From: ThePresident
JUST IN TIME FOR EASTER! "An ingenious, radical, extravagant talent!" - The New Yorker NORA'S CAREER spans 25 years and has engaged diverse discipline with her voice, performance and composition. She merges both musical genres with conceptual sources. In 2002 Nora received The New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) Composers Commission for Breaking Tradition. The recording What I Want (215 Records fall 06) represents that initiative: a group of songs for voice and ensemble exploring musical sources from American folk to jazz and popular music. Breaking Tradition has its genesis in 1998 as a commissioned live performance at, The Brooklyn Museum. York continued to create performances for visual art spaces to include: Whitney Museum of American Art (2006 Biennial: Day for Night), Exit Art, Chelsea Art Museum, Smack Mellon in Brooklyn and The Kent Gallery, NYC. Beginning in 1988 Nora began her regular performances at the Knitting Factory. She developed her compositional toolkit of editing, flipping genders and splicing repertoires and sources there. When Joe's Pub at The Public Theater opened in 1998, it became a laboratory for York's new work, where she has continued to debut her compositional theatrical events. From 1996 through to today, York performed at music festivals throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and Mexico. They include, most notably: the Newport Jazz Festival, the Ottawa Jazz Festival, (Women in Jazz Festival, New York), Lincoln Center Out of Doors (for which she received a Meet The Composer Grant) and the Festival of Song at the Asia Society, New York. In 2005, music historian W. Royal Stokes featured a profile on York in the ‚"Visionaries and Eclectics" section of his book, Growing Up With Jazz, Oxford University Press (pp. 214-226). In addition to "What I Want" (215 Music06) her first recording "To Dream The World" (1992) was released worldwide. Her writing collaboration with jazz composer Maria Schneider produced "Alchemy", released on Artistshare 2006 and Polystar Japan, 1994. In 2002: Nora was invited to perform her conflation, I Dreamed I Saw: The Music of Jimi Hendrix and Stephen Foster for the New Sound Live concert series at Merkin Hall. Later that same year, she was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music to develop a performance that accompanied their film series, From Hanoi To Hollywood. The result was the ongoing musical project Power/Play; a multi-layered collage of musical recollection. 2003 York was invited to perform a selection of Power/Play for a celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. at the Riverside Baptist Church in NYC and in 2004, Penn State University invited her to perform Power/Play (webcast simultaneously) as part of the Anderson Endowment Series. May 2005, York with Indian Dancer Rajika Puri, invented Union/Severed, an interface of South Indian and Western musical and religious ideas. This work was presented at the Asia Society NYC. Nora has been the featured musical guest on many NPR programs to include: The Infinite Mind, Soundcheck, and Heat. In 2004 she was asked to invent a web radio program for PS1 (wps1.org) LOVE CRAZY is archived on their website. She is a member of the cast of the ongoing political cabaret Thalia Follies at Symphony Space New York. In 1998 she was invited to help develop the first voice program at the Tisch School of Drama at New York University. She continues to teach at, NYU, "Creative Voice" an exploration of personal narrative through voice, and performance. I first experienced Nora's work at a private "loft party" in 1988. She was tall **** and glamorous wearing a little cocktail dress (think "Morticia") with gloves that went almost to her shoulders. Removing one glove during her intro... was one of the most erotic experiences of my life. ABSOLUTELY MESMERIZING! She gave a performance that would have turned (Gypsy Rose Lee)... "Blush", left Simon Cowell, "begging for more". Being Chris Crocker('s) big sister, has been no easy ride. She won't talk about it but I a feeling that it may have"screwed up" both her identity and her "*** life". I can only imagine Halloween at the York-Croker household... Yikes! I've been a "devout believer" and "fan" ever since I first experienced Nora "in performance". She continues to be one of New York's most innovative and original shining stars. Buy an album, go and see her... AWESOME TALENT! Sincerely, Richard Currier Producer/Director: Richard Currier (Excerpt/"Clips") © 2012 If I Were, LLC Discover Nora @: http://www.norayork.com/