Damon Holzborn is a Brooklyn based improviser and composer who works primarily with electronics. In performance, he makes the familiar unrecognizable, subjecting sound sources such as guitar and field recordings to manipulation through custom software and hardware, traditional effects, and interactive processes. He is a founding member of the Trummerflora collective and co-creator of zucasa.com. Holzborn holds a degree in music from UCSD, where he studied composition and improvisation with George Lewis, and is currently pursuing his doctoral degree in composition at Columbia University.
Holzborn has presented his work in the US, Mexico, Europe and Japan, performing as a solo artist and with several ensembles, including Donkey (a decade-long collaboration with musician/filmmaker Hans Fjellestad), Quibble, and Titicacaman (with Nathan Hubbard and Marcelo Radulovich). He has performed and/or recorded with Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis, Miya Masaoka, Lê Quan Ninh, Eugene Chadbourne, Matt Ingalls, Andrea Polli, Mike Keneally, and the Nortec Collective. Holzborn also regularly creates music for dance, often collaborating with innovative dance collective Lower Left, producing both custom compositions and improvised performances.
Selected Live Appearances
Issue Project Room, The Stone, Diapason Gallery, Tonic, Ontological-Hysteric Theater, The Tank, Columbia University, Red & Black, COMA at ABC No Rio, (New York City); ffmup (Princeton); The Electric Possible (Washington D.C.); Fiume (Philadelphia); impulse response (Troy, NY); Yokohama Jazz Promenade, Airegin (Yokohama); Binspark (Tokyo); Big Apple (Kobe); Cafe Futuro (Osaka); NWEAMO Festival (Portland); SIL2K (Seattle); SIGGRAPH 2001, Holly Matter Gallery, Inner Ear Series (Los Angeles); Voz Alta, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, The Space, The Casbah, Galoka, CRCA, UCSD, SDSU, Sushi Performance Gallery, Intersection Gallery, Spruce Street Forum, Palomar College (San Diego); Jiffy Scutler at RX Gallery, Luggage Store, Kimos (San Francisco); 21 Grand (Oakland); Big Sur Experimental Music Festival 2001, 2003 & 2004; Artisan's Hand Gallery (Carmel); inSite 05 at Caliente, La Antiqua Bodega de Papel, El lugar del Nopal and Don Loope (Tijuana); NIME 2006 (Paris); LAM 2006 (London).