ARRAY CO-PRESENTS:
Thollem/ACVilla/Sorbara
April 1, 2022 @ 8PM ET
- Live Performance @ Array Space: $10 at the door (cash only)
- Livestream Online: Free
ABOUT
THOLLEM
Thollem is a perpetually traveling pianist, keyboardist, composer, improviser, singer-songwriter, activist, author and teacher. He’s spent most of his life living on the road throughout North America and Europe. His work is ever-changing, evolving and responding to the times and his experiences, both as a soloist and in collaboration with hundreds of artists across idioms and disciplines. Thollem’s known internationally as an acoustic piano player in the free jazz and post-classical worlds, as the lead vocalist for the Italian agit-punk band Tsigoti and as an electronic keyboardist through a multitude of projects.
Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Thollem began playing the piano, composing and improvising as a child, absorbing the sounds of his culturally diverse upbringing. As an adult he has continued to incorporate the breadth of musics he has experienced on his extensive travels. Since 2005, he has played over 1,500 concerts throughout N. America and Europe as a soloist and in collaboration with other musicians, dancers and filmmakers. In that time span, as lead facilitator or co-leader, Thollem has released close to 100 albums on 23 different vanguard labels. A very brief cross section of his many collaborators include William Parker, Pauline Oliveros, Stefano Scodanibbio, Nels Cline, Rob Mazurek, Ravish Momin, Michael Wimberly, Mike Watt and Carmina Escobar. He is the founding director of Estamos Ensemble, a Mexican-American cross border ensemble for musical exchange and is a published author about art, politics and his travels in NewMusic Box, The Anthology of Essays On Deep Listening, Full Moon Magazine (Prague) and First American Art Magazine.
ACVILLA
Since 2008, ACVilla (Chicana) has focused her time as a peripatetic traveler, tour manager, photographer, videographer and visual artist. ACVilla’s photography and projections have been shown throughout the US in DIY spaces, museums, galleries, schools and universities, some being: Pioneer Works (Brooklyn NY); Crocker Art Museum (Sacramento, CA); Crowley Theater, presented by Marfa Live Arts (Marfa, TX); Crystal Springs Museum of American Art (Bentonville, AR); Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center (Buffalo, NY); The Guild Cinema (Albuquerque, NM); Harwood Museum Of Art (Taos, NM); Colorado St. University (Pueblo, CO); The Logan School for Creative Learning (Denver, CO); Portland Cinema Project (Portland, OR); Northwest Film Forum (Seattle, WA); Toledo Museum Of Art (Toledo, OH); Park Church Co-Op: Benefit for NoDAPL (Brooklyn, NY) and Krannert Art Museum (Univ of Il. Urbana), as well as in music videos and documentaries throughout the world wide web. She was honored to be invited by the internationally-renown Rova Saxophone Quartet to create No Distractions, a video score for their 40th anniversary in January 2018. In 2021, between pandemic spikes, she toured throughout Western Europe with keyboardist Thollem, presenting their multimedia experience, Worlds In A Life.
JOE SORBARA
Canadian drummer and percussionist Joe Sorbara has spent more than two decades developing a reputation as an imaginative and dedicated performer, composer, improviser, organiser, writer, and educator. A consummate sonic adventurer, Sorbara’s music draws from a vast array of influences. He is equally comfortable playing jazz, freely improvised music, indie rock, and chamber music, but most at home playing them all at the same time. He has performed and recorded with Ken Aldcroft, Jared Burrows, Anthony Braxton, Nikita Carter, Paul Dutton, François Houle, Germaine Liu, Evan Parker, Allen Ravenstine, Clyde Reed, and Friendly Rich, among many many others. His own projects and ongoing collaborations include a Toronto-based sextet and a Vancouver-based quartet as well as Never Was, The Imperative, Other Foot First, Reliable Parts, My Misshapen Ear, and the Imaginary Percussion Ensemble.
Joe is a long-time student of master drummer Jim Blackley. He holds an Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music from York University in Toronto as well as a Master’s degree in English from the University of Guelph where his work focussed on critical improvisation studies, literary and cultural theory, and pedagogy. He is currently studying toward a PhD with the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation. Joe has worked extensively as a workshop facilitator and guest lecturer and has taught for twelve years in the School of Fine Arts and Music at the University of Guelph.