Martha Mooke

Bio:

Martha Mooke, composer/electro-acoustic violist, a pioneer in the field of electric five string viola, transcends musical boundaries by synthesizing her classical music training with extended techniques, digital effects processing and improvisation. She is a Yamaha Artist and leading clinician on electric and alternative approaches to string playing.....

A composer with an innovative palette for creating evocative images in sound and defying stylistic boundaries, Martha Mooke’s music can range from a pyrotechnical solo exhibition for electric 5-string violin/viola to a seemingly traditional string quartet, that is until the score calls for some very nontraditional performance practices.  Mooke has also created scores for theatre and dance as well soundtracks for film and multimedia events...

Mooke’s genre-defying recordings, the solo Enharmonic Vision and Bowing's Café Mars (duo with electric guitarist Randolph A. Hudson, III) have attracted wide critical acclaim...

The Village Voice wrote, “If the sonic images were precise, the forms were agreeably loose, making each piece feel like a sonic landscape: Sometimes desert imperceptibly morphed into forest; other times, at the push of a foot pedal, we'd turn a corner and suddenly encounter a completely different vista. And despite the jazz licks and odd meters, Mooke never had to worry about straying too far from romanticism: By nature the viola carries its romanticism along with it.”..

Michael Fressola of the Staten Island Advance observed that "In performance, a relatively traditional-sounding solo passage will give way to a mesmerizing mood sequence and then, seemingly, half an electronic orchestra has arrived - but it's all her."..

Mooke is founder and violist of the electro-acoustic Scorchio Quartet which has performed and recorded with David Bowie as well as championing new works.  She has toured internationally as a member of Barbra Streisand’s acclaimed orchestra and performed with Bon Jovi, Philip Glass, Enya, Lou Reed, Tony Bennett, David Byrne, Moby, Johnny Mathis, Luciano Pavorotti, Broadway shows and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.  

She has received awards from ASCAP, Meet the Composer, Arts International and the Irene C. Fromer Award for Creative and Performing Arts.  Mooke was honored with an ASCAP Concert Music Award for conceiving and producing the new music showcase THRU THE WALLS featuring ASCAP composer/performers whose work defies categorization.
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for more information: www.marthamooke.com

Member Since:

July 10, 2008

Members:

Martha Mooke, electric 5-string violin/viola

Martha Mooke "Live at Symphony Space"

Terminal Baggage

Virtual Corridors Live

Influences:

Jean-Luc Ponty, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Turtle Island String Quartet, Philip Glass, Terry Riley, John Cale, Kronos Quartet, Jimi Hendrix, Keith Jarrett, Bela Bartok, Igor Stravinsky, Maurice Ravel, Tony Visconti

Sounds Like:

music for the soul's imagination

Record Label:

2105 a.d.