It is helpful to research the artist, using sources like Wikipedia , Music Magazine Reviews (Pitchfork, Rolling stone, NME etc.,) Artist Websites, etc…A synopsis of the life and music of this Issue’s featured artists appears below.

This Week’s Artists

Mark Feldman

Mark Feldman (born 1955 in Chicago) is an American jazz violinist. His work blends classical technique with jazz improvisation and contemporary music. He has performed with John Zorn, John Abercrombie, The Masada String Trio, Dave Douglas, Uri Caine, and Billy Hart. He was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and played in many bar bands in Chicago. He played on over 200 recordings in Nashville as a studio musician, was a member of the Nashville Symphony. In 2003, he was soloist with Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in Guus Janssen’s Violin Concerto and with the WDR Jazz Orchestra in Concerto for Violin and Jazz Orchestra by Bill Dobbins. At New York’s Lincoln Center he performed in duo with pianists Paul Bley and Muhal Richard Abrams. He has recorded with Michael Brecker, Lee Konitz, Joe Lovano, and Chris Potter and has played on over 100 recordings in New York City as a soloist in contemporary music and modern jazz. Feldman has released several albums, including Music for Violin Alone (Tzadik, 1995); Book of Tells (Enja, 2000); What Exit (ECM, 2006 with British pianist John Taylor; To Fly to Steal (Intakt, 2010) with bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Gerry Hemingway; and Oblivia (Tzadik, 2010) with his wife, Swiss pianist Sylvie Courvoisier. Firmly established as one of jazz’s finest string players, his musical explorations establish a climate often associated with contemporary composition, yet include a sense of spontaneous ensemble interaction so critical to the jazz language.

PETER SCULTHORPE

Peter was born in Launceston, Tasmania, and grew up in the nearby village of St Leonards, where his parents ran the general store. His mother encouraged her son to write and paint. He began piano lessons at the age of eight: after his first lesson, he spent the next week writing music. Peter carried on composing, first in secret, then with his parents’ approval. At the age of 16 he went to Melbourne University to study piano. His work was often characterised by its distinctive use of percussion. From the start of his career, he set out to create music that would not depend on European manners and cultural traditions, but would be specifically Australian in idiom. Peter believed that Australia is primarily a visual culture, dominated by its landscape. His own music, with its blocks of non-developing material and its overall flatness and scarcity of dramatic gestures, even resembles the landscape in the look of the notes on the page. For melodic inspiration, he turned first to Asia – Indonesia and Japan – and then, in the second half of his life, to the music of indigenous Australians. Much of his later work addressed climate change, the war in Iraq, and the plight of asylum seekers in detention centres (specifically String Quartet No. 16). Major Works include: Kakadu (1988): An orchestral piece inspired by the northern Australian wilderness. Earth Cry (1986): Often featuring the didgeridoo, this work expresses a deep concern for the Australian environment. Sun Music Series: A collection of orchestral works commissioned in the 1960s that helped establish his international reputation. String Quartets: He composed 18 string quartets, many of which use unusual timbral effects to mimic natural Australian sounds. Rites of Passage (1972–73): An unconventional opera (or music theatre piece) that uses Latin and Indigenous Arrernte (pronounced arrunda) text.