HIGH ZERO: 4th Annual Festival of Experimental Improvised Music

Baltimore, 2002
Thursday Sept. 26th-Sunday, Sept. 29th
The Theater Project 45 West Preston Street
Tickets can be purchased over the phone: 410-539-3091
Baltimore, Maryland Click here for a full schedule

Born in September of 1999 to the wailing of fire alarms, growling tubas and home-built electronic instruments, the HIGH ZERO festival is a startlingly unusual event, mixing sold-out and capacity crowds with fiercely challenging and engaging music. The festival would be unusual anywhere in the world, with its combination of visionary and uncompromising (not to mention grassroots) experimental music, an unusual format (only individuals are invited to perform in new collaborations, no groups), and its mixing of diverse musical subcultures (what might be called electronic music, free jazz, minimalism, instrument inventors, etc.). Each year, the most inspired musicians we know of are brought together with Baltimore's fertile experimental scene in a wide range of different kinds of musical situations to create very new music which has never been heard before.

Each year since its impressive beginning, the festival has grown stronger and deeper, more profound, as it has also gained international recognition as a crucial touchstone of avant-garde music in the U.S.. Last year's festival occured the week of the 9-11 disaster, but continued despite it and was an amazing experience for audience and performer alike--documented on two new CDs that have just been released. This year, the festival adds more free public workshops and a gallery installation of sound works by festival participants to the already heady mix of performances at The Theater Project and on the streets of Baltimore.

SO... please join us in September for HIGH ZERO 2002 and four exhilarating days of musical exploration!

For more information on the philosophy and methods of High Zero, click here.

High Zero is supported by City Paper

High Zero is organized by The High Zero Foundation, a 501(c)3 Nonprofit organization. The festival is an outgrowth of The Red Room, an unfunded but vital space which has presented over 400 concerts of improvised and experimental music (as well as experimental film and performance) since it began in 1996. The Red Room is located at and sponsored by Normals Books and Records.

Please Note: The festival is invitation only, so we DO NOT take submissions for future HIGH ZERO festivals. However, we are always interested in submissions to The Red Room, which is the source of the pool of players who are then invited to the festival.

Mailing Address:
High Zero Foundation, Inc.
2850 N. Charles, Suite. 200
Baltimore, MD. 21218

email: johnb@berndtgroup.net

MEDIA & WEBSITE CREDITS
Underwater photo of Tom Boram, above: Stewart Mostofsky, John Berndt, Neil Feather
Most other photos in the site (except musician information page photos): Stewart Mostofsky
Website Design: The Berndt Group, Ltd.
Video Tape Documentation: Steve Steele and Catherine Pancake
Audio documentation of previous years: Sam Wiley, John Berndt, Andy Hayleck, Doug Wolf, Jon Rose, Charlie Jameson.

 

HIGH ZERO 2002 Musicians:

Catherine Pancake (Baltimore) - percussion, inventions

Jim Baker - (Chicago) - analog synthesizer, piano

Michael Barker (Baltimore) - bass, theremin, laptop

Vattel Cherry (Baltimore) - bass, miscellaneous instruments

Mike Cooper (Rome) - steel guitar and electronics

Eric Letourneau (Quebec, Canada) - voice, hyper-instruments, computers, lo-fi technologies and balinese flute

Julia Hammid (Baltimore) - voice, miscellaneous small instruments

Tom Boram (Baltimore) - guitar, sitar, synthesizer

Thomas Lehn (Germany) - analog synthesizer

Kristen Toedtman (Baltimore) - violin, piano, voice

Helena Espvall-Santoleri (Philadelphia) - cello, banjo, electronics

Ben Manley (NYC) - electro-acoustics (feedback, speakers)

Katt Hernandez (Boston) - violin

Peter Zummo (NYC) - trombone, voice, dijeridu, plastics

Eugene Chadbourne (North Carolina) - guitar, Dobro, inventions, etc.

John Dierker (Baltimore) - reeds

Jackie Blake (Baltimore) - clarinet, flute, alto saxophone

Bradford Reed (NYC) - invented instruments, drums

Daniel Carter (NYC) - reeds, trumpet, flute

Hans Tammen (NYC) - guitar, laptop

Oluyemi Thomas (San Francisco) - Reeds, small instruments

Carly Ptak (Baltimore) - live electronics, inventions

Chuck Bettis (Washington) - trumpet, voice, laptop

John Berndt (Baltimore) - reeds, live electronics, drums, inventions

Neil Feather (Baltimore) - invented instruments

Andy Hayleck (Baltimore) - electronics, inventions, gong

Dan Breen (Baltimore) - percussion, clavinet, acoustic bass

Bob Wagner (Baltimore) - drums, electronic percussion

Nate Wooley (New Jersey) - trumpet