JoAnne Maffia

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  • Username: joannemaffiaradio
  • Sound Artisit/Composer/Percussionist/Radio Drama
  • Role: Multimedia: Independent

Portfolio

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Footsteps #2 Winter NYC (:48)
From: JoAnne Maffia

The sounds of: Walking on packed snow, on a city sidewalk in January 2017. Cold: 19 degrees: Prospect Ave & Terrace PL: Brooklyn, NY. Early evening. No effects, only EQ.
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Footsteps #1 Late Summer (:48)
From: JoAnne Maffia

The sounds of: walking on sand, crushed shells and soil in late summer, 1pm: Afternoon: Hot: 80 degrees, hiking at The Guana Tolomato Reserve in St. Augustine, FL.
Caption: field recording

Thunder Storm in St. Augustine (09:55)
From: JoAnne Maffia

Thunder storm early evening hours. St Augustine, FL. Original clip with no effects, no alterations. Stereo mic/track. No Effects: No EQ.

About Me

JoAnne C. Maffia is an independent Interdisciplinary Artist (composer, percussionist/ writer, director; an overall sound artist). JoAnne is moving away from traditional arts making and more towards Field Recording, Environmental Acoustics and/or Acoustic Ecology.

JoAnne is a native New Yorker now living in St. Augustine, FL.

She was first a drummer, studying on and off, playing in school bands and orchestras when she was first exposed to percussion ensemble music at the age of 17 at Stony Brook University. She was invited to play in the undergraduate percussion ensemble, sparking an enthusiasm and passion for contemporary chamber music and all things experimental.

Soon after, Ms. Maffia attended (SUNY) Purchase College, School of the Arts. It was at Purchase College that JoAnne began experimenting with text as sound object incorporating staging, lighting, movement and music composition. Initially in the music conservatory, JoAnne graduated with her Bachelor of Arts degree in Dramatic Literature/Drama Studies and a minor in music (May 1992).

Two years after graduation, JoAnne founded THAT! New Music Group in April 1994, 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. She incorporated staging, lighting and/or movement with 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. She strove to make New Music accessible to a larger public.

*Received Winter Residency from Synchronicity Space, 1994-95
*Received The East End Arts Council's Special Opportunity Stipend Award, 1995
*Received a Space Grant from St. Peter's Church, 1995

In 1996, Ms. Maffia changed the group's name to 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.

*Received two Meet The Composer Fund awards, Fall 1996
(one for composing, the other for presenting)
*Featured in the Downtown Express newspaper, vol. 10 issue 23, April 1998

In its six year history, THAT! Group produced and presented the work of over 20 artists.

After six years in the not for profit world, JoAnne was looking to complete her music education. Primarily a self-taught composer, JoAnne was able to develop a clear and distinct artistic point of view and a musical style all of her own. Her work caught the eye of then professor Klaus Sinfelt at New York University.

*Commissioned by The New Millennium Chamber Orchestra, 1999
*Received third Meet The Composer Fund award, 2000
*Review in The New Music Connoisseur, Vol. 9, No. 2

Ms. Maffia graduated with a Masters in Music Composition from NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development in May 2002.

*Received The Jack Krieselman Award in composition, 2002
*Commissioned by Athena Chamber Group (Boston), 2002
*Commissioned by the New York University Percussion Ensemble 2003

A year later, Ms. Maffia premiered her multi- movement work, MOSAIC MINDS: The Score in five movements with Finale: a Postscript to AIDS; forming her latest company THe jojo EXperiment. The work received favorable and encouraging reviews.

*Review in The New Music Connoisseur, Vol. 12, 1 & 2

2004, Ms. Maffia joined forces with flutist Christine Perea creating and performing a blend of improvisation, composed bits, percussion, flute and electronics. The two performed locally for four years throughout the New York City area.

2007, JoAnne premiered Kinetic Fortress, a 'narrative interrupted' at The 78th Street Theatre Lab. Ms. Maffia blended theatre, music and video.

JoAnne has received various commissions as a composer and has performed as a percussionist for several new music groups in and around New York City, to name a few (2005-2012):

Forecast Music
Lost Dog new music ensemble
Chuck Funk comedy/theatre artist
The New Music Collective (Brooklyn Conservatory of Music)

*Commissioned by The Incubator Arts Project: Music, 2008
St. Marks Church, NYC

2009, Ms. Maffia attended Brooklyn College, receiving the Advanced Certificate in Music Education; and for the past four years JoAnne has been teaching instrumental music full time through the NYC DOE.

2012, The Vermont Shakespeare Company commissioned Ms. Maffia as a composer and percussionist thus hiring her as the Musical Director for their summer production of The Tempest.

*Review Shelburne News, August 30, 2012, Rachel Dunphy
*Review Seven Days newspaper, vol.17, No. 50
*Review Burlington Free Press, burlingtonfreepress.com, Aug. 16, 2012

May 2013, JoAnne's work 'Buzzword-ganda' was selected by Museruole: women in experimental music's 'On the Air' radio festival in Bolzano/Bozen, Italy.

May 2014, The Hear Now Festival selected Ms. Maffia's recent audio drama work Kinetic Fortress: a narrative interrupted to be aired as a part of their Podcast Palooza series, airing June 19th- August 1st

August 2016, JoAnne joined the percussion section of The St. Augustine Orchestra.

September 2016, commissioned by Mariah Maloney Dance to compose original music for a series of pieces titled FILTER.

2017 February JoAnne was accepted to the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation: Two week Field Recording and Research project.

2017 May Awarded the Promoting Excellence in Diversity (PED) Grant 2016-17, as an educator, from SUNY Brockport College; teaching master classes.

2017 August composition Frenetic Sparks: Movement 1 'Right Now' accepted by Ink & Coda an online publication as part of their Summer Issue volume 4.2.

2017 September featured work, the Soundmaps Project;
https://www.sonospace.org/portfolio/more-than/

2017 November Guest Artist & Lecturer, Dance Department, Brockport College NY co-sponsored by the Diversity Committee.

Lecture: 'Expect the Unexpected'Obstacles of the Single Story Narrative

2018 March Guest Artist/Accompanist Florida State College at Jacksonville, FL.

2018 May selected composition, Frenetic Sparks in 2 movements, 'Right Now' & 'Transcend' The 12th International Festival for New Music, Forum Wallis: Ars Electronica, Schloss Leuk, Switzerland, May 17-21.

https://www.forumwallis.ch/Bilder/pics-plakate/F4-fw18.JPG

2018 August Adjunct Faculty, Music History and Appreciation, Flagler College.

2018 September Percussion Instructor, Pacetti Bay Middle School.

2018-2019 commissioned by The Jacksonville Dance Theatre to compose original music, premiere Spring 2019.

JoAnne is currently focusing on a series of new works that solely employ the sense of 'hearing' avoiding all use of visual means and materials; creating works tailored for radio, podcasting and 'home' listening. She has a new found interest in Field Recording, Environmental Acoustics and/or Acoustic Ecology moving away from traditional music making.

EDUCATION:
-The Advanced Certificate in Music Education, Brooklyn College, 2010
-Master of Arts in Music Composition, New York University, 2002
-Bachelor of Arts in Dramatic Literature with a Minor in Music, Purchase College, 1992

My Groups:
Favorite Shows:
Influences: Natural sound, nature, modernism, experimental, avant-garde, percussion, percussive, tactile, field recording, theatre, dance, contemporary

Work Experience

Sound Designer & Composer at Flagler College Theater Dept.,  July 2019 - Present
Sound design and composition The Tempest by William Shakespeare

Composer at The Jacksonville Dance Theater,  October 2018 - May 2019
Composed and collaborated with choreographer Rebecca R. Levy

Professor at Flagler College,  August 2018 - Present
Professor of Music Appreciation & History, Theater for the Ears

Composer/ Sound Artist at Mariah Maloney Dance Co.,  August 2016 - November 2017
Composed and collaborated with choreographer Mariah Maloney: an ongoing project...

Previously Aired On


Education

CUNY Brooklyn, Advanced Certificate in Music Ed, 2010

NYU Steinhardt School, Master of Arts in Music Composition, 2002

SUNY Purchase, School of the Arts, BA in Dramatic Literature, music minor, 1992

Awards

  • The Jack Kreiselman Award in Composition, Awarded for originality and creativity in music composition, 2002

Additional Information

Affiliations:  
Other Web sites: