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Thollem McDonasLink to home page : Thollem McDonas  Biography: Thollem McDonas (b. 1967- US) is a perpetually traveling musician, sharing his time between North America and Europe, performing/recording as a soloist and in collaboration with many other individuals and groups, as well as leading large ensemble improvisation workshops, listening meditations/walks and master classes. His music is diverse, approaching each concert and project uniquely, resulting in dramatically new and different outcomes.Not long after birth, Thollem began studying the keyboard repertoire from the medieval to the 20th century. With degrees in both piano performance and composition, he stepped from the concert pianist trajectory to dedicate his time to grassroots political movements and ecological restoration projects. In 2005, he returned to music as his full focus, incorporating his experiences into his compositions, improvisations and teaching. Thollem has performed piano concertos with symphonies, played in West African drumming troupes, Javanese gamelan ensembles, punk bands, with many free improvisation groups, and as a “comproviser” for modern dance and film. He is the founding director of Estamos Ensemble, a Mexican-American cross border ensemble for musical exchange. As a writer, his essay, Deep Listening and the Peripatetic Life of an Improvising Musician, was written specifically for An Anthology of Essays on Deep Listening (Deep Listening Institute, 2012) in honor of master musician Pauline Oliveros‘ 80th birthday. Musical collaborators include, in no order of importance: Stefano Scodanibbio, Mike Watt, Nels Cline, Pauline Oliveros, William Parker, Amy Denio, Brian Chase, Arrington de Dionyso, Jad Fair, John Dieterich, LaDonna Smith, Faruq Z. Bey, Vinny Golia, Ava Mendoza, Tatsuya Nakatani, Rent Romus, Jacopo Andreini, Gino Robair, Jon Raskin, Edoardo Marraffa, Stefano Giust, Joel Peterson, Alex Cline, Theresa Wong, Jack Wright, Greg Saunier, Laura Ortman, John Butcher ... Film makers include: Martha Colburn, Matthew Barney, Peter Sparling, Tuia Cherici, Carlos Sandoval and David Latreille ... Dancers (dance companies) include: Germaul Barnes (Bitahkiz Ayeli), Gary Masters, Limón West Dance Company, Peter Sparling, Viewsic Expressions, Black Bones, San José Cleveland Ballet ... Past workshops include: Music Conservatory of Thessoloniki, Greece; University of Ohio, USA; Trasporti Marritimi Festival, France; Portland State University, USA; Gap, France; Dublin, Ireland; CalArts, USA; San José State University, USA; Centr'Arti, San Marino; High Mayhem, New Mexico, USA; Fylkingen, Stockholm, SE; Orchestra Libertad, Oaxaca City, Mexico. Improvisation methods utilized in both the Cologne School of Music and the Paris Conservatory by Stefano Scodanibbio Awards: American Music Center: CAP, 2010 - 'Stirring Awake' - debuted at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation: USArtists, 2009 - Estamos Ensemble, Director Meet the Composer: Creative Connections, 2007 Discography: Read Between the Lines ... Think Outside Them Tsigoti Post-Consumer Records (US, 2013) You Are Always On Our Minds The Hand To Man Band Post-Consumer Records (US, 2012) Polishing The Mirror Magimc Amirani Records (Italy, 2012) The Imagination Liberation Fronts Thinks Again Tsigoti Post-Consumer Records - digital (US, 2012) Ten Thousand Tigers With Arrington de Dionyso Bandcamp (US, 2012) Thollem/Parker/Cline: The Gowanus Session With William Parker and Nels Cline Porter Records (US 2012) Jimpani Kustakwa Ka Jankwariteecherï Estamos Ensemble Edgetone Records (US, 2011) On Debussy's Piano And... With Stefano Scodanibbio Die Schachtel (Italy, 2010) Gone Beyond Reason To Find One Solo Piano Edgetone Records (US, 2010) All For Now Bad News From Houston Dromos Records (Portugal, 2010) Private Poverty Speaks To The People Of The Party Tsigoti ESP-disk (US, 2010) Noble Art With Nicola Guazzaloca Amirani Records (Italy, 2009) Sudden Aurora Bloom Duo Edgetone Records (US, 2009) Gigantomachia Naked Future ESP-disk (US, 2009) Intuition, Science and Sex With Arrington de Dionyso Edgetone Records (US, 2008) Prismatic Season Bloom Ensemble Edgetone Records (US, 2008) Racingthesun Chasingthesun Solo Piano Creative Sources (Portugal, 2008) Somuchheaven Somuchhell Solo Piano Saravah (France, 2008) Two Revolutions BoxDeserter Ensemble Edgetone Records (US, 2008) The Brutal Reality Of Modern Brutality Tsigoti Edgetone Records (US, 2008) Poor Stop Killing Poor Solo Piano Edgetone Records (US, 2007) Bloom Bloom Ensemble Edgetone Records (US, 2007) Sono Contento Di Stare Qua With Eduardo Ricci Edgetone Records (US, 2006) I'll Meet You Halfway Out In The Middle Of It All With Rick Rivera Edgetone Records (US, 2006) Everything's Going Everywhere With Rick Rivera Edgetone Records (US, 2005) Nuclear Bomb, Cave Painting Solo Piano Pax Recordings (US, 2005) Work-In-Progress: Recording projects to be released in 2013:- with Jad Fair and Brian Chase (Label TBD) - The Hand To Man Band - with Mike Watt, John Dieterich and Michael Guarino (Post-Consumer Records, US) - Bad News From Houston - with John Dieterich: "In The Valley Of The Cloud Builder" (Post-Consumer Records, US) - Solo: " Dear Future, " (old unreleased recordings - Wild Silence, France) - Estamos Trio - with Milo Tamez and Carmina Escobar (Relative Pitch Records, US) Email: thollem@thollem.com Upcoming Events: Berkeley Arts 2133 University AvenueBerkeley Wednesday, May 22 2013 8:00 PM
CDs on which Thollem McDonas appears:
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