"The EAR Unit performs with exuberance and razor sharp precision." New York Times

"The California EAR Unit, d'excellents musiciens...un ensemble de tres grand qualite." La Province (Brussels)

"The exhilaration in their playing, as they plunge with glorious high spirits and dazzling skill into the world's most daunting repertoire...should be reward enough for anybody." LA Style

The California E.A.R. Unit was founded in 1981. In its twenty-eight year history, the ensemble has presented concerts of electro-acoustic and live interactive computer music, music theater, and local and world premieres of over 500 works. As the only full-time ensemble for contemporary repertoire in Southern California, the E.A.R. Unit seeks to serve its home base of Los Angeles, reflecting the region’s unique cultural diversity, and to represent Los Angeles and Southern California as its new music ambassadors to the world.

The ensemble has earned critical acclaim, garnering awards for its contributions to the field of contemporary American music such as the L.A. Weekly’s Best Classical Ensemble 1999 and 2003, as well receiving the prestigious Letter of Distinction from the American Music Center in 1999.

The Unit has performed at major venues such as the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C, and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. They have toured throughout the world: Brussels, Aspen, Kiev, Paris, Cologne, Tanglewood, New York, Boston, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Santa Fe, Amsterdam, Reykjavik, as well as to other domestic and international hot spots for new music. The ensemble has been featured in documentaries for the BBC and Japanese television, American and National Public Radio, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Danish National Radio, and WGBH’s “Art of the States”.

From 1987 to 2004 the E.A.R. Unit was Ensemble-in-Residence at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Since then, they have been in residence at the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT) housed in the Walt Disney Hall Complex. The Unit has collaborated with such artists asElliott Carter, Steve Reich, Morton Feldman, Julia Wolfe, Louis Andriessen, John Cage, Michael Gordon, Charles Wuorinen, Morton Subotnick, and Alison Knowles, among others, and performed countless works by as yet unknown young American composers. In addition, the E.A.R. Unit continues to present workshops to children in the Los Angeles area, particularly in at-risk and underserved areas and reaches close to 3,000 children annually.

The E.A.R. Unit has recorded for Nonesuch, Crystal, New Albion, New World, Tzadik, O.O. Discs, Bridge, and Cambria labels. Recent CDs include a three-CD series of E.A.R. Unit repertoire on the Echograph label and chamber works of Pulitzer Prize winning Los Angeles composer Mel Powell, and chamber works of Stephen “Lucky” Mosko, and hot of the press is 3 hour  recording of Morton Feldman’s For Christian Wolff.

Contact

Amy Knoles
SonicResolution
29654 Driver Avenue
Castaic, CA 91384
Ph (661) 775-9975, Fax (661) 775-3855
Mobile (213) 840-UNIT
E-mail: Amy Knoles

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