Go: Organic Orchestra

Over the past two decades Rudolph has taught and conducted hundreds of musicians in the Go: Organic Orchestra concept in throughout North America and Europe. Over the years he has performed on multiple occasions with Go: Organic Orchestra ensembles in New York, Los Angeles and Austin Naples, Palermo and Istanbul. Click here to view a list of performance residencies.

The multicultural dynamic of Go: Organic Orchestra itself expresses a creative vision of our shared humanity. It is a realization of creative community in a world without boundaries; of culture as the vessel for understanding, empathy and sharing.

"Using new creative processes and instrumental combinations. I hope to create a music that has not been heard before while expressing heartfelt thoughts and feelings." - Adam Rudolph

HOW IT WORKS:

Adam Rudolph spends between 3 and 10 days in residence teaching the Go: Organic Orchestra concept and developing the unique sound of that combination of musicians. This culminates in a concert presentation. The ensemble usually has between 15 and 60 musicians participating. Separate workshops are also offered for singers and in Rudolph's rhythm concept.

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE:

Professionals and/or students from any and all musical backgrounds are welcome. European classical, jazz, R & B, avant improvisors, rock, electronic and laptop players, as well as musicians from and with experience in music cultures from anywhere in the world are invited to participate. The orchestration itself is open to include any and all instruments, invented or traditional, from any culture on the planet. Participation by a mix of ages and musical experience is encouraged.

PREPARATION:

Two weeks before of the scheduled concert date, Rudolph sends the score and hand signals along with instructions as to how the musicians can best prepare. Advance study of these materials not only prepares the musicians for the Go: Organic Orchestra experience, but will improve their ability to improvise in any musical context. Experience shows that continued investigation and practice of these materials over months and even years will enhance a persons overall creative musicianship, well beyond their participation in Go: Organic Orchestra.

THE SCORE:

The score consists of three pages consisting of what Rudolph describes as "de-composed" essence of music elements. These elements serve as a kind of musical DNA from which the improvisations and orchestrations are spontaneously created.

Pages one and two of the score consist of 10 Matrices and Cosmograms, each based on different interval systems and patterns. These include triple diminished, clustonic and symetric hexatonic patterns as well as traditional scales, modes, ragas and melodic gestures. Page three consists of 10 of Ostinatos of Circularity, which provide the musical link between the interval patterns and the rhythms.

When the musicians understand the ins and outs of the design of one of these Matrices or Cosmograms, and when they can also connect and tune into the Rasa (emotional coloration) implied within it, then they can enter to a new place of creative freedom.

THE CONDUCTING:

Rudolph has created his own prototypical approach to improvisational conducting. With the non-linear score as seed material, he uses 21 simple hand signals in various combinations to conduct the orchestra. As the music unfolds in the moment he creates a spontaneous orchestral context in an improvisational dialogue with the musicians.

THE RHYTHM CONCEPT:

In preparation for the concerts Rudolph offers rhythm workshops. The musicians learn Rudolph's concept of Cyclic Verticalism which combines additive rhythms (such as those used in North Indian music) with polyrhythms (such as those used in West and Central African music). Using time tested techniques of singing and walking exercises the musicians viscerally learn Rudolph's fundamental Signal Rhythms. These are then applied to playing the Ostinatos of Circularity on their instruments.

THROUGH COMPOSED PIECES:

Rudolph has composed dozens of through composed solos, duets, trios and quartets for use in Go: Organic Orchestra concerts. Upon request he composes new pieces for the musicians. In concert, these short pieces are performed when cued and conducted by Rudolph as he weaves them into the context of the spontaneous orchestration and improvisational dialogue.

ABOUT THE MUSIC RUDOLPH WRITES:

"The philosophical basis holds (seeming) opposites: the score and conducting serve to generate as much aesthetic and functional focus as possible in the music while at the same providing context and inspiration for the greatest expressive freedom to the performers. In concert, I conduct the musicians in a spontaneous way seeking to generate unusual relationships of sound against sound, form against form, and rhythm against rhythm in a non-linear, ever shifting kaleidoscope of music images: weaving what I call an "audio syncretic music fabric".

The music is "organic" in the sense that the compositions and conducting serve as inspiration and context for the musicians to express themselves in the moment by using their instruments as an amplifier for their inner voice. Through listening and imagination, the conductor and performers inspire one another to create emotional colorations of sound. Rather than the score being a set of instructions of what, how and when to play, the non-linear semiotic (symbols) of the written music are an invitation to discover the potentialities of what can happen when transformed into syntax as expressed through the hands and breath of a group of virtuosic, imaginative, and soulful improvisers."

GO: ORGANIC ORCHESTRA CONCERT RESIDENCIES:

2023:

Sons D’hiver Festival, Paris France

David Rockefeller Creative Arts Center, Pocantico, NY

2022:

Summer Stage, Central Park/World Music Institute, NYC

Bushnell Park, Hartford, CT.

Flynn Theatre, Burlington VT

Bowker Auditorium, UMass, Amherst,

MA Roulette Intermedium, NYC)

2021:

Festival of Colors, Detroit (virtual concert)

2019:

NYC, Live Sounds - Elebash Hall - NYC

Hudson, New York - Hudson Hall

Painted Bride, Philadelphia

2018:

New York City, Rubin Museum of Art - with Brooklyn Raga Massive

Los Angeles, Disney Hall - Angel City Festival

New York City, Pioneer Works - with Brooklyn Raga Massive

Austin, Texas - Imagine Art

Toronto, Canada - Dastgah project with Persian musicians

2017:

Izmir, Turkey - Rom Blue project with Turkish Gypsy musicians

Roulette Intermedium, New York

New York City, Brooklyn Conservatory of Music

2016:

Helsinki, Finland - Arts Without Borders Sibelius Academy

Naples, Italy - Go: Organic Piano Orchestra

Budapest, Hungary - Fesztiváliroda Müpa Budapest

Basel, Switzerland - Ensemble Phoenix

Milan, Italy - Teatro Leonardo

Palermo, Sicily – Conservatorio Di Musicavincenzo Bellini Palermo

Venice, Italy - Spazio Aero

Toronto, Canada - The Music Gallery

Austin, Texas - The North Door

2015:

Chicago, Illinois - Logan Center for the Arts, Univ. of Chicago

Austin, Texas - Blanton Museum of Art

Champagne Urbana - Center for Advanced Studies @ Univ. of Illinois

Los Angeles, California - Electric Lodge

San Diego, California - University of Southern California

New York - Brooklyn Conservatory of Music

2014:

Copenhagen, Denmark - Danish Radio Orchestra

Aarhus, Denmark - Royal Danish Conservatory

Jyerdup Arts - Denmark

Merida, Mexico - Merida Symphony Orchestra

Austin, Texas - New Music Series

New York City - Shapeshifter Lab

2013:

Champagne Urbana - University of Illinois

Hartford, Conn. - Atheneum Theatre / Real Artways

New York City - Roulette Intermedium

Los Angeles, California - Electric Lodge

2012:

Naples, Italy - NaMusica Festival

Istanbul, Turkey – Eco Fest

Stockholm, Sweden - Moderna Museet

Aarhus, Denmark - Royal Danish Conservatory

California Institute of the Arts

Tampere, Finland - Tampere Jazz Festival

2011:

Palermo, Sicily – Conservatorio Di Musicavincenzo Bellini Palermo

New York City - Columbia University

Los Angeles, California - Electric Lodge

Dartmouth University, New Hampshire

2010:

Istanbul, Turkey – ISCMS

Naples, Italy - Ensemble Dissonanzen, Is Jazz ensemble

2009:

Copenhagen, Denmark – New Jungle Orchestra

Kristiansand, Norway – Kristiansand Conservatory

Danish Jazz Summer Institute

2008:

Tampere, Finland - Sibelius Academy

CONCERTOS:

Adam Rudolph has conducted many guest artists with Go: Organic Orchestra in a concerto setting, and is open to new collaborations with master musicians from anywhere in the world.

Previous concerto soloists include:

Masters of African-American

Improvisational Music:

Yusef Lateef - woodwinds

Big Black - kongo drummer

Oliver Lake - alto sax

Dwight Tribble - vocal

Hamid Drake - drum kit

Bennie Maupin - woodwinds

Poetry - Saul Williams

Theatre - Robert Wisdom

Dance/Butoh - Oguri

Morocco - Gnawa master Hassan Hakmoun

Ghana - Ewe master drummer Alfred Ladzekpo

Mongolia - khoomei throat singer Shinetsog Dorjnyam

Brazil - Afro percussionist Dende de Bahia

Nepal - vocalist Prabhu Dhakal , sarod player Suresh Bajracharya , tabla player Rabin Shresta

India - tabla maestro Debashish Chaudhury

Turkey - Omar Faruk Tekbilek - ney & zurna, Haci Tekbilek - ney, Ibul Ork - laptop orchestra

Italy - Consort Di Flauti Dolci Dei Conservatory of Cosenza , Ensemble Dissonanze