H E L I O P H O N I E
“We are children of the sun–each and everyone.” — Sun Ra
Heliophonie places us inside the sun’s harmonically resonating convection-zone. Our sun rings like a bell every 4 minutes 48 seconds (as heard on a solar gong). Overtones pulse in quadra-pole rotation (realized by the instrumentalists mixed in surround). Solar storms moving vigorously through the heliosphere are sonified by a series of “braided” instrumental duets.
Heliophonists
From Myth-Science Ensemble, Sollus and Sound Art Collaborative
Thomas Aber
bass clarinet, bari sax, gaida
Joseph Bacon
lights
Tony Brewer
ringing metals
Rev. William Ellis Bradley
Sollung, Sollus flutes (light-activated instruments), saw
Patrick Alonzo Conway
solar gong, alto sax
Molly Dillon
trombone
Ernesto Flores
bass
Rev. Dwight Frizzell
clarinet, tenor sax, WX5, electro-acoustics
Matthew Johnson
Moog synth, technical assistance
Johanna Kelly
viola
Ashley Miller
electronics
Matthew Phillips
electric guitar, tech assistance
William Plummer
cello
Barbara Magiera
conductor
Emma Maley
violin
Joseph Watson
ceramic horns, Sollus flutes
Nathan Wheeler
Arturia sythesizer, tech assistance
Tony Brewer is a poet, sound effects artist and musician, spoken word performer, screenwriter, and roller derby announcer from Bloomington, Indiana. He has been teaching, directing, and performing live sound effects over 20 years, including for the National Audio Theatre Festivals in Missouri since 2001 and WFHB’s Firehouse Follies live variety show in Bloomington since 2008. In 1994, Tony learned the craft of audio art while making Hayward Sanitarium, a horror thriller series he directed and produced for NPR Playhouse. Since then he has taught at Indiana University and Michigan University, and performed with the Knoxville Opera; Otherworld Media in Washington, Florida, and Kentucky; and Mind’s Ear Audio Productions in Bloomington.
Rev. William Ellis Bradley is a luthier, musician, and certified Deep Listening practitioner who lives in NE Wisconsin where he directs SOLLUS (a solar-acoustic ensemble that incorporates his solar-powered instruments as a means to explore the transmutative and transcendent aspects of sound) and co-directs the BEGIN Series in Door County, WI with percussionist Jon Mueller. William has studied extensively with Rev. Dwight Frizzell and has performed under many monikers alongside groups including BCR, Expo 70, Pele, Shawn Hansen, and Jametatone. He is a longtime collaborator of ceramicist Joey Watson with whom he has exhibited in locations including the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. William received a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute (Sculpture ’14), a Masters Certificate of Advanced Studies from the Alternative School of Fine Art at Wickerson Studios (’15), a certificate in Deep Listening from the Deep Listening Center (’18), and is a Music/Sound MFA Candidate at Bard College (expected ‘21). William has received grants from national institutions and has attended national and international residencies.
Patrick Conway is a percussionist, wind player and composer who studied with Master Drummers Abubakari Lunna-Wumbie & I Ketut Gedé Asnawa. He holds a Master of Music degree in Music Composition from the UMKC Conservatory of Music. He is director of UMKC’s Gamelan Genta Kasturi and was a founding member of the contemporary music ensemble newEar. Mr. Conway has performed with numerous ensembles, including Mambo DeLeon Orchestra, the Brad Cox Ensemble, Gillham Park Orchtet, The Terrestrial Consort, Orquesta Inspiracion, Flamanté, Mambo X, ERV Andean fusion group, Grupo Aztlan, Grupo Muralla, BCR, and Necessity Brass Band.
Matthew Johnson is an audio producer and visual artist from St. Louis who currently works in Kansas City. He has shown at the Reese Gallery in St. Louis, the OA Gallery in Kirkwood, and the Contemporary Art Gallery at Meramec. Mathew performed with the Sound Art Collaborative, and Black Crack and the Sole Survivors. He is currently an artist-in-residence at Charlotte Street Foundation. He is a 2017 graduate from KCAI with a degree in painting.
Ashley Miller is a musician, artist, composer and performer in Metatone and other bands like The Golden Calves. His recent project is The Gillis Booth, a recording studio for the residents of Gillis, a center for at-risk children and families.
William Plummer is an interdisciplinary artist based in Kansas City, Missouri. Plummer is interested in the relationship between language, communication, and trust — exploring mutualistic relationships and systems through the growth, recycling, and reclamation of materials. Plummer is a graduate of the Kansas City Art Institute’s Fiber and Art History program and has had experience as a design contractor for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and an Artist in Residence at Gould Evans. Plummer is currently a studio resident at the Drugstore.
Barbara Magiera is a writer and animator raised in the suburbs of Chicago. Inspired by a mixture of Polish folklore and Grimm’s fairytales read to her by her grandmother, she strives to infuse and balance those rich, traditional stories with themes relevant to today’s society, whether it be through writing, visual art, or sound. She is a 2018 KCAI graduate, specializing in Animation and Creative Writing.
Sonoran Desert raised ceramicist/musician Joseph Watson was a Charlotte Street Foundation resident artist. He is a healing sound practitioner with Dr. Lee Veal’s Gong Tribe, and plays didgeridoo, gongs, bowls, and ceramic horns of his own design.
Sollus was founded by Rev. William Ellis Bradley, Joseph Watson and Ashley Miller in 2015. They play light-powered instruments (developed by William Bradley) that activate the universal language of waveforms through long-tone compositions based on the orbital patterns of our solar system.
