- Pamela Z
Infobox musical artist
Name = Pamela Z
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Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Pamela Brooks
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Born = 1956
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URL = [http://www.pamelaz.com/ PamelaZ.com]
Notable_instruments =Pamela Z (born Pamela Brooks, 1956) is an American composer, performer, and audio artist who works primarily with her voice and live electronic processing.
Raised in the
Denver area, theAfrican American Z received herbachelor's degree from theUniversity of Colorado at Boulder , where she studied classical voice. After performing throughoutColorado as arock musician under the name Pam Brooks, in 1985 she moved toSan Francisco , where her experiments with live digital delay vocal processing began leading her down a different artistic path, and she changed her name to Pamela Z.In performance today, she typically processes her live voice through MAX MSP software on a
PowerBook , combining operatic bel canto and experimental extended vocal techniques with percussion objects, spoken word, and sampled sounds. Z has performed in such festivals asBang on a Can atLincoln Center inNew York , the Interlink Festival inJapan , Other Minds in San Francisco, and La Biennale di Venezia inVenice ,Italy .Z has been commissioned from such sources as the
Bang on a Can Allstars, Ethel,The California EAR Unit , theRobin Cox Ensemble , the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, andOrchestra of St. Luke's . Many of her signature pieces are collected on the 2004Starkland release, "A Delay is Better". She is a member of the electroacoustic ensemble sensorChip and the interdisciplinary performance ensemble The Qube Chix, both based in San Francisco. Z has received numerous awards, including: theGuggenheim Fellowship ; the CalArts Alpert Award in the Arts; the Creative Capital Fund; the ASCAP Music Award; and the NEA and Japan/US Friendship Commission Fellowship.External links
* [http://www.pamelaz.com/ official Pamela Z website]
* [http://www.starkland.com/st203/index.htm "From A to Z" compilation CD]
* [http://www.starkland.com/st2010/index.htm surround sound recording of "Live/Work", commissioned byStarkland ]
* [http://www.starkland.com/st213/index.htm "A Delay Is Better" CD fromStarkland ]
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