Susie Ibarra – Percussionist, Composer & Improviser
Composer and Percussionist Susie Ibarra is known for her individual artistry on percussion and genre-defying music. "In the past decade, her willingness to step out from behind the kit and embrace non jazz forms- opera, poetry experimental sound, dance-has taken her from that initial buzz from below Houston Street to international reknown as a composer, performer and proponent of folkloric music." Catapano, NYTimes.
Percussionist, improviser and composer Susie Ibarra resides in NYC. Ibarra has performed both as a soloist and collaborator in various configurations. One of her passionate interests is the folkloric and indigenous music of the Philippines which influences her contemporary work. Several recent composition and performances include: Pintados Dream/ The Painted’s Dream, music for orchestra and drums commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra, Drum Sketches, solo percussion commissioned by Innova and The Brecht Forum and released Oct 2007 on Innova, These Trees That Speak commissioned for Ethos Percussion, Dancesteps, solo piano, Black and White, solo violin and field recordings, Dream Etudes, music for Susie Ibarra Trio and Paradiso, music for Electric Kulintang.
Her music as a soloist and collaborator can be heard on:
Drum Sketches, Susie Ibarra solo percussion Innova Records, Dialects, Electric Kulintang on Plastic Records, Folkloriko & Songbird Suite, Susie Ibarra Trio on Tzadik Records and
Entomological Reflections, Mephista on Tzadik Records.
Upcoming 2008 premieres include Kit: Music for 4 Pianists commissioned by Ars Nova Workshop at the Settlement House in Philadelphia,
War Horses music by Electric Kulintang and poetry by Yusef Komunyakaa in the main gallery of the Isamu Noguchi Museum LIC, and Music of Susie Ibarra at MoMa Summer Garden New Music New York series. Ibarra is a 2007/2008 recipient of the Asian Cultural Council Philippine Fellowship in which she will research for several upcoming projects, Song of the Bird King, a music film, and Fagen and his Ghosts, a musical theatre piece in collaboration with Pulitzer Poet Yusef Komunyakaa.
Ibarra is a Yamaha Drums, Vic Firth Sticks & Mallets, and Paiste Cymbals and Gongs artist. She received her music diploma from Mannes College of Music, B.A. from Goddard College, and has studied drumset with Milford Graves, Vernel Fournier and Buster Smith and Philippine Kulintang with Danongan Kalanduyan.
Susie Ibarra has performed and collaborated with noted artists such as John Zorn, Dave Douglas Pauline Oliveros, Yusef Komunyakaa, Trisha Brown, Derek Bailey, Ikue Mori, Sylvie Curvoisier, William Parker, Dr. L Subramaniam, Kavita Krishnamurti, Wadada Leo Smith, Mark Dresser, Arto Lindsay, Thurston Moore, Prefuse 73, Yo La Tengo.
Ibarra has toured her music in many festivals and concert halls such as Musica a Metronom Barcelona, Banlieues Bleues Jazz Festival, The Kennedy Center, Smithsonian Institute, Lincoln Center, Weill Recital of Carnegie Hall, Champs Elysees Opera House, Verona Jazz Festival, Tampere Jazz Happening, The Walker Art Center, Saalfelden Jazz Festival, Cerritos Arts Center, Yerba Buena Arts Center, Coachella, Warp Electronic Music Festival, Aix en Provence, Jazz’em Agosto, Lisbon, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, Vancouver Jazz and Blues Festival, among others.
Her work can be seen and heard at website: www.susieibarra.com
