Title: Somewhere in the Upstream
Commission: 2012
Completed: 2014
Instrumentation: trombone, bass, drums, computer
Premiere Location: November 22, 2014 in the Gassman Electronic Music Series at Winifred Smith Hall, UC Irvine
Premiere Ensemble: Michael Dessen Trio
Notes:

Michael Dessen is a musician and educator based in southern California. He composes for improvisers, performs on trombone and computer, explores networked music technologies, and works to expand educational spaces for artistic and cultural innovation.

As a composer-bandleader, he leads groups including his electro-acoustic trio, and his music has been recognized with awards from Chamber Music America, New Music USA and the Fromm Foundation. As a trombonist, Dessen’s original sound and broad skills have made him a valued sideperson and collaborator for many renowned musicians, and he also performs solo concerts on digibone, a custom trombone-computer environment.

Active since 2007 in the field of telematics, Dessen has participated in over 30 networked concerts, composing new works and co-directing large-scale productions to explore the potentials of this medium. He has collaborated telematically with sites in South and North America, South Korea and Europe, and with musicians including Mark Dresser, Nicole Mitchell, Myra Melford, Geri Allen, Sarah Weaver, George E. Lewis, Mario Valencia, Matthias Ziegler, Gerry Hemingway, Bae Il Dong, Black String Ensemble and numerous others. Dessen has also co-taught intercultural, telepresent courses connecting youth between Colombia and California, and university seminars on telematic music making.

Dessen grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and his training includes diverse freelance experiences, graduate studies with Yusef Lateef, George E. Lewis, and Anthony Davis, and degrees from Eastman, UMass Amherst and UC San Diego. He has published writings on networked music, the Asian American creative music movement and intercultural African diasporic collaboration, as well as a Preface to Yusef Lateef’s Songbook. A faculty member at the University of California, Irvine since 2006, Dessen co-founded a MFA and PhD program in Integrated Composition, Improvisation and Technology (ICIT), and served for four years as chair of the Music Department.