Events from the 2019-2020 Season
FETA presented 2 public evenings of events in a private residence mediating the artistic expressions of language. Technologies, sounds, objects and projections revealed the richness of language. Participating artists included Jen Beattie (NC), Adam Marks (NYC), Paula Matthusen (CT), Alex Lough (CA), Hanah Davenport (CA), Kyle Motl (CA) and FL-based artists Jacob Sudol, Chen-Hui Jen, Jose Hernandez Sanchez, Alba Triana, Charles Mason, Dorothy Hindman, Catalina von Wrangell, Nicole Martinez, Jue Wang, Rachel Weiss, Jaswinder Bolina, FEME (Frost Electronic Music Ensemble, dir. Anruo Cheng), FIU Laptop and Electronic Arts Ensemble (FLEA, dir. Jacob Sudol) and students from Electronic and Contemporary Music (University of Miami’s Frost School of Music). Curated by Juraj Kojš
The phenomenal duo Jill Burton (voice) from Florida and Wade Matthews (electronic sound) from Spain explored musical expressions in an intimate setting. Gustavo Matamoros joined as a special guest.
Veteran improvisers Wade Matthews and Jill Burton combine over half-a-century of experience, working in a variety of contexts and sharing music with innumerable colleagues and audiences in festivals and concert series on several continents. Based in Madrid, Spain, Matthews is best known on the European scene, although his visits to the United States have included high-profile performances at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the San Francisco Alternative Music Festival, etc. Burton is best known for her work in the United States, which she has toured from Alaska, in the far northwest to the southeastern city of Miami, including innumerable performances at festivals and concert series on both coasts. Together, Matthews and Burton make a music that combines an ongoing investigation of the sonic possibilities of their respective instruments with a relaxed and enveloping stage presence that brings out the intensely human aspects of their art.
This was the second event of the Justly Tuned concert, a new platform for artists whose work engages with social and political issues, exploring music’s potential for communication, commentary, and catalyst for change. Curated by Dorothy Hindman.
The series continued with double bassist Robert Black, virtuosic soloist and founding member of the venerable Bang on a Can All-Stars, performing the Political Songs collection. An international figure in contemporary classical and experimental music, Black routinely tours the world creating unheard of music for the solo double bass, collaborating with the most adventurous composers, musicians, dancers, artists, actors, and technophiles from all walks of life.
In this concert, Black was joined by Rachel Joy Weiss, soprano, Jacob Mason, piano, and Dorothy Hindman, narrator.
The audience was invited to participate in an open discussion of the works, issues, and their reactions following the concert.
The troubadours roamed medieval Europe with lutes and voices, moving around the landscape, bringing music to the world. 2019 annual FETA Street Fest revived the tradition through mobile performances, featuring voices, portable instruments, sonic objects and technologies.The group roamed the streets of Miami Beach (December 6) and the Wynwood and Allapattah Districts (December 7) with ad hoc street performances and appearances in galleries. The trajectories were mapped and framed by performances in select destinations (O Cinema at Cinematheque on South Beach and The Bridge and Edgezones in Allapatah).
Participating artists included Troy Rogers, Rachel Weiss, Logan Larson, John Baxter, Santiago Diazgranados Berenguer, Jiarui Yao, Juraj Kojš.
FETA Foundation and The Bridge invited the audiences to explore, express, and join the potentials of creativity in a sweet and free, collective and fun jam improvisation. The audience were able to connect through music, art, and technology in making a collective experience. Some brought music instruments, objects and technologies, plugging into multidisciplinary group improvisation.
The exclusive guest was Alex Lough from California, a composer, performer, and multimedia sound artist. His work focuses on implementing experimental technology in the discovery of new performance contexts with particular attention given to the body and physicality of sound.
The Electric Queens presented a performance that included music for body, heart and mind. Exploring materials from their album, People, Juraj Kojš and Jennifer Beattie took the audience for a sonic, visual and dancey ride. They were joined by the most excellente Nicole Martinez and the legendary DJ Adora to keep things glamorous and moving.
May is the month of love, and FETA was celebrating it with a one-afternoon conference, performances, and a dance party. In times of quarantine, we aimed to keep our community connected through virtual sharing of ideas and experiences. Communication is a key component to thriving arts and society at large. FETA LOVE FEST was designed to provoke thoughts and playfully engage in a situation that was both poignant and permeated with sprouting potential.
In late September it was almost a month, since those engaged in higher education were back in the classroom. Whether virtual, physical or hybrid, we continued to learn and enlighten our existence to better deal with the current unsettling world.
The theme for this session was Sound. A series of mini sessions (3-minutes of instructions followed by 3 minutes of discussion) on all aspects of sound were followed by a panel, discussing what it meant to be back in school during the era of pandemic.
Participating artists included Milica Paranosic, Rachel Weiss, Sebastian DeWay, Nicole Martinez, Jose Hernandez Sanchez, Jason Charney, Eric Lyon and Juraj Kojš. Panel moderated by Nevena Stanic Kovacevic included guests Michael Linville, Milica Paranosic, Rhett M Del Campo and Benjamin Montgomery.
The event concluded with a joint e-dance party on the theme of Back to School.