Matthew Goodheart : Works

This continuous event moves between sound installation and performance, centered on works created by and written for Matthew Goodheart. Known for his work with transducer-activated instruments and idiosyncratic piano improvisations, the event will feature a mixture of works, including works commissioned by Berlin’s Transmediale, Euroradio Ars Acoustic, a solo piano piece written for him by Jon Raskin, and a performance of his solo bass composition by Czech-based artist George Cremaschi.
Native San Franciscan Matthew Goodheart has an international reputation as an improviser, composer, and sound artist. Following an early career as a free-jazz pianist, he has created a wide spectrum of works that explore the relationships among performer, instrument, and listener. His work ranges from large-scale microtonal compositions to open improvisations and immersive sound installations – all unified by the analytic techniques and performative methodologies he has developed to bring forth the unique and subtle acoustic properties of individual musical instruments. Goodheart’s approach results in a “generative foundation” for exploring issues of perception, technology, cultural ritual, and the psycho-physical impact of acoustic phenomena.
His work has been featured throughout the US, Canada, and Europe in such festivals as MaerzMusik, The International Spectral Music Festival, June in Buffalo, Klappsthulfest, Jazz Ao Centro, The Illuminations New Music & Arts Festival, and many others. He has performed and recorded with such luminaries as Wadada Leo Smith, Fred Frith, Pauline Oliveros, Glenn Spearman, Gianni Gebbia, Vladimir Tarasov, Jack Wright, and Cecil Taylor, and works frequently with the new music ensemble sfSoundGroup. He was recently Fulbright scholar in Prague, writing new music for the quartertone pianos created for Alois Hába in the 1920s, and was awarded the 2014 Berlin Prize in Music Composition. He currently a lecturer at U.C. Berkeley, and will begin a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship at Columbia University in the Fall.