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Brooklyn Philharmonic

The Brooklyn Philharmonic presents Charlie Looker, Tim Fite, and Natalie Elizabeth Weiss as 2011-12 Outside-In Composer Fellows, in the Outside-In Annual Concert on Wednesday, May 2 at Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO, Brooklyn. The Outside-In Composer Fellowship Program pairs non-orchestral composers from diverse musical backgrounds including hip hop, electronica, world music, jazz and indie rock with Resident Composer-Mentor, Randall Woolf, and the Brooklyn Phil's own Artistic Director, Alan Pierson. The fellows' new pieces will be performed by the Brooklyn Phil Chamber Players.
Now in its fifth cycle, the Outside-In program brings composers whose work reflects Brooklyn themes and new voices from backgrounds that reflect the community's diversity. Randall Woolf guides the composer fellows through the process of writing original string quartet and chamber orchestra music, building on the musical styles and ideas of each fellow.
As multi-dimensional composers, performers and artists, whose previous work has included underground rock and art music (Charlie Looker), video art, visual art, and children's books (Tim Fite), and playwriting, DJ-ing and musical-based theatre (Natalie Elizabeth Weiss), this year's fellows bring a new perspective to chamber and orchestral music with a collective background
Past Brooklyn Philharmonic Composer Fellows include: Matthew Mehlan, Corey Dargel, Jeremiah Lockwood, Elan Vytal, Ryan Brown, Susan Oetgen, Darcy James Argue, Valerie Coleman, and Cristian Amigo.
Tickets for the concert are $15 in advance, $20 at the door, and available for purchase online at http://bphil.org/bphilwp/tickets/#outside.
Randall Woolf
www.randallwoolf.com
Composer Randall Woolf is known for his contemporary works, and in particular for his works based on children's literature and collaborative work with youth organizations. He serves as composer-mentor in the Brooklyn Phil's Outside-In program. He studied composition privately with David Del Tredici and Joseph Maneri as well as at Harvard where he earned a PhD. In 1997 he composed a ballet Where the Wild Things Are in collaboration with noted author Maurice Sendak and Septime Webre. He works frequently with John Cale, and did so notably on the score of American Psycho. His works have been performed by Kathleen Supové, Kronos Quartet, Jennifer Choi, Timothy Fain, Mary Rowell, Todd Reynolds, Ethel, conductor and flutist Ransom Wilson, Present Music, Fulcrum Point, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble and others.
Charlie Looker
www.lookerland.info
Charlie Looker has been active since high school as a composer, vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist, between the worlds of underground rock and art music. With roots in metal, early music, pop and modern composition, Looker has always worked with a broad diversity of influences. While his music has been performed by various ensembles, his primary focus has always been on his own bands which perform in grassroots contexts. Looker holds a B.A. in Music from Wesleyan University, however he claims to be mostly self-taught. From 2001 to 2007, Looker was a core member of notorious Brooklyn "brutal chamber" group Zs. In 2007, Looker formed his own band Extra Life which has released several albums and EP's, toured extensively, received wide critical praise and built an international cult following. In 2010, Looker also formed the group Seaven Teares to investigate folk and early music aesthetics. That year he also founded Last Things Records, a vinyl-only label to release his ever-proliferating projects. Looker's chamber music has been performed by the S.E.M. Ensemble (U.S.A), the Soozvuk Ensemble (Bratislava) and Yarn/Wire (U.S.A.). In 2005, Looker was awarded a fellowship from the Ostrava New Music Days Festival (Czech Republic) as a performer and composer. Other credits include work with Dirty Projectors, Tyondai Braxton, Glenn Branca, Dax Riggs, Mike Pride, Sam Mickens, Nat Baldwin, Christian Wolff and the Wordless Music Orchestra.