Eric Mingus & Elliott Sharp

Composer and multi-instrumentalist Elliott Sharp is also a producer, sound-designer, author, and visual artist who leads the projects Orchestra Carbon, SysOrk, Tectonics and Terraplane and whose compositional strategies encompass fractal geometry, chaos theory, algorithmic approaches, genetic metaphors, and new techniques for graphic notation. He has been awarded the Berlin Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and fellowships from the Foundation for Contemporary Art and the Center for Transformative Media. Sharp is the subject of the documentary Doing The Don't and has been featured on NPR's All Things Considered. His composition Storm of the Eye, for violinist Hilary Hahn, appeared on her Grammy-winning album In 27 Pieces. Sharp's collaborators have included Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan; pianist Cecil Taylor; Ensemble Modern; pop singer Debbie Harry; JACK and Arditti quartets; blues legends Hubert Sumlin and Pops Staples; jazz greats Jack Dejohnette and Sonny Sharrock; media artists Christian Marclay and Pierre Huyghe; the Radio-Sinfonie Frankfurt; and Bachir Attar of the Master Musicians Of Jajouka.

Eric Mingus is a bit of a polymath when it comes to his music. Trained classically as a vocalist, he sings the blues like nobody's business, improvises with the best of them, and plays a fierce bass. Creates worlds with his words whether he speaks or sings. When famed producer Hal Willner needs that special moment in his multi artist shows, he calls Eric. Hubert Sumlin loved the way Eric brought "soul" to the blues. When Elliott Sharp wanted a vocalist for his project Terraplane, he knew Eric was the right voice to bring the contemporary blues to his musical vision. Eric has a unique sensibility when bringing music to film, and has scored two documentaries on boxing for ESPN. His passion to write and perform poetry was encouraged by the likes of Allen Ginsberg, Jack Micheline and Lou Reed. One of Eric's most recent successes is the creation of his unique take on the Who's Tommy. Working with Hal Willner, Eric brought a brilliant reworking of a rock classic to the Adelaide Arts Festival (2015).

"operatic, unhinged, punk and terrifying" - timeout.com