Bang On A Can’s Found Sound Nation
Found Sound Nation (FSN) is an eclectic group of artists who have a strong sense of social engagement. Working with people across the globe, from schools to prisons, from young to old, and partnering with local youth, social organizations, music festivals, and artists across all disciplines, FSN creates an imagined musical nation that transcends geographical, linguistic, and political borders. The work of FSN uses the expressive power of music, audio, and video production to give voice to underrepresented communities, unlock the creative potential of at-risk youth, and build bridges between communities separated by cultures, economic disparities, and geography.
Our Philosophy: Ears to the Ground
We believe that the art of listening extends far beyond the practice of making music — it is one of the major ways we can become aware of the beauty, tragedy, and hidden potential present in our neighborhoods, institutions and families. Our work emphasizes a mobile, accessible, collaborative way of recording and producing professional quality music, a technique developed by combining the innovative art music traditions of our sponsor organization Bang On A Can with traditions of musique concréte, hip hop, and contemporary composition. Our method is highly adaptable to different environments; it draws its strength from working and recording in different spaces, drawing upon the musicians from the local scene, and the sounds of the local atmosphere.
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“Dear Lord” produced by Found Sound Nation with participants at Horizons juvenile detention center. This project was part of our ongoing work with Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections Program.
Staff
Christopher Marianetti
Co-Founder & Artistic Director
email: chris@foundsoundnation.org
Christopher Marianetti, Co-Founder & Artistic Director of Found Sound Nation, is a composer, producer, and educator from Albuquerque, New Mexico. His works have premiered at the International Gaudeamus Competition, Merkin Concert Hall, Massachusetts Museum of Modern Art (Mass MoCA), The Stone, Galapagos, and the Tenri Cultural Institute among others. His Animated Scores series have been presented at 21c Liederabend, NY, the Twin Cities Nuit Blanche, MN and the upcoming 2011 Make Music NY Winter Festival. Chris has been a composer-in-residence with Bang On A Can Summer Institute of Music, Ashram Paryavarn Vidhyalaya in India, La Granja Arts Center in Mexico, and NYU/ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop. WIth Found Sound Nation Chris has led site-specific music and audio projects in India, Mexico, Zimbabwe, Italy, and Switzerland and was recently awarded the PopTech Social Innovation Fellows Award. Chris trained in composition at the Accademia Internazionale della Musica in Milan, Italy and received his Master’s in music composition from Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music. Chris is an active teaching artist with the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall, and has led workshops through Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections Program and Cultural Exchange Program.
Jeremy Thal
Co-Founder & Artistic Director
email: jeremy@foundsoundnation.org
Jeremy Thal, Co-Founder & Artistic Director of Found Sound Nation, is a horn player, composer, and educator. He studied horn, ethnomusicology, and Chinese at Northwestern University, and continues to work as a performer, playing in major music festivals and obscure bookstores around the world. With fellow co-founder Chris Marianetti, Jeremy co-designed Found Sound Nation’s approach to socially-engaged music creation, and has co-led FSN projects in Haiti, Zimbabwe, New Orleans, Mexico, Indonesia, Italy, and Switzerland. For the last 3 years, Jeremy has served as a lead teaching artist at the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall, running innovative music production workshops with incarcerated youth in New York City. A founder of ZeroBit Music, he composes and produces music for film, theater, web sites, and video games. As a horn player Jeremy has recorded and toured with indie rock heavyweights Jeff Mangum and The National, and leads his own band, Briars of North America.
Elena Moon Park
Project Manager and Development Director
email: elena@foundsoundnation.org
Elena Moon Park is a musician and educator living in Brooklyn, NY. Originally from Oak Ridge, TN, she studied anthropology and ethnomusicology at Northwestern University and completed a Masters Degree in Urban Policy from The New School in New York City. Before moving to NYC, Elena worked as an organizational development consultant for several grassroots social justice organizations in South and West Chicago. In addition to managing programs for Bang on a Can’s Found Sound Nation, Elena is a freelance musician in NYC specializing in new music, and she tours nationally and internationally with the all-ages folk rock band Dan Zanes and Friends, playing fiddle, trumpet, mandolin, spoons, ukulele, and singing. As a member of Dan Zanes and Friends, Elena engages in outreach with youth arts organizations across the country, and has performed on stages and in festivals throughout the United States, as well as Australia, England, Spain, and the Middle East. Elena is also interested in the preservation of diverse music and culture in the United States and has recently released an album for families featuring folk and children’s music from East Asia.
Jennifer Kessler
Program Manager
email: jennifer@foundsoundnation.org
A French Horn player by training, Jennifer Kessler is a music education program manager and advocate. As Program Director of Found Sound Nation, Jennifer collaborates with artists and arts organizations to design unique music education programs for diverse communities around the United States and Africa. In her former position as Manager of Professional Programs at the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall, Jennifer created professional development workshops for educators, young professional musicians, and NY-based Teaching Artists; produced several concerts at Carnegie Hall; and collaborated closely with many of the world’s leading musicians. Formerly, Jennifer lived in Berlin, Germany, and in Tel Aviv, Israel, where she played French Horn with ensembles including the Berlin Philharmonic and the Israeli Opera Orchestra. Jennifer has also led music education projects in Europe for disadvantaged children, and visited Venezuela to research El Sistema, the system of youth orchestras. She has earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University and a graduate Diplom in Music Performance from the Hanns Eisler Musikhochschule, Berlin.
Adam Miller
Teaching Artist
Adam Miller, a percussionist, was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada. He graduated from McGill University in Montreal with a bachelor’s degree in jazz performance. Following college, he spent 8 months in India studying indigenous music, specifically the Tabla and classical Indian singing. He spent 3 years in Montreal as a professional drummer, leading several bands and appearing on various albums. In January 2009 Adam received a grant from the Quebec government to travel to New York City to study the Tabla with Tabla Master, Samir Chaterjee. He has recently relocated to New York City, where he plays regularly and is branching out into other art forms. His band, Turtleboy, recently signed with Song Line label. Adam has extensive volunteer experience with various organizations, such as Artists Striving to End Poverty (ASTEP), where he taught an intensive arts program for children of migrant farm workers in Homestead, Florida. Currently Adam leads our year long in-class hip-hop production program at Brooklyn Community Arts and Media High School (BCAM).
Ezra Tenenbaum
Audio Engineer & Teaching Artist
Ezra Tenenbaum is a producer and performer who received his B.F.A. from NYU Tisch’s Clive Davis School of Recorded Music. He has produced numerous bands, scores for film and sound for multi-media artists Karen Finley and Tatyana Tenenbaum. His band Strange Shapes has performed at venues such as Glasslands, Death by Audio, and The Tank. Joining Found Sound Nation in 2009, Ezra has worked on projects at Blair Grocery in New Orleans, Bronx’s Horizon Juvenile Center and Brooklyn Community Arts & Media High School.
Teaching Artists
- Eli Asher – Trumpet
- Joe Bergen – Percussion
- Gregory Chudzik – Bass, Production
- Gideon Crevoshay – Voice, Production
- Josh Giunta – Percussion, Production
- Michael Hammond – Guitar, Production
- Jay Hammond – Guitar, Production
- Otto Hauser – Drums
- Nathan Koci – French horn, Accordion, Production
- Adam Miller – Percussion, Production
- Elena Moon Park – Violin
- Alex Samaras – Voice
- Ben Scheuer – Engineer
- Jeannane Siedman – Violin/Viola, Production
Advisory Committee
- Tim Thomas
- David Lang
- Michael Gordon
- Julia Wolf
- Kenny Savelson
- Mark Stewart
- Gregg August
- Tommie Lindsey
- Benjamin Turner
