Sonic Collaborations
Katie Kroko and Andrew Israelsen
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About Us
Our collaborative process is creative documentary. Together we discover new experiences and ideas. We then compose and improvise music nutured by these inspirations.
Using portable microphones we record people, interviews, stories, and the environment. Through this practice, we hope to find illuminating moments, sounds, stories, characters, locations, and ideas that inspire us to create music. We strive to share these moments honestly as chamber music and sound art.
As a duo, all aspects of our process are collaborative: collecting recordings and conducting interviews, listening to and analyzing our field recordings, crafting an experience, improvisation, composition, and performance.
In June and July 2014 we worked together at Art Farm in Marquette, Nebraska. We met many interesting people and listened to their stories. We also discovered many interesting places and soundscapes. We are planning to return July 2015 to continue our collaborations.
During our 2014 residency, we collaboratively composed four works; Distance, Clear Shapes, ing'nant bliss, and Angela.
Andrew Scott Israelsen
Composer / Sound Artist / Double Bassist
Andrew Scott Israelsen is a composer, educator, and sound artist from Aurora, Illinois. He works with electronics, computers, instruments, and anything else which inspires him. These creations are presented as chamber music, visual music, installation art, and handcrafted musical inventions for performance.
He explores what is hidden within the sonic profile of spaces and materials. His scores engage performers with puzzles, improvisation, and hidden components. He regularly performs with small robotic instruments which are spatialized across a room, and reveal a unique mode of listening.
He teaches music at Spring Hill Elementary School in Anchorage, Alaska.
Andrew received a Master of Arts in Teaching Music at University of Alaska Southeast in 2015. He also hold a Master of Music in Composition from University of Alberta.
Katie Kroko
Performer / Violist
Katie Kroko, violist, earned her B.M. in viola performance in 2010, at Chapman University graduating summa cum laude, and her M.M. in viola performance at Duquesne University in 2012. Her principal teachers include Robert Becker and Marylène Gingras-Roy. She has performed with the Duquesne Symphony, Johnstown and Altoona Symphonies, Chapman Chamber Orchestra, and Leo Smit Trio. She also served as Principal Viola in the Duquesne Symphony.
Katie has attended Fresh Inc., SoundSCAPE, and Bowdoin music festivals. She was an artist in residence at Art Farm Nebraska in 2014.
Current performing groups include Directions Duo – a clarinet and viola duo focused on collaborating with young composers and bringing new music to new audiences, the Ripieno Ensemble, Incidental Chamber Players, and Alia Musica.
She teaches and freelances in the Pittsburgh area. Miss Kroko is the strings teacher at Orchestra on the Hill, an El Sistema-inspired music program.
