Emily Rach Beisel is a Chicago-based improvisor, composer, educator, curator and woodwind specialist. Beisel is known for visceral performances combining extended instrumental techniques with heavy amplification and timbral effects. Their solo work frequently explores the intersection between avant-garde art music and extreme metal genres such as mathcore, doom, and death metal. As a curator, Beisel seeks to increase the visibility and involvement of women and nonbinary artists in the creative music community. They founded the Pleiades Series at Elastic Arts, presenting monthly performances along with a community-based free improvisation jam for femme and nonbinary performers.
Rach Beisel is a member of the contemporary ensemble Fonema Consort, touring most recently in Brazil, Mexico, Minneapolis and New York and premiering works of living composers including James Dillon, Richard Barrett and Julio Estrada. Rach Beisel also works as a woodwind doubler at Chicago-land theaters including the Marriott Theater, Paramount Theater and multiple productions with Chicago’s feminist Firebrand Theater Company. As an educator, Rach Beisel maintains a private studio in addition to teaching positions at Harold Washington College and Oak Park School of Music.
Rach Beisel holds a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University and is a member of the American Federation of Musicians Local 10-208. Bill is a Chicago-based drummer and improviser working at the fringes of improvisation, noise, rock, folk, and bluegrass. His work has been presented at places ranging from centers for improvised and creative music such as Elastic Arts, Constellation, and ESS; to vital rock and indie clubs such as The Empty Bottle, The Hideout, Evanston Space, Beat Kitchen, and Spot Tavern; to concert halls and centers for the arts such as Lincoln Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music, Navy Pier, and The Chicago Museum Of Contemporary Art.
Some of his primary groups are Je’raf; an improvising trio with Jeff Kimmel and Ishmael Ali; Hearsay, with Allen Moore and Ishmael Ali; Joybird, with Jess McIntosh and Aaron Smith; and Errata, with Ishmael Ali and Eli Namay. Some of his most frequent collaborators include Ishmael Ali, Jake Wark, Carol Genetti, Emily Beisel, Allen Moore, Timothee Quost, Dave Rempis, Jess McIntosh, Jim Baker, PT Bell, Gerrit Hatcher, Eli Namay, Peter Maunu, Matt Piet, Brianna Tong, Wills McKenna, David Fletcher, Aaron Smith, Jeff Kimmel, Molly Jones, and Keefe Jackson.
In 2015 he started Amalgam, a 100% artist-run collective and label dedicated to showcasing works of improvised and experimental music in Chicago and elsewhere, with a bi-monthly series at Cafe Mustache. Bill is also an audio engineer working in both studio and live situations, and operates an independent studio in Chicago with engineering, mixing, mastering, and production credits on labels such as Amalgam, Astral Spirits, No Index, 577 Records and Ears&Eyes. In 2020 he started and co-operates a recording studio called Marmalade with Ishmael Ali, PT Bell, and Louis Clark.
Demonface is an experimental, electronic, noise duo from Oakland CA consisting of two infamous Bay Area noise women. Angela Edwards has been a part of old-school, legendary West Coast projects (Caroliner, Hans Grusel’s Krankenkabinet, Crack We Are Rock), and more recently sleazy synth-wave duo Jeweled Snakes. She has played solo under the moniker Sharkiface for 18 years. Alexandra Buschman-Roman is half of Las Sucias (anti-patriarchal, afro-caribbean rhythmed, brujeria noise), and has performed as Demonsleeper for over a decade. Together Edwards & Roman make a polycephalic, ritualistic, noise Goddess, DEMONFACE, which sounds at times seductive and at others sadistic, rife with luscious textures as well as harshness; they’re a genre of noise that is hard to describe. Both women earned MFAs in music from Mills College, a hub for electronic and experimental music since the 60’s.
Local’s Tom Goldstein, Patrick Crossland & Shelly Purdy will be improvising and filling-in between sets!
Tom Goldstein, percussionist, has performed with the Orchestra of St. Lukes, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Gregg Smith Singers, Steve Reich and Musicians, Pauline Oliveros, American Festival of Microtonal Music, Continuum and Ruckus. He has performed in many chamber groups, Broadway shows, and nightclubs. Mr. Goldstein has premiered over one hundred solo and chamber works, many of which were written expressly for him. He was a founding member of the New York City new-music group GAGEEGO. He performs and records with the Hoffmann/Goldstein Duo and the percussion quartet Umbilicus. He has composed works for percussion, chamber ensemble, theater pieces, and numerous songs. He has published articles in Perspectives of New Music and Percussive Notes and for Mellen Press. Mr. Goldstein has recorded on Neuma, Vanguard, Polydor, Opus 1, O.O. Discs, CD Tech, Capstone, Innova, Centaur, I Resound Press, and CRI labels. Mr. Goldstein has received a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artists Award. He is Associate Professor of Music Emeritus at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Trombonist Patrick Crossland was born in Jackson, Mississippi. Growing up in southern Louisiana, he began playing trombone at age 10. He has worked closely with several prominent composers. Solo performances include the Walker Art Center’s “Festival Dancing In Your Head” (2001, 2002, 2005), the Darmstadt Course for New Music (2004, 2006, 2008), where he was awarded a Solo Performance Prize, and the “Utopia Jetzt!” Festival (Germany) where he performed his acclaimed “V for Grock” multimedia recital. In 2009 he premiered his “Krieg dem Krieg” project featuring thematic works for trombone and electronics. In addition to his activities as a soloist and chamber musician, he is an avid improviser, working with a wide range of musicians, dancers, and actors. He is a member of the Composers Slide Quartet, Ensemble Laboratorium, and Zinc & Copper Works. Recently relocated to the Baltimore area, he teaches trombone and other music courses at the University of Maryland Baltimore County
