Ensemble Robot

Ensemble Robot was founded in 2003 by Christine Southworth and Leila Hasan, as an organization of artists, engineers, programmers, and musicians, working to: (1) design, construct, and program an orchestra of robotic musical instruments and dancers,  (2) commission music compositions and dance choreography for this ensemble, and (3) design, organize, execute, and promote performances for robotic instruments in collaboration with human musicians and dancers. The primary goal of Ensemble Robot is the creation of new, visually and sonically attractive, robotic instruments and music, in order to push acoustic instrumentation beyond traditional boundaries imposed by physical limits of the human body.

Our goals in using robots in music have been to make music in a new way, unconstrained by the traditional notions of human music or by preconceived notions of how robot music should sound. Additionally, we see the robotic actuators (the “performers”) and the acoustic musical instruments as unified rather than separate entities.  We believe that our robot orchestra, as art, will expand the horizons of both music and humanity’s relation to machines.

Since 2003, we have created five musical robots, commissioned seven new pieces by emerging and established composers, and produced concerts and installations at the Boston Museum of Science, Mass MoCA, Wired Magazine’s Nextfest, Brown University, Boston University, RISD, and the Boston Cyberarts Festival.  Our robots have performed with over fifty musicians, and after performing with Ensemble Robot, four of the musicians decided to compose for them.  We have received three rounds of funding from the LEF Foundation as well as support from Meet the Composer, New England Foundation for the Arts, and the Museum of Science, and we’ve received praise from multiple newspapers and magazines including the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, the Boston Phoenix, MIT’s Tech Talk, the Providence Journal, Computerworld, Linuxworld, Boston’s Weekly Dig, CNET News.com, and two radio interviews/features on WBUR’s”Here & Now” and “Morning Edition.”

Ensemble Robot artists include:

Ramon Castillo – composer
Andy Cavatorta – engineer, designer
Chyle Crossley – artist
Giles Hall – programmer, software design
Leila Hasan – co-founder, engineer
Erik Nugent – engineer, designer, composer
Sachi Sato – composer
Christine Southworth – co-founder, artistic director, composer
Bill Tremblay – engineer, designer
Alicia Volpicelli – engineer
Eddie Whalen – composer
Evan Ziporyn – composer, artistic advisor

In 2006 Ensemble Robot incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation.

For more information about Ensemble Robot, please visit our website at www.ensemblerobot.org or email us at robot@kotekan.com.

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Gamelan Galak Tika: Galak Tika is a Balinese gamelan in Boston, Massachusetts. We play traditional Balinese repertoire as well as kreasi baru written by members of the group and others. We recently performed Ziporyn's Tire Fire and Amok! at Carnegie's Zankel Hall, and we have been invited to play at the Bali Arts Festival in Denpasar, Bali in June of 2005.

Evan Ziporyn/Gamelan Galak Tika: Amok! and Gamelan Galak Tika / Dangerous Things are available from Gamelan Galak Tika.

Gender Wayang: Gender Wayang is a form of music in Bali used principally to accompany shadow puppet performances as well as in ceremonies (cremations, weddings, tooth filings, etc.). I play with some people from Gamelan Galak Tika and I study with Evan Ziporyn in Boston and with Pak Wayan Loceng in Bali.

INTERGALAKTIK SATELLITE RED RED is a gender wayang duo comprised of Christine Southworth and Sachi Sato. We play traditional Balinese gender wayang music, wear traditional Balinese clothes, and try to promote an awareness in and teach about Balinese music in Boston and Cambridge.

INTERGALAKTIK SATELLITE RED RED in Harvard Square, Fall 2002

Shadow Bang: Shadow Bang is a puppet opera written by Evan Ziporyn (composer) and Wayan Wija (Balinese puppeteer), and was performed by the Bang on a Can All-Stars. I was the tututan (assistant) to Pak Wija in Shadow Bang at MIT and at Mass MoCA (fall 2001) and in the Bang on a Can 2003 Marathon at Symphony Space in New York (June 2003).  

I also edited and mixed the CD with Evan Ziporyn, released in June 2003. Check in with Cantaloupe for details and to buy a copy!