Michael Foster with Strings

Michael Foster

Michael Foster (NYC) is a saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist working in the fields of free improvisation, jazz, and performance. His project Michael Foster with Strings in his words is a “distinctly queer and feminist reading” of the traditions embodied by the giants of jazz such as Bop legend Charlie Parker with his band and a team of string players. For this special concert, Foster has assembled a sextet with a variety of musicians: Webb Crawford, Zosha Warpeha, Leila Bordreuil, Anna Abondolo, and Lisa Cameron.

His work seeks to bridge the gaps between noise, improvisation, the jazz tradition, and queer theoretical practices. He often prepares his saxophone with an array of objects such as balloons, drum heads, amplification, etc., as a method of queering the instrument’s musical roles and history. He works in duos with Ben Bennett, Leila Bordreuil, Lydia Lunch, and Richard Kamerman as The New York Review of Cocksucking. He has worked with William Parker, Weasel Walter, Marina Rosenfeld, Nate Wooley, Sarah Hennies, and many others. He has performed at various venues across North America and Europe, such as BimHuis, Roulette, Issue Project Room, The Stone, The Kitchen, Pioneer Works, and many more.

In addition to his work as a performer, he co-founded “Queer Trash,” a curatorial platform for LGBTQIA+ artists engaged in experimental performance practices. “Queer Trash” was selected as the 2018 Suzanne Fiol Curatorial Fellow at Issue Project Room. Foster studied at Bard College Japanese literature, film, ethnomusicology, and critical theory at Bard College. However, he ended up studying mainly in the Electronic & Experimental Arts program, which became the fulcrum influence on his approach to jazz music.