Born: December 23, 1968 Primary Instrument: Band/ensemble/orchestra
JoAnne C. Maffia aka THe jojo EXperiment
multi-discipline artist composer-percussionist- writer-director-producer-presenter
Advanced Certificate in Music Education CUNY Brooklyn College, May 2010
Master of Arts in Music Composition New York University, May 2002
Bachelor of Arts in Dramatic Studies and Literature with a Minor in Music, Purchase College, May 1992
In April 1994, JoAnne originally founded THAT! New Music Group, a collective of musicians and composers dedicated to the promotion and non-traditional presentation of contemporary chamber music. Ms. Maffia fought to challenge the conventions of the classical music world. THAT! Group incorporated staging, lighting and/or movement in the belief that theatrical elements would expand the range of sensibilities from sound into sight. The visual elements would only enhance the music helping to increase the familiarity of New Music often isolated within academia. The Group strove to make New Music accessible to a larger public. In 1996, THAT! New Music Group became THAT! New Arts Group. The slight change better represented the range of disciplines Ms. Maffia began producing, including her own work. THAT! Group became dedicated to promoting new works that explored the meshing of boundaries between mediums such as music and theatre, dance and theatre or visual art and performance, creating new areas of performance. In its four-year history, Ms. Maffia produced and presented the work of over 20 artists. The works of THAT! Group and JoAnne ‘jojo’ Maffia were performed at The Mulberry Street Theatre, Synchronicity Space, Accord Theatre, Next Stage Company, Collective Unconscious, Access Theatre Gallery, Context Studios, St. Peter’s Church, Center Stage NY and the late One Dream Theatre. Artistically renewed by a return to graduate school (2000- 2002), JoAnne has discovered new directions and creative interests completing a whole new body of mature works. On a bigger scale, THe jojo EXperiment premiered October 2003 at The Flux Factory with Ms. Maffia’s multi-discipline work, MOSAIC MINDS: The Score in five movements. JoAnne has since focused on a series of smaller compositions employing new writing techniques heard recently at The Fusion Arts Museum, Collective Unconscious, The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music and McCarthy’s Pub. April 22nd 2006, The Forecast Music Group performed Ms.Maffia’s eclectic piece, Run On Sentence, for flute, piano, speaker and recorded sound at The Dorothy Jones Theatre at Singers Forum.
Additional Credits As:
Producer/Presenter:
Monday Music Madness (November 2005 @ McCarthy’s Pub) Urban Blueprints music ensemble (June 2004 @ The Fusion Arts Museum) Mosaic Minds: The Score a multi-media work (October 2003 @ The Flux Factory) New Works ’98 (April 1998 @ Context Studios) Gallery Showing and Installation (June 1997 @ Access Theatre Gallery)
The Three Mediums (November 1996 @ The Mulberry Street Theatre)
An Evening of New Works by Women Artists (November 1996 @ The Mulberry Street Theatre) Works by Deborah Sandoval-Thurlow (November 1996 @ Center Stage)
New Works in the Spirit of Dada and Futurism (December 1995 @ St. Peter’s Church)
Composer/Percussionist:
Resident Percussionist for The Lost Dog New Music Ensemble- Hunter College (March 2006) Commissioned by the Forecast Music group- ST. Stephen’s Church (December 2005) Commissioned by flutist Christine Perea- The Brooklyn Conservatory (June 2005)
The premiere of THe jojo Experiment (October 2003)
Commissioned by the New York University Percussion Ensemble (December 2002) Commissioned by Athena Chamber Group- Boston (September 2002/February 2003)
Received The Jack Krieselman Award in composition for stylistic originality (May 2002) Received the Meet The Composer Fund (January 2000)
Commissioned by the New Millennium Chamber Orchestra- NYC (November 1999) Featured in the Downtown Express newspaper, vol.10 issue 23 (April 1998)
Received two grants from the Meet The Composer Fund (Fall 1996)
St. Peter’s Church awarded THAT! New Music Group a Space Grant. (December 1995) The East End Arts Council granted THAT! New Music Group their Special Opportunity Stipend Award . (Fall 1995)
Synchronicity Space awarded THAT! New Music Group a Winter Residency for rehearsal and performance. (1995-1996)
For Up Coming Events check out our website!
Awards:
The Jack Krieslman Award in composition for creativity, 2002In Mosaic Minds, presented at the Flux Factory in Queens, N.Y., on October 16, 2003, writer/composer/ co-director JoAnne Maffia has produced an important multi- media/multi- movement/multi- dimensional work, encompassing in sight, sound and text a breathtaking range of moments concatenated like fleeting glimpses of the human experience as an evaporating progression. Employing a broad palette of theatrical, video and acoustic means to heighten an audience’s awareness of the precious passing of seconds, minutes and hours of one’s life and the lives of others, Ms. Maffia brilliantly succeeds in conveying an unsentimental humanistic portrait, an impressionistic “mosaic” gestalt if you will, of a life and lives in process and decline. With a well-selected troupe of highly-skilled and well-rehearsed young performers, including the very fine flutist Christine Perea, among others, Ms. Maffia has made clear that she is a serious up-and-coming artist to watch for and enjoy in years to come.
The New Music Connoisseur
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Primary Instrument:
Band/ensemble/orchestra
Location:
Brooklyn, NY
Willing to teach:
Beginners
Credentials/Background:
I am a NYS/NYC Certified Music teacher K-12. I am currently on Faculty at The
Brooklyn Conservatory of Music-Music Partners Program: I specialize in Beginner
and Intermediate, Grades 3-5, 6-7-8 and 9-12. I teach band percussion, hand
percussion and bucket drumming. Classical, Jazz and World styles of music.
