Clare Cooper & Fred Lonberg-Holm

In her Chicago debut, Clare Cooper (harp, guzheng) mixes it up with Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello) for an evening of improvised music.

Harpist and digital media artist Clare Cooper (b. 1981, Sydney, Australia) is interested in unlikely pairings and what they reveal about machines and music. She focuses on player-powered mechanical percussion and electronic-like acoustic sound worlds, explored through her two chosen string instruments: the concert harp and the Chinese guzheng. She has performed internationally, both as a soloist and with improvisers, visual artists, and dancers. Frequent collaborators include Chris Abrahams, Cor Fuhler, Tony Buck, Anthony Pateras, Jean-Philippe Gross, Nicholas Bussmann, and Valerio Tricoli. In 2002 Cooper and partner Clayton Thomas started the NOW now festival of spontaneous music in Australia. It grew out of their ongoing fortnightly series, if you like improvised music, we like you. In 2007, Cooper moved from Sydney to Berlin, where she is now based.

Fred Lonberg-Holm (b.1962, Wilmington, Del.) is a Chicago-based cellist, improviser, and composer. A former student of Anthony Braxton, Pauline Oliveros, and Morton Feldman, his projects include the Valentine Trio (with Frank Rosaly and Jason Roebke) and the Lightbox Orchestra (with flexible personnel). He also currently performs in groups led by Joe McPhee (Survival Unit III), Peter Brötzmann (Chicago 10tet), and Ken Vandermark (Vandermark 5, Frame 4tet, Territory Ensemble). Additionally, he has contributed cello parts to recordings by rock groups such as Califone, Freakwater, God Is My Co-Pilot, L’Altra, Smog, Superchunk, U.S. Maple, Wilco, and many others.