ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Resume Updates (MS Word docs)

Home () Biography () Sonography/Publications () Reviews () Distributors () Hear it on the Web

BIOGRAPHY

Sarah Peebles  (b.1964) is a Toronto-based American composer, performer, and installation artist. Peebles pursued violin, composition, and theatre studies in her native Minneapolis, MN, and received a Bachelor of Music degree in composition in 1988 from the University of Michigan School of Music at Ann Arbor. She has composed for electroacoustics, small ensemble, dance, animation, inter-disciplinary collaborations and music-theatre. Her current music focuses on computer-assisted composition and improvised performance using Max programming with internal sampling software, often together with live and/or prerecorded shô (Japanese mouth-organ). Peebles' work encompasses performance art, installation work and video production, and often explores alternative performance settings, such as museums, bamboo groves, temples and parks. Peebles developed, produced and performed collaborative works in Japan as a Japan Foundation Uchida Fellow in 1992-93 for bugaku (court dance), outdoor installation, computer music performance with visual artists, and music with video installation, which premiered at Tokyo's Studio Kinshicho, Hakushu Art Camp (Yamanashi), and Shukôji Temple (Kawasaki), and which resulted in the publication “Suspended in Amber” (innova Recordings). She periodically resided in Tokyo between 1985 and 1993, where she studied contemporary music at Toho Gakuen School of Music, gagaku (court music) with the Tokyo Association of Shinto Priests and at Hatonomori Shrine, and matsuri bayashi, kagura bayashi and shishi mai (Shinto festival music and ritual drama music, and lion dance music) with the Okada Tamigoro Guild, Saitama, under Okada Kuniaki. She is a member of the duo “Smash and Teeny” with Nilan Perera, prepared electric guitar and effects and Peebles, laptop and shô. They have performed and recording in Europe, Canada, the U.S. and Japan, and have collaborated with such exceptional artists as John Butcher, David Toop, Jin Hi Kim, Evan Parker, Kô Ishikawa, Darren Copeland, Sumihisa Arima, and Tomomi Adachi. Since 2001, they have performed at the CCA (Glasgow), the ICA and BBC3 (London), Paradox (Netherlands), Music Gallery (Toronto), The Outpost (New Mexico) and Société des Arts Technologiques (SAT, Montréal) and HearTOgo festival, Toronto. Their first formal release, “Gathering”, a double-CD of audio and video with guest John Butcher, is out on Spool (May, 2004). Since 1996, Peebles has been principal producer and member of the Toronto-based mixed-media trio, Cinnamon Sphere - Korean - influenced calligraphy performance with soundscape, with Nilan Perera, prepared electric guitar and Chung Gong Ha, visuals. Cinnamon Sphere has performed in Canada, The United States and Japan, with appearances at The Kobe International Festival of Modern Music, Space Alta (Yokohama, with Ishikawa Kô, shô), the Open Ears Festival, The Music Gallery with Jin- Hi Kim (komungo), the Art Gallery of Ontario, Strange Attractors International Festival of Experimental Intermedia Art (Minnesota), and others.The trio appears on a variety of music and video recordings: MUSICWORKS #66 magazine and CD, “Whose Forest?” (Hornblower Recordings), “Hover” (demo CDR), “Cinnamon Sphere” (limited edition CDR), Kaladar Kodex (video), If You Catch a Bird (video) and Slow Life (demo video). Peebles' recent activities are posted at http://www.sarahpeebles.net/now.htm and are also detailed in the resume section. Her activities before the year 2000 included the following: L'espace du son (Radio-Canada) soundscape commission for 2000 featuring Tokyo at the turn of the century; Cinnamon Sphere trio and Peebles-Perera Duo tour of Japan in November-December of 1999; New Adventures in Sound series, “Sound Travels” commission of live-to-tape 8-channel diffusion performance-recording using the Richmond Audio Box with ABControl software, developed with the assistance of Chris Rolph at the Banff Centre for the Arts (9/99), and performed in Banff, Calgary, Ghent, London and Toronto in 1999 and 2000; music commission by David Toop for “Hot Pants Idol” CD (Barooni) for collaboration with spoken word by Toop, including live spoken word performances in London and Barcelona (spoken word and tape); and, Cinnamon Sphere videos “Kaladar Kodex” and “If You Catch a Bird” (produced by Peebles). Her activities in 1998 included solo computer-assisted performance at The Kitchen (“Music from Nature”, Terra Nova Concert Festival, NYC) and at Chicago's “Mixing” (Women in Sound Art Festival); shô performance of Peter Chin's work “Language”" for Yvonne Ng and dancers at DuMaurrier Theatre Centre, Toronto; and, Festival d'ondes Martenot de Montréal performance with Suzanne Binet-Audet (ondes Martenot) and Bentley Jarvis (processed theramin), recorded by and broadcast over Radio-Canada's “Le Navire Night” (Hélène Provost, producer). Among a wide variety of artists with whom Peebles has collaborated have been, in addition to those mentioned above, Renée Highway (dance/choreography), Pauline Oliveros and The Circle Trio, Xiaoyuan Tu (animation and artificial intelligence), Robert Cruickshank (new media), Tina Kiik (accordion), Christos and Nora Noranjo-Morse (poetry), Harumi Kaieda (calligraphy), Haruo Higuma (video) and Kazuko Furuya (storytelling). Peebles' music has appeared at and on the following: “The Arts Tonight”, “Brave New Waves”, “Le Navire Night” (CBC/SRC), “Media Television” (City TV), NHK Television News and NHK Radio (Japan), “The Listening Room” (ABC), “The Singing Loudspeaker” (Adelaide Festival-The Listening Room), Roulette Intermedium, The Merce Cunningham Studio, Sound Culture '96, The Walker Art Center and The Southern Theater (Sonic Circuits Festival-Minnesota), The Music Gallery, Art Gallery of Ontario, Gésu (Montréal), New Works Calgary, Sonic Residues (Linden Gallery, Australia) and SIGGRAPH '92 Electronic Theater Evening. Awards and support include the Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, the SOCAN Foundation, the Banff Centre for the Arts, International Digital Media Awards (Xiaoyuan Tu video; music by Peebles), Inter/Access Electronic Media Arts Centre, the Japan-United States Friendship Commission, the American Composers Forum (McKnight Fellowship and others), The Suitcase fund through ACF, ASCAP Annual Awards, ASCAP Grants to Young Composers award, and BMI Student Composers Award, among others. Please find more information on the “Projects” page and other pages.

C O N T A C T Sarah Peebles | S t u d i o E x c e l o "time-based art with a creamy filling" Contact the Artist at sarahpeebles@gmail.com Homepage | Artist Biography | Recordings / Publications Max, Sample Cell, ABControl images | Cinnamon Sphere | Smash and Teeny | The Audible Woman Protest CD | Reviews | Notable Projects | Contact the Artist at sarahpeebles@gmail.com | Resources | What's New?  | Site updated by Four Corners Communications