Pamela Z facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Pamela Z
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Pamela Z (c. 2003)
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| Background information | |
| Born | 1956 Buffalo, New York |
| Genres | Avant-garde, contemporary classical, experimental, electroacoustic |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, performer |
| Instruments | Voice, electronics |
| Labels | Starkland, Innova, Bridge |
Pamela Z (born in 1956) is an American composer and performer. She is known for her unique solo performances using her voice and electronic sounds.
Pamela Z mixes different vocal styles in her shows. These include operatic singing, special experimental voice techniques, and spoken word. She combines these with sounds she records and changes, or sounds made by playing with everyday objects.
She often uses a computer program called Max during her live performances. This helps her layer, loop, and change her voice in real time. Her shows often include video projections and special controllers. These controllers have sensors that let her use her body movements to control the sounds and videos.
Pamela Z has released several solo albums, including Echolocation (1987), A Delay is Better (2004), and A Secret Code (2021). Her sound art and installations have been shown in art galleries and museums around the world. These include the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
She has also received many important awards for her work. These include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Rome Prize, and the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award.
Contents
Early Life and Learning
Pamela Z was born in Buffalo, New York. She grew up in the Denver area. In 1978, she earned her music degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder. There, she studied classical singing.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, she performed as a singer-songwriter. She played guitar and sang across Colorado under the name Pam Brooks.
Her Career in Music
In the early 1980s, Pamela Z started trying out new ways to change her voice. She used digital delay and reverb, which are sound effects. She also began creating music where she would record and play back her voice in a loop, live during her performance.
In 1984, she moved to San Francisco. She changed her last name to Z. She became a big part of the San Francisco Bay Area's modern music and performance art scene. Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, she kept making solo voice and electronics shows. She became well-known by performing in new music venues, theaters, and art galleries. Soon, she began touring her work across the country and around the world. By 2000, she was performing regularly in New York City, Europe, and Japan.
Pamela Z has performed at many famous festivals. These include Bang on a Can at Lincoln Center in New York City and La Biennale di Venezia in Venice.
Besides her solo shows, Pamela Z has written music for other groups. These are called chamber works. Famous groups like the Kronos Quartet and the Bang on a Can All Stars have asked her to create pieces for them.
In 2013, the Kronos Quartet asked her to create a new piece called "And the Movement of the Tongue." A music critic from the San Francisco Chronicle called it "witty and beautifully touching."
In 2014, she created the sound for a show called “Multiple Mary and Invisible Jane.” This show took place on a large wall in San Francisco. Pamela Z recorded and changed the voices of women who were experiencing homelessness. They shared their personal stories. She has also written music for modern dance choreographers.
In 2022, she was one of several composers asked to create new music for singer Julia Bullock. This was for a show with the San Francisco Symphony.
Pamela Z has also composed music for independent films.
Her Recordings
Many of Pamela Z's well-known pieces are on her 2004 solo CD, A Delay is Better. Her music has also appeared on various experimental music collections. For example, her piece "Declaratives In First Person" is on Crosstalk: American Speech Music. Her work "Geekspeak" is on Sonic Circuits IV and Bitstreams. She also recorded a song for Meredith Monk's 2012 tribute CD Monk Mix.
In 2021, a new release of her album ‘Echolocation’ was listed by the New York Times as one of "5 Classical Music Albums to Hear Right Now." They praised her skill at live looping and her amazing vocal technique.
Visual Art and Installations
Pamela Z creates sound art for radio and new media installations for art galleries. Her 21-channel sound installation, Simultaneous, was shown at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York in 2023. She also had a solo show at the Krannert Art Museum in Champaign, Illinois in 2010. Other places her art has been shown include Savvy Contemporary in Berlin and the Chico University Art Gallery.
Her installations have also been part of group exhibitions. These include Walkmen in Cologne, Germany, and "Sonic Gestures" in Trondheim, Norway. She was also part of Bitstreams at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2001.
Narration Work
Pamela Z is also known for using her voice in independent films and TV shows. You can hear her voice in documentaries like Sam Green's The Weather Underground (2002). She also narrated Spark, a weekly arts TV show on PBS station KQED from 2003 to 2016.
Awards and Recognitions
Pamela Z has received many important awards. These include the United States Artists fellowship, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Walter Hinrichsen Award (both 2020), the Rome Prize (2019), and the Guggenheim Fellowship (2004). She also received the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award in theater (2015) and the CalArts Alpert Award in the Arts (1998).
In 2008, her old university, the University of Colorado at Boulder, honored her as Alumna of the Year. In 2017, she was an artist-in-residence at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.
In 2018, a conference called New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) created the “Pamela Z Award for Innovation.” This award is given each year to researchers who help bring more diversity to the NIME community.
Music Albums
Solo Albums
- Echolocation, 1987, ZED, cassette only, no longer printed
- A Delay is Better, 2004, Starkland, CD ST-213
- A Secret Code, 2021, Neuma Records CD 143
- Echolocation (reissue, 2021), Freedom to Spend Vinyl LP FTS-024
Compilation Albums
- Pearls, the Gem of the Sea on " Komotion International Vol. 11", 1991, Spirit Records, LP, CD, CS
- State on "State of the Union", produced by Elliott Sharp, 1992, Arrest, CD
- In Tymes of Olde (Z) and Obsession, Additiction and the Aristotelian Curve (Z and Imhoff) on "From A to Z", Starkland, 1993, CD
- Bald Boyfriend performed by The Qube Chix on "Dice", 1993, Ishtar, CD
- Geekspeak on "Sonic Circuits IV", 1996, Innova Recordings, CD
- Parts and Questions/Trip on "Dice 2", 1996, Ishtar, CD
- Caught on "Emergency Music", CRI, 1998, CD
- Live/Work on "IMMERSION", Starkland, 2000, 5.1 surround DVD-audio ST-2010
- Geekspeak on "Bitstreams", curated by Stephen Vitiello, Whitney Museum of American Art, 2001, CD
- 50 for Charles Amirkhanian on "Homo Sonorus", Kunstradio, 2001, CD
- No. 3 on "Visions", (2002) EMIT Series, CD
- Pop Titles 'You' on "Deep Wireless 2: New Adventures in Sound Art," 2005, CD
- Declaratives In First Person on "Crosstalk: American Speech Music" produced by Mendi & Keith Obadike, Bridge Records, 2008, CD
Tribute Albums
- Movements I, II, & III (Peter Kowald), Kowald, Gottschalk, and Z on "Global Village Trio", Free Elephant, 2004, CD
- Postcard From Heaven (John Cage), Victoria Jordanova: harps, Z: voices, Arpaviva, 2006, CD
- Scared Song (Meredith Monk), composer, Monk, arr. & performer, Z on "Monk Mix", House Foundation for the Arts, 2012, CD
On Other Artists' Albums
- Ethel, Ethel Dreams of Temporal Disturbances (Z) on "Light", Cantaloupe, 2006, CD CA20137
- Vijay Iyer and Mike Ladd, Still Life with Commentator, Savoy Jazz, 2007
- Lisle Ellis, Sucker Punch Requiem (Ellis: bass, Z: voice & electronics, Oliver Lake: saxophones, George Lewis: trombone, Holly Hoffman: flutes, Mike Wofford: piano, Susie Ibarra: drums & percussion), Henceforth, 2008, CD
- Vijay Iyer and Mike Ladd, Holding It Down: The Veterans' Dreams Project, 2013
