Kari Besharse
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Kari Besharse is a composer working in both electroacoustic and acoustic mediums. She is interested in finding new ways to combine and share ideas and materials between the two mediums through a cross-fertilization of processes and ideas. Timbre, texture, and sound are essential players in her works, which are often generated from a group of sonic objects or material archetypes that undergo processes of rupture, degradation, alternation, and expansion. Kari is inspired by the visual arts, literature, and nature and has completed several successful collaborations with dancers. She is currently completing her doctoral studies at the University of Illinois, and is currently an Adjunct Instructor at Illinois Wesleyan University. She completed her undergraduate studies in composition at the University of Missouri at Kansas City and her Masters degree at the University of Texas at Austin. Primary composition teachers have been Stephen Andrew Taylor, Guy Garnett, Russell Pinkston, Donald Grantham, Robert Cooper, Rick Taube, and James Mobberly. Her music has been presented around the world by venues and organizations such as The California Ear Unit, Society of Composers, Inc., Texas Computer Musicians Network, The LaTex Festival, The Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival, Electronic Music Midwest, ICMC, SEAMUS, Bourges, Elektrophonie, Third Practice, 60X60, The Electroacoustic Juke Joint Festival, The San Francisco Composers Forum, and Pulse Field. Kari was awarded a Bourges Residence Prize for Small Things, an electroacoustic work written in Csound and Protools, which uses the sounds of the frogs and insects of Austin, Texas as its source material. Recent projects include Ecotope for twelve players and live electronics, which was premiered by the University of Illinois New Music Ensemble in February 2008. |
| for more information contact karibesharse@hotmail.com | |
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Compositions | |||
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On a Wire |
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| On a Wire.mp3 - complete | |||
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On a Wire is an electroacoustic miniature which takes most of sound material from the classical guitar. Sounds were processed in Csound and assembled in Protools. | |||
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Small Things |
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| Small Things.mp3 - complete | |||
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Small Things (2001) is a sound metaphor for the impact small events have on our lives, but also for the bittersweet beauty that surrounds us on a day-to-day basis. Almost a meditation, Small Things requests introspective, deep listening. Small Things was created with various nature sounds including the native frogs and insects of Austin, Texas. | |||
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Ear to the Ground |
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| Ear to the Ground.mp3 - complete | |||
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Ear to the Ground was originally composed for dancer/choreographer Jessica Ray. The work operates on the idea of memory on several levels. On the surface, feelings of nostalgia are brought about through a Chopin piano piece, which I remember my grandmother playing when I was a little girl. Below the surface however, the work approaches the imperfection of both organic memory and the unreliability of mechanical storage. In the human mind, memories lose their clarity and eventually disappear. If we try and hold onto a memory through a storage medium such as a recording or a photograph, that two will eventually become corrupt and decay beyond recognition. | |||
©2009 by Kari Besharse
All Rights Reserved
Kari Besharse is a member of Society of Composers, Inc. SCI is dedicated to the promotion of composition, performance, understanding and dissemination of new and contemporary music.