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Ellen Fullman and The Long

String Instrument

Austin New Music Co-op

March 13th and 14th

Seaholm Power Plant

The Austin New Music Co-op brings composer and performer Ellen Fullman back to Austin - following a 12 year absence - for a long-overdue homecoming performance, featuring her Long String Instrument. The rare concert performance will be held on March 13th and 14th at the downtown Seaholm Power Plant.

Austin audiences will step into the turbine hall of the historic power plant and be enveloped by dense masses of sound from the 100-foot long string instrument. Organizers say the experience is akin to stepping into an enormous grand piano.

In two special Austin concerts, Fullman will perform her compositions solo and in ensemble with New Music Co-op instrumentalists James Alexander on viola, Henna Chou on cello, Nick Hennies on percussion, and Travis Weller on violin. Fullman began developing The Long String Instrument - an installation of dozens of wires fifty feet or more in length, tuned in" Just Intonation" and played with rosin coated fingers - in 1981 off Manor Road, in the rented studio space of a former candy factory.

Using incredible lengths of wire and custom built wooden resonators, Fullman transformed the hardwood-floored building into a gigantic instrument. The artist called Austin home from 1985 to 1997, when she developed many aspects of her work and her unique instrument.

Fullman has recorded extensively with her unusual instrument, and has collaborated with such luminary figures as composer Pauline Oliveros, choreographer Deborah Hay, the Kronos Quartet, and Keiji Haino. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, commissions and residencies, including DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program residency, Japan/U.S. Friendship Commission/NEA Fellowship for Japan, Meet the Composer, Reader's Digest Consortium Commission, Artist Trust/Washington State Arts Commission Fellowship, and artist-in-residence at Headlands Center for the Arts.

Her music was represented in The American Century; Art and Culture, 1950-2000 at The Whitney Museum, and she has performed in venues and festivals in Europe, Japan, and the Americas. For the Austin concert event, Fullman and the New Music Co-op will construct The Long String Instrument inside the resonant, the 1930s Art Deco Seaholm Power Plant turbine hall.

Fullman's rare ausitn visit also celebrates the SXSW world premiere of Peter Esmonde's in-depth documentary film about her extraordinary sound world and music process, entitled 5 variations on a long string. The premiere screenings are slated for March 15th at the Alamo Drafthouse downtown at 4:45 p.m., and March 18th at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar at 11 a.m.

Tickets for the concert performances are $12 in advance and $15 at the door for general admission, and $12 for students. Performance times are 8 p.m. both nights.

The Seaholm Power Plant is located at 214 West Avenue, on West Cesar Chavez near Lamar. For more information and advance tickets, call (512) 423-4888 or visit www.NewMusic.coop.





Ellen Fullman and The Long String Instrument Austin New Music Co-op March 13th and 14th Seaholm Power Plant The Austin New Music Co-op brings composer and performer Ellen Fullman back to Austin - following a 12 year absence - for a long-overdue homecoming performance, featuring her Long String Instrument. The rare concert performance will be held on March 13th and 14th at the downtown Seaholm Power Plant. Austin audiences will step into the turbine hall of the historic power plant and be enveloped by dense masses of sound from the 100-foot long string instrument. Organizers say the experience is akin to stepping into an enormous grand piano. In two special Austin concerts, Fullman will perform her compositions solo and in ensemble with New Music Co-op instrumentalists James Alexander on viola, Henna Chou on cello, Nick Hennies on percussion, and Travis Weller on violin. Fullman began developing The Long String Instrument - an installation of dozens of wires fifty feet or more in length, tuned in" Just Intonation" and played with rosin coated fingers - in 1981 off Manor Road, in the rented studio space of a former candy factory. Using incredible lengths of wire and custom built wooden resonators, Fullman transformed the hardwood-floored building into a gigantic instrument. The artist called Austin home from 1985 to 1997, when she developed many aspects of her work and her unique instrument. Fullman has recorded extensively with her unusual instrument, and has collaborated with such luminary figures as composer Pauline Oliveros, choreographer Deborah Hay, the Kronos Quartet, and Keiji Haino. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, commissions and residencies, including DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program residency, Japan/U.S. Friendship Commission/NEA Fellowship for Japan, Meet the Composer, Reader's Digest Consortium Commission, Artist Trust/Washington State Arts Commission Fellowship, and artist-in-residence at Headlands Center for the Arts. Her music was represented in The American Century; Art and Culture, 1950-2000 at The Whitney Museum, and she has performed in venues and festivals in Europe, Japan, and the Americas. For the Austin concert event, Fullman and the New Music Co-op will construct The Long String Instrument inside the resonant, the 1930s Art Deco Seaholm Power Plant turbine hall. Fullman's rare ausitn visit also celebrates the SXSW world premiere of Peter Esmonde's in-depth documentary film about her extraordinary sound world and music process, entitled 5 variations on a long string. The premiere screenings are slated for March 15th at the Alamo Drafthouse downtown at 4:45 p.m., and March 18th at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar at 11 a.m. Tickets for the concert performances are $12 in advance and $15 at the door for general admission, and $12 for students. Performance times are 8 p.m. both nights. The Seaholm Power Plant is located at 214 West Avenue, on West Cesar Chavez near Lamar. For more information and advance tickets, call (512) 423-4888 or visit www.NewMusic.coop.



		(Photos by Theresa Wong)

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