Carla Kihlstedt – One of the Knots

Spread the love

Read Time:1 Minute, 45 Second

Carla Kihlstedt performs songs for voice and violin: songs she wrote, songs by her friends (among them Lisa Bielawa, Jorge Liderman), and songs by enemies… atonal, one-chord, and tunefull songs.

Carla Kihlstedt can be found both as a violinist and composer. She is a founding member of both Tin Hat Trio (an accordion-violin-guitar trio, whose two CDs are out on Capitol’s Angel/EMI Records) and of the art-rock band Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. Carla has been working on Two Foot Yard as a solo project. She is using her violin and singing simultaneously. For six years, she was one of three vocalists in Charming Hostess.

Touch of Classical Music

Although she has moved far from her roots, Kihlstedt still has strong roots in classical musical music. She attended the Oberlin Conservatories of Music in San Francisco and San Francisco. Since moving to San Francisco eight years ago, she has been a prominent musical voice in the Bay Area. She also explores the versatility of her instrument in other settings. Carla has been a violinist with Don Byron and pianist Awadagin Prtt in the last year. She performs regularly with Ear Play and the Berkeley Contemporary Chamber Players, as well as the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players.

Recently, she was commissioned by Merkin Hall to compose a piece for the Bang on a Can All Stars band. She was the featured soloist at the MATA festival in New York last year and Merkin Hall commissioned her to compose and perform a duo with clarinetist David Krakauer in their emerging composer series Zoom: Composers Near-Up. She was a contributor to recordings by Tom Waits and Mr. Bungle, as well as the Grassy Knoll. In 2003, she released her solo CD on the Tzadik label. Carla is fascinated by the impact music, theater, and movement have on each other. She has had extensive contact with choreographers such as Jo Kreiter, Eleni Drogaris, Shinichi Momo Kooga/inkBoat, and Flyaway Productions’ Eleni Drogaris.