PORTHOLES is a collection of musical improvisations and compositions created by German vocalist/improviser Anka Draugelates and American composer/instrument-builder Cheryl E. Leonard. The album was recorded during a winter residency at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in Woodside, California in January 2010. Voice, viola, piano and flute mix with sounds from stones, water, wood, shells, pinecones, metal and glass in music that explores sonic nuances and evokes unique landscapes and ambiances. Anka Draugelates is an improvisational voice artist and musician who is based in Regensburg, Germany. She composes and performs both experimental and classical music. She also teaches workshops on voice and movement. Anka enjoys collaborating and has worked extensively with diverse artists including filmmakers, visual artists, dancers and musicians. She performs and records regularly with Duo Extrakt, Traummusik, Space Between, Caedmon Ensemble and Capacitor. Anka has been awarded residencies at Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, and received the Helen L. Bing Fellowship in 2009. Cheryl E. Leonard is a San Francisco-based composer, performer and instrument-builder. Her recent projects investigate sounds, structures and objects from the natural world. Many of her works cultivate stones, wood, water, ice, sand, shells, feathers and bones as musical instruments. She has also composed numerous soundtracks for film, video, dance and theater, and created sounds for museum exhibits. Cheryl has received grants from the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program, ASCAP, American Music Center, American Composers Forum and Meet the Composer. Her commissions include works for Kronos Quartet, Illuminated Corridor and Michael Straus. She has been awarded residencies at Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus, Djerassi, the Arctic Circle, Villa Montalvo and Engine 27. PORTHOLES TRACK INFO 1. Erdbahnhof A: rocks and tree branches on wood boards, pine needles on redwood log, viola, voice C: rocks and tree branches on wood boards, pine needles in bowl of dirt, viola 2. Hoar Frost A: inside of piano, shell mobile C: inside of piano, limpet shells, kelp flute 3. Under Giant Trees A: dripping water, leaves, zumbador, voice, shells C: dripping water, leaves, slide whistle, stones 4. Verstillt A: prepared viola, inhaling voice C: prepared viola, kelp flutes 5. Tidepool A: voice and breath underwater C: dripping water, blowing bubbles, wobbling rock, marsh reeds, plastic tube, voice Cliff Neighbors: voice water dripping from the roof 6. Burnt Procession A: voice, metal clamp and disk, staples, nails, wood kindling C: metal table, necklace, giant nail wood-burning stove 7. Doppelhelix A: voice C: kelp flute, wine bottles 8. Vanishing Ship A: sruti box, viola, leather chair, bottles, voice C: shakuhachi, viola, driftwood pipe organ, leather chair, bottles, voice 9. Tor des Meeres A: voice, underwater voice, tiny pinecone C: marsh reeds, tiny pinecone, bottles ALBUM CREDITS Recorded January 19-29, 2010 at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Woodside, California, USA Engineered and mixed by Cheryl E. Leonard Mastered by Myles Boisin at Headless Buddha Lab Artwork by Hanna Sachau Photos by Cheryl E. Leonard, Hanna Sachau, Michael Scheiner Special thanks to the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Dennis O‘Leary, and Cliff Neighbors.