Saturday, September 22nd, 7pm
Carlsbad Village Theatre, 2822 State St.
$20 General Admission: PURCHASE TICKETS

• Festival Pass includes general admission to all ticketed events and Priority Seating for Sara Watkins. A $100 value!

Wu Man, pipa
Mark Dresser, bass
Kjell Nordeson, percussion
Kojiro Umezaki, shakuhachi




Recognized as the world’s premier pipa virtuoso and as a leading ambassador of Chinese music, Carlsbad-based, Chinese-born musician Wu Man has carved out a career creating and fostering projects that give this  ancient instrument a new role in today’s music world, not only introducing the instrument to new audiences, but commissioning and premiering over a hundred new works to grow the core repertoire. Wu Man will be joined by legendary bassist Mark Dresser, percussionist Kjell Nordeson, and Kojiro Umezaki playing shakuhachi. 

Program
Wu Man's program will feature traditional Chinese music for the pipa, as well as contemporary works, including a new work by composer Matt McBane, to be announced from the stage.

Mark Dresser
A central figure in avant garde jazz for more than three decades, Los Angeles-native Mark Dresser emerged out of the vital but often overlooked Southern California free jazz scene in the early 1970s through his work in drummer Stanley Crouch's Black Music Infinity, a seminal avant-garde ensemble featuring cornetist Bobby Bradford, altoist Arthur Blythe, flutist James Newton and reed player David Murray. Relocating to New York in the mid-80s, Dresser spent nine years prolifically recording with the quartet of saxophonist/composer Anthony Braxton, while forging deep ties with a myriad of creative musicians and visual artists, including Ray Anderson, Jane Ira Bloom, Tim Berne, Anthony Davis, Fred Frith, Gerry Hemingway, Sarah Jane Lapp, Ligorano/Reese, Denman Maroney, Dave Douglas, Roswell Rudd, Robert Taplin and John Zorn. Whether performing in jazz or new music settings, directing his own multimedia and telematic productions or playing solo recitals with custom-designed electronics, Dresser approaches every musical situation with probing intelligence and dazzling aural intuition. He has appeared on more than 120 recordings with a staggering array of musical personalities and is also a highly regarded composer who has received numerous commissions. Dresser is also a founding member of ARCADO, the influential string trio with Mark Feldman and Hank Roberts. Dresser is a professor of music at his alma mater, UC San Diego. 

Kjell Nordeson
Kjell Nordeson divides his time between Stockholm and San Francisco. He has a BA from Stockholm University, and has studied classical percussion at Ingesund School of Music with Björn Liljeqvist, former principal percussionist of the Stockholm Philharmonic.

Together with saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, he formed AALY Trio in 1986. AALY Trio became one of the leading groups in the Swedish experimental scene in the 90’s. Nordeson has toured extensively in North America, Europe, North Africa and Japan with various groups. He has performed with Peter Brötzmann, Barry Guy, Ken Vandermark, Joe Morris, William Parker, Paul Rutherford, Gerry Hemingway, Frank Gratkowski, Stefano Scodanibbio, and many others.

Since 2004, Nordeson has been active in the San Francisco Bay Area’s thriving community of  free-improvised, experimental and new music. He regularly plays with musicians Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin, Greg Goodman, George Cremaschi, Scott Looney, Damon Smith, John Ingle, sfSoundGroup, Aram Shelton, Darren Johnston, Lisa Mezzacappa and many others.

Kojiro Umezaki
Kojiro Umezaki grew up in Tokyo, Japan where he began studying Western flute and the shakuhachi. His career encompasses both traditional and technology-based music and a range of electronic media. “My mother is from Denmark and my father is Japanese. My multinational background may be one of the reasons why I don’t limit myself to the traditional repertoire. In all my work, I try to put the shakuhachi in a more contemporary, musically diverse context. Hopefully this work can become part of the evolutionary process of the instrument.”
Ko is Assistant Professor of Music at the University of California, Irvine where he is affiliated with the Integrated Composition, Improvisation, and Technology group (ICIT) and holds a degree in Electro-acoustic Music from Dartmouth College. Recent commissioned works and producer credits include those for Brooklyn Rider (2009), Joseph Gramley (2009, 2010), Huun Huur Tu (2010), and the Silk Road Ensemble (2012). He performs regularly with the Grammy-nominated Silk Road Ensemble and has recorded on the Sony BMG, World Village, and Smithsonian Folkways labels.