O SLEEP, a site-specific improvised opera featuring Theresa Wong (cello, voice, director)
Ellen Fullman (Long String Instrument), Dohee Lee (Korean percussion, voice), Luciano Chessa (dan bau), Shayna Dunkleman (drumset and percussion), Preshish Moments (electronics), Kanoko Nishi (koto and bass koto), Heike Liss (video) and Alice Wu (costumes). www.improvisedopera.wordpress.com
***********************************************************************
Collaborating with Ellen Fullman on songs and improvisations for Long String Instrument and cello. Works have been presented at the the Headlands Center for the Arts in Marin, California, Fort Worth, Texas and at the Berkeley Art Museum.
***********************************************************************
Improvised vocal duo with Dohee Lee.
***********************************************************************
Also performing on voice/cello/piano/ as a cast member in NECESSARY MONSTERS, a theater set song cycle led by violinist Carla Kihlstedt, based on Jorge Luis Borges' The Book of Imaginary Beings. The band includes: Matthias Bossi, Chris Fisher-Lockhead, Nina Rolle, Michael Mellender and Freddi Price. See: www.necessarymonsters.net
***********************************************************************
ESTAMOS ENSEMBLE: a group bringing together improvisers and composers from the United States and Mexico with the mission of promoting a creative and cultural dialogue across borders consists of: Theresa Wong (Cello, Voice), Emilio Tamez (Percussion), Marko Novachcoff (Various Winds), Alexander Bruck (Viola), Michelle Webb (Guitar), Julián Martínez Vázquez (Violin), Vinny Golia (Various Winds), Carmina Escobar (Voice, Electronics), Thollem McDonas (Piano, Artistic Director) visit: www.thollem.com/EstamosEnsemble
Influences
Mina Mazzini, Luigi Tenco, Nina Simone, Salvatore Sciarrino, Charlie Chaplin, Anna Halprin, John Cage, Diamanda Galas, Alice Coltrane, Milford Graves, Alexander Balanescu, Lawrence Wiener, Koichi Makigami, Jean Cocteau, Luigi Pirandello, Hamid Drake and many more...
Sounds Like
PINKOYA live at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, SF 8/6/09. Theresa Wong (cello/voice), Dohee Lee (percussion/voice) and Kanoko Nishi (bass koto). Camera by Ellen Fullman.
O SLEEP, an improvised opera directed by Theresa Wong. Work-in-progress performance at the Headlands Center for the Arts, Marin CA 5/24/09.
Theresa Wong is a cellist, vocalist, improviser and composer based in the San Francisco Bay Area whose work encompasses music, theater and the visual arts. Her training in classical music and design fused during a fellowship at Fabrica Center in Treviso, Italy where she recognized the possibility of merging sonic and visual worlds in creative performance. Current projects include: 'O Sleep', an improvised opera launched into progress at the Headlands Center for the Arts which explores the conundrum of sleep life, 'Disasters of War', inspired by Francisco Goya's etchings, a duo for violin, cello and two voices performed with Carla Kihlstedt and a solo album of songs. Wong was recently invited by dance pioneer Anna Halprin to perform a leading vocal role in 'Spirit of Place', a site-specific piece honoring Stern Grove. She is also a cast member on cello, voice and piano in Carla Kihlstedt's 'Necessary Monsters' theater project. In addition, she has collaborated with such artists as Ellen Fullman, Dohee Lee, Fred Frith, Joelle Leandre, Gianni Gebbia and ROVA Saxophone Quartet. Her performances have been included at the Fondation Cartier in Paris, Unlimited 21 Festival in Wels, Austria, Other Minds Brink series in San Francisco, Radio France broadcast, A L'improviste and at The Stone in New York City. Theresa holds an MFA in Performance and Improvisation from Mills College and a BS in Product Design from Stanford University.
***********************************************************************
Compositions include 'Call It Culture' (2007) a cello duo written for and performed with Joan Jeanrenaud, 'What Orbs!' (2008), for piano written for Luciano Chessa, 'Meet Me at the Future Garden' (2009), for two voices and 7 Intonarumori (Futurist Noise Intoners) and 'Worn Castings' (2009) for alto saxophone, english horn and piano, to be premiered in January 2010 at the San Francisco Conservatory by SfSound.
***********************************************************************
TRACKS: "Foretelling" is an improvisation on voice and cello, "Venice Is A Fish" is voice, cello, prepared piano & tonkori, "Il Sogno" is voice and prepared piano, "Night Watching" is voice and cello and "solo cello improvisation" is acoustic cello, "What Orbs!" is written for and performed by Luciano Chessa on piano, "Blue Tunnel Fields" is Ellen Fullman on Long String Instrument and Theresa on cello and "Wandersong 1" is a vocal improvisation with Dohee Lee.