Brooklyn Philharmonic Announces Outside-In Annual Concert

The Brooklyn Philharmonic presents Charlie Looker, Tim Fite, and Natalie Elizabeth Weiss as 2011-12 Outside-In Composer Fellows, in the Outside-In Annual Concert on Wednesday, May 2 at Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO, Brooklyn. The Outside-In Composer Fellowship Program pairs non-orchestral composers from diverse musical backgrounds including hip hop, electronica, world music, jazz and indie rock with Resident Composer-Mentor, Randall Woolf, and the Brooklyn Phil's own Artistic Director, Alan Pierson. The fellows' new pieces will be performed by the Brooklyn Phil Chamber Players.

Now in its fifth cycle, the Outside-In program brings composers whose work reflects Brooklyn themes and new voices from backgrounds that reflect the community's diversity. Randall Woolf guides the composer fellows through the process of writing original string quartet and chamber orchestra music, building on the musical styles and ideas of each fellow.

As multi-dimensional composers, performers and artists, whose previous work has included underground rock and art music (Charlie Looker), video art, visual art, and children's books (Tim Fite), and playwriting, DJ-ing and musical-based theatre (Natalie Elizabeth Weiss), this year's fellows bring a new perspective to chamber and orchestral music with a collective background

Past Brooklyn Philharmonic Composer Fellows include: Matthew Mehlan, Corey Dargel, Jeremiah Lockwood, Elan Vytal, Ryan Brown, Susan Oetgen, Darcy James Argue, Valerie Coleman, and Cristian Amigo.

Tickets for the concert are $15 in advance, $20 at the door, and available for purchase online at http://bphil.org/bphilwp/tickets/#outside.

Randall Woolf
www.randallwoolf.com

Composer Randall Woolf is known for his contemporary works, and in particular for his works based on children's literature and collaborative work with youth organizations. He serves as composer-mentor in the Brooklyn Phil's Outside-In program. He studied composition privately with David Del Tredici and Joseph Maneri as well as at Harvard where he earned a PhD. In 1997 he composed a ballet Where the Wild Things Are in collaboration with noted author Maurice Sendak and Septime Webre. He works frequently with John Cale, and did so notably on the score of American Psycho. His works have been performed by Kathleen Supové, Kronos Quartet, Jennifer Choi, Timothy Fain, Mary Rowell, Todd Reynolds, Ethel, conductor and flutist Ransom Wilson, Present Music, Fulcrum Point, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble and others.

Charlie Looker
www.lookerland.info

Charlie Looker has been active since high school as a composer, vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist, between the worlds of underground rock and art music. With roots in metal, early music, pop and modern composition, Looker has always worked with a broad diversity of influences. While his music has been performed by various ensembles, his primary focus has always been on his own bands which perform in grassroots contexts. Looker holds a B.A. in Music from Wesleyan University, however he claims to be mostly self-taught. From 2001 to 2007, Looker was a core member of notorious Brooklyn "brutal chamber" group Zs. In 2007, Looker formed his own band Extra Life which has released several albums and EP's, toured extensively, received wide critical praise and built an international cult following. In 2010, Looker also formed the group Seaven Teares to investigate folk and early music aesthetics. That year he also founded Last Things Records, a vinyl-only label to release his ever-proliferating projects. Looker's chamber music has been performed by the S.E.M. Ensemble (U.S.A), the Soozvuk Ensemble (Bratislava) and Yarn/Wire (U.S.A.). In 2005, Looker was awarded a fellowship from the Ostrava New Music Days Festival (Czech Republic) as a performer and composer. Other credits include work with Dirty Projectors, Tyondai Braxton, Glenn Branca, Dax Riggs, Mike Pride, Sam Mickens, Nat Baldwin, Christian Wolff and the Wordless Music Orchestra.

Tim Fite
www.timfite.com

Bio from Tim's website: Tim Fite enjoys creating "by any means necessary", harnessing crooked lines, lost sounds, hair-lipped ideas, torn up tomes, digital detritus, barren blood, pencils, pens, penguins, paraffin and porridge - anything that will get his eardrums dirty - to synthesize captivating impersonations. He has a recording contract with ANTI records. He has released eleven albums in the past six years. 

Natalia Elizabeth Weiss
www.natalieelizabethweiss.com

Natalie Elizabeth Weiss is a playwright, composer, performer and DJ. Natalie's original musical CAMP WANATACHI - produced by Blue Man Group co-founder Ian Pai and Legend of the Seeker star Bridget Regan - just completed a run at La MaMa. Natalie also creates music as Unicornicopia, which is both the name of her band and her moniker as a DJ. Unicornicopia's music has been featured at PS1's WARM UP, the Performa Biennial, Bowery Ballroom, LPR and Joe's Pub to name a few. Projects include collaborations with members of Sepalcure, Psychedelic Furs, Fischerspooner, Santigold, ICE, Xiu Xiu, R. Stevie Moore, Chairlift, Glasser, Skeletons, Machinedrum, Body Language, Blue Man Group,Wooster Group and Elevator Repair Service. As a DJ she has shared bills with Steve Martin, Meryl Streep, Psychic TV, Das Racist, Japanther and Dave Longstreth of Dirty Projectors. As a playwright she has worked with cast members of Broadway's Spiderman, American Idiot, Mamma Mia, Spring Awakening, Shrek, A Little Night Music, Fiddler on the Roof, Nine and Tintypes.

Brooklyn Philharmonic
www.bphil.org