PRISM Quartet and Saxophonist Andrew Bishop Play Ann Arbor

Hailed by The Los Angeles Times for “remarkable examples of virtuosity,” the PRISM Quartet returns to Ann Arbor, where it was founded more than 30 years ago, for a concert featuring music by several award-winning Michigan composers: Kristin Kuster (University of Michigan), Alexis Bacon (Michigan State University), and Christopher Biggs (Western Michigan University). The program features the world premiere of Biggs’ “Surfaces and Essences” and the Midwest premiere of “Forbidden Drive” by Pew Fellow and PRISM’s resident composer, Matthew Levy. “Forbidden Drive” features guest saxophonist Andrew Bishop (University of Michigan). PRISM will also present an adaptation of “Fearful Symmetries” by Pulitzer Prize-winner John Adams from the Quartet’s just released “Paradigm Lost” album (XAS Records). Plus, one of PRISM’s favorites, “Night Music,” by rising-star Emma O’Halloran.

Proceeds from the concert will benefit a residency program this year in which PRISM visits schools in Detroit and throughout Southeast Michigan for assembly performances, composition classes, learning labs, and coaching sessions. According to Damien Crutcher, the founding executive director of Crescendo Detroit, “Our motto is ‘Building character through music.’ One of our major goals is to regularly expose our kids to the best artists possible. We believe if they can see it, they can be it, which is why we are beyond excited to have the PRISM Quartet in residence with us here, in the heart of Detroit.”

CONCERT PROGRAM
Fearful Symmetries (excerpt) by John Adams, Arr. Timothy McAllister
Red Pine by Kristin Kuster
Forbidden Drive by Matthew Levy
Capriccio by Alexis Bacon
Surfaces and Essences (world premiere) by Christopher Biggs
Night Music by Emma O’Halloran

ANDREW BISHOP

Andrew Bishop is a versatile multi-instrumentalist (saxophone, clarinet, flute), composer, improviser, educator, and scholar comfortable in a wide array of musical idioms. He maintains an active national and international career and serves as an Assistant Professor of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where he teaches applied jazz saxophone, composition, and improvisation. He studied jazz and improvised music with David Baker, Jerry Bergonzi, Tom Fowler, Dave Liebman, Craig Owens, Ellen Rowe, Ed Sarath, and Reggie Workman; saxophone with Donald Sinta and Jean Lansing; and composition with William Albright, William Bolcom, Evan Chambers, Michael Daugherty, and Walter Mays. Bishop earned five degrees in music, including a DMA in music composition from the University of Michigan.

Bishop’s two recordings as a leader, Time and Imaginary Time and the Hank Williams Project (Envoi Recordings), received widespread acclaim from The New York Times, Downbeat Magazine, The Chicago Reader, All Music Guide, Cadence Magazine, All About Jazz-New York, All About Jazz-Los Angeles, and The Detroit Free Press, among others. He leads a variety of projects including a jazz trio Bishop/Cleaver/Flood, a broadminded roots chamber ensemble, Andrew Bishop’s Hank Williams Project, a mainstream jazz group the Andrew Bishop Quartet, and a global blues project called Blue Origami. As a sideman, he has performed with Reid Anderson, Geri Allen, Karl Berger, Sandip Burman, Kenny Burrell, Eugene Chadbourne, Ray Charles, Gerald Cleaver, Drew Gress, Jerry Hahn, Robert Hurst, John Lindberg, Chris Lightcap, The Either Orchestra, Mat Maneri, The Manhattan Transfer, Tony Malaby, Ben Monder, Jeremy Pelt, Hank Roberts, Jacob Sacks, Craig Taborn, Clark Terry, Ben Waltzer, Matt Wilson, and John Zorn, among others. Bishop has recorded over 30 compact discs as a sideman and regularly performs as a member of Gerald Cleaver’s Violet Hour and Uncle June, the Ellen Rowe Quartet, the Tad Weed Freedom Ensemble, Phil Ogilive’s Rhythm Kings, and the contemporary concert music group Opus 21.

As a composer and arranger, he has received over 20 commissions from professional organizations and universities and numerous residencies. He has also received recognition and awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP); The Chicago Symphony Orchestra; the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; and a nomination from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His orchestral composition Crooning was recorded by the Albany Symphony Orchestra on Two American Piano Concertos (Albany Records), featuring pianists Ursula Oppens and Ian Hobson. He has also completed composition and arranging projects for percussionists Matt Wilson and Steve Houghton and is currently completing a chamber music project for saxophonist Dave Liebman.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This program is presented with generous support from the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Quaker Chemical Foundation, the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, and Meridian Winds.