Tom Chiu - laboerets version 2.0

Biography

Tom Chiu

A noted champion of new music, groundbreaking violinist and composer Tom Chiu has performed over 200 premieres worldwide by influential composers such as Virko Baley, David Chesky, Julio Estrada, David First, Oliver Lake, Wadada Leo Smith, Alvin Lucier, Somei Satoh, and Henry Threadgill, among many others.  The numerous musical luminaries with whom he has collaborated include Sir Paul McCartney, Jessye Norman, and jazz icon Ornette Coleman.  His extensive discography includes recordings for the Innova, Koch, Mode, Sombient, and Tzadik labels.  In a cross-discipline context Chiu has created new mixed-media works with choreographers Pam Tanowitz and Shen Wei, audio-video artists Phill Niblock and Elise Kermani, sculptor Ernesto Neto, conceptual balloonist Judy Dunaway, and director Lee Breuer from avant theater troupe Mabou Mines.  His original works, dedicated to artists such as Joan La Barbara, Bobby Few, Max Mandel, the Downtown Ensemble, SLAVE PIANOS, and the OpenEnded Group, have been premiered at experimental venues such as EMPAC, Roulette, STEIM Amsterdam, Experimental Intermedia, Walker Art Center, and the Museum of the Moving Image.  He has also produced or designed sonic ambiance for special events, including gala openings at the Park Avenue Armory, the Noguchi Museum, and the New York Times Building (designed by Renzo Piano).  His numerous film credits further showcase his creative versatility: as composer, fiddler, voice-over artist, and actor (The Man With One Red Shoe, with Tom Hanks).  As founder of the FLUX Quartet, he has led---for over a decade---a pioneering new-music group which has become “legendary for its furiously committed, untiring performances.” (Alex Ross, www.therestisnoise.com) Chiu holds degrees in chemistry and music from Yale and a doctorate from Juilliard, and has presented concerts and workshops at numerous universities, including Williams, Princeton, Wesleyan, Dartmouth, and William and Mary.  He appears frequently as a commentator on contemporary music and culture, and has served as panelist and consultant in a variety of artistic formats.

laboerets version 2.0

(by the composer himself) 

laboerets version 2.0 for solo piano (2013/14), dedicated to Nicholas Horvath

My creative work focuses on structural elasticity, extended sound worlds, and the expansion of the performer’s interpretative role.  The compositional process is ever evolving, and so should the work after its gestation.  The piece I have dedicated to pianist Nicholas Horvath, laboerets version 2.0 for solo piano, contains hybrid notational systems and elements of improvisation that I typically utilize.
Premiered as part of a grand concert centered around the vastly influential American artist, Philip Glass, laboerets also draws on some of minimalism’s primary characteristics
 that have impacted my development as a composer-improvisor.