The California E.A.R. Unit

The California E.A.R. Unit (core players Eric Clark - Violin, Vicki Ray - Piano and Amy Knoles - Percussion) is a chamber ensemble dedicated to the creation, performance, and promotion of the music of our time. The Ensemble is comprised of performers and composers that began with the goal of developing the first true repertory ensemble for new music in Los Angeles. The California E.A.R. Unit strives to achieve a flexibility and rapport within contemporary music, and earn an international reputation as one of America?s finest contemporary chamber ensembles.

The California E.A.R. Unit was founded in 1981. In its twenty-eight year history, the ensemble has presented concerts of electro acoustic and live interactive computer music, Music Theater, Dance, and local and world premieres of over 500 chamber works. The E.A.R. Unit seeks to serve its home base of Los Angeles, reflecting the region's unique cultural diversity, and to represent Los Angeles and Southern California as its new music ambassadors to the world.

The ensemble has earned critical acclaim, garnering awards for its contributions to the field of contemporary American music such as the L.A. Weekly?s Best Classical Ensemble 1999 and 2003, as well receiving the prestigious Letter of Distinction from the American Music Center in 1999.

The Unit has performed in many main venues such as the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C, and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. They have toured throughout the world: Brussels, Aspen, Kiev, Paris, Cologne, Tanglewood, New York, Boston, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Santa Fe, Amsterdam, Reykjavik, as well as to other domestic and international hot spots for new music. The ensemble has been featured in documentaries for the BBC and Japanese television, American and National Public Radio, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Danish National Radio, and WGBH's "Art of the States".

From 1987 to 2004 the E.A.R. Unit was Ensemble-in-Residence at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Since then, they have been in residence at the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT) housed in the Walt Disney Hall Complex. The Unit has worked closely with many composers such as Elliott Carter, Steve Reich, Morton Feldman, John Luther Adams, Fred Frith, Tod Machover, Julia Wolfe, Louis Andriessen, John Cage, Mauricio Kagel, Michael Gordon, Charles Wuorinen, Morton Subotnick, and Alison Knowles, among many others.

The E.A.R. Unit has recorded for Nonesuch, New Albion, New World, Tzadik, O.O. Discs, Bridge, Crystal and Cambria labels. Recent CDs include: GO on the Echograph label, a recording of some of today's greatest living composers, John Adams, James Sellars, Frederic Rzewski, Julia Wolfe, and John Bergamo; SETTINGS, chamber works of Pulitzer Prize winning Los Angeles composer Mel Powell, Indigenous Music, chamber works of Stephen "Lucky" Mosko, the group is very proud to announce the release of Morton Feldman?s for Christian wolff on Bridge records sizzling hot off the press.