Ryan Jewell/Larry Marotta from Columbus, Ohio
Emily O'Leary featuring Chris Riggs and Klaus Sternhagen

10pm at Fairchild Chapel

RYAN JEWELL was born in a small Appalachian river town in southern Ohio in an environment set between the rundown post-industrial factories and train yards and the natural beauty of the forested foothills on the Ohio River. The juxtaposition of these two seemingly conflicting environments has profoundly affected his aesthetic. He studied percussion and electronic composition techniques at Capital University and has since studied drumset with Susie Ibarra and tabla with Dr. Lowell Lybarger. His improvisations are equally influenced by Midwestern underground experimental noise, psychoacoustics, reductionist impov and certain schools of modern composition. Ryan regularly works as a solo performer in the arenas of very quiet free improv and very loud harsh noise, and is often called to play drums for established free jazz musicians, experimental rock bands, and iconoclastic songwriters. In addition to being a perpetual traveler of the US, he recently completed two solo tours of Europe and the UK and was invited to perform as such respected international festivals as the SOWIESO 1 festival in Paris, the Kraak Festival in Brussels, the International Noise Conference in Miami, and SXSW in Austin.

LARRY MAROTTA is guitarist and composer based in Columbus, Ohio. He has performed with David Reed, Mike Shiflet, Ryan Jewell, Jason Roebke, Ben Bennett, Kyle Bruckmann, Ernst Karel, Neil Feather, Matthew Sperry, Rat Bastard, Bill Orcutt, David Gross, Spencer Yeh, Tatsuya Nakatani, Dave Rempis, James Ilgenfritz, Avant Collective, Brian Casey, Rocco Di Pietro, Steve Perakis, and the Rattling Wall Collective. In the last several years, he has scored several independent and classic silent films. His scores for the silent films Christmas, USA and The Cage were released on DVD by Kino International in summer 2007.

Larry Marotta was born in East Orange, New Jersey, but raised in North Miami Beach, Florida. He started studying guitar at age 10 with his father, the drummer/percussionist Mike Marotta, as his primary teacher. He divided his time between garage rock bands and playing and learning jazz (he was the guitarist in the Florida All-State Jazz Band in 1985). While studying philospophy at Florida Atlantic University in the late 1980s, he became actively involved in the Miami punk and noise scene. After graduating, Larry relocated to Columbus, Ohio, where he currently lives with his life partner Becky Sicking and their daughter Kate.

EMILY O'LEARY is collaborative improv by guitarist Chris Riggs and bassist Klaus Sternhagen. Pretty cool, huh?

Mike Khoury/Leyya Tawil Violin/Dance duo
Andrei Popozuda of Oberlin, Ohio

8:30pm at Fairchild Chapel

MIKE KHOURY was born in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan in 1969. As the son of visual artist Sari Khoury, he was exposed to various forms of visual arts, and creative musical forms. Growing up in a university town also availed Mike to various forms of art and music. Mike is Palestinian.

Mike began studying violin at the age of 10 and eventually came under the guidance of Juliard graduate Nancy Smith. Abandoning the violin for electric bass, Mike played in various rock combos and eventually settled with The Urban Farmers.

Mike went on to explore the possibilities of free and improvised music and resumed his studies of the violin. He furthered his involvement in the creative improvised realm with Jason Shearer (winds) and Ben Hall (percussion). Mike also played with Siege Machine, a larger ensemble including Ben Hall, John Olson, Jason Shearer, Mark Sawaski and Joel Peterson. Siege Machine balanced graphical score compositions with improvisation. The development of the improvisational duet has also consumed much of Khoury's time and is a preferred format. Often times, Khoury joins Ben Hall, Hans Buetow, Piotr Michalowski or Leyya Tawil in duo performances. Current playing partners include Will Soderberg, Hans Buetow, Ben Hall and Piotr Michalowski.

Mike studies violin at the Art Center Music School with composer/violinist David Litven. Mike continues to work on compositions and improvisations as well as operate Entropy Stereo Recordings, a free improvisation music label.

LEYYA TAWIL is an active participant in the contemporary dance community. Born in Detroit, Michigan to Syrian and Palestinian parents, Leyya enjoys exploring aspects of contemporary urban culture through her collaborative projects. She works in a movement style that integrates momentum, precision, and personality. Leyya has performed, choreographed and taught internationally, and has been presented by the Arab American National Museum, Oakland Art Gallery (CA), MT Space (Beirut), Alwan for the Arts (NYC), Studio 303 (Montreal), and in numerous venues throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

Leyya has held faculty positions at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (Visiting Artist), the University of San Francisco, Sonoma State University, Dance Mission Theater/School (SF), and ODC Dance Commons (SF). In the fall of 2007, she will join Middlebury College (Vermont) as the Artist-In-Residence in Dance. She has also guest taught at Mills College, Lebanese University, and other professional institutions.

In the bay area, Leyya co-directs the Temescal Arts Center, a low-cost performance and rehearsal space for Oakland artists. She served on the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Committee (“the Izzies”) from 2003-2006. Leyya received degrees in dance from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (BDA) and Mills College-Oakland (MFA).

ANDREI POPOZUDA is the greatest living composer in the world. He will perform from his opera-in-progress The Brower Poker.