CMA Concerts at Transformer Station

At the core of Mark Dresser's music is an artistic obsession and commitment to expanding the sonic and musical possibilities of the double bass through the use of unconventional amplification and extended techniques. Cleveland debut.

Tickets are $20 ($18 for CMA members) and available online, at the Cleveland Museum of Art box office, and Transformer Station. Please be advised seating is very limited. 

About this City Stages Concert Series: 
Setting a standard for vanguard art, the Transformer Station also heralds a new space for adventurous music. This fall marks the start of a series of intimate and (mostly) solo concerts presented by the Cleveland Museum of Art, featuring composed and improvised music by some of the most remarkable artists of our time. Virtuosic on every level.

About Mark Dresser:

Mark Dresser is an internationally acclaimed bass player, improviser, composer, and interdisciplinary collaborator. His distinctive sound is documented in more than one hundred twenty recordings with John Zorn, Ray Anderson, Jane Ira Bloom, Tim Berne, Gerry Hemingway, Anthony Davis, Dave Douglas, Satoko Fujii, Bob Ostertag, Joe Lovano, and many others. Nearly thirty of these CDs are as a soloist, bandleader, or co-leader during his eighteen years living in New York City (1986-2004). From 1985 to 1994, he was a member of MacArthur Award recipient Anthony Braxton’s Quartet, which recorded nine CDs and was the subject of Graham Locke’s book Forces in Motion (Da Capo).

At the core of his music is an artistic obsession and commitment to expanding the sonic and musical possibilities of the double bass through the use of unconventional amplification and extended techniques. His solo works include the DVD/CD/booklet triptich Guts: Bass Explorations, Investigations, and Explanations (2010) and CDs UNVEIL (2006) and Invocation (1994) feature the music evolving out of this research. A chapter on his extended techniques, “A Personal Pedogogy,” appears in the book, “ARCANA” (Granary Press). Dresser has written two articles on extended techniques for the Strad magazine: “Double Bass Harmonics” (October 2008) and an “Introduction to Multiphonics” (October 2009). Dresser presented a lecture/demonstration titled “Discover, Develop, Integrate: Techniques Revealed” at the 2009 International Society of Bassists convention, where he curated a New Music Summit featuring lectures, performances, and panel discussions on improvisation and contemporary music performance. 

Dresser has composed music for the silent films The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Un Chien Andalou, as well as music for various chamber groups including his own trio, quartet, and quintet. He was a founding member of the string trio, Arcado, with violinist Mark Feldman and cellists Hank Roberts, followed by Ernst Reijseger. Between 1989 and 1995 Arcado recorded five CDs including For Three Strings and Orchestra (Winter and Winter) commissioned by Westdeutsche Rundfunk of Cologne, Germany. Members of Arcado were also commissioned by the Banlieu Bleues Festival of France to compose for the Double Trio, a collaboration with the French Trio du Clarinettes that was recorded on Green Dolphy Street (ENJA). Other commissions include a McKim Fund commission at the Library of Congress for Air to Mir (Marinade-Tzadik) for violin and piano. The Swiss flute virtuoso Matthias Ziegler commissioned “Banquet” for multiple flutes, bass, and string quartet, included on the CD Banquet (Tzadik).

This concert series is presented at:

The Transformer Station is a new contemporary art museum on Cleveland’s west side, owned by the Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell Foundation. For six months a year, the Cleveland Museum of Art will present exhibitions with internationally recognized artists, using it as a creative laboratory.

For hours and other information, visit transformerstation.org.