Joseph Martin Waters(born 1952) is an American classical composer. He also mounts experimental electronic music festivals attempting to bridge the gap between contemporary popular genres and the avant-garde Western classical tradition.
In 2011 Orchestra Nova conductor Jung-Ho Pak commissioned Waters to create a double concerto for violin (featuring Lindsay Deutsch) and alto saxophone (featuring Todd Rewoldt) on the subject of the ocean. The resultant work, entitled "Surf" was premiered by the orchestra on May 11, 12 & 14, 2012. "Surf" also featured live electronics, performed by the composer, and live video created by Brooklyn artist Zuriel Waters and performed via software created by Chris Warren.
In 2003 the city of San Diego commissioned sculptor Roman De Salvo, along with Waters, to create a public artwork in the form of a safety railing on the civilian overpass on Interstate 94 at 25th Street. Entitled Crab Carillon, the result is a set of 488 tuned chimes, that can be played by pedestrians as they cross the overpass. Each chime is tuned to the note of a melody, composed by Waters. The melody is in the form of a [palindrome], to accommodate walking in either direction. The music can be heard on the City of San Diego Civic Art Collection
He performs and composes for the Waters_Bluestone_Duel, a collaboration with percussionist Joel Bluestone that explores the combination of live electronics and percussion, as well as SWARMIUS an interdisciplinary quartet comprising Felix Olschofka (violin), Todd Rewoldt (alto saxophone), Joel Bluestone (classical percussion) and Waters (composer and electronics performance).
His work has been performed at venues which include: Australasian Computer Music Conferences Melbourne & Perth (Australia), Beethoven-Haus (Bonn Germany), Bomb the Space Festival Wellington (New Zealand), Composer's Hall Moscow Conservatory (Russia), Festival Internacional Cervantino Guanajuato (Mexico), Hong Kong Cultural Center, Hungarian Radio hosted Budapest & Nadasdy Castle (Hungary), Ljubljana Cultural Center (Slovenia), Rosario & San Martin de los Andes (Argentina), SEAMS Fylkingen Stockholm (Sweden), Joe's Pub (New York City), Southern Theater Minneapolis, Theater Kikker (Utrecht Netherlands), Tsing Hua University (Beijing China), UNAM (Mexico City), University of Cadiz & Conservatorio Superior de Musica Valencia (Spain), Univ of Chile (Santiago), Wellington (New Zealand), Venetto Jazz Festival & Acadamia di Canto (Venice Italy), Warsaw Electronic Festival (Poland), and other locations ...
Tere Mathern Dance Company Elements 2004 Portland, OR & San Diego, CA
Leslie Seiters, Ron Estes, Justin Morrison, Niamh Condron with SWARMIUS, 2008 Neurosciences Institute, La Jolla, CA
Kali Yuga (2000, pixilation and object animation) Directed, produced and animated by Joanna Priestley. Kali Yuga was a performance and animation collaboration with filmmaker Joanna Priestley, composer Joseph Waters and contemporary classical ensemble, Fear No Music. It included physical performances by the musicians (playing upside down in wooden contraptions, dropping a bowling ball from the top of a ladder into a vat of pennies) with projected animation. The pixillation of yogi Diane Wilson was shot over six months in the forests and parks near Portland, Oregon. The object animation was an experiment using household tools, bolts, screws and nails. Kali Yuga is a modern score in the style of classic 1940s cartoons. It placed virtuosic demands on the performers, with 150 synchronization points. Kali Yuga was performed at Reed College, Northwest Film Center, University of Oregon and the San Diego State University.
Bob (2001, Directed and produced by Matt Smith). Music performed live by Fear no Music ensemble at Reed College and San Diego State University.
In 1983 Waters co-founded Network for New Music (NNM) (along with pianist Dr. Linda Reichert). Based in Philadelphia, NNM was originally a support and service organization for living composers. Waters co-managed NNM until 1988, when he left to pursue other projects. Under Reichert, NNM continues today as a professional chamber music ensemble dedicated to the commissioning and performance of new works.
In 1998 Waters founded and is currently artistic director of, NWEAMO (New West Electronic Arts & Music Organization). NWEAMO is a festival in which composers, performance artists and musicians present their work with the aim of integrating avant-garde classical, popular, experimental electronic music and visual media. The NWEAMO festival has traveled to Berlin, Boulder (CO), Mexico City, Miami (FL), Morelia (Mexico), New York City, Portland (OR), San Diego (CA), Stony Brook (NY), Venice (Italy) and Tokyo (Japan).
Professor of Music (Composition and Computer music) at San Diego State University (San Diego, California, U.S.A.)
Waters studied composition at Yale University (M.M. 1982), the Universities of Oregon (Ph.D. 2002) and Minnesota (B.S. 1980), as well as Stockholms Musikpedagogiska Institut. Primary teachers were Jacob Druckman, Bernard Rands, Roger Reynolds, Dominick Argento, and Martin Bresnick. He began his career as a teenage keyboardist and composer for rock bands.
SWARMIUS III: Trans Classical (2017) Carrotwood Records, VOIC007, featuring the SWARMIUS Ensemble & guest artists: Michael Couper (soprano & alto saxophone), Todd Rewoldt (alto saxophone), Andrew Kreysa (vibraphone), Toni James (Piano), Sarah Davis Draper (harp), Justin DeHart (Tabla), Joel Bluestone (tubular bells)
SWARMIUS – Pacific 565 (2014) Aleppo Recordings, VOIC006, featuring the SWARMIUS Ensemble: Todd Rewoldt (alto saxophone), Andrew Kreysa (vibraphone), Sarah Davis Draper (harp & pipe organ), Ian & Sean Bassett (electric guitar), Pamela Narbona (vocals)
SWARMIUS – in Starlight (2013) Aleppo Recordings, VOIC005, featuring the SWARMIUS Ensemble: Todd Rewoldt (alto saxophone), Michael Couper (soprano saxophone), Justin DeHart (vibraphone), Sarah Davis Draper (harp)
SWARMIUS – Dragon (2013) Aleppo Recordings, VOIC004, featuring the SWARMIUS Ensemble: Todd Rewoldt (alto saxophone), Felix Olschofka (violin), Joel Bluestone (xylophone, tubular bells) & Joseph Waters (electronics via laptop computer)
Trio Neos: Punto De Encuentro (Meeting Place) (2011) CMMAS Recordings, CMMAS_CD006, featuring Trio Neos, Various Artists commissioned by Trio Neos (Mexico City), includes On the Transient Nature of Magic, for bass clarinet, bassoon, piano and electronics by Joseph Waters
SWARMIUS II – also normal (2010) Aleppo Recordings, VOIC003, featuring the SWARMIUS Ensemble: Todd Rewoldt, Felix Olschofka, Joel Bluestone, Joseph Waters with guest vocalists Leonard Patton, Kira Riches and Nina Deering
SWARMIUS Presents the Waters_Bluestone_Duel – Fill The House (2009) Aleppo Recordings, VOIC002, featuring Joel Bluestone, percussion and Joseph Waters, live electronics
SWARMIUS (2008) Aleppo Recordings, VOIC001, featuring the SWARMIUS Ensemble: Todd Rewoldt, Felix Olschofka, Joel Bluestone, Joseph Waters
Offshore (2006) Albany Records, TROY813, featuring the Bakken Trio, Todd Kuhns, Ron Blessinger, Susan Smith & Philip Hansen
Joseph Waters (2001) North Pacific Music, NPM LD 009
Alejandro Escuer: Aqua — Musica para flauta y electronica (2002) Quindecim Recordings, QP091. Various Artists commissioned by Alejandro Escuer, includes Dream in Aqua & Scarlet by Joseph Waters
Playerless Pianos (2005) North Pacific Music, NDM LP 007 — Seventh Species Composers Series, Various Artists collection, includes Counterpoint Studies: Trochilidae • Variations on a Bebop Theme • Counterpoint in F by Joseph Waters
New West Evolving Arts & Music Organization (NWEAMO), founded by composer Joseph Waters in Portland, Oregon, U.S. in 1998, is a nonprofit organization based in San Diego, California that produces the annual international festival of electro-acoustic music.
Jeff Jahn is a curator, art critic, artist, historian, blogger and composer based in Portland, Oregon, United States. He coined the phrase declaring Portland "the capital of conscience for the United States," in a Portland Tribune op-ed piece, which was then reiterated in The Wall Street Journal.
Chinary Ung is a composer currently living in California, United States.
Vinny Golia 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.
Jonathan Raymond, usually credited Jon Raymond, is an American writer living in Portland, Oregon. He is best known for writing the novels The Half-Life and Rain Dragon, and for writing the short stories and novels adapted for the films Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy, and First Cow, all directed by Kelly Reichardt, with whom he co-wrote the screenplays.
Harry Kinross White is an American-born classical saxophonist living in Switzerland.
The Pacifica Quartet is a professional string quartet based in Bloomington, Indiana. Its members are: Simin Ganatra, first violin; Austin Hartman, second violin; Mark Holloway, viola; and Brandon Vamos, cello. Formed in 1994 by Ganatra and Vamos with violinist Sibbi Bernhardsson and violist Kathryn Lockwood, the group won prizes in competitions such as the 1996 Coleman Chamber Music Competition, the 1997 Concert Artists Guild Competition, and the 1998 Naumburg Chamber Music Competition. In 2001, violist Masumi Per Rostad replaced Lockwood. The group subsequently received Chamber Music America's prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award in 2002, the Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2006, and was named "Ensemble of the Year" by Musical America in 2009. In 2017, violinist Austin Hartman replaced Bernhardsson and violist Guy Ben-Ziony replaced Rostad.
Rodney Waschka II is an American composer known for his algorithmic compositions and his theatrical works.
Paul Hostetter is an American conductor, the Ethel Foley Distinguished Chair in Orchestral Activities for the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University, the Conductor and Artistic Advisor for the Sequitur Ensemble, and the Founder and Artistic Adviser to the Music Mondays chamber series in New York City. He has held appointments as the Director of the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University where he also was the Director of Orchestral Studies/Associate Professor, the Music Director of the Colonial Symphony, the Music Director of the High Mountain Symphony, Artistic Director of the Winter Sun Music Festival, Music Director of the New Jersey Youth Symphony, and the Associate Conductor for the Broadway productions of Candide and George and Ira Gershwin's Fascinating Rhythm.
Chamber Music Northwest (CMNW) is an American non-profit organization in Portland, Oregon, dedicated to the performance and promotion of chamber music. In addition to its annual Summer Festival, the organization also presents individual chamber music concerts throughout the year, as well as educational and community engagement programs.
Contraband, a collection of artists led by director/choreographer Sara Shelton Mann, was a dance-based, live performance ensemble, working together from 1985 to the mid 1990s. Based mainly in San Francisco, the group became known for its lively, electrifying performances, often politically charged and community-engaging. By utilizing dance, music, set, text/spoken word, and site-specific work, Contraband came to develop a cross-disciplinary performance aesthetic, as well as approach to dance and dance training, that would have a profound influence on Bay Area dance, performance art, and culture, as well as performance practice abroad.
Erika Davies, also professionally credited as Miss Erika Davies, is an American jazz vocalist. A San Diego–based performer and singer-songwriter, Davies resides in California and gigs regularly.
Beta Collide is a music ensemble from Oregon that focuses on the collision of musical art forms. Beta Collide has participated in many festivals such as the Astoria Music Festival and the Oregon Bach Festival. The directors of Beta Collide are Molly Barth, Grammy-Award-winning flutist, chamber and orchestral musician and trumpeter/conductor Brian McWhorter. Their debut album is Psst...Psst!.
Kenji Bunch is an American composer and violist. Bunch currently serves as the artistic director of Fear No Music and teaches at Portland State University, Reed College, and for the Portland Youth Philharmonic. He is also the director of MYSfits, the most advanced string ensemble of the Metropolitan Youth Symphony.
Rimsky-Korsakoffee House, located in the Buckman neighborhood of southeast Portland, Oregon, in the United States, is one of the city's oldest coffeehouses. Named after Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, the classical music-themed coffeehouse serves coffee and desserts, operating from the former living room of a reportedly haunted 1902 Craftsman-style house. Goody Cable started the business in 1980, having hosted classical music events in her home for years prior.
Joseph Hallman is an American composer. A functional orphan, Hallman was born and raised in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended Girard College from first to twelfth grades. Based in Philadelphia, Hallman's works have been performed internationally. His music has been described as eclectic, merging classical, Renaissance, and contemporary popular styles. Hallman also teaches composition at Drexel University.
SACRA/PROFANA is a California-based chamber choir founded in 2009. They are noted for their eclectic and unorthodox approach to choral repertoire, and for appearing as the onstage choir for fifty consecutive performances of The Hunchback of Notre Dame during its American premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2014.
Gregory T.S. Walker is an American composer, violinist, and guitarist. He was the recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Charles Ives Fellowship in 2000, and has performed with major orchestras around the world.
Ruth Hertz Weber aka Ruth Lopez-Yañez is a composer, conductor, and pianist. She has collaborated on film and music projects with artists such as Dan Aykroyd, Julian Lennon and Ricky Kej and her music has been performed by major symphony orchestras including the Omaha Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, and Virginia Symphony Orchestra. She has won awards from the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, Parents' Choice Awards and Hollywood Music in Media Awards, among others. As a filmmaker, she directed and produced the 2024 documentary, Ale Brider.
The Mystical and the Political Realms Collide in Waters’ New Border Opera ‘El Colibrí Mágico’, Ken Herman, reviewer (San Diego Story) October 15, 2019. http://www.sandiegostory.com/the-mystical-and-the-political-realms-collide-in-waters-new-border-opera-el-colibri-magico/
St. Francis of Assisi-inspired opera set in Tijuana's red light district debuts Friday (March 14, 2017), George Varga (Music Journalist), The San Diego Union Tribune
Electronic music band Swarmius borrows from Bach in first-ever single (November 16, 2016), Jim Bessman (music journalist), Centerline
San Diego’s Next Wave: Collaboration (October 20, 2014), Ken Hermen (music critic), San Diego Story
Raccoons In The Pool (January 22, 2014), Dave Good (music critic), San Diego Reader/Blurt Music News/SDSU
Professor Joseph Waters' Swarmius gives Hunter College kids a lesson (October 21, 2012), Jim Bessman (Manhattan Local Music Examiner), Examiner/Arts & Entertainment/Music
"Surf" — Swarmius takes Orchestra Nova to the Beach (May 14, 2012), Dave Good (music critic), San Diego Reader/Jam Session/Classical Music/Concert Reviews
The composer speaks: Joseph Waters on ‘Surf’ (May 2, 2012), James Chute (classical music critic), San Diego Union Tribune/UTSanDiego.com
Mark Applebaum’s experiment works in NWEAMO festival (March 1, 2012), James Chute (classical music critic), San Diego Union Tribune/Classical Music
SHARING THE EXCITEMENT OF NEW MUSIC—NWEAMO welcomes audience to don mask, take a name, whistle and listen (Feb. 23, 2012), James Chute (classical music critic), San Diego Union Tribune/Classical Music
SWARMIUS in The Cell (June 22, 2011), Geoffrey Burleson (classical music critic), Sequenza21/The Contemporary Classical Music Community
‘East Meets West’ in a pop-classical music festival (February 23, 2011), James Chute (Classical Music and Arts), The San Diego Union Tribune
They put the 'cut' in cutting-edge work (September 27, 2009), George Varga (pop music critic), The San Diego Union Tribune
A composer's lifelong quest: Moving the music forward (January 27, 2008), James Chute (arts editor), The San Diego Union Tribune
Listings: Rock, pop & soul (October 30-November 5, 2008), Adam Feldman, Time Out New York
Cutting-Edge Fest Gets Sexy, And Artists Rise To The Occasion (October 2, 2008), George Varga, The San Diego Union Tribune
Sounds of Sex (October 1, 2008), Kinsee Morlan (arts and culture editor), San Diego Citybeat
A composer's lifelong quest: Moving the music forward (April 27, 2008), James Chute (arts editor), The San Diego Union Tribune
Found Sound: Bringing Experimental Music to the Masses (September 20, 2006), Kinsee Morlan (arts and culture editor), San Diego CityBeat
Music for the brain, the feet and the gut (October 7, 2005), George Varga (pop music critic), The San Diego Union Tribune
Repunta en México la música electroacústica (September 20, 2005), Juan Solís, El Universal (Mexico City)
Hidden San Diego: The 25th Street Musical Bridge (June 15, 2005), Inigo Figuracion, About.com
Instrumental Genius (October 5, 2004), George Varga (pop music critic), The San Diego Union Tribune
Tickling Aural Tunnels(June 30, 2004), www.jagg.co.nz (New Zealand)
'Mathern's 'Elements' is electric, exhilarating (Mary 15, 2004), Catherine Thomas, The Oregonian
Of Note (March 25, 2004), Dave Good, San Diego Reader
Music to stimulate and inspire (March 14, 2004), George Varga (pop music critic), The San Diego Union Tribune
Electro-acoustic music fest puts classical, folk on same family tree (October 3, 2003), Kyle O'Brien, The Oregonian
Aiming for 'far reaches' of the music world (October 5, 2003), George Varga (pop music critic), The San Diego Union Tribune
Classical Music Review: New Releases (June 25, 2004), Tony Gualtieri, ww.classical-music-review.org
Of Note! (March 25, 2004), Dave Good, San Diego Reader
Bridge Chimes in with travel music (June 14, 2003), Kristen Green (staff writer), The San Diego Union Tribune
Chimes provide traveling music on bridge (June 24, 2003) Kristen Green (staff writer), The San Diego Union Tribune
Public Art in San Diego (November 2003, page 14), San Diego Magazine
New West's electronic take puts new face on avant-garde (October 6, 2003) Kyle O'Brien, The Oregonian
Hiss & Vinegar: Finding NWEAMO (October 1, 2003), Portland News & Culture, Willamette Week (Portland, OR)
Triumph of the Machines: Experimental electronic + avant-garde classical + really weird gadgets + NWEAMO (October 2, 2002), Ben Munat, Willamette Week (Portland, OR)
Classical Music: Bakken programs new works (July 21, 2002), Michael Anthony (staff writer), Minneapolis Star Tribune
Letting the music in: Avant-garde prof takes tradition out for a spin (February 8, 2002), George Varga (pop music critic), The San Diego Union Tribune
I'm a classical composer who grew up playing in rock bands (December 6, 2001), Dave Good, The San Diego Reader
Music: The Future of What? A brave young music festival strains at the boundary between the conservatory and the dance floor (October 16, 2001), Zach Dundas, Willamette Week (Portland, OR)
Monsters of Powerbook (October 12, 2001), John Foyston, The Oregonian
Critics Choice: Listen up: Electro-acoustic music fest jams again (October 5, 2001), John Foyston, The Oregonian
Calling All Electro-Geeks (October 4, 2001), Katie Shimer, Portland Mercury (OR)
Pianofest toasts talent for breaking the rules (March 19, 2001), Grant Menzies, The Oregonian
Fear No Music composer-in-residence Joe Waters bids farewell to Portland with a mischievous score to film-maker Matt Smith's tree-of-life fable, 'Bob' (March 14, 2001), Bill Smith, Willamette Week (Portland, OR)
New Music/Research Day: Wired for Percussion (October 10, 2001), Peggy Benskeser, Percussive Notes: The Journal of the Percussive Arts Society Vol 39, No 5
This Week's Spotlight (January 25, 2001), editor, SEQUENZA/21 The Contemporary Classical Music Weekly
Fear No Music strings along Reed audience (November 19, 2000) James McQuillen, The Oregonian
La emoción de lo contemporáneo (July 23, 2000), Sergio Torrigino, La Capital (Rosario Argentina)
Joseph Waters en concierto con el ensamble Rosario en Aricana (July 23, 2000, Fernanda González Cortiñas, Rosario (Argentina)
Piano Riot' gets animated (March 10, 2000), David Stabler, The Oregonian
Fear No Music lets loose with outrageous score and cinema in 'Pianarchy' (March 17, 2000, James McQuillen, The Oregonian
Live Review: Pianos at an Exhibition, Fear No Music (March 15, 2000), Bill Smith, Willamette Week (Portland OR)
Kali Yuga captivates (September 22, 2000) James McQuillen, The Oregonian
Electric Bugaloo (October 6, 1999), Bill Smith, Willamette Week (Portland, OR)
Waters' music is fast, theatrical and loud (February 1, 1999), David Stabler (music critic), The Oregonian
Record Reviews(September 20, 2000), Bill Smith, Willamette Week (Portland, OR)
Joe Waters puts chamber music instrumentation in a room with computer-generated soundscapes. The result is the second annual Northwest Electro-Acoustic Music Organization Festival (September 13, 2000), Bill Smith, Willamette Week (Portland, OR)
Brave New Electro-acoustic world (September 15, 2000), The Oregonian
Music Review: Choir Celebrates in Song (October 28, 1996), David Stabler, The Oregonian
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