2004 Season
| Emerging from the post Tangerine Dream generation, UK synthesist Ian Boddy has carved out a position as a distinctive independent composer and performer. He is one of the few of his generation to have succesfully integrated EM styles as diverse as seventies-style sequencer structures, melodic neo-classicism and the post-rave Modern Ambient style. Boddy provides the listener with a rich atmosphere of original timbres and floating soundscapes. Ian Boddy made his American concert debut in Philadelphia in 2000. He returned to The Gatherings Concert Series for a performance on 20 March 2004. |  |
 | The British trio of AirSculpture consists of synthesists Adrian Beasley, John Christian and Peter Ruczynski. They describe their work as improvised sequencer music; arising while in the act of playing. While their music stays true to the initiatives and parameters of the genre, it is constantly attempting to understand spacemusic's full potential. Their pieces are usually lengthy and drifting dreamscapes marked by sprawling cycles of layered sequencer patterns. Harmony and melody add fullness and focus but the main attributes of this music remains texture and mood. AirSculpture performed in Philadelphia as part of The Gatherings Concert Series on 17 April 2004. |
| Radio Massacre Int'l are a trio from England engaged in improvisational music similar to that of the Berlin School of Spacemusic. The group includes Steve Dinsdale (synths), Duncan Goddard (synths) and Gary Houghton (guitar). RMI is well known for their part in preserving Europe's Electronic Music scene with legendary performances as part of the KLEM Dag, Alfa Centauri and EMMA festivals and concerts for the Jodrell Bank, National Space Center and Hampshire Jam series. RMI made their east-coast stateside debut in Philadelphia in 2002 and returned to The Gatherings Concert Series for a performance on 8 May 2004 |  |
 | On 12 June 2004 The Gatherings Concert Series hosted a Synthesizer Workshop. The workshop was headed by veteran synthesist Terry Furber, a leading talent in the field of home synthesizer design as well as in music performance with his Spacemusic duo Orbital Decay and was open to anyone interested in learning more about the concepts upon which Electronic Music is based. |
| Jeff Greinke returned to Philadelphia for a concert on 11 September. This concert was a kind of a homecoming for Greinke as he has ties to the area and, having performed early on for The Gatherings, has had a positive influence on our concert series. Greinke performed two extended sets of music, each with energy levels ranging from primal to cerebral. The evening culminated with a new piece, the moving "5000 Falling Souls" which is from his new album Soundtracks, released at this concert. |  |
 | As Lanterna, Henry Frayne connects his achievements in post-punk and shoegazer "dream pop" with moods drawn from spaghetti westerns and ambient isolationists. His albums of primarily guitar-based instrumentals move between the soothing, the unsettling and the fiery. Thought of as "instrumentals that speak", Lanterna provides an entire landscape of sound, created with just a guitar. Lanterna made his Philadelphia debut at The Gatherings Concert Series on 16 October. Acoustic guitarist Mark Oppenlander of One Alternative opened. |  |
 | Somewhere between the innovative singer/songwriter and acoustic based progressive rock lies the refreshingly original works of Blow Up Hollywood. Their mood altering instrumental pieces provide an electronically symphonic adventure with depth and heart, bringing out life's darker moments through lush orchestrations and acoustic folksy pop. Suzanne Teng is known for creating soul stirring and healing music. Performing on an impressive array of flutes from around the world, Teng scores a global percussion landscape with Gilbert Levy and realizes a music that uses traditional sounds in a new pan-global music. Suzanne Teng and Blow Up Hollywood made their Philadelphia debut at The Gatherings Concert Series on 13 November 2004. |
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The Mellotron is an electronic music instrument invented around 1960 to provide the sounds of violins, cellos, flutes, choirs, horns from a keyboard. Given the technology of the day, this was accomplished by using strips of magnetic tape, along with a pinch roller, tape head, pressure pad and a rewind mechanism for each note on the keyboard. To our modern day technological sensibilities this may seem cumbersome, but in fact no current synthesizer technology can come close to the quality of presence so characteristic of the classic Mellotron sound. Why is this? Because the tape playback mechanism is the musical instrument. A centerpiece of the progressive rock movement, the Mellotron can be heard on almost every song on the main seven Moody Blues albums, on "Strawberry Fields" by The Beatles, and on many albums by Genesis, King Crimson, The Strawbs and Yes.
On 11 December 2004, The Gatherings Concert Series will host a Mellotron Workshop. This workshop will be headed by Jeff Coulter, a leading authority on this enigmatic instrument, and several notable colleagues. The workshop is open to anyone interested in learning more about the history, application and inner workings of this rare keyboard instrument. |
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