Instagram Story Save

Check out my conversation with @elliott_sharp on the latest Searching for Sparks podcast. He is a central figure in the downtown avant-garde and experimental music scene in New York City since the late 1970’s—an American contemporary classical composer, multi-instrumentalist, performer, improvisor, guitar builder and mutator, author, visual artist, and coffee connoisseur.
Last August, Elliott & I recorded together at his zOaR Studio in NYC, more about that soon, but we are expecting a September 2026 release on 7d.

Enjoy this fascinating chat with Elliott Sharp.

https://youtu.be/zFqp6EGue5c

Tim Motzer You Tube Channel
Searching for Sparks
Linktree in bio

New Substack post, Milo Minderbinder Lives!

copy URL or go to link in Profile:
https://elliottsharp.substack.com/p/milo-minderbinder-lives

#militaryindustrialcomplex #hipocrisy #oilcompanies #fossilfuels #grift #iranwar

Punctum presents an intermedia program with live scores to Entanglement Suite, a video by Janene Higgins, and to ReGenerate, a graphic score in the form of an animated movie by E#.

door: 7:30 pm
performance: 8 pm

ELLIOTT SHARP has pioneered fractal geometry and chaos theory in composition. His operas include Port Bou (2014), Filiseti Mekidesi (2018) and Die Grösste Fuge (2021). Storm Of the Eye appears on violinist Hilary Hahn's Grammy-winning In 27 Pieces. Sharp has been featured at festivals Big Ears, Darmstadt, Donaueschingen, and Au Printemps and is the subject of the documentary Doing The Don't. He was awarded the Berlin Prize for Music (2015) and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2014). He is the author of IrRational Music and Feedback. Sharp’s collaborators have included Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Radio-Sinfonie Frankfurt, Steve Buscemi, Debbie Harry, blues legend Hubert Sumlin, pianist Cecil Taylor, and Bachir Attar of the Master Musicians Of Jajouka.

JANENE HIGGINS is a video artist and graphic designer based in New York City. Her work spans several genres, from video performance in the experimental music scene to commercial videos, to the design of CD packages for such record labels as Sony, BMG, PolyGram, and a wide variety of independents. Her collaborators include Ikue Mori, Mari Kimura, Alan Licht, Nurit Tilles, Okkyung Lee, Aki Onda, and Zeena Parkins. In addition to video performance, she has directed several short experimental videos, often with sound design by notable avant-garde artists including Elliott Sharp, Parkins, Christian Marclay and John Duncan. Her work has been performed and exhibited at The New York Video Festival at Lincoln Center; Documenta in Kassel, Germany; The Kitchen, NYC; Musée d'art de Lyon; City of Women festival, Slovenia; The Chelsea Art Museum, NYC; HiTeca Festival in Porto, Portugal; Art Institute of Chicago; Experimenta Festival in Buenos Aires; The Hamburg Short Film Festival; and at The Impakt Festival in The Netherlands.

Tickets: presale 300/400 @boomevents.cz or 400 on the spot.

Punctum presents an intermedia program with live scores to Entanglement Suite, a video by Janene Higgins, and to ReGenerate, a graphic score in the form of an animated movie by E#.

door: 7:30 pm
performance: 8 pm

ELLIOTT SHARP has pioneered fractal geometry and chaos theory in composition. His operas include Port Bou (2014), Filiseti Mekidesi (2018) and Die Grösste Fuge (2021). Storm Of the Eye appears on violinist Hilary Hahn's Grammy-winning In 27 Pieces. Sharp has been featured at festivals Big Ears, Darmstadt, Donaueschingen, and Au Printemps and is the subject of the documentary Doing The Don't. He was awarded the Berlin Prize for Music (2015) and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2014). He is the author of IrRational Music and Feedback. Sharp’s collaborators have included Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Radio-Sinfonie Frankfurt, Steve Buscemi, Debbie Harry, blues legend Hubert Sumlin, pianist Cecil Taylor, and Bachir Attar of the Master Musicians Of Jajouka.

JANENE HIGGINS is a video artist and graphic designer based in New York City. Her work spans several genres, from video performance in the experimental music scene to commercial videos, to the design of CD packages for such record labels as Sony, BMG, PolyGram, and a wide variety of independents. Her collaborators include Ikue Mori, Mari Kimura, Alan Licht, Nurit Tilles, Okkyung Lee, Aki Onda, and Zeena Parkins. In addition to video performance, she has directed several short experimental videos, often with sound design by notable avant-garde artists including Elliott Sharp, Parkins, Christian Marclay and John Duncan. Her work has been performed and exhibited at The New York Video Festival at Lincoln Center; Documenta in Kassel, Germany; The Kitchen, NYC; Musée d'art de Lyon; City of Women festival, Slovenia; The Chelsea Art Museum, NYC; HiTeca Festival in Porto, Portugal; Art Institute of Chicago; Experimenta Festival in Buenos Aires; The Hamburg Short Film Festival; and at The Impakt Festival in The Netherlands.

Tickets: presale 300/400 @boomevents.cz or 400 on the spot.

On May 20, 2026, as part of the exhibition “Unos pocos buenos amigos” by María Leguízamo and Gerson Vargas, Flaming Creatures and Cantadora Gallery present Elliott Sharp’s Monkulations: a tribute to the music of Thelonious Monk.

Elliott Sharp is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer, and a central figure in the New York avant-garde since the late 1970s. His work moves fluidly across orchestral composition, blues, jazz, noise, no wave rock, and techno, continually redefining the boundaries of musical language.

Over the decades, he has released more than eighty-five recordings and led projects such as Carbon, Orchestra Carbon, Tectonics, and Terraplane, developing compositional approaches based on fractal geometry, chaos theory, and genetic metaphors.

His extensive collaborations include artists such as Christian Marclay, Nels Cline, John Zorn, Wayne Horvitz, David Torn, Joey Baron, Melvin Gibbs, Zeena Parkins, Vernon Reid, Frances-Marie Uitti, Jack DeJohnette, Sonny Sharrock, Debbie Harry, and Bachir Attar.

With Monkulations, Sharp offers a radical and personal re-reading of Thelonious Monk, approaching his compositions through improvisation, structural deconstruction, and sonic transformation.

20 May 2026
7.30 pm (sharp)
Cantadora Gallery – Piazza Galeria 7, Rome

Spots are limited. The event is reserved for members of the Flaming Creatures cultural association.
A membership contribution is required to support the event. LINK IN BIO

Media partner: @radio3_rai

#flamingcreaturesroma #elliottsharp

On May 20, 2026, as part of the exhibition “Unos pocos buenos amigos” by María Leguízamo and Gerson Vargas, Flaming Creatures and Cantadora Gallery present Elliott Sharp’s Monkulations: a tribute to the music of Thelonious Monk.

Elliott Sharp is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer, and a central figure in the New York avant-garde since the late 1970s. His work moves fluidly across orchestral composition, blues, jazz, noise, no wave rock, and techno, continually redefining the boundaries of musical language.

Over the decades, he has released more than eighty-five recordings and led projects such as Carbon, Orchestra Carbon, Tectonics, and Terraplane, developing compositional approaches based on fractal geometry, chaos theory, and genetic metaphors.

His extensive collaborations include artists such as Christian Marclay, Nels Cline, John Zorn, Wayne Horvitz, David Torn, Joey Baron, Melvin Gibbs, Zeena Parkins, Vernon Reid, Frances-Marie Uitti, Jack DeJohnette, Sonny Sharrock, Debbie Harry, and Bachir Attar.

With Monkulations, Sharp offers a radical and personal re-reading of Thelonious Monk, approaching his compositions through improvisation, structural deconstruction, and sonic transformation.

20 May 2026
7.30 pm (sharp)
Cantadora Gallery – Piazza Galeria 7, Rome

Spots are limited. The event is reserved for members of the Flaming Creatures cultural association.
A membership contribution is required to support the event. LINK IN BIO

Media partner: @radio3_rai

#flamingcreaturesroma #elliottsharp

Heading to Italy today.

Workshop at Tempo Reale, Florence May 15-17, concert on 17.

18 - Concert in Modena - solo acoustic guitar - write for details.

19 - Concert in Trieste - solo electroacoustic guitar
https://www.turismofvg.it/events/circolo-del-jazz-thelonious-presenta-elliott-sharp-solo

20 - Concert in Rome - solo - Monkulations
https://zero.eu/en/eventi/367539-flaming-creatures-w-elliott-sharp,roma/

Workshop at the Conservatory in Cuneo May 22-24, concert May 25 - details to follow.

Recording in Milano May 25-26 with Sergio Armaroli, Francesca Gemmo, Steve Piccolo

May 9 at @loove_labs Annex as part of the Soup and Sound series curated by @andrewdrurymusic and @continuumcultureandarts . Vocalist @ayako.kanda and I began with our duo in which I played the @rickturnerguitars Renaissance Baritone followed by @michaelsarin on drums and @mplandis with live painting played a stunning set.

#improvisation #extendedtechniques #irrationalmusic

May 9 at @loove_labs Annex as part of the Soup and Sound series curated by @andrewdrurymusic and @continuumcultureandarts . Vocalist @ayako.kanda and I began with our duo in which I played the @rickturnerguitars Renaissance Baritone followed by @michaelsarin on drums and @mplandis with live painting played a stunning set.

#improvisation #extendedtechniques #irrationalmusic

May 9 at @loove_labs Annex as part of the Soup and Sound series curated by @andrewdrurymusic and @continuumcultureandarts . Vocalist @ayako.kanda and I began with our duo in which I played the @rickturnerguitars Renaissance Baritone followed by @michaelsarin on drums and @mplandis with live painting played a stunning set.

#improvisation #extendedtechniques #irrationalmusic

The Bridge in noir mode.

#sonnyrollins #williamsburgbridge #sonnyrollinsbridge #noir #eastriver

The song remains the same. The video is new.
I always had a story idea for an animated video for “Banking Blues,” a song I wrote for “Sky Road Songs,” an album I produced for Elliott Sharp’s Terraplane back in 2012.

Now premiering on International Workers’ Day 2026, the video was realized and directed by Dorian Saisse and his team of animators.

Preceding my 2024 solo album, “Inside Outsider,” “Banking Blues” was also my ‘debut’ as a lead vocalist on a commercial release.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h4oSpan2ek

Three new releases on zOaR Records for Bandcamp Friday

ZCD 205 Julien Tassin & Heikki Ruokangas - Live in Brussels

ZCD 207 Elliott Sharp - Piano Forte

ZCD 208 An AdHoc Orchestra - A Tribute to Derek Bailey - Recorded Live at Roulette - curated by Chris Cochrane

Copy URL or use link in Profile:
https://zoar-records.bandcamp.com/

#zoarrecords #bandcampfriday #newmusic #improvisation #piano #extendedtechniques #acousticguitar #electroacoustic #voice #electricguitar #chriscochrane #irrationalmusic

The song remains the same. The video is new.
I always had a story idea for an animated video for “Banking Blues,” a song I wrote for “Sky Road Songs,” an album I produced for Elliott Sharp’s Terraplane back in 2012.

Now premiering on International Workers’ Day 2026, the video was realized and directed by Dorian Saisse and his team of animators.

Preceding my 2024 solo album, “Inside Outsider,” “Banking Blues” was also my ‘debut’ as a lead vocalist on a commercial release.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h4oSpan2ek

May 9
Soup & Sound - Two Sets at the Loove Annex

Set 1 8PM
AYAKO KANDA voice
ELLIOTT SHARP guitar, electronics

Loove Annex
238 N. 12th St., Brooklyn, NY
$20 suggested donation

Visiting from Tokyo, vocalist AYAKO KANDA moves between the feral and the utterly wild, between free improvisation and standard jazz, quick sketches and impressionist painting, creating rules and breaking them as she roams between linguistic and alinguistic modes of expression.

ELLIOTT SHARP is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer. A central figure in the avant-garde and experimental music scene in New York City for over 30 years, Elliott Sharp has released over eighty-five recordings ranging from orchestral music to blues, jazz, noise, no wave rock, and techno music. He leads the projects Carbon and Orchestra Carbon, Tectonics, and Terraplane and has pioneered ways of applying fractal geometry, chaos theory, and genetic metaphors to musical composition and interaction.

_______

AND

Set 2: 9PM
M P LANDIS live painting
MICHAEL SARIN drums

See you there!

@ayako.kanda
@elliott_sharp
@andrewdrurymusic
@loove_labs

May 9
Soup & Sound - Two Sets at the Loove Annex

Set 1 8PM
AYAKO KANDA voice
ELLIOTT SHARP guitar, electronics

Loove Annex
238 N. 12th St., Brooklyn, NY
$20 suggested donation

Visiting from Tokyo, vocalist AYAKO KANDA moves between the feral and the utterly wild, between free improvisation and standard jazz, quick sketches and impressionist painting, creating rules and breaking them as she roams between linguistic and alinguistic modes of expression.

ELLIOTT SHARP is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer. A central figure in the avant-garde and experimental music scene in New York City for over 30 years, Elliott Sharp has released over eighty-five recordings ranging from orchestral music to blues, jazz, noise, no wave rock, and techno music. He leads the projects Carbon and Orchestra Carbon, Tectonics, and Terraplane and has pioneered ways of applying fractal geometry, chaos theory, and genetic metaphors to musical composition and interaction.

_______

AND

Set 2: 9PM
M P LANDIS live painting
MICHAEL SARIN drums

See you there!

@ayako.kanda
@elliott_sharp
@andrewdrurymusic
@loove_labs

May 9
Soup & Sound - Two Sets at the Loove Annex

Set 1 8PM
AYAKO KANDA voice
ELLIOTT SHARP guitar, electronics

Loove Annex
238 N. 12th St., Brooklyn, NY
$20 suggested donation

Visiting from Tokyo, vocalist AYAKO KANDA moves between the feral and the utterly wild, between free improvisation and standard jazz, quick sketches and impressionist painting, creating rules and breaking them as she roams between linguistic and alinguistic modes of expression.

ELLIOTT SHARP is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer. A central figure in the avant-garde and experimental music scene in New York City for over 30 years, Elliott Sharp has released over eighty-five recordings ranging from orchestral music to blues, jazz, noise, no wave rock, and techno music. He leads the projects Carbon and Orchestra Carbon, Tectonics, and Terraplane and has pioneered ways of applying fractal geometry, chaos theory, and genetic metaphors to musical composition and interaction.

_______

AND

Set 2: 9PM
M P LANDIS live painting
MICHAEL SARIN drums

See you there!

@ayako.kanda
@elliott_sharp
@andrewdrurymusic
@loove_labs

New Substack post about my upcoming solo piano release on zOaR Records, Piano Forte.

Photo by @helene.breschand
Album design by @janene_higgins

Copy this URL or use the link in the Profile:
https://elliottsharp.substack.com/p/pianism

#irrationalmusic #extendedtechniques #improvisation #piano #zoarrecords

New Substack post about my upcoming solo piano release on zOaR Records, Piano Forte.

Photo by @helene.breschand
Album design by @janene_higgins

Copy this URL or use the link in the Profile:
https://elliottsharp.substack.com/p/pianism

#irrationalmusic #extendedtechniques #improvisation #piano #zoarrecords