Anne La Berge was born in Palo Alto, California, in 1955. Her father was a neuropsychology scientist and her mother a violinist. She is a

flutist The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and improviser, currently residing in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. Her performances bring together a virtuosic command of her instrument, use of microtonal textures and melodies, and an array of percussive flute effects, all combined with electronic processing. These have distinguished her as “a pioneer in a wide array of new techniques”. Many of her compositions involve her own participation, though she has produced works intended solely for other performers, usually involving guided improvisation and electronics. She is known for her use of texts that form part of her compositions and improvisations. In addition to creating her own work, she regularly performs in other artists’ projects in a range of settings from modern chamber music to improvised electronic music. While pursuing PhD research at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

in the mid-1980s she formed a duo with flutist

John Fonville John Fonville is a flutist and composer. Fonville specializes in extended techniques on the flute, especially microtonality, and performs on instruments including a complete set of quarter tone ( Kingma system) flutes.extended technique In music, extended technique is unconventional, unorthodox, or non-traditional methods of singing or of playing musical instruments employed to obtain unusual sounds or timbres.Burtner, Matthew (2005).Making Noise: Extended Techniques after Exper ...

s on flute, particularly with regard to

microtonal Microtonality is the use in music of microtones — intervals smaller than a semitone, also called "microintervals". It may also be extended to include any music using intervals not found in the customary Western tuning of twelve equal interv ...

scales. She moved to Amsterdam in 1989, where she has lived ever since. In 1999, together with Steve Heather and

Cor Fuhler Cornelis William Hendrik Fuhler (3 July 1964 – 19 July 2020) was a Dutch/Romani improvisor, composer, and instrument builder associated with free jazz, experimental music and acoustic ecology. He played piano by manipulating sound with electrom ...

, she founded the Kraakgeluiden, a improvisation series based in Amsterdam, exploring combinations of acoustic instruments, electronic instruments and computers, and using real-time interactive performance systems.Metzelaar 2004, 199-200. Many of the musical collaborations that have resulted have taken on a life beyond the Kraakgeluiden series, which ceased in 2006. La Berge’s own music has evolved in parallel, and the flute has become only one element in a sound world that includes samples, synthesis, the use of spoken text and electronic processing. In 2006 - 2007 she collaborated with Dr.

David LaBerge David LaBerge (born 1929) is a neuropsychologist specializing in the attention process and the role of apical dendrites in cognition and consciousness. Early life and education David LaBerge was born in St. Louis, Missouri, St. Louis, Missouri ...

. This is a performance work based on Dr. La Berge's

apical dendrite An apical dendrite is a dendrite that emerges from the apex of a pyramidal cell. Apical dendrites are one of two primary categories of dendrites, and they distinguish the pyramidal cells from spiny stellate cells in the cortices. Pyramidal cells ar ...

theory using film, narrative voice samples and music. She performs on a set of quarter tone (Kingma system) flutes and regularly uses the

Kyma (sound design language) Kyma is a visual programming language for sound design used by musicians, researchers, and sound designers. In Kyma, a user programs a multiprocessor digital signal processor (DSP) by graphically connecting modules on the display of a Macintosh or ...

System for audio synthesis and processing. She can be heard on the New World Records, Z6 Records, Largo, Artifact, Etcetera, Hat Art, Frog Peak, Einstein, X-OR, Unsounds, Canal Street, Rambo, esc.rec., Data, chmafu, Carrier, verz, Splendor, Present Sounds Recordings,

Wandelweiser The Wandelweiser Group is a composition school, collective for composers and performers of contemporary classical music. Inspired by the work of John Cage, the Wandelweiser Group writes experimental music, which is typically of a very quiet nature ...

Records,

Another Timbre Another Timbre is a record label, based in Sheffield and known for its releases of free improvisation, experimental and contemporary classical music. It was founded by television sound recordist Simon Reynell, who also engineers and produces most ...

and

Relative Pitch Records Relative Pitch Records is an American independent record label specializing in free jazz and avant-garde jazz, free improvisation, and experimental music. Run by Kevin Reilly, Relative Pitch has been ranked among the top jazz record labels in ''T ...

labels which include recordings as a soloist and with

Lukas Simonis Lukas Simonis is a Dutch guitarist, mainly active in experimental music and sound art. Besides his career as a musician he's also involved with the Rotterdam-based avant garde venue WORM. and runs the music lab of the venue. Simonis published a b ...

Ensemble Modern Ensemble Modern is an international ensemble dedicated to performing and promoting the music of contemporary composers. Formed in 1980, the group is based in Frankfurt, Germany, and made up variously of about twenty members from numerous countri ...

, United Noise Toys, Fonville/La Berge duo, Rasp/Hasp, Bievre/La Berge duo, Apricot My Lady, the Corkestra, MAZE, Joe Williamson, Ig Henneman,

Jaimie Branch Jaimie "Breezy" Branch (June 17, 1983 – August 22, 2022) was an American jazz trumpeter and composer. Life and career Branch was born in Huntington, New York, on June 17, 1983. She started playing trumpet at age nine. At age 14, she moved to ...

, Diamanda La Berge Dramm, David Dramm, Phil Maguire, Ted Moore, Seamus Cater, Danya Pilchen and Tom Baker. She is an active artist in Splendor Amsterdam, a collective of 50 musicians, composers and stage artists who have transformed an old bathhouse in the center of Amsterdam into a cultural mecca. Anne La Berge has regularly received funding from the Dutch Funds for Composers, the Funds for the Podium Arts and the Amsterdam Funds for the Arts. She is the co-director, with her husband David Dramm, of the Volsap Foundation. She has been teaching courses at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague from 2019. She also works as a freelance coach for the Amsterdam based ''Executive Performance Training'' company.

Discography (as composer)

* ''sand''. Present Sounds Recordings, 2023. * ''bruit'' Carrier Records 056 2020. Flute and electronics with Ted Moore. * ''two cities'' verz 2020. Electro acoustic duos by Phil Maguire and Anne La Berge. * ''Dropping Stuff and Other Folk Songs'' Relative Pitch Records RPR1094. Free improv with Ig Henneman and

. * ''Modern Genetics'' Splendor Records 001. A triple LP with works by Dramm, La Berge and La Berge Dramm. * ''three cities'' verz 2019. Electro acoustic duos by Phil Maguire and Anne La Berge. * ''Damn'' chmafu nocords 2018. A compilation of women composers. Includes ''Utter'' by Anne La Berge. * ''RAW'' LP Unsounds 2017. With MAZE. * ''The Hum'' Unsounds 2015. With Joe Williamson. * ''SPEAK'' New World Records 2011. Works featuring

, Stephie Buttrich, Misha Myers, Josh Geffin, Amy Walker, Patrick Ozzard-Low and Anne La Berge. * ''Rust Fungus'' Z6 Records 2010. With

* ''Newly Refurbished and Tussock Moth'' esc.rec., 2009. songs by Apricot My Lady including Adam and Jonathan Bohman and

. * ''rasp/hasp'' Ramboy #19, 2004. Improvisations with

Jody Gilbert Jody Gilbert (March 18, 1916 – February 3, 1979) was an American actress. Biography Gilbert was born in Fort Worth, Texas. She studied voice and acting at Columbia University, and was a graduate of Pasadena Playhouse. After numerous uncredit ...

, Wilbert de Joode, Richard Barrett,

Paul Lovens Paul Lovens (born 6 June 1949) is a German musician. He plays drums, percussion, singing saw, and cymbals. He has performed with the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra and Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra. He was born in Aachen, Germany. In the early ...

* ''VerQuer'' Upala Records, 2004. Includes ''rough diamond''. * ''Radio WORM'' WORMrec, 2004. * ''Kraakgeluiden'', 2003. unsounds 06. * ''Flute Moments'' with Theresa Beaman 1998. Laurel Records 857. Includes ''revamper''. * ''United Noise Toys live in Utrecht '98''. X-OR, 1998. With

Gert-Jan Prins Gert-Jan Prins (born 1961, IJmuiden) is a Dutch musician active in free improvisation. Initially a free jazz percussionist, Prins now focuses on producing and manipulating sound, especially white and pink noise, using a collection of custom-built ...

. Features ''duct; yolk; nape; lurk; flap; juke; moat; pike; turf.'' * ''Blow''. Frog Peak Music, 1994. Features ''never again; rollin'; icauce; indeed; unengraced; revamper''.

Sources

External links

AnneLaBerge.com

Volsap

SplendorAmsterdam

MAZE

{{DEFAULTSORT:La Berge, Anne 1955 births 21st-century American composers Living people Microtonal musicians American women in electronic music American flautists American expatriates in the Netherlands 21st-century American women composers 21st-century flautists

Discography (as composer)

Sources

Further reading

External links