Fat Pigeon’s music focuses on both collectively-composed work and structured improvisation, emphasizing the use of macro-timbres built from the group’s unorthodox instrumentation: amplified bass clarinet, amplified cajón/objects, and electric guitar. Coming from various backgrounds and having experience in different genres that make use of both improvised and through-composed materials—such as classical, punk, metal, and traditional Mexican music—the group’s music features a constant interrogation of the line between the two. Fat Pigeon is the performative combination of Emily Beisel, Luis Fernando Amaya, and Craig Davis Pinson.
Emily Beisel finds that her most enriching artistic experiences are those involving extended collaborations characterized by in-depth comprehension and interpretation of musical works. She is also fascinated by the communicative possibilities of free improvisation and the potential for joint exploration and experimentation. In addition she is greatly interested in the relationship between visual arts and music and the intensely interrelated influences which are possible to see and experience.
Emily’s musical activities are best characterized by diversity. She is the second clarinetist with Orchestra Iowa and is a member of the contemporary ensemble, Fonema Consort. She also serves as Program Director for the innovative organization known as Access Contemporary Music. Emily works as an active teacher in Chicago and she appreciates the reciprocal relationship between her duel work as performer and pedagogue. Emily completed her Masters in Music Performance at Northwestern University in June of 2014 and now resides in Chicago.
Craig Davis Pinson is a composer, guitarist, and educator from Mexico City, Mexico. In addition to his work for the concert hall, Craig is an active member of the Chicago music improvisation community, and has forthcoming projects in indie pop songwriting/production and scoring for media. His music has been performed by ensembles such as International Contemporary Ensemble, Spektral Quartet, ~Nois Saxophone Quartet, and members of the Civic Orchestra at Chicago’s Symphony Center. Craig is a doctoral candidate at Northwestern University, where he has taught courses in popular music studies, a field he’s passionate about.
Most recent performances as a member of experimental composition/improvisation trio Fat Pigeon include Omaha Under the Radar, Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project’s Re: Sound Festival, Constellation Chicago’s 3×3 series, Hairpin Arts Center LATINxARTS festival, Beat Kitchen’s Splice Series, Elastic Arts Chicago, Slate Arts & Performance, and Experimental Sound Studio (ESS).
Born in Aguascalientes, México, Luis Fernando Amaya is a composer and percussionist. Topics such as collective memory, “flaw,” and the relationship between humans and non-human others (such as plants and animals, imaginary or not) are commonly present in his work. I have studied composition and music theory at the Centro de Investigación y Estudios Musicales ( CIEM ) in México City. Currently, Luis Fernando is pursuing a Ph.D. in composition at Northwestern University.
Amaya’s music has been performed throughout North America (México, the US, Canada), South America, and Europe. Performers of his music include the Arditti Quartet (UK), Yuko Yoshikawa (Japan), CEPROMUSIC (México), Quartetto Indaco (Italy), Spektral Quartet , Ensemble Dal Niente , Ben Roidl-Ward (USA), amongst others. He is the recipient of various awards and fellowships such as the Fonca-Conacyt Scholarship, Presidential Fellowship (NU), and representing Mexico in the 61st International Rostrum of Composers of the UNESCO in Helsinki, Finland. His scores are published by BabelScores.