Theresa Wong (born March 31, 1976) is an American cellist, vocalist, composer and improviser in the field of experimental music. In 2013 she lived in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Early life and education
She was born in
Schenectady, New York
Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...
, United States. Wong studied classical piano and cello in her early years and attended
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
, where she completed a B.S. in product design. After studies in graphic design at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, and a one year fellowship in design at
Benetton Group
Benetton Group S.r.l. () is a global fashion brand based in Ponzano Veneto, Italy, founded in 1965. Benetton Group has a network of about 5,000 stores worldwide. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Benetton family's holding company Edizio ...
's
Fabrica research centre
Fabrica (est. 1994) is a communications research centre in Treviso, Italy financed by the Benetton Group. It produces ''Colors'' magazine amongst other projects.
The centre aims to combine culture with industry and offers young people the opportu ...
in Treviso, Italy, she returned to the Bay Area and completed a Master of Fine Arts at Mills College, studying with Fred Frith, Joan Jeanrenaud,
Alvin Curran
Alvin Curran (born December 13, 1938) is an American composer, performer, improviser, sound artist, and writer. He was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and lives and works in Rome, Italy. He is the co-founder, with Frederic Rzewski and Richard ...
, Joëlle Léandre and
Annie Gosfield
Annie Gosfield (born September 11, 1960 in Philadelphia) is a New-York-based composer who works on the boundaries between notated and improvised music, electronic and acoustic sounds, refined timbres and noise. She composes for others and per ...
.
Work
Her debut album, ''The Unlearning'', was released on
Tzadik Records
Tzadik Records is a record label in New York City that specializes in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995. He is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases. Tzadik is a n ...
in September 2011. This work is a collection of 21 songs inspired by Francisco Goya's
The Disasters of War
''The Disasters of War'' ( es, Los desastres de la guerra) is a series of 8280 prints in the first published edition (1863), for which the last two plates were not available. See "Execution". prints created between 1810 and 1820 by the Spani ...
etchings, and is performed by Wong on cello and voice and
Carla Kihlstedt
Carla Kihlstedt (born 1971) is an American composer, violinist, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist, originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania and currently working from a home studio on Cape Cod.
She is a founding member of Tin Hat Trio (1997, ...
on violin and voice. Her other works include ''O Sleep'', an improvised opera premiered at
Southern Exposure, which she directed and presented with an ensemble of eight performers, ''Call It Culture'', a cello duo written for
Joan Jeanrenaud
Joan Jeanrenaud ( Dutcher; born January 25, 1956) is an American cellist. A native of Memphis, Tennessee, she played with the LLP Kronos Quartet from 1978 until 1999, when, after a sabbatical, she left to pursue a solo career and collaborations ...
, ''Meet Me At The Future Garden'', for two voices and eight
intonarumori
Intonarumori are experimental musical instruments invented and built by the Italian futurist Luigi Russolo between roughly 1910 and 1930. There were 27 varieties of intonarumori built in total, with different names.
Background
Russolo built th ...
, performed at the
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) is a multi-disciplinary contemporary arts center in San Francisco, California, United States. Located in Yerba Buena Gardens, YBCA features visual art, performance, and film/video that celebrates local, natio ...
with the Magik*Magik Orchestra commissioned for Performa 09's Music for 16 Futurist Noise Intoners, and ''Xenoglossia'', a piece for live and pre-recorded voice composed as a soundtrack to conceptual artist
Jonathon Keats
Jonathon Keats (born October 2, 1971) is an American conceptual artist and experimental philosopher known for creating large-scale thought experiments. Keats was born in New York City and studied philosophy at Amherst College. He now lives ...
' travel documentary for plants, ''Strange Skies'' presented at the
Berkeley Art Museum
The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA, formerly abbreviated as BAM/PFA) are a combined art museum, repertory movie theater, and archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director from ...
.
Wong has performed throughout the United States and internationally with artists including
Fred Frith
Jeremy Webster "Fred" Frith (born 17 February 1949) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser.
Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock ...
,
Joëlle Léandre
Joëlle Léandre (born 12 September 1951 in Aix-en-Provence, France) is a French double bassist, vocalist, and composer active in Contemporary classical music, new music and free improvisation.
In the field of contemporary music, she has perfor ...
,
Rova Saxophone Quartet
Rova Saxophone Quartet is an American, San Francisco-based saxophone quartet, formed in October 1977. The name "Rova" is an acronym formed from the last initials of the founding members: Jon Raskin, Larry Ochs, Andrew Voigt, and Bruce Ackley. Wh ...
,
Vinny Golia
Vinny Golia (born March 1, 1946) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist specializing in woodwind instruments. He performs in the genres of contemporary music, jazz, free jazz, and free improvisation.
Career
As a composer, Golia fuse ...
,
Ellen Fullman
Ellen Fullman (born 1957) is an American composer, instrument builder, and performer. She was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and is currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is known for her 70-foot (21-meter) Long String instrument, tu ...
, Carla Kihlstedt,
Anna Halprin
Anna Halprin (born Hannah Dorothy Schuman; July 13, 1920 – May 24, 2021) was an American choreographer and dancer. She helped redefine dance in postwar America and pioneer the experimental art form known as postmodern dance and referred to hers ...
and
Luciano Chessa
Luciano Chessa (, born January 12, 1971, in Sassari, Italy) is a musician, performance/visual/installation artist, and musicologist.
As a composer, conductor, pianist, and musical saw / Vietnamese dan bau soloist, Luciano Chessa has been act ...
. She also appears in Peter Esmonde’s documentary on Ellen Fullman, ''5 Variations on a Long String'' (2010).
Discography
* 2007 ''
The Happy End Problem
''The Happy End Problem (Music for Dance Volume 5)'' is a studio album by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith, and is the fifth of a series of Music for Dance albums he made. It comprises two suites composed in 2003 by Fr ...
'' – Music for Dance by Fred Frith (Fred Records)
* 2007 ''Luggage'' – with Bob Marsh (Last Visible Dog)
* 2007 ''The Mirror World'' – ROVA Saxophone Quartet (Metalanguage)
* 2007 ''Bolivar Zoar'' – with
Ava Mendoza
Ava Mendoza is an American guitarist, vocalist, and composer.
An avant-garde artist whose work is described as traversing a number of genres, Mendoza has performed with a wide range of musicians, including Nels Cline, Matana Roberts, Nick Zinner ...
and Maryclare Brzytwa (Self release)
* 2008 ''Earth Music, Ten Years of Meridian Music'' – Nightwatching, for solo cello and voice (Innova)
* 2009 ''
Nowhere, Sideshow, Thin Air'' – Music for Dance by Fred Frith (Fred Records)
* 2009 ''Vanity'' – with Große Abfahrt (Emanem)
* 2009 ''The Harmonic Series, A Compilation of Works in Just Intonation'' – duo with Ellen Fullman (Important Records)
* 2010 ''The Headlands'' – Barn Owl and the Infinite String Ensemble (Important Records)
* 2011 ''jimpani kustakwa ka jankwariteecheri'' – Estamos Ensemble (Edgetone Records)
* 2011 ''Through Glass Panes'' – compositions by Ellen Fullman (Important Records)
* 2011 ''The Unlearning'', 21 songs for violin, cello and 2 voices (Tzadik)
* 2015 ''Quintillions Green'' – improvisations with Fred Frith and John Butcher (Otoroku)
* 2014 ''Venice Is A Fish'', songs for voice, cello, prepared piano and tonkori (Sensitive Skin / Euphorbia)
* 2016 ''Layered Events'', improvisations with Søren Kjærgaard (Important Records)
* 2018 ''Crossing A River By Rope'' – improvisations with Lao Dan, Deng Boyu, Li Xing and John McCowen (fo'c'sle)
* 2020 ''Some Center'' – compositions by Chris Brown (New World Records)
* 2020 ''Live at zoom-in'', improvisations with Frantz Loriot (Creative Sources)
* 2020 ''Harbors'' – duo for long string instrument, cello and electronics with Ellen Fullman (room40)
* 2022 ''Practicing Sands'' – solo works for cello and voice (fo'c'sle)
References
External links
Official websiteEn magisk hemmakväll hos Tom*
Theresa Wong nos interpreta los desastres de Goya con “The Unlearning”
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wong, Theresa
1976 births
Living people
American cellists