Download performances with degenerate art ensemble

JOSHUA KOHL
Co-Director, Composer, Conductor & Performer, Degenerate Art Ensemble
Joshua Kohl is co-founder, conductor, composer and co-artistic director of the Seattle based multi-art
group Degenerate Art Ensemble (DAE). Under his co-direction, DAE has become a leading entity on the
cutting edge of contemporary art in our region as well as an expanding presence internationally. His work
with Degenerate Art Ensemble is an intensely collaborative work that sees no boundaries between the visual
and performing arts. The work is presented in major dance and music venues as well as shown in galleries,
and most recently exhibited in a large scale Museum exhibition at Seattle's Frye Art Museum. Along with DAE,
he has been invited by legendary theater Director Robert Wilson to create an interpretation of his and Phillip
Glass' epic work Einstein On The Beach in which DAE will work closely with Wilson and Glass on the work and
present it under Wilson's guidance at the Baryshnikov Center in New York. In February of 2012 he conducted
the music of fellow DAE composer Jherek Bischoff with the Wordless Music Orchestra in New York at Lincoln
Center with vocalists David Byrne, Mirah and several rising stars of creative popular music. Also in 2012 he
traveled with DAE to the Czech Republic for a headline festival performance in collaboration with legendary
Czech rock band Uz Jsme Doma. DAE's newest work, The Predator’s Songstress has been awarded major
funding from the Seattle Center Foundation. The work consists of the creation of six extremely intricate and
painterly video portraits along with a series of animated films that integrate live music and interactive
performance. Joshua's work as a collaborative artist began in his days as a Cornish composition major in the
1990's where he met and collaborated with many dance, theater and art students. Many of these artistic
relationships have continued to the present. His newest work with Degenerate Art Ensemble was awarded a
Creative Capital award and a Music Theatre Now award from the International Theatre Institute in Germany.
COMPOSITIONS & PERFORMANCES WITH DEGENERATE ART ENSEMBLE
The Predator’s Songstress, 2012 (Seattle)
From major funding awarded by the Seattle Center Foundation to celebrate the 50 th anniversary of the
Seattle World’s Fair
Letters from Atomic Shores, April 2012
Interpretation of Einstein on the Beach commissioned by Robert Wilson
Red Shoes, May 2011, Frye Art Museum (Seattle)
Co-composed with Jherek Bischoff, performed at five locations around the museum
Sonic Tales, October & November 2009, Moore Theater (Seattle)
Checkersplitter, Cuckoo Pie, PNX &Space Girl #6, 2009, The Stone (New York)
Collaboration with Meet the Composer’s Commissioning Music USA
Degenerate Art Ensemble big band tours, 2001-2007
Tours of US, Netherlands, France, Italy, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland and Germany
Cuckoo Crow, 2006, REDCAT (Los Angeles)
Dreams from Wounded Mouth, 2003, Orph Theater (Berlin), Teatr 2 Strefa (Warsaw) KUD (Ljubljana, Slovenia),
Consolidated Works (Seattle)
Nymph, 2001, Orph Theater (Berlin), On the Boards (Seattle), Seattle Art Museum (Seattle)
On the Boards International New Performance Series
Razor Stitch, 1999-2000, Theater Yugen (San Francisco), On the Boards (Seattle), NW Asian American Theater
(Seattle)
Scream!LionDogs, 1999, On the Boards (Seattle)
The Gaucho, 1999, Venue 9 (San Francisco), NW Film Center (Portland), Gas Works Park (Seattle)
Hell’s Cauldron, 1997, On the Boards New Works Festival (Seattle), ODC Theater (San Francisco)
Rinko, 1997, On the Boards New Works Festival (Seattle), ODC Theater (San Francisco)
Hell Courtesan, 1994, Seattle Experimental Opera, Seattle Asia Dance Festival (Seattle)
Collaboration with Haruko Nishimura, featuring bagpipe, taiko drums and amplified cello and oboe
AWARDS & GRANTS
Creative Capital, 2013
Music Theatre Now Award (International Theatre Institute), 2012
Artist Trust Fellowship, 2007
Aaron Copland Fund for Music, 2004
Artist Trust Fellowship , 1998
OTHER COMPOSITIONS &PERFORMANCES
c(H)ord, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco)
Dance score for InkBoat dance company using flutes, toy, and homemade instruments
Silvering Path, 2009
Score for dance film
Night Flight, 2009, Moore Theatre (Seattle)
10 voice operetta with accordion, bass, guitar and violin with the Bookit Repertory Theatre
The Beard of Avon, 2008, Portland Center Stage (Portland)
With Clarinets, percussion, Brass, violin, guitar and cello
Twelfth Night, 2008, Portland Center Stage (Portland)
Three Tangos, 2003, On the Boards Northwest New Works Festival (Seattle)
For modern dance performance by Alethia Adsitt with accordion, bass and violin
Ode Toumani, 2002, Guitar Society (Seattle & Minneapolis)
Classical guitar performed by Michael Nicolella
Clarinet Concerto, 2002, Northwest Symphony
Created for New York clarinetist Richard Faria
Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra, 2000
Premiered by Northwest Symphony
Flute Concert, 1998, Henry Art Gallery (Seattle)
Created for flutist Paul Taub
Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, 1997, Gas Works Park (Seattle)
Performance of an original score to an audience of 10,000 as a part of Young Composers Collective
Earth and Ice, 1997, Temple University, (Pennsylvania)
Commissioned by violinist Allan Kastelle
Me and the Chickadee, 1996, Evergreen State College (Olympia), Seattle Asian Art Museum (Seattle)
Broadcasted on KUOW
Out of Nowhere, 1995, The OK Hotel and Bumbershoot Festival (Seattle)
Quartet in February, 1994-1996, Bumbershoot Festival, Seattle Asian Art Museum (Seattle), Clinton Street
Theater (Portland) and performed on KUOW FM and KCMU FM
Duo for Violin and Piano, 1993, OK Hotel (Seattle)
Performed at New Works Concert for Cornish College of the Arts
Pink House, 1992, Cornish College of the Arts (Seattle)
Performed for Noise, a concert of new composers works
DISCOGRAPHY
Sonic Tales / Degenerate Art Ensemble, 2009
Dance score and alt-pop album
Cuckoo Crow / Degenerate Art Ensemble, 2005
Dance Score and alt-pop album (charted #62 on the
US College Radio Charts)
The Bastress/ Degenerate Art Ensemble, 2003
Punk Jazz Big Band music for 13 musicians
Lookaway Popeye / Degenerate Art Ensemble,2002
Punk Jazz Big Band music for 13 musicians
Scream!LionDogs / Degenerate Art Ensemble,
2001
Dance Theater score for 17 musicians
Rinko/ Degenerate Art Ensemble, 2000
Dance Theater score for 13 musicians
Razor Stitch / Degenerate Art Ensemble, 1999
Dance Theater score for 13 musicians
The Young Composers Collective, 1996
works for 17 piece big band garage orchestral
OTHER WORK
Instrument Invention, collaborated on the creation of original and unique instruments, five on display at
the Frye Art Museum.
Electronic work, has teamed with software developer musicians to create processing of live sound for
performance works; breaking live sounds into fragments that then can be “performed” live by using kinetic
interfaces.
Collaborative composition, has led teams of up to eight composers collaborating on a single score for dance,
live film, accompaniment and art instillation, turning the process of composition into a interactive
experience.
EDUCATION & STUDIES
Cornish College of the Arts
Bachelor of Arts in Composition
Seattle, WA
New England Conservatory of Music
Boston, MA
Berklee College of Music
Boston, MA
Jarad Powell, Composer
Bright Sheng, Composer
Bern Herbolsheimer, Composer