Laurie Amat – fiercest vocalist that I know, extraordinary human, and former tourmate to the Residents, will be in NYC next Thursday, April 5th for a very special performance at Vaudeville Park. Here’s how it will work.

Laurie will present a group of her choosing, then perform a short improvisation with the following 4 performers/ensembles, all, for the record, that she has never heard before. Also, for the record, these performers/ensembles will perform sets of their own. It’s gonna be a world tour and everyone is going to get along and smile until the aurora borealis swallows the upper east side and then everybody goes out for soy milkshakes, yay:

Taka Kigawa – The New York Times says, “Mr. Kigawa’s feat deserves the highest praise, especially since it was combined with such alacrity and sensitivity to the musical material … brilliantly done … a careful and serious-minded musician, quietly poetic and considerate”. The New Yorker says, “Unbelievably challenging program. Kigawa is a young artist of stature.” He is, in the opinion of many that I know and trust, the best concert pianist actively performing at this time.
http://www.takakigawa.com/start/index.html

Bernd Klug – will be performing as a Cupreous Donkey, his project for solo bass and electronics. Currently residing in New York and Vienna, Klug works as a double bass player in a wide variety of contemporary contexts with a focus on improvisation.
His solo work focuses on the world inside the double bass: the bow, the body, and room frequencies lay the groundwork for a radical reduction of both the composer-performer’s role and the traditional musical narrative.
http://klug.klingt.org/

FAHEY – is the new duo project of Jeremy Gustin and William Graefe. These fellows infuse comedy, virtuosity, and youth in an ecstatic mix of drums, sax, and entrancement. This particular project combines original compositions with those of, you guessed it, John Fahey.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/FAHEY/151713221585824

Natura Morta – is the improvised trio of Sean Ali (bass), Carlo Costa (drums), and Frantz Loriot (viola). dedicated to exploring musical structures and relationships through collective all-acoustic improvisation. The Brooklyn-based ensemble creates acoustic sound-sculptures and sonic landscapes through the use of nontraditional techniques and instrumental preparations. The musical range of the trio stretches from heated silences to relentless drones to frantic hyperactivity. Natura Morta crafts a single sound into a stillness that gains density and momentum from an unwavering insistence upon non-development. It’s music is an experience that traumatizes as it soothes, cleanses as it soils, and wounds as it heals.
http://www.frantzloriot.com/Natura_Morta.html

and of course – LAURIE AMAT: Laurie Amat is an acclaimed vocalist, improvisational performer, experimental composer and teacher. Her approach to singing is informed by broad experience including pop, rock, traditional and inventive opera, spoken word, video, dance, theatre and performance art.

Ms. Amat’s talent for inspiring upcoming vocalists and other artists stems from her focus on the power of the voice as an instrument to convey a pure expression of direct human emotions and story through technique, raw talent and experimentation.
She has performed pure-voice, site-specific resonant space pieces internationally in such traditional venues as concert halls, museums and galleries, cathedrals and alternative spaces including castles, bunkers, cisterns, rivers and concrete overpasses. She is also well known for her solo and collaborative performances throughout Europe, including projects with The Residents, Czech scholar/keyboardist Mirek Vodražka and the Sad Song Singers (Deutsch Nepal and Der Blutarsch).
http://bayimproviser.com/artistdetail.asp?artist_id=337