Pritzker Foundation Endowed Fellowship
On January 2, 2013 I received notification from the Djerassi Resident Artists Program that I was awarded a Pritzker Foundation Endowed Fellowship in support of my recent residency.

VCCA Residency - Again?!
A Three-peat! The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts has awarded me a third residency fellowship. I'll be in Virginia from January 25 through March 3. While there I'll be working long distance on a score for a multi-media opera production with NON:op, the non-linear, non-hierarchical opera company I started in 2012. I'll also be working on the score for Thunder, Perfect Mind, which will premiere in 2015 at Luther College in Iowa.

Djerassi Residency
From mid-October through mid-November I'll be in residence atthe Djerassi Resident Artists Program. Nestled in the mountains above Woodside, California (southwest of San Francisco), Djerassi will provide an opportunity to re-introduce myself to Thunder, Perfect Mind, a chamber opera for soprano, voices, percussion, and long strings. The residency is funded in part by a Community Arts Assistance Program grant from the City of Chicago.

Sound - Graffiti Collaboration with ZORE at Zhou B Art Center through September 14
Tools of the Trade, a collaboration with ZORE (Mario Gonzalez, Jr.) is on display in the first floor gallery of the Zhou B Art Center in Chicago's Bridgeport neighborhood. Tools of the Trade features six graffiti covered metal sound sheets projecting the language of graffiti mixed with manipulated sounds collected in abandoned buildings. Mario Gonzalez Jr. is one of the most sought-after international graffiti writers living today. His expressive work and artistic versatility extends from street walls to museums and galleries around the world. This solo exhibition (sponsored by the 33 Collective Gallery and the Zhou B Art Center) concludes ZORE's international tour which started late last year in San Francisco and continued to South Korea, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy before culminating in Chicago. The Gallery is open Monday - Friday, 10am-5pm and Saturday, 12pm-5pm.

Tweet Sheets at Zhou B Art Center through August 10
Tweet Sheets, a collaborative installation with Leslie Kerby for steel sheets, mp3 players, and twitter texts is on display in the first floor gallery of the Zhou B Art Center in Chicago's Bridgeport neighborhood. Tweet Sheets is part of FACEMASK, a group exhibition sponsored by 33 Collective Gallery and the Zhou B Art Center. Come out to the Center's Third Friday Open House on July 20 at 7pm. The Gallery is open Monday - Friday, 10am-5pm and Saturday, 12pm-5pm.

World Premiere of Pales at Storefront Theater with original score by Christopher Preissing
Chicago composer Christopher Preissing's original score for PALES, will be performed by the MAVerick Ensemble, this July 20, 2012 – July 29 at the Storefront Theater in Chicago. Preissing's composition, commissioned by Khecari, contrasts practiced concert performance styles with the uncertainty of improvisation, and shimmering computer-generated sounds with the crashing of manipulated filed recordings. Pales, created and choreographed by Jonathan Meyer and Khecari, is a sound-movement work for four dancers, four-part chamber ensemble and four- and eight-channel fixed sound systems. The piece derives from a fertile mythology interweaving fact and fiction, combining refined concert dance and awkwardly denuded pedestrian moments bind and fracturing community, identity, and ownership. THE CLINKING, CLANKING LOWESLEAF, created and choreographed by Julia Rae Antonick & Jonathan Meyer, will also be presented that evening.
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Pales is supported by Community Arts Assistance Program of Chicago, the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Columbus School for Girls Endowment/Elizabeth Ireland Graves Foundation, and the United Church of Rogers Park.

Community Arts Assistance Program Award
In support of residencies at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program I received a 2012 Community Arts Assistance Program grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.

Pales
I'm working on Pales, a new score for Jonathan Meyer and Khecari Dance, that will premiere this summer at the DCA Storefront Theater. The forces include fixed and moving multi-channel sound distribution system and four vocalizing instrumentalists. The dates are July 20-29. For more information visit Khecari's website or the DCA Storefront Theater website. If we get funding from the MAP fund, we'll be able to mount a second production later in 2012 or early 2013.

Illinois Arts Council IAS Artist Project Support
In support of Pales, I received funding from the Illinois Arts Council to pay live musicians for the summer shows.

VCCA Bound
The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts has asked me back again. This year my residency runs from February 22 through April 1. This being a leap year, that's 40 days! My fellowship is being funded by the Columbus School for Girls Endowment. (I have no idea.) At any rate, I'll be driving out so I can bring lots of gear, and this year, I hope to check out Philly and some of the historic sites in the area. The work plan is to compose instrumental and electronic parts for Pales, finish up several outstanding projects--BLOW and the piano sequences--and to create another installation in the woods. Looking forward to playing a little Bananagrams too!

Up Next... Djerassi!
In October-November I'm heading to California for a residency at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program. There I'll be working on sound for Complete Analysis: The Theory of Everything. This large scale multi-media opera is based on a text by Andrew Royal (itself based on Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus), and will feature multi-channel sound/image distribution network, chamber ensemble, and soloists.

Thunder!
Based on a Gnostic text of the same name, Thunder, Perfect Mind, is a chamber opera for soprano soloist, six female vocalists, six male percussionists and dance ensemble. Constructed instruments are made from wood, metal, paper, and long strings. Thunder has been sitting on the back burner for several years, but I am now collaborating with a choreographer in Iowa to realize this project.

MakeSound 2012
MakeSound is an exhibition and performance of MFA candidtes and recent MFA recipients in sound art, installation and performance curated by Eric Leonardson, Julia Miller and Christopher Preissing. MakeSound 2012 is a partner exhibition to Wet Paint 2012 and will run from January 20 through March 10 at the Zhou B. Center in Bridgeport. For more information visit the MakeSound website.