WITH INITIAL PROGRAMMING BY MUSICIAN AND PRODUCER SARAH CAHILL, BAM/PFA GALLERY BECOMES DYNAMIC PERFORMANCE SPACE ON FRIDAYS, NOVEMBER 2009-JUNE 2010

Composer/Pianist Terry Riley, “Long Stringed Instrument” Composer/Performer
Ellen Fullman, Percussionist William Winant, Composer and “King of Sampling” Carl Stone, Composer/Singer Ken Ueno and Composer/Cellist Joan Jeanrenaud are featured performers

Berkeley, CA, October 16, 2009-(Download a PDF version of this press release.) A rare solo performance by composer and pianist Terry Riley, an installation by Ellen Fullman that turns the museum itself into a gigantic stringed instrument, and percussion pieces featuring a swinging microphone and 100 metronomes performed by percussionist William Winant are highlights of the music programs for L@TE: Friday Nights @ BAM/PFA, announced by Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) for the 2009-10 season. The first Friday of each month is curated by guest programmer Sarah Cahill, a leading programmer of experimental music, beginning in November 2009 and running through June 2010 (except January 2010). All L@TE programs take place in Gallery B, the museum's dramatic 6,692-square-foot atrium space; prior to and during the programs, upper galleries are open to visitors, with DJs and wine and beer from 5 to 7:30 p.m. in the museum lobby.

Cahill's series opens with Pipe Dreams, a rare solo concert by composer/pianist and minimalist pioneer Terry Riley (Nov. 6, 9 p.m.); the performance is projected to go on until midnight, and audience members are invited to bring cushions, blankets and sleeping bags to make themselves comfortable on the gallery floor. The concert is preceded by a book launch for MATRIX/Berkeley: A Changing Exhibition of Contemporary Art, published by BAM/PFA (Nov. 6, 7 p.m.). The series continues with composer Ellen Fullman's installation and performance of her Long Stringed Instrument, created by wires stretched across the gallery and played with rosined fingers (Dec. 4, 7:30 p.m.). Performers scheduled for 2010 include percussionist William Winant, composer Carl Stone, composer/singer Ken Ueno and composer/cellist Joan Jeanrenaud.

Berkeley resident Cahill is one of the leading programmers of experimental music in the Bay Area. Called “as tenacious and committed an advocate as any composer could dream of” by Joshua Kosman in the San Francisco Chronicle, Cahill is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and hosts a weekly music show on KALW. As a guest programmer for L@TE, Cahill will develop innovative concepts of performance inspired by the museum's Gallery B space, with its soaring ceilings, concrete walls, natural light and exceptional acoustics. The programs will also build on concepts of performance as participatory, interdisciplinary and off-hours.

Cahill said, “I'm very excited to be involved in Friday night programming in Gallery B, having been an avid visitor to the museum for most of my life. The space lends itself to a vast variety of musical possibilities, and I have invited composers and musicians who are inspired by the particular acoustics and resonance of the gallery. Each musician in the series-Riley, Fullman, William Winant, Carl Stone, Ken Ueno, Joan Jeanrenaud and others-has an international career, while all are based in the Bay Area. This series features pioneers, experimenters, progressive thinkers, creating new and appealing music on invented and traditional instruments, computers and the human voice.”

“The programs organized by our special guest programmers will engage our audiences in ways they never have before,” said Lawrence Rinder, director of BAM/PFA. In addition to events programmed by Cahill, L@TE will include events programmed by two other guest programmers, Franklin Melendez (second Fridays beginning in February 2010) and Anne Colvin (third Fridays beginning in February 2010), and by members of PFA's curatorial staff (fourth Fridays beginning in January 2010). The events will include readings, conversations, art making, film and video, fashion shows and other forms of performance. L@TE evenings in fall 2009 will also include conversations and book signings for SHOOT: Photography of the Moment (Rizzoli International Publications) with curator and author Ken Miller and photographers Ari Marcopoulos and Paul Schiek (Nov. 13, 7:30 p.m.) and Learning Mind: Experience into Art (UC Press) with art historian Jacquelynn Baas, designer Walter Hood and BAM/PFA Director Lawrence Rinder (Nov. 20, 7:30 p.m.).

L@TE Events Programmed by Sarah Cahill

Musical Performance
Pipe Dreams
Terry Riley
Friday, Nov. 6, 9 p.m.
Doors 5 p.m.
Composer/pianist Terry Riley returns to BAM/PFA after some 35 years for a rare solo piano performance, his uniquely expansive sound reverberating for hours through the museum. (Audience members are invited to bring cushions, blankets and sleeping bags to make themselves comfortable on the gallery floor; limited chair seating also will be available.) Riley is a UC Berkeley alumnus, best known for pioneering the minimalist movement in music with his 1964 composition In C. He has studied Indian classical music with Pandit Pran Nath, explored jazz with Chet Baker and reinvigorated the string quartet ensemble via his collaborations with the Kronos Quartet. Along the way, his enormously influential music has inspired generations of composers around the world and provided the creative spark for rock bands such as Can and the Velvet Underground.

A book launch for MATRIX/Berkeley: A Changing Exhibition of Contemporary Art
precedes the performance at 7 p.m. Created in collaboration with the award-winning design firm Project Projects, this new book chronicles the 30-year history of the MATRIX Program for Contemporary Art through a collage of archival materials and interviews.

Riley's piano is generously provided by Piedmont Piano Company.

Musical Performance
Ellen Fullman
Friday, Dec. 4, 7:30 p.m.
Doors 5 p.m.
In 1981, composer Ellen Fullman invented the Long Stringed Instrument, an installation of dozens of wires 50 feet or more in length, played with rosined fingers. The instrument explores natural tunings based on the overtone series and the physics of vibrating strings. Fullman has recorded extensively with this unusual instrument and has been the recipient of numerous awards, commissions and residencies. For L@TE, Fullman will perform recent compositions for solo and ensemble on wires stretched across Gallery B, turning the museum itself into a resonating instrument.

Musical Performance
William Winant
Friday, Feb. 5, 7:30 p.m.
Doors 5 p.m.
Percussionist William Winant brings his ensemble to the museum for a kinetic and adventurous program of 20th-century avant-garde classics, including works by Philip Glass, Steve Reich and György Ligeti-all selected to respond to the distinctive, open space of Gallery B. Winant is principal percussionist with the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and the John Zorn Chamber Ensemble, and since 1995 has been the percussionist with the avant-rock band Mr. Bungle. He is a visiting lecturer at UC Santa Cruz and also teaches at UC Berkeley and Mills College.

Musical Performance
Carl Stone
Friday, Mar. 5, 7:30 p.m.
Doors 5 p.m.
Composer Carl Stone, hailed in the Village Voice as “the King of Sampling” and “one of the best composers living in the USA today,” will perform an evening of brand-new compositions in Gallery B, responding to the gallery's soaring ceiling and multiple vantage points. A resident of San Francisco and Tokyo, Stone has used computers in live performance since 1986 and his danceable, humorous and provocative music has earned him a cult following in the Bay Area and beyond. Stone's music has been used by numerous theater directors and choreographers.

Musical Performance
Ken Ueno and Joan Jeanrenaud
Friday, Apr. 2, 7:30 p.m.
Doors 5 p.m.
Composer/singer Ken Ueno, who recently joined the UC Berkeley music faculty, will present new work in Gallery B for extended vocal techniques and ensemble. Winner of the 2006-2007 Rome Prize, Ueno is a composer and vocalist whose wide range of innovative works have been thrilling audiences around the world. Ueno's compositional process involves considerable research into extending instrumental and vocal possibilities. Composer/cellist Joan Jeanrenaud will also perform new work inspired by the dramatic Gallery B space. Perhaps best known for her work with the Kronos Quartet, Jeanrenaud has since pursued solo projects and collaborations with a diverse group of artists, including Hamza El Din, Pamela Z, Fred Frith, Eiko and Koma, Tom Bonauro and Yo-Yo Ma. She is currently exploring many musical arenas, including composition, improvisation, electronics, video, and multidisciplinary performance.

Musical Performance
To be announced.
Friday, May 7, 7:30 p.m.
Doors 5 p.m.

Musical Performance
To be announced.
Friday, June 4, 7:30 p.m.
Doors 5 p.m.

About BAM/PFA

The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) is the visual arts center of the University of California, Berkeley, one of the nation's leading research universities. BAM/PFA aims to inspire the imagination and ignite critical dialogue through contemporary and historical art and film, engaging audiences from the campus, Bay Area community, and beyond. One of the largest university art museums in the United States in both size and attendance, BAM/PFA presents fifteen art exhibitions and five hundred film programs each year. The museum's collection of more than 15,000 works, distinguished by artistic excellence and innovation, intellectual exploration, and social commentary, includes exceptional examples of mid-twentieth-century painting, including important works by Hans Hofmann, Jackson Pollock, Eva Hesse, and Mark Rothko, as well as historical and contemporary Asian art, early American painting, Conceptual and contemporary international art, and California and Bay Area art. The PFA film and video collection now includes the largest group of Japanese films outside of Japan, as well as impressive holdings of Soviet silents, West Coast avant-garde cinema, seminal video art, rare animation, Central Asian productions, Eastern European cinema, and international classics.


Museum Information

Location: 2626 Bancroft Way, just below College Avenue near the UC Berkeley campus.


Gallery and Museum Store Hours: Wednesday to Sunday, 11 to 5 p.m.; open until 9 p.m. Fridays, beginning Nov. 6, 2009. Closed Monday and Tuesday.

L@TE Admission: General admission to the BAM galleries is $5 after 5 p.m. Show your ticket for a same-day PFA screening or gallery visit and get in free. Admission is always free for BAM/PFA members and UC Berkeley students, faculty and staff. Tickets can be purchased online at bampfa.berkeley.edu.

General admission is $8; admission for seniors, disabled persons, non–UC Berkeley students, and young adults (13 – 17) is $5; admission for BAM/PFA members, UC Berkeley students, staff and faculty, and children under 12 is free. Reservations are required for group visits; for information, rates, and schedule, please e-mail sgvisits@berkeley.edu. Admission is free on the first Thursday of each month.


Information: 24-hour recorded message (510) 642-0808; fax (510) 642-4889; TDD (510) 642-8734. For updates on Friday evening programs in Gallery B, visit bampfa.berkeley.edu/late.

Website: bampfa.berkeley.edu

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