Mondial Première:
September 29th / The Labenche Museum / 26 bis boulevard Jules Ferry / 19100, Brive la Gaillarde, France / Tel.: +33 (0)5 55 18 17 70.

Thollem McDonas has been invited to compose, play, and record on Debussy's only piano he owned the last 14 years of his life. The first half of the program Thollem will be playing late piano works of Debussy's which he most likely composed on this instrument. The second half he will be joined by Stefano Scodanibbio in duets for piano and contrabass Thollem is composing specially for this event.

www.musee-labenche.com
www.thollem.com
www.stefanoscodanibbio.com

Recording engineer: Philippe Darcy.

Thollem Mcdonas, pianist/vocalist/composer/improviser, recipient of the 2006 National Endowment of the Arts
Meet The Composer grant, was born Feb. 23, 1967 in the San Francisco Bay Area of Irish and Cherokee descent.
He is touring perpetually, the previous year in Europe, currently in the U.S. He began his musical training as a young child rigorously studying the keyboard repertoire from the renaissance to the 20th century. After graduating with degrees in both piano performance and composition he chose to become homeless for several years, opting to wander and live out of a backpack, rather than pursue a career as a concert pianist with a suit and tie. It is because of these dichotomies and rich, wildly disparate experiences that his music is so dynamic and appeals to such a wide variety of audiences.

His travels as a performer have covered much of the North American continent and Europe. He has performed extensively as a soloist as well with groups. He is a founding member of several innovative ensembles, and is responsible, in full or in part, for many albums of original music, with both Pax Recordings and Edgetone Records,
as well as some self released. In the past year he has toured Italy and logged 13,000 miles on the road
throughout America. After the release of seven albums in the last three years, he has six more coming out this year.

Thollem has performed in theaters, art galleries, universities, elementary schools, concert halls, jazz clubs,
rock clubs, festivals, warehouses, house concerts, streets, forests, the Shoshone Desert at the Nevada
nuclear test site, on television, radio, in circuses, and riots. He has performed piano concertos with
symphonies, played in many free improv groups, West African drumming troupes, and Javanese gamelan
ensembles, all the while working as an accompanist and a composer for opera and modern dance.

Currently Thollem primarily plays his own comprovisations which he calls post-classical circus punk world jazz
free music, for people and everyone else. His music whispers/screams, "there are as many worlds in a life as
there are lives in the world".

En première mondiale, le formidable pianiste américain Thollem McDonas a été invité à composer, jouer et enregistrer sur le seul piano que Claude Debussy possédait depuis l’age de quatorze ans.

Durant la première partie du programme, Thollem McDonas exécutera les dernières oeuvres que Claude Debussy composa sur ce piano.

La deuxième partie du programme verra le grand contrebassiste italien Stefano Scodanibbio rejoindre Thollem McDonas pour exécuter les œuvres spécialement composées par Thollem pour cette occasion.

www.musee-labenche.com
www.thollem.com
www.stefanoscodanibbio.com

Recording engineer: Philippe Darcy.

Thollem McDonas, pianiste/compositeur/improvisateur, est le vainqueur du « 2006 National Endowment of the Arts meet The Composer », USA.
Né le 23 février 1967 dans la San Francisco Bay Area, de descendance irlandaise et Cherokee, très jeune Thollem commence sa carrière musicale par l’étude rigoureuse du répertoire du clavier, de la Renaissance jusqu’à la musique classique contemporaine. Après s’être diplômé en piano et composition avec les meilleurs votes, Thollem choisira de devenir un homeless pour de nombreuses années, optant pour le voyage et le nomadisme plutôt que de poursuivre une prometteuse mais conventionnelle carrière de pianiste soliste en queue-de-pie. C’est à cause de cette dichotomie, de ces riches et sauvages expériences, que sa musique deviendra aussi dynamique et attractive pour un public toujours plus vaste et varié.

Perpétuellement en tournée entre l’Amérique du Nord et l’Europe, Thollem McDonas a joué dans des théâtres, galeries d’art, universités, écoles élémentaires, salles de concert, jazz clubs, rock clubs, festivals, entrepôts, rues, forêts, dans le désert Shoshone au cœur du site d’essais nucléaire du Nevada, à la télévision, à la radio, dans des cirques et des émeutes. Il a été soliste au sein d’orchestres symphoniques, il a joué avec plusieurs ensembles d’improvisation libre, avec des troupes de percussions Ouest-Africaine comme avec des ensembles gamelans, tout en travaillant comme compositeur et accompagnateur pour l’opéra et la danse contemporaine.

Thollem joue ses propres “comprovisations” qu’il définit comme « post-classical circus punk world jazz free music ». Sa musique chuchote et crie qu’« il y a autant de mondes dans une vie que de vies dans le monde ».

Prima mondiale :
29 settembre / Musée Labenche / 26 bis boulevard Jules Ferry / 19100, Brive la Gaillarde, France / Tel.: +33 (0)5 55 18 17 70.

L’incredibile pianista americano Thollem McDonas è stato il primo invitato a comporre, suonare e registrare con il solo ed unico pianoforte posseduto da Claude Debussy fin dall’età di quattordici anni.

Durante la prima parte del programma, Thollem McDonas interpreterà le ultime opere di Claude Debussy composte su questo pianoforte.

Nella seconda parte del programma si unirà a Thollem McDonas, il grande contrabassista italiano Stefano Scodanibbio per eseguire opere specialmente composte da Thollem McDonas per l’occasione.

www.musee-labenche.com
www.thollem.com
www.stefanoscodanibbio.com

Tecnico registrazione : Philippe Darcy.