz settings ranging from traditional big band jazz to modern small group jazz with a heavy emphasis on improvisation. He performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City with his jazz quintet Magnify in March 2004 as part of Carnegie Hall’s Professional Jazz Workshop. In another career highlight, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra performed Rasmussen’s first composition for symphony orchestra in November 2004. Rasmussen has a masters degree in jazz education and performance from The Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen and has studied Soundpainting privately with Walter Thompson since 2004. Along with Ketil Duckert, he runs the first Danish Soundpainting orchestra: Borderline Ensemble.
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France Martigues David Carion—Soundpainter, pianist, singer, composer—started learning music at the age of 18 and began playing on stage with pop and soul bands. After self-teaching for 2 years, he began his formal musical training at the age of 20. With a D.U in musicology, he studied jazz piano at the Center of Musical Information, where he studied piano with Emmanuel Bex. He also studied with Bernard Maury and Sammy Abenhaim at the Bill Evans Piano Academy in Paris, and with Mario Stantchev at the I.M.F.P. (Institut Musical de Formation Professionnelle) in Salon de Provence. He also studies arranging with Ivan Jullien and participates in master classes with such artists as Mark Levine, Franck Avitabile, Benoît Sourisse, François Jeanneau, and Pierre-Alain Goualch. Additionally, Carion studies classical piano with Gérard Landon and has been active in the world of pop music for many years as a pianist and singer, performing with various artists, as well as developing jazz in diverse bands. After meeting Didier Lockwood in 2000, he began teaching at the C.M.D.L (Centre des Musiques Didier Lockwood). Carion founded his first jazz trio in 2001, with which he performs numerous concerts. He was also invited to the Django d’Or ceremony in 2004. Between 2002 and 2005, he wrote and recorded his first album « Rien ne vaudra jamais ça » ("Nothing will ever be worth all that"). After attending a workshop with François Jeanneau in 2005, Carion discovered Soundpainting. The concept blew him away and proved to be a language he was looking for, already having used signs for a long time to direct musicians on stage. He introduced Soundpainting at the M.J.C. (Maison des Juenes et de la Culture de Martigues), where he invited Walter Thompson in March 2006. Carion has embraced Soundpainting and explores its many artistic possibilities for live composition and uses Soundpainting and contemporary compositions in his latest ensemble.
Paris Rafaële Arditti—Soundpainter, trumpet, actor, singer, percussion—was born in Paris in 1975. She later started playing trumpet and discovered jazz music at the age of 16. Arditti studied in Barcelona (escuela Avino) and Paris (EDIM school, jazz workshops with Laurent Coq) and began composing as soon as she discovered music. She studied composition at the IACP school and also studied African and Indian percussion (tablas with the master Phadit Shankar Gosh) and lyrical singing (teacher Anne Dubost). At the age of 23, Arditti discovered the art of acting and participated in several acting workshops. She began integrating acting into her musical experiences. She also does a lot of improvisation as a clown and has created 2 comic characters: the Gendarme (political comic solo) and the Princess of the Dyslexic Kingdom (Musical Story with 3 actors/musicians). Arditti has composed for and performed in different orchestras: Les Pepitas, the Eugenie Coton, (feminine fanfares), the Akoatique Orchestra (electro-jazz), the Free Improvisation Orchestra of the Instants Chavirés, and, recently, La Louve, a chorale of actors dedicated to her compositions for 4 voices. For the past 2 years Arditti has taught trumpet, theatre, clown, and rhythm workshops to children, teenagers, and adults. She organized “Casse-Noisette” in collaboration with the CNR of Aubervilliers in June 2006 for a festival. Also in 2006 she discovered a new dimension in composition and performance with the Soundpainting language, which allows for spontaneous and multidisciplinary composition and performance. Since then she has joined François Jeanneau's SPOUMJ in Paris and participated in Soundpainting Think Tank 11 in Höganäs, Sweden.
Paris Christophe Cagnolari—Soundpainter, compositeur, saxophoniste—greçoit une formation musicologique à Paris IV Sorbonne et d’Ethnomusicologie à Paris X. Il soutient une maîtrise sur un gamelan balinais. Parallèlement, il suit un cycle supérieur de saxophone classique, étudie le saxophone jazz auprès de Xavier Cobo. et obtient un premier prix de la ville de Paris en harmonie/contrepoint. Il travaille régulièrement pour le théâtre et l’audiovisuel (courts métrages et documentaires) et en tant qu’interprète dans diverses formations (jazz, musiques latines…). Fin 2005, il crée et dirige l'ensemble de soundpainting Anitya, réunissant une vingtaine d'interprètes : instrumentistes classiques et jazz, chanteuses, comédiens, danseurs, créateur lumières, avec lesquels il poursuit un travail de recherche multidisciplinaire.
Paris Francois Jeanneau—Soundpainter, saxophones, flutes, composer, arranger, bandleader, pedagogue—has enjoyed an international career as a jazz musician since 1960, performing with top musicians around the world including Eric Dolphy, Freddy Hubbard, McCoy Tyner, and Bud Powell. He is a member of several ensembles and is a frequent performer in major national and international festivals, in addition to leading workshops and master classes around the world. Jeanneau has an extensive discography and a large number of compositions to his credit. He is the recipient of numerous distinctions including Chevalier des Arts et Lettres, Officier dans l’Ordre National du Mérite, Grand Prix du Disque, Prix Boris Vian, and Grand Prix National de la Musique 1991. As a pedagogue, Jeanneau has a distinguished resume. He created the Jazz Department as Chargé de Mision at the Conservatory of La Réunion, he has been Professeur at the Paris VIII University, and he was Founder and Director of the Jazz and Improvised Music Department at the Conservatory of Paris. Jeanneau now serves as Professeur Honoraire at the Conservatory of Paris. He founded and was the first musical director of the French Jazz National Orchestra, he was Co-leader of the Scène-et-Marnaise de Création Musicale and the P.O.M., and he is Founder and Director of the Europ-Africa Jazz Orchestra. Jeanneau started studyng Soundpainting with Walter Thompson in 1999. Since then, he has taken Soundpainting all over the world, giving workshops and concerts in Paris, Almaty (Kazakhstan), Podgorica (Montenegro), Albania, Saint-Louis of Senegal, Rocella Ionica (Italy), Pretoria (South Africa), and Lausanne (Switzerland).
Paris Vincent Lê Quang—Soundpainter, saxophone, composer—received his cycle de formation supérieure in composition, musical analysis, and saxophone. A native of France, he studied harmony and counterpoint with Pierre Doury at the Schola Cantorum in Paris, where he completed a diplôme de formation supérieure (DFS). Lê Quang followed this with a DFS in jazz from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), where he studied with François Jeanneau, Riccardo Del Fra, and Patrick Moutal (Indian music). He further pursued his interest in ethnomusicology by working with Gilles Léothaud. Lê Quang's introduction to multidisciplinary collaboration came from working with Rainer Boesch and Alain Savouret in the improvisation générative class at CNSMDP, where he worked with visual, dance, and video artists. As a jazz musician and improviser, he regularly works with performers from various backgrounds including Daniel Humair, Olivier Sens, and Jean-Luc Landsweerdt. Lê Quang first worked with Walter Thompson in 1999 during one of Thompson's Soundpainting workshops at CNSMDP. He has performed in Thompson’s CNSMDP workshops every year since that time, even conducting the workshop’s ensemble with Thompson on occasion. Lê Quang’s other Soundpainting activities include presenting a Soundpainting workshop in Tours, France, with a 12-member ensemble, and co-conducting a concert of Soundpainting and compositions of François Jeanneau in Paris with Jeanneau.
Paris Christophe Mangou—Soundpainter, conductor, percussion—began his professional music career at the age of 21, after having been awarded 1st prize in percussion by unanimous vote at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. While attending the Conservatoire, he also studied conducting with Maestro Janos Fürst and was given the first prize in conducting with high honours. Included among Mangou's awards are 1st prize in the Austro-Hungarian conducting competition (1998) with the participation of the Orchestra Dohnanyi, which invited him to conduct the New Year’s concert in Budapest in the year 2000; and the Prize of Merit at the International Pedrotti Competition in Trento (Italy, 2001). From 2002-2004 he served as assistant conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) subsequent to winning 1st prize at the renowned Donatella Flick conducting competition (London, 2002). In this capacity, Mangou collaborated with such conducting greats as Sir Colin Davis, Bernard Haitink, Emmanuel Krivine, Mariss Jansons, Michael Tilson Thomas, Antonio Pappano, and John Eliot Gardiner. During his time with the LSO, Mangou also began his current post as principal assistant conductor of the Opéra de Nancy, where he regularly assisted Sebastian Lang Lessing for La Traviata, Tannhäuser, Jenufa, Tristan, and Rosenkavalier, and worked with Enrique Mazzola on the production of Die Entführung aus dem Serail, with Klauss Weise for Bluebear’s Castle and with Jane Glover for Didon et Enée. He also conducted the Nancy Symphony Orchestra for concerts between 2001 and 2005. Mangou has conducted orchestras in the United Kingdom, Hungary, France, Taiwan, Serbia, and Germany, to name a few, with upcoming appearances in Scotland, Poland, Japan, and Russia. In his collaboration with the Youth Orchestra of Kazakhstan (Almaty), Mangou has contributed to the development and organization of the Summer Academy of Kazakhstan “Rising Stars” and has been a regular guest of the Youth Orchestra. He was also invited by the Opera of Astana in February 2004 for a special project based on a traditional Kazak tale, which put together a storyteller, a symphonic orchestra, a choir, a jazz quartet, and traditional Kazak musicians and dancers. This original project met with great success. It was Mangou's desires to create an outlet for his creative expression and to develop collaborations with artists of different disciplines and backgrounds that brought him to Soundpainting and Walter Thompson. He founded the Amalgammes ensemble in Paris to pursue Soundpainting. Mangou is perceived as a new light in the French musical milieu; his association with Soundpainting exemplifies that assessment.
Paris Gilles Relisieux—Soundpainter, trumpet, flugelhorn, composer, arranger, pedagogue—received the "1er Prix de Trompette" of the National Regional Conservatory of Versailles with Roger Delmotte, the "Prix d'Honneur d'Ensembles de Cuivres" (Versailles), the Diplôme d'Etat de Jazz for teaching and studied harmony with Jeanine Boutin. As a jazz musician, Gilles created with two friends the Bad Boys Big Band ("B4"), directed by Claude Tissendier, joined the SPOUMJ (Sound Painting Orchestra of the Union des Musiciens de Jazz) of François Jeanneau and other ensembles, including those of Roger Guérin, Jean-Jacques Ruhlmann, Hal Singer, Gérard Badini, Deborah Brown, Marcel Zanini, Benny Bailey, Benoît Sourisse, Nelson Veras, Glenn Ferris. He worked as a composer for the Ballet de Courtray (Belgium), a ballet performance in Panicale (Italy), several TV programms (Faut Pas Rêver/France 3) and CDs/CD-Roms for children (Bayard). As a musician, he performed with comedians (Michel Leeb, Jean-Marie Prolier, Mouss Diouf). Teacher at the Conservatory of Le Plessis-Robinson near Paris since 1989, he also teaches jazz since 1998 and soundpainting since two years at a workshop taking place in July during the Festival Jazz en Val-de-Cher (near Tours). Gilles met Walter in 2006, played several times under his direction, joined his workshop and presented then other Soundpainting workshops in Paris Region (Ecole ARPEJ, Les Bouilleurs de Crus). In 2007/2008, he planes to initiate all teachers of the Conservatory of Le Plessis-Robinson (36 professors, including dancing department) to Soundpainting in order to take advantage of this universal artistic language and exceptional pedagogic tool.
Paris Luis Vina—saxophoniste, clarinettiste, compositeur, enseignant basé à Troyes (Aube)—etudes musicales au Conservatoire de Boulogne-Billancourt, parallèlement, s’initie au jazz en autodidacte . Après avoir abordé le répertoire contemporain du saxophone, il se consacre aux musiques improvisées à partir de 1994. Il crée ensuite le collectif Alka avec Manu Codjia et François Cotinaud entre autres. La composition prend une part de plus en plus importante dans son activité musicale, il participe ainsi à l’élaboration de différentes créations pour ensembles de 4 à 12 musiciens. Il dirige le sextet Paradigm qui obtient en 2004 le 1er prix du concours de La Défense où lui même s’y voit attribuer un 2ème prix de composition. Dirige également le quartet Mobile avec Gilles Coronado, Adrien Amey et Guillaume Dommartin, un trio avec ce dernier et Sylvain Bernard et un projet sur la musique de Carla Bley en tentet. Enseigne le saxophone et dirige 2 orchestres à l'EMM de Saint Andre (Aube), chargé de cours sur les musiques actuelles à la Faculté de Troyes et méne un atelier d'improvisation à l'IUT de Troyes. Premiers contacts avec le Soundpainting par le biais des musiciens du Surnatural Orchestra puis en Workshop avec Walter Thompson. Il met immédiatement en pratique ce langage dans les ensembles d'élèves , débutants comme confirmés.
Toulouse Xavier Pacqueteau—Composer, Cello, Guitar, Tablas, Vocals—has study classical cello, rock, blues and jazz guitar, playing in many rock and jazz bands. He has also studied Afro Cuban percussion, and classical Indian music, focusing on the rhythmical tradition of tablas. Xavier has composed for many disciplines such as dance, mime, theatre and puppet theatre. He is now a choir conductor for amateur singers, “I'm using Soundpainting in the choir to introduce music to them in a different way. I use Soundpainting to warm up the choir – it is a wonderful language for warming up the voices, to free the mind and body in relation to the different styles of singing." I also bring Soundpainting to schools where I work with large groups of students - they really enjoy with it. The students, after learning to be a part of the ensemble, often become the Soundpainter and compose their own pieces. I am in the process of forming a Soundpainting Ensemble, including instrumentists, singers, actors and dancers. The plan is to have a kind of polymorph structure, where anybody can Soundpaint the other performers.
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Germany Berlin Sabine Vogel—Soundpainter, conductor, piccolo, flute, bass flute—studied jazz flute at the Anton Bruckner Conservatory in Linz, Austria. She now works mainly on extended techniques, sound, and improvisation, creating a contemporary language for the flute. Now a resident of Berlin, Germany, she is a member of the quartet Schwimmer, exploring the organization of sounds in space on the border of inaudibility. Vogel has collaborations with various new music composers in Germany, Sweden, and Norway, among others, as well as with other musicians, dancers, painters, and actors. Among those with whom she has worked are Arto Lindsay, Barbara Droubay, Bhob Rainey, Andrea Neumann, Ute Wasserm, and Walter Thompson. Vogel began studying Soundpainting with Thompson in 2000, taking part in his Soundpainting residencies held at Byrdcliff Arts Colony (Woodstock, NY) in 2000 and 2001, and she has performed with the New York City–based Walter Thompson Orchestra. She founded and leads the Soundpainting Ensemble of the Jazzschule Berlin, in Germany, as well as the Kinderensemble at the Arcona Grundschule, also in Berlin. Most recently, Vogel founded two Soundpainting ensembles, one for children and one for adults, at the Musikschule Datenklang in Berlin. She has conducted weekend Soundpainting workshops in Neubrandenburg, Germany, with the Jugend-Big-Band Neubrandenburg; in Freiburg, Südliches Deutschland, at the Jazz und Rochschule; in Innsbruck, Austria, at the Tiroler Landeskonservatorium; and in Berlin, Germany, under the auspices of the Berliner Familienpass. In 2002 she collaborated with Jennifer Emily Rahfeldt’s Swedish Soundpainting Orchestra in Helsingborg, Sweden.
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Norway Bergen Ricardo Odriozola—Soundpainter, violin, composer, music educator—was born in Bilbao, Spain, where he began his Classical music education. He also was exposed to a wide range of other styles of music, thus, broadening his horizons. Ordriozola began performing professionally at an early age in a Basque folk music group, which experience aided in his decision to pursue a career in Classical music. After receiving his undergraduate degree from the Eastman School of Music, he travelled to Bergen, Norway, where he has lived and worked ever since. Ordriozola is the violin teacher and the conductor of the chamber orchestra and sinfonietta at the Bergen Grieg Academy. He has used these positions as vehicles for introducing students to an alternative repertoire alongside the classics. As leader of the contemporary music class he has also been instrumental in introducing many students to the joys of improvisation. Ordriozola has always enjoyed working with exceptional creative artists who are outside of the mainstream, such as the great Norwegian composers Harald Sæverud, Edvard Hagerup Bull, and Ketil Hvoslef. He has premiered several of their works on CD. Ordriozola has given many premier performances as violinist and conductor, and several works have been written especially for him. Improvisation has been an ever-present feature in Odriozola's musical life. It began as playful noodling with his brother when he was 10 years old and has continued throughout the years. In April 2002 he put together a concert largely based on improvisation with the strings of the Grieg Academy entitled, "Grieg Academy Strings Freak-Out." In August of that year he received his introduction to Soundpainting, participating in a week-long project with an ad hoc ensemble led by Walter Thompson. During a recent similar project (also led by Thompson) with the students of the Grieg Academy, Odriozola tried his hand at Soundpainting for the first time. He is planning on further incorporating the use of the Soundpainting language at the Grieg Academy and also on expanding it into the local arts community.
Bergen Steinar Sætre—Soundpainter, conductor, saxophonist, clarinetist, educator—was born in Haugesund, Norway. Specializing in classical conducting and as a saxophonist/clarinetist in different collective improvisation groups, Sætre has been involved in both classical and improvised music since his earliest musical experiences. He received his Master of Music Education at Bergen College (Norway) with orchestral conducting as his main performance study. His master thesis covers different communicational aspects of the conductor’s role in the setting of a professional orchestra, and is based on 6 qualitative interviews with conductors and musicians. Sætre has held a full-time teaching position at the Grieg Academy in Bergen, Norway, currently as Associate Professor/Coordinator of Jazz Studies, since 1993. It was during a 2001-2002 term as a Visiting Scholar at The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, that Sætre was introduced to Soundpainting. He performed as a member of the Creative Arts Orchestra, a Soundpainting orchestra led by Ed Sarath and Roland Vasquez at the university. Later Sætre organized and participated in a weeklong ensemble project led by Walter Thompson during The International Society for Music Education (ISME) World Conference 2002 in Bergen, Norway. Sætre includes Soundpainting in the curriculum for both his jazz and his music education students at the Grieg Academy.
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Spain Barcelona Bronwyn Evans—vocals—published her thesis on jazz pedagogy in May of 2000 for Tufts University. Soloist with a variety of musical groups ranging from straight-ahead jazz to avant-garde, Evans has performed with saxophonists such as Alan Chase and Shaki Roth. Since 1986, she has directed groups under her own name, most recently the Bronwyn Evans Sextet, which incorporated flute and viola into her arrangements. Evans studied voice technique and composition with Dominique Eade and John and Cathy Hudnall, among others, and graduated magna cum laude from Berklee College of Music. Founder and director of contemporary voice departments in the Escuela de Musica Creativa in Madrid and Escuela de Música Viva and Conservatorio Privado, both in Tenerife, Evans presently heads the music program at the American School of Barcelona. She also continues to lecture and lead contemporary voice technique and improvisation workshops throughout Spain. Evans began using Soundpainting in the classroom in the fall of 2002 as a way of engaging students of all ages and levels of experience in the activity of composition and musical expression.
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Sweden Höganäs Jennifer Rahfeldt—Soundpainter, glaskonstnär/dirigent—works as a multidisciplinary artist, where visual art, music, movement, and theatre meet in a live form. She runs Rahfeldt Design glass studio in Höganäs, Sweden, with Chris Rahfeldt and has dedicated the past five years to developing and experimenting with both technique and form in her work as a visual artist. The key inspiration for her modern and innovative artistic style comes from Soundpainting and improvisation. Rahfeldt is the composer/conductor for the multidisciplinary Swedish Soundpainting Orchestra, which she founded in 2001. It has performed at the Dunkers Kulturhus, Galleri Råkulle, and Fortuna Kollektivhus among others. The primary focus of her work is to combine musicians, dancers, and actors with her visual art. Exploring the symbiosis between Soundpainting and her visual art, Rahfeldt executes her Soundpainting compositions in her glass sculptures and paintings, and she also uses some of her visual artwork as graphic notation compositions that are performed by the Orchestra. Rahfeldt composed/conducted Trampa Väg for 3 performances with The Swedish Soundpainting Orchestra at Galleri Svenshög in Lund, Sweden. These performances were in conjunction with her one-woman show, where she presented her glass sculptures and paintings in combination with the performances. Rahfeldt has also taught Soundpainting to the Helsingborg Vocal Ensemble and at Höganäs Music School, Dunkers Kulturhus, and Grieve Folkhögskola.
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Brazil Vitória (Espírito Santo) Bruno Faria—Soundpainter, transverse flutes, and guitar—enjoys working on various types of music, from classical to jazz and conventional to experimental. Faria is currently working as a flutist and piccolist in the Orquestra Filarmonica do Espirito Santo, as an adjunct professor of flute at the Faculdade de Musica do Espirito Santo, and he is engaged on the mission of spreading Soundpainting throughout his native Brazil. Faria earned his bachelors degree in 2003 in Belo Horizonte (Brazil) and his masters degree in 2005 at the University of Iowa (USA), both degrees in flute performance. Before going to the United States, he worked in diverse groups; one day he might have been recording religious music and the next day playing in a rock concert. Some of the highlights of his activities in Brazil were his work with the band "Nono Osso" as an arranger, composer, and performer and his work with the flute and guitar duo "Tramanduá Duo," playing original works for these 2 instruments and arranging songs of Brazilian jazz masters such as Egberto Gismonti and Hermeto Pascoal. During his time in Iowa City, Faria worked with many different ensembles at the university, particularly with thc modern music ensembles such as the Center for New Music group, directed by David Gomper, and Gamut, a Soundpainting ensemble directed by Evan Mazunik. Faria’s first official Soundpainting experience was on the production of Columbus: A Soundpainting Opera, directed by Walter Thompson and co-directed by Evan Mazunik in October 2004. After this Soundpainting work, Faria recorded with Gamut and worked in an improvising trio with University of Iowa professors Jeffrey Agrell and Benjamin Coelho. With the blessings of Walter Thompson, Faria is starting to introduce Soundpainting in Brazil, where a new group has been formed: the Orquestra Brasileira de Soundpainting.
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South
Africa Pretoria Marc Duby—double bass, bass guitar, keyboards, percussion, music educator, composer/arranger—is senior lecturer and head of the School of Music at Technikon Pretoria, South Africa. He was graduated cum laude with a 1st masters degree from Natal University, and has been involved in jazz education since 1985, teaching at the universities of Natal, Durban-Westville, and Technikon Natal. Duby spent several years working as house bassist for the Natal Performing Arts Council, performing in and writing arrangements for various productions prior to taking up his current position at Technikon Pretoria. His production company, Lone Tree Studio, has produced a number of film and TV soundtracks including “Dinosaur Park,” which won the 1995 TV Artes award for Best Instrumental Music, and “Question of a Heart” (with Philip Tabane of Malombo) for M-Net New Directions. In 1997 he was awarded a National Arts Council grant to study composition with Dr. Frank Denyer at Dartington Institute in Devon, England, and in 2001 Duby was appointed as the first conductor of the Standard Bank National Youth Jazz Band, which has since recorded a CD of his original music. Duby began studying Soundpainting with Walter Thompson in 2003. His recent appearances include concerts with François Jeanneau in Pretoria and with Walter Thompson’s Soundpainting group in Paris in 2003 as well as the recent total eclipse concert in Musina, South Africa.
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