Pamela Z (San Francisco)
PERFORMANCE, Thursday, July 24, 1997,
7pm, Tacoma Art Museum.
Pamela Z is a
San Francisco-based composer/performer and audio artist who works
primarily with voice, electronic processing, and sampling technology.
In live performance, she creates lush textures and frenetic rhythmic
structures by layering her voice in electronic processers She
combines these sounds with melodic lines and spoken texts, punctuating
them with found percussion objects and exquisite gestural movement.
She has a wide vocal range and employs styles ranging from experimental
extended techniques to operatic "Bel Canto". She also
uses samples from many sound sources including human utterances,
sounds of machinery and sounds from the environment to create
sculpted, layered audio pieces.
Pamela Z has done solo performances in the Bay Area since 1984 and has toured extensively throughout the United States. She has had numerous New York appearances including the "Bang on a Can" festival at Lincoln Center and she recently completed a four-city tour of Japan with Donald Swearingen and Laetitia Sonami as part of the Interlink Festival. She has composed, recorded and performed original scores for choreographers and for film and video artists, and has done live and recorded vocal work for other composers. She has created a number of commissioned audio pieces for New American Radio, the most recent of which was supported by the San Francisco Art Commission. Pamela Z produces "Z Programs", an ongoing series of interdisciplinary events in which her own work has been featured along with that of other artists doing experimental work in various genres. She is a member of the performance ensemble THE QUBE CHIX has done several concerts and experimental theater pieces with NEW MUSIC THEATRE (including their John Cage festivals) and has performed with THE SAN FRANCISCO CONTEMPORARY MUSIC PLAYERS. She is currently developing new solo work utilizing a MIDI controller called The BodySynth (TM) which allows the performer to trigger sounds with physical gestures. Pamela Z hosts a radio program called "The 11th Hour" on KPFAfm on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at 11pm, playing new and experimental audio art. Pamela Z holds a music degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder.