Sarah Davachi on The Great Organs with special guest Tashi Wada

Sarah Davachi celebrates the release of “Two Sisters” on her own Late Music imprint with a special solo performance on The Great Organs at First Congregational Church in Los Angeles, one of the world’s largest church organs.

The show will also feature a special organ performance by composer Tashi Wada.

The evening will begin with the live debut of ‘En Bas Tu Vois’ – a chamber piece by Davachi for four trombones – performed by Mattie Barbier, Rose Doylemason, Todd Eames, and Lori Stuntz.

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SARAH DAVACHI

Sarah Davachi creates musics that sift through sound, expressions that that can seemingly teem with a million fleeting parts or – just as easily – explore the subtle topologies of a single instrument. A prolific artist – known for a constant stream of live performances, compositions, and recordings that range from pure electronics to works for chamber ensemble – Davachi cleverly considers notions of “early music” and subsequent canonical traditions while exploring the space opened by minimalism, experimentation, and psychoacoustics, pushing forward an aesthetic that is uniquely of our time. Core to her project is a fascination with and study of acoustic and electronic keyboard instruments, and – to wit – Davachi has performed on dozens of historic pipe organs internationally. These concerts are a singular way to be enveloped within her sound – intricate and massive. On the occasion of the release of a new album – “Two Sisters” – Davachi will helm the console of the “The Great Organs” at First Congregational Church in Los Angeles, one of the largest in the world.

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Sarah Davachi (b. 1987, Canada) is a composer and performer whose work is concerned with the close intricacies of timbral and temporal space, utilizing extended durations and considered harmonic structures that emphasize gradual variations in texture, overtone complexity, psychoacoustic phenomena, and tuning and intonation. Her compositions span both solo and chamber ensemble formats, incorporating a wide range of acoustic and electronic instrumentation. Similarly informed by minimalist and long-form tenets, early music concepts of intervallic and modal harmony, as well as experimental production practices of the electroacoustic studio environment, in her sound is an intimate and patient experience that lessens perceptions of the familiar and the distant.

In addition to her acclaimed recorded output, Davachi has toured extensively alongside artists such as Grouper, Ellen Arkbro, Oren Ambarchi, William Basinski, Catherine Lamb, Aaron Dilloway, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, Michael Pisaro, Loren Connors, Tashi Wada, David Rosenboom, Charlemagne Palestine, and filmmaker Paul Clipson.

Among the scores of venues to feature her hypnotic live performances, her work has been presented internationally by Barbican Centre in London, Ina GRM in Paris, Kontraklang in Berlin, Issue Project Room in New York, and Lampo in Chicago. Here in Los Angeles, she has performed at The Getty, Museum of Jurassic Technology, Zebulon, and 2220 Arts.

In 2020 she founded Late Music, an imprint within the partner labels division of Warp Records. Davachi holds a master's degree in electronic music and recording media from Mills College in Oakland, California, and is currently a doctoral candidate in musicology at UCLA, focusing on timbre, phenomenology, and critical organology, and is based in Los Angeles, California.

https://www.sarahdavachi.com/

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TASHI WADA

Long a crucial contributor to the fabric of sound activity in Los Angeles, composer and performer Tashi Wada will a special performance utilizing ‘The Great Organs’ at First Congregational Church.

Via recordings and international performances – and his deft use of alternative tunings – Wada’s distinctive and highly expressive works have come to figure heavily within the flow of contemporary minimalism worldwide. Instead of latching on to a single tuning system, he plums the possibilities of several, including those of his own devise. Wada contemplates – literally by ear – the harmonic structure for a piece: often embracing the relative, rather than the ballast. With pieces that utilize synthesis and a range of acoustic instrumentation, small ensemble and duo collaborations are key to his process.

Tashi Wada is a composer and performer based in Los Angeles. Wada studied composition at CalArts with James Tenney and for many years performed alongside his father, Yoshi Wada. He has presented his music internationally and collaborated with a range of artists including Charles Curtis, Simone Forti, and Julia Holter. Wada founded and runs the label Saltern. His most recent album Nue was released by RVNG Intl.

“Like his father Wada is obsessed by the brain scrambling properties of sustained tones and maximalist microtonal confusion…” - Volcanic Tongue

The Great Organs of First Church is an instrument appreciated by organ aficionados around the world for its complexity, grandeur, and remarkable sound. Comprised of several organs joined together, it is among the largest church pipe organs in the world, with 18,094 speaking pipes, 328 ranks, 15 divisions, and a total of 278 speaking stops.

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UPEND is a series of actions around emergent sound in Los Angeles.

Learn more at https://upend.la

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, 540 South Commonwealth Avenue, Los Angeles, United States