HEARding Cats Collective is pleased to announce, In the Wake of a KISS, an evening of improvised electronic music with Andrew Raffo Dewar and Rich O’Donnell.

In the Wake of a KISS is inspired by a meeting between Andrew and Rich at the Kyma International Sound Symposium (KISS) in Santa Cruz, CA last year. KISS is an annual gathering of lectures and performances focusing on the KYMA sound computer, which has been called the most powerful sound design instrument in the world.

Both seasoned improvisers, the event will feature Andrew Raffo Dewar performing on soprano saxophone and Rich O’Donnell on his abstract drum set. Both acoustic instruments will be processed through independent KYMA systems to create extended sonic possibilities.

Andrew will start the event with a solo sax/kyma set, and after an ear-reset intermission, Rich will join him for a quad duet: each of them delivering a stereo pair of unique and adventurous sounds.

Andrew Raffo Dewar is a composer, soprano saxophonist, electroacoustic musician, ethnomusicologist, and arts organizer. He is Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Arts in New College and the School of Music at The University of Alabama. He holds an interdisciplinary BA in Anthropology, Music and Asian Studies from the University of Minnesota, and an MA and Ph.D. in music composition and ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University. Dr. Dewar’s research interests include experimentalism in the arts, jazz and improvisation, music technologies, intercultural music, and 1960s intermedia arts. In addition to his work as an ethnomusicologist, Dr. Dewar is a soprano saxophonist and composer who regularly performs internationally. He studied with experimental jazz legends Steve Lacy, Anthony Braxton, and Bill Dixon, and experimental music composer Alvin Lucier. He has also had a long involvement with Indonesian music. Dewar has performed, or had his music performed or installed at the Venice Biennale di Musica, the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, Roulette, and The Stone in New York City, the Smithsonian Institution and Katzen Art Center in Washington D.C., the New Orleans Contemporary Art Center, the Dusseldorf Kunsthalle, and many other national and international venues and festivals.

Rich O’Donnell is a percussionist, improvisor, composer, designer and builder of percussion and electronic instruments, teacher and writer. He was director of the Electronic Music Studio at Washington University. He has encouraged and facilitated the growth of independent contemporary music in the community for 49 years as music director of the St. Louis New Music Circle, which he left in 2009. He retired in 2002 after 43 years as principal percussionist of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. In 2009, he co-founded HEARding Cats Collective, an artists collective working to keep St. Louis strange and wonderful.

The event takes place on April 15th, 8:00 PM @ Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N. Grand Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63103. $10 or $15