Ellen Fullman and Theresa Wong

Ellen Fullman, Long String Instrument
Theresa Wong, Cello

“The combined strings resemble a mechanical cobweb, and Fullman was the spider not the fly.”—Marc Weidenbaum, Disquiet

For over 30 years, composer Ellen Fullman has been developing a sound world all her own. Her Long String Instrument is an installation of dozens of wires 50 feet or longer tuned in just intonation and “bowed” with rosin-coated fingers. Fullman has developed a unique notation system to choreograph the performer’s movements, exploring sonic events that occur at specific nodal point locations along the string length of the instrument. She has recorded extensively with this unusual instrument and has collaborated with luminary figures such as composer Pauline Oliveros, choreographer Deborah Hay, the Kronos Quartet, and Keiji Haino. Her music was represented in The American Century: Art and Culture, 1950–2000 at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and she has performed in venues and festivals in Europe, Japan, and the Americas, including Instal, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Other Minds, the Walker Art Center, and Donaueschinger Musiktage. The recipient of numerous awards, commissions, and residencies, Fullman makes her Cleveland debut with a week-long visit to the Transformer Station.

Theresa Wong is a composer, cellist and vocalist active at the intersection where music meets the creative spirit of experimentation, improvisation, and the synergy of multiple disciplines. Her works include The Unlearning, 21 songs inspired by Goya's Disasters of War etchings (Tzadik, 2011), O Sleep, an opera inspired by the conundrum of sleep and dream life, and Venice Is A Fish (Sensitive Skin Music, 2014), an album of solo songs. Bridging areas of music, dance, theater, and visual art, Wong is interested in performance as a vehicle for transformation for both the artist and receiver alike. She has presented her work internationally at venues including Fondation Cartier in Paris, Cafe Oto in London, Area Sismica in Forlì, Italy, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, Festival of Art and Contemporary Opera in Morelia, Mexico, and Roulette and The Stone in New York City. She is currently based in Berkeley, California.

$25; CMA members $22