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New Classic LA
“[The Now Hear Ensemble] managed to bring something of a masterpiece into the world with Dan VanHassel’s Ghost in the Machine…This piece needs to be heard, seen, talked about, and learned from.” – New Classic LA
Perishable Music Remains: Now Hear Ensemble at PMCA
New Classic LA | Leaha Maria Villarreal | 03/12/2018
The Now Hear Ensemble presented composer and bassist Federico Llach’s Perishable Music as a part of ArtNight Pasadena on Friday, March 9, performing for all four hours of the late night reverie. Billing itself as an installation rather than a performance, the quintet of clarinet, saxophone, viola, bass, and percussion took up residence in the Pasadena Museum of California Art (PMCA) to explore issues of impermanence in music.
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Collaboration is a recurring theme at ArtNight Friday at venues across Pasadena
Pasadena Weekly | Bliss Bowen | 03/08/2018
Argentinean-born guitarist and double bassist Federico Llach’s “Perishable Music” installation at Pasadena Museum of California Art promises to be one of the more high-concept stops on the ArtNight route. Founder and leader of the Now Hear Ensemble in Santa Barbara, Llach’s cerebral compositions are informed by his classical and jazz background and interest in electronic sound creation. “Perishable Music,” which premiered six years ago, addresses questions regarding music’s substance and meaning with continual music — three hours’ worth — supplied by a steady rotation of performers, as well as the shredding of physical musical scores. It’s a thought-provoking demonstration of the multidimensionality of not just music, but all art. The Now Hear Ensemble’s players also promise an “interactive” performance beforehand in the museum’s Kenny Scharf Kosmic Krylon Garage. READ MORE ...
Now Hear This! Alumni ensemble enjoys surprising audiences.
Coastlines: UC Santa Barbara Alumni Magazine | Sophia Fischer | Summer 2017 issue
PEOPLE aren’t always sure what to expect when the Now Hear Ensemble, made up of five UC Santa Barbara alumni musicians, takes the stage. There was the piece played from behind a ping pong table to the popping and bouncing sounds of a ball being hit by two players; and the performance that combined live action and video of the instrumentalists, in red shirts, as they spun on revolving chairs, lights flashing. Now Hear Ensemble gives audiences a dramatic experience, involving multimedia, theatrical components, the use of bicycle wheels, paper shredders, megaphones and custom-made instruments. One performance series was aptly titled, “Not for the Ears Alone.”
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Now Hear Ensemble’s Anthony Paul Garcia on Mirrors
New Classic LA | Cristina Lord | 02/15/2017
Now Hear, UC Santa Barbara’s resident ensemble, will be performing Mirrors on February 17, 7:30 PM, at Lotte Lehman Concert Hall at UCSB. The program features a diverse range of composers, but all of the works relate to the same overarching theme of symmetry and reflection. It includes Michael Beil‘s Karaoke Rebranng!, Edo Frenkel‘s &, &, &, &… for solo piano, Marc Evans‘ Counterflow, and three world premieres – Joshua Carro‘s [[[a nation defiled]]], Dan VanHassel‘s Invective, and a new arrangement of Guillaume de Machaut’s Ma fin est mon commencement. I interviewed Anthony Paul Garcia, the ensemble’s percussionist, about the concert.
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Now Hear Ensemble Rolls Through Bay Area Premieres
San Francisco Classical Voice | Giacomo Fiore | 05/21/2015
An intricate and frankly puzzling array of gear welcomed the audience from the stage of the Center for New Music on Wednesday night. Emerging from a snake’s nest of coiled cables were two pairs of upside-down bicycle wheels and a skateboard, mounted to a stand like a flipped-over, helpless turtle. Wheels and other kinds of circular movement formed the unifying thread from this concert by UCSB ensemble-in-residence Now Hear Ensemble, captained by Argentinian composer Federico Llach, who also served as an informal and congenial master of ceremonies for the evening. READ MORE ...
Now Hear Ensemble: Made in California release concert at REDCAT on Saturday
New Classic LA | Nick Norton | 10/29/2013
Now Hear Ensemble‘s Made in California project, which commissioned works from 11 Californian composers for a tour and record, is nearing completion. The record came out yesterday, and they’re having a release concert, this Saturday, November 2, at REDCAT. READ MORE ...