Curriculum Vitae
November 2008:“Odenwald 1152”, video installation/collaboration with painter Ricardo Mazal. Installation soundtrack and projected video environment. Sundaram Tagore Gallery (Chelsea), New York, NY.
October 2008: “Malangan”: a collaborative musical event with John Kennedy and Molly Sturges. Jonas: composer and conductor; small orchestra, UNM Children’s Choir, 2 actors. Built as a disarticulation and recirculation of the images, words, and spaces of the 2008 SITE Santa Fe Biennial exhibition. Performers linked using various compositional means to explore the realms of ephemerality, collaboration and process. Commissioned by SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe NM.
August 2008: “Odenwald 1152”, video installation/collaboration with painter Ricardo Mazal. Mexican Cultural Institute, Washington DC.
May 2008: “Chris Jonas v Chris Jonas.” Musical performance of two of Jonas’ musical ensembles, Sun Spits Cherries (NYC), and Rrake (NM). High Mayhem, Santa Fe, NM.
May 2008: Sun Spits Cherries at the Creative Soundspace Festival, Outpost Performance Space, Albuquerque, NM.
May 2008: Gods of the Green Ghost, new compositions by Chris Jonas and others, featuring works that utilize strategic improvisation and open-form composition. Gig Performance Space Santa Fe, NM (Selected as "Best New Band of Santa Fe" July 2008, Santa Fe Reporter).
June 2008: Composition (Littleglobe residency) with Dance City and Art-in-Hospitals Program. Newcastle, UK.
April 2008: Workshop/development sessions, Del Sol String Quartet, San Francisco, CA.
March 2008: Chris Jonas conducts “Memorylines” ensemble with accompanying Jonas video at NM Filmmakers First Vision Forum (NM Film Office), Albuquerque, NM.
Oct 2007-June 2008, Common Ground Festival. Musical director/composer, filmmaker. Intermedia performance created in collaboration with the NM village of Cuba and the Eastern Agency Navaho communities of Ojo Encino and Torreon (NM). Guerrilla filmmaking, music, spoken word, performance. Funded by Livingry Foundation, Threshold Foundation (New World), McCune Charitable Foundation and others. Sandoval County Fairgrounds, Cuba NM.
February 2008: Tilt SIXtet and Jonas’s Sun Spits Cherries. Two Jonas compositions for two ensembles for festival curated by Christopher McIntyre. Issue Project Room, Brooklyn, NY.
February 2007: Deborah Warner [theater work in progress]. Musical fodder (solo soprano saxophone) for “recompositional” score by Mel Mercier. National Theatre, London, England.
October-December 2007: “Clouds (Memorylines)”, Installation video with live performance of Rrake, in “Loosely Joined”. 516 Arts, Albuquerque, NM and Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, NM.
September 2007: Jonas’ Rrake (ensemble) at the High Mayhem Festival. Santa Fe, NM.
May 2007: “Memorylines, VOCES DE NUESTRAS JORNADA: A Contemporary Opera”. Composition, stage video, conductor. Created/produced by Littleglobe. Commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera. Lensic Performing Arts Center, Santa Fe, NM.
May 2007: “Palimpsest”. Site-specific kids opera (Jonas, composition). Directed by Acushla Bastible. Commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera. Scottish Rite Masonic Temple, Santa Fe, NM.
January 2007: “IN SITU”. Site-specific composition. Commissioned by SITE and Evo Gallery for the closing event of the Sixth International Biennial exhibition, “Still Points of the Turning World” (curated by Klaus Ottmann). SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM.
December 2006: “Solos” (soprano saxophone), High Mayhem, Santa Fe, NM.
October 2006: Jonas’ Rrake (ensemble) at the High Mayhem Festival, Santa Fe, NM.
May 2006: Live Music Silent Film Festival. Composer, conductor, producer. Four day festival of live music and silent films, three live soundtracks by Jonas (“The Man Who Laughs”, “Steamboat Bill, Jr” and “Early Magical Cinema Shorts”. Created/produced by Littleglobe. Partners: US Library of Congress, NM Film Commission and Film Office, NM Music Commission, Film Restoration Archives and the City of Santa Fe). Lensic Performing Arts Center, Santa Fe, NM.
2005-2006: “La Tumba de la Reina Roja: From Reality to Abstraction”. Musical & video component to installation in collaboration w/ painter Ricardo Mazal. Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, NM; National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City; Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ; Centro de las Artes, Pinacoteca, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
November-February 2005-06: SW regional tour of “Circus Luminous” through the region’s 800-1200 seat venues. Created/produced by Littleglobe., Moving People Dance Company, Wise Fool, New Mexico. Composer, conductor, producer.
October 2005: Deborah Warner and Fiona Shaw: “Readings”. Musical fodder (solo soprano saxophone) for “recompositional” score by Mel Mercier. Théâtre National de Chaillot, Paris.
October 2005: Chris Jonas Cork Quartet (featuring concertina player, Niall Vallely), Aula Maxima Concert Hall, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
May 2005: Amitosis concerts, various venues, County Cork, Ireland.
Spring-Fall 2005: “Moment”. Intermedia/video, sound, text in performance. Created/co-produced by Littleglobe. Commissioned and co-produced by Cork 2005, EU Capital of Culture. Cork, Ireland.
May 2005: “The Man Who Laughs” and “Steamboat Bill, Jr”. Live music/silent film soundtracks. Composer, conductor. Taos Mountain Film Festival and Lensic Performing Arts Center, Taos and Santa Fe, NM.
February 2005: Presentation of work, “First Thursdays at SFAI: Chris Jonas and Molly Sturges”. Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, NM.
November 2005: “The Man Who Laughs”. Live music silent film score. Commissioned by SITE Santa Fe for the 2004 Biennial. Lensic Performing Arts Center, Santa Fe, NM.
August 2004: “Celebration of Industry, Friendship & Happiness: China + US” (w/Molly Sturges). Homemade glove box, midi, China & US propaganda songs, game board, children’s musical instruments, live video, Tyvek suits. Art Institute of Santa Fe & tune(in)), Santa Fe, NM and Brooklyn, NY.
May 2004: Solo and ensemble ‘conduction’ concerts. Various venues. Lisbon, Portugal.
Spring 2004: “Night” (w/Molly Sturges). Intermedia performance created in OBRAS residency, Evoramonte, Portugal. Premiered May 2004 City of Evora, Portugal.
May 2003: Duets and Trios w/ Anthony Braxton (Jonas–Sturges). Outpost and University of New Mexico. Albuquerque, NM
May 2002: Amitosis tour of New Mexico, various venues. NM.
January-February 2002: Western Jazz Presenters' tour of Brooklyn Saxophone Quartet, AZ, NM, CA, NV, WA, BC.
2001: James Fei Quartet tour. Various venues, Taiwan.
2001: “(sub)merge” Gallery Installation/performance consisting of 8 large (8’ to 14’ D) Tyvek enclosures, each with its own musician (8 performers), interactive walk through composition, interceding bureaucracy. Inside Gallery, Cleveland, OH.
2001: "Duet" (w/video artist Aaron Davidson). Soprano saxophone, MIDI video instrument. NY, NY.
1994-2001/2008: Chris Jonas’ “Sun Spits Cherries” (w/ Myra Melford, piano, sop sax, two trombones, percussion). Jonas leader, conductor, composer. Two CDs, various tours, concerts, festivals. NYC.
1998-2001: Chris Jonas conduction: guest conductor for creative ensembles around the world including Chicago Improviser’s Group, Slovenian National Radio Orch., Cleveland, Brooklyn & New Mexico Creative Orchestras, others.
1996-2001: Anthony Braxton Ensembles (duos, trios, quartet, quintet, ghost trance tentet, creative music ensembles, opera “Shala Fears for the Poor”). Tours, numerous recordings, festivals.
1994-98: Cecil Taylor Ensembles, various. Two CDs, various international tours, concerts, festivals.
1994-2001: Brooklyn Saxophone Quartet. CD, numerous tours, festivals.
1993-2001: William Parker’s “Little Huey” Creative Orchestra. Numerous
recordings, international tours, concerts, festivals.
2008 United States Artists Fellowship (as 2008 Simon Fellow) in the category of music. $50,000 award.
2007 New Visions/New Mexico Contract Award, Experimental Video Category. State of New Mexico/Governor’s Office/New Mexico Film Office, for video element of “Memorylines”.
2007: "10 Santa Feans to Watch", Santa Fean Magazine.
2006: Scholarship Grant, Creative Capital (Professional Development Workshop) Santa Fe Art Institute.
2005, 2006, 2007: Artist-in-Residence, Santa Fe Opera, Santa Fe Opera Student Produced Program, Santa Fe Opera Outreach Department.
2005, 2006, 2007: Santa Fe awards, contracts, grants and commissions for Littleglobe projects from New World Foundation, McCune Charitable Trust, Santa Fe Community Foundation, Los Alamos National Bank, New Mexico Film Office, EU Capital of Culture, SITE Santa Fe, others.
2004: OBRAS Residency, Evoramonte, Portugal.
RESUME
EDUCATION
NYU. Certificate in Multimedia/Digital Design, 2001.
Wesleyan University, CT. MA. World Music (music composition/intermedia), 1999.
New School for Social Research, Mannes College of Music, NYC, 1992-96.
Composition, theory, conducting & performance.
Oberlin College, OH. BA Art History/Art Studio. 1988.
EMPLOYMENT
Warehouse 21: Santa Fe Teen Arts Center. Director of Program and Operations. 17,000 sq ft entrepreneurial youth-arts center. 2008-present. www.warehouse21.org
College of Santa Fe Contemporary Music Program, adjunct faculty. Composition, Improvisation Ensemble, 20th Century Music Theory. Santa Fe, NM, 2005-08.
Santa Fe Opera, Artist-in-Residence (composition, projected video). Multiple projects with schools, communities, opera directors. Various locations around New Mexico. 2005-present.
Littleglobe, co-founder, video/music. Non-profit ensemble/production house creating new works, large-scale community engaged projects, intermedia performance, film, video and installations. Projects in the US (four-corners), UK, Ireland. Santa Fe, NM, 2003-present. www.littleglobe.org
Freelance Composer/Videographer. Soundtracks, commissions, installations various venues and projects. Santa Fe and international, 2001-present.
Creative Santa Fe, Board of Directors; Santa Fe Beehive, co-founder. Non-profit organization overseeing the development of Santa Fe’s creative economy, building center to means to provide services, incubation and career-building resources for members of the local arts and culture community. Santa Fe, NM, 2005-08. www.creativesantafe.org
Center for Contemporary Arts of Santa Fe, Curator/Director of Installation and Performance Arts. Contemporary arts space and international presenting organization focusing on works that involve collaboration, new media, installation and emerging artists and art forms. Santa Fe, NM 2003-04. www.ccasantafe.org
WorkingWild, Director of Marketing and Operations. Wireless Internet Service Provider start-up. Santa Fe, NM and Phoenix, AZ 2001-03.
Office Manager/Registrar, Willem de Kooning Revocable Trust. NYC.,1999-2000.
Assistant to Composer Anthony Braxton. Middletown, CT and NYC. 1996-99.
Freelance Musician / Saxophone Player. Recording, performances and international tours as a leader and side-person for William Parker’s Little Huey Orchestra, Butch Morris’ Conduction ensembles, Brooklyn Saxophone Quartet, Anthony Braxton ensembles, Cecil Taylor Ensemble, Chris Jonas’ The Sun Spits Cherries. NYC, 1991-2001.