2008/09 Season

July 2008

Srimati Shyamala, Bharatanatyam Dancer
South Indian temple dancing

Srimati Shyamala is a gurumai of the Balasaraswati lineage of Bharatanatyam She has danced since the age of seven and when she was fourteen began her studies with the legendary T. Balasaraswati. She is director of the Koothambalam School of Traditional Bharatanatyam with branches in Chennai, India and Boulder, Colorado. She teaches in India, the U.S. and Europe and performs to acclaim internationally. Her students include Aniruddha Knight, the grandson of Balasaraswati. Shyamala is part of a small group of dance masters who are striving to keep this art alive as ritual offering to the divine.


September 2008

Gloria Cheng, Pianist
Residency included a solo piano concert of works by Lutoslawski, Salonen, Ives, Stucky, and Barry

Pianist Gloria Cheng is widely recognized as a colorful and communicative interpreter of contemporary music, garnering universal acclaim for her unassuming virtuosity and eloquence. Gramophone has depicted her as “technically fearless,” and the New York Times has praised her “commanding technique, color and imagination.” Cheng has premiered dozens of new compositions, including works composed for her by John Adams, Pierre Boulez, Joan Huang, Terry Riley, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Stephen Andrew Taylor, and Chinary Ung. Recent engagements include appearances with the Pacific Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Long Beach Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Shanghai Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Composers Inc., and San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. Additional projects have brought Cheng to festivals at Ojai, Tanglewood, Aspen, Bad Gleichenberg, and Kuhmo (Finland); to the Chicago Humanities, Other Minds (San Francisco), and Composer-to-Composer (Telluride) Festivals; and to venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Radio France, Kennedy Center, and the Théatre du Châtelet.


October 2008

Hiroko Tamano, master Butoh dancer
This residency included a full day workshop (Butoh Day Camp!)

Hiroko Tamano is a master teacher and performer of Butoh having worked closely in Japan, from a young age, with Tatsumi Hijikata, the founder of Butoh. In 1979. Hiroko and her husband Koichi, Hijikata’s premiere solo dancer, moved to Berkeley, California and formed Harupin-Ha Company. Eva Soltes was among their first presenters in America. Their company has gone on to be internationally renowned for the depth and impeccable imagination they bring to their productions.


November 2008

Arts Journalism Getty Fellows from USC Annenberg School for Communications. Sasha Anawalt, Director
This residency culminated in the screening of excerpts of the Lou Harrison Documentary project and a performance of Bharatanatyam by Eva Soltes.

These 2008 Arts Journalism Getty Fellows were selected through a competitive application process by the USC Annenberg Arts Journalism Program: Laura Emerick, Chicago Sun-Times, arts editor; Erik Piepenburg, NY Times.com, senior web producer; David Sillito, BBC Corporation News, London, arts and culture correspondent; Carolina Miranda, C-Monster.net, producer, writer and editor for the visual arts and architecture blog; Michele Siegel, Public Radio International and WNYC Radio’s “Studio 360,” associate producer (editorial); Adeline Sire, British Broadcasting Corporation and Public Radio International’s “The World” (WGBH), producer; Nate Chinen, The New York Times, freelance music critic and Jazz Times columnist; David Brinn, The Jerusalem Post, deputy managing editor, columnist, and reporter.


January 2009

David Tanenbaum, Classical Guitarist
Residency included a performance of works by Terry Riley and Lou Harrison

David Tanenbaum is recognized internationally as an outstanding performing and recording artist, a charismatic educator and an accomplished transcriber and editor. He is one of the most admired classical guitarists of his generation. He has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Australia, the former Soviet Union and Asia.  Tanenbaum has been a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, the Oakland Symphony, Vienna’s ORF orchestra, and with eminent conductors such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Kent Nagano and John Adams.


February 2009

Paul Livingstone, Sitar and Javad Butah, Tabla
Residency included a performance of North Indian Classical Music

Paul Livingstone has studied sitar for the past 23 years in India and the U.S.  A disciple of the living legend Pt. Ravi Shankar & sarod maestro Rajeev Taranath, he has performed throughout the US, Europe, Latin America, South East Asia & India. He is also the Founder & Artistic Director of the Sangeet School of World Music in North East Los Angeles. Javad Butah is a disciple of world-renowned tabla master Pandit Anindo Chatterjee; Javad’s thorough approach to the instrument reflects his training at the hands of one of the finest tabla artists alive today. Javad has had the honor of accompanying world-renowned artists such as Ustad Sultan Khan, Sri Alam Khan, Sri Shakir Khan, and Pandit Mukesh Desai, in venues worldwide.


March 2009

Madhubani Mural Project Residency
Produced by Jan Steward and Nancy Jackson, with assistance from: John Honack, Eric Bluhm, Ashley Gallagher, Linda Arias

The Harrison House Retreat interior courtyard was gloriously adorned with a traditional Indian Madhubani mural. Madhubani paintings originated out of the humble domestic rituals in the Madhubani district of Bihar, India. The people of Madhubani believe that the gods visit each house in the morning to bless them with luck and prosperity so the residents began painting their homes to welcome them. Jan Steward is a California artist whose professional career and professional interests are united in her devotion to Asian art. Steward’s career has included field work in India, Bali, Japan, and Sri Lanka, the design and photography for four books and more than twenty album covers, and work on several films on Asian art. Jan Steward was the graphic designer for the American Society for Eastern Arts during the 1970’s when she also began working on Learning By Heart: Teachings to Free the Creative Spirit with her mentor Sister Corita. She continued Corita’s work after her death, finally publishing their book in 1992 with a revised edition in 2009. Nancy Jackson is an accomplished sculptor/painter whose work has been featured in numerous solo and group shows around the U.S. She recently relocated to the New York area from Los Angeles, where she is represented by the Rosamund Felson Gallery. Nancy Jackson’s work is often appreciated for its mystical and delicate qualities.


March 2009

Fred Frith, Acoustic Guitar, with Heike Liss, video artist
The residency included a solo acoustic guitar performance

Fred Frith, internationally renowned composer, improviser, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist is best known for the reinvention of the electric guitar that began with Guitar Solos in 1974.   Fred performs internationally as a soloist and with ensembles, most recently with Evelyn Glennie, Chris Cutler, John Zorn, Eye to Ear, and his new band Cosa Brava. In 2008 he was awarded the Demetrio Stratos Prize for a “lifetime’s achievement in experi-mental music.”  Much of his compositional output has been commissioned by filmmakers, which led to a 2007 Career Award from the Music on Film, Film on Music festival in Prague. Films scored by Fred include Thomas Riedelsheimer’s Rivers & Tides. His compositions have been performed by leading instrumentalists including the Arditti Quartet, Bang on a Can All Stars and Ensemble Modern. Fred Frith has taught improvisation and composition at Mills College in Oakland, CA since 1999. Heike Liss is an accomplished video artist whose work is shown internationally. She is married to Fred Frith.


May 2009

Gloria Cheng, pianist and the Calder Quartet
Benefit for Harrison House

The Calder Quartet, rising stars on the national music scene, and 2009 Grammy award winning pianist, Gloria Cheng, returned to Joshua Tree for a one-night performance to benefit the Harrison House Artist Residency Program.   The program was held in the octagonal sanctuary of the historic Joshua Tree Retreat Center, where they performed works by Leos Janacek, Thomas Ades, Steven Stucky, and Philip Glass.


June 2009

Kazuaki Tanahashi, single stroke painter/master calligrapher
Residency included a public demonstration and master classes in East Asian Calligraphy and single stroke painting

Kazuaki Tanahashi was born and trained in Japan and has been active in the United States since 1977. He has had solo exhibitions of his calligraphic paintings internationally and has taught East Asian calligraphy at eight international conferences of calligraphy and lettering arts. Tanahashi is a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science in addition to his decades-long activism on behalf of world peace and the environment.