zachary james watkins: moveable

Moveable is scored for pianoforte in a unique just intonation/equal temperament hybrid tuning, and employs a new mechanical extension called the "Piano Monster" built by NYC artist Ranjit Bhatnagar, which uses 16 voltage-controlled motors with attached objects that resonate piano strings. Zachary James Watkins is a California-based sound artist who has earned degrees in composition from The Cornish School and Mills College. Zachary has received commissions from Cornish, The Microscores Project, The Beam Foundation, Somnubutone, the sfSoundGroup and the Seattle Chamber Players. His 2006 composition Suite for String Quartet was awarded the Paul Merritt Henry Prize for Composition and has been performed as part of the Second Annual New Music Marathon in Seattle, WA, the Labs 25th Anniversary Celebration and the Labor Sonor Series at Kule in Berlin, the latter of which is released by the London new music label Confront. Zachary has presented works in numerous festivals across the United States, Mexico, and Germany, including the 2011 Activating The Medium Festival, the 2010 SFEMF, the 2009 Klankunstfest, the second Biennial SJ01 Global Festival of Arts On The Edge and the 2006 International Computer Music Conference. In 2007, Zachary premiered a new multi-media work entitled Country Western as part of the Meridian Gallery's Composers in Performance Series that received grants from the AMC and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. An excerpt of this piece is published on a compilation album entitled The Harmonic Series alongside Duane Pitre, Pauline Oliveros, Ellen Fullman and Charles Curtis. Zachary received a Subito Grant to assist in the production of the evening-length composition. Moveable premiered on April 2nd 2010 by pianist Tiffany Lin at the Chapel Performance Space as part of the Wayward Music Series in Seattle, WA. His sound art work entitled Designed Obsolescence, "spoke as a metaphor for the breakdown of the dream of technology and the myth of our society's permanence," review by Susan Noyes Platt in the Summer '05 issue of ARTLIES. Zachary has held artist-in-residence at both the Espy Foundation and Djerassi.