Sarah Hennies / Merche Blasco

Sarah Hennies (b. 1979, Louisville, KY) is a percussionist and composer based in Ithaca, NY, whose work is concerned with a variety of musical, sociopolitical and psychological issues, including queer & trans identity, love, intimacy and psychoacoustics, as these issues can relate to percussion performance. She is primarily a composer of solo and chamber works but is also active in improvisation, film, performance art, and dance.

In late 2017 Hennies premiered the groundbreaking work, Contralto at Issue Project Room (NYC), a film exploring trans-feminine identity that employs aspects of “voice feminization” therapy as artistic material. The piece features a cast of transgender women accompanied by a dense and varied live score for string quartet and three percussionists. The work received widespread acclaim and has since been performed and screened all over the world at a variety of venues and festivals.

Sarah is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Bard College for the 2019-20 school year.

Sarah Hennies Bandcamp

Processed field recordings, the incorporation of body movements and the live exploration of intricate material textures are all compositional elements of interest to Merche Blasco (NYC), a composer/performer whose work involves designing and building imprecise technological assemblages that catalyze new listening modes and embody forms of live composition in electro-acoustic music.

Blasco has presented her performances and installations at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Sonar Festival in Barcelona, La Biennale di Venezia, NIKE conferences, and the Tsonami International Sound Art Festival in Chile. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Wire magazine.