Saturday, April 5th, Indexical is pleased to present multi-instrumentalist and composer Elliott Sharp and GTAR Ensemble performing the work of Abe Gibson. A central figure in the experimental music scene in New York since the 1970s, Elliott Sharp performs solo electroacoustic music performed on 8-string guitarbass with electronics. Abe Gibson leads the GTAR Ensemble using hand signals and objects, blending members of the touring ensemble with local musicians.
Elliott Sharp
Elliott Sharp leads SysOrk, Orchestra Carbon, Terraplane, and Tectonics and pioneered use of fractal geometry, chaos theory, and genetics in musical composition and interaction. His opera Port Bou premiered October 2014 at Issue Project Room and his suite Tribute:MLK Berlin '64 opened the 2014 Berlin Jazz Festival. Storm Of the Eye appears on violinist Hilary Hahn's Grammy-winning album In 27 Pieces and Turing Test for the Neue Vocalsölisten Stuttgart premiered at the Venice Biennale in 2012. Sharp has been featured at festivals New Music Stockholm, Darmstadt, Donaueschingen, and Au Printemps and is the subject of the documentary film Doing The Don't. Sharp was awarded the Berlin Prize for Music Composition for 2015; a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2014; a Fellowship from the Center for Transformative Media in 2014. In 2003, he received a Fellowship from the Foundation For Contemporary Art.
Abe Gibson
Abe Gibson (b.1975, Springfield,IL) is a sound/visual artist & member of the groups Frequent Weaver, Net Worth & The PTF. He is also a music historian & author of ‘Here To Blast Your Concept: An Oral History of SST Records’ (Hat and Beard Press, 2025). He has worked with Tatsuya Nakatani, Eugene Chadbourne, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Daniel Carter, Bill MacKay, Ben Boye & many others in his travels. He is also the host/curator of SLO Synth Night & regularly presents concerts & art events in San Luis Obispo.
GTAR Ensemble
GTAR Ensemble was founded in Chicago in 2006 by Abe & Alex Wing & was originally known as Chicago Gtar Ensemble. The group performed regularly from 2006-08 & many luminaries from Chicago’s creative community were involved. Gibson reformed the group in San Luis Obispo when Rob Magill released two archival recordings of the group via his Weird Cry label- ‘Myopic Monday Quintet’ & ‘An Electric Prayer for Derek Bailey’. Gibson conducts the group using hand signals & objects. Ensemble consists of regular members of the SLO ensemble with local musicians filling out the group. GTAR Ensemble has recently performed in SLO, Ojai & Bakersfield.