2006 Season
| Saul Stokes is recognized as one of the leading voices in modern Electronic Music. Described as "fresh and inventive", Stokes brings together elements of Space, Ambient, Industrial and Intelligent-Techno and forges a sound uniquely his own. The immediacy of the live setting brings out Stokes' talent for creating floating spacemusic. Using unique, self-designed and constructed electronic instruments, he effortlessly conjures up completely improvised electronic soundscapes. Saul Stokes returned to Philadelphia and The Gatherings Concert Series on 25 March 2006. Also appearing was Electronic Musician Michael Bentley. Thanks to everyone who came out to the concert! |  Saul Stokes |
 Robert Rich | Robert Rich's music creates a world of primordial mystery and intense beauty. Electronics merge seamlessly with primitive instruments in lush atmospheres. Above it all float melodies played on bamboo flute and steel guitar. With the fabric of this hypnotic journey, Rich weaves a connection between human cultures both past and present, near and far. His current project is called Electric Ladder, where Rich pushes his modular synthesizer into new tonal directions. The music involves a blend of faster melodic cycles and percolating rhythms, his usual atmospherics and intricate examples of just intonation. Robert Rich performed this new material when he returned to Philadelphia and The Gatherings Concert Series on 22 April 2006. |
 The Ministry of Inside Things |
Consisting of electronic musician Chuck van Zyl and electric guitarist Art Cohen, The Ministry of Inside Things are considered among the most innovative of US spacemusicians today. While their music touches on many of the hallmarks of Berlin-School Spacemusic, MoIT bring their own influences and innovation to the process. The result is a sound that is uniquely individual. |
| Orbital Decay features Scott Watkins on guitar and Terry Furber on synths. This duo has been influenced profoundly by Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Pink Floyd and the multitude of music and artists emerging out of this experimental school. While referencing the spacemusic of the '70s, Orbital Decay charts unexplored territory in both mood and in sound. |  Orbital Decay |
| MoIT and Orbital Decay returned to The Gatherings Concert Series for a benefit concert on 20 May 2006. | |
| On Sunday 25 June 2006 The Gatherings Concert Series presented a workshop on computer-based Digital Audio Editing at St. Mary's Hamilton Village. Headed by ECHOES radio prducer Jeff Towne, the workshop focused on Digital Audio Editing and the use of the popular Pro Tools software. The primary educational goal of this workshop was to teach to the novice the basic operation of digital editing software and to cover the fundamentals a first-time user needs to know about setting up and operating an editing program. Concepts covered included: recording and importing audio, the creation of edit fades and crossfades, stereo mixes, audio editing and processing, and ultimately, insight into how these components and concepts may be integrated with the aim of realizing musical productions. Many thanks to everyone who came out! | 
|
 Ian Boddy | 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 successfully integrated EM modes as diverse as seventies-style sequencer structures, melodic neo-classicism and the post-rave Modern Ambient form. Boddy provides the listener with a rich atmosphere of original timbres and floating soundscapes. While on 2006's World Tour, Ian Boddy stopped in Philadelphia and The Gatherings Concert Series on 30 September 2006. |
| ~
Ian Boddy live at The Gatherings Concert Series on Saturday 30 September 2006 is funded in part by the independent record label Lotuspike | |
| Slow Six is often an eight-piece ensemble that has been performing its own brand of electronic chamber music around New York City for several years. Comprised of guitars, strings, a Rhodes piano, a laptop and video projections, Slow Six merges the instrumental virtuosity and compositional rigor of classical music with real-time digital signal processing and luminous video landscapes. The effect is at once adventurous yet accessible. Their debut album Private Times in Public Places has received wide critical acclaim. |  Slow Six |
 Hi-Fi Sky | Former residents of New Orleans, Hi-Fi Sky last played out live just before the Katrina evacuation. Consisting of Alexandra Scott (vocals, guitar), Tim Sommer (guitar) and Alex Maiolo (guitar), Hi-Fi Sky produces lush, cinematic, drone-pop. On their debut CD Music for Syncronized Swimming in Space, the duo presents an original brand of electronic ensemble playing that could only have come out of the timeless melodies rooted in the 200 year-old French and Arcadian culture of New Orleans.
Slow Six and Hi-Fi Sky made their Philadelphia debut at The Gatherings Concert Series on 28 October 2006. |
|
~
Slow Six live at The Gatherings Concert Series on Saturday 28 October 2006 is funded in part through Meet the Composer's Creative Connections program | |
| 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 returned to Philadelphia as part of The Gatherings Concert Series on 18 November 2006. |  AirSculpture |
|
~
AirSculpture live at The Gatherings Concert Series on Saturday 18 November 2006 is funded in part by the independent record label Synkronos Music | |
| INDEX | ARCHIVES | LINKS | NEWS | DIRECTIONS | MISSION | 2005 SEASON |