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ThuCharles Cohen is a master synthesizer improviser who has been a central figure in Philadelphia/East Coast experimental, avant-garde, and improvisational scene for the past 40 years. He is one of the few living artists to own and have mastered Don Buchla’s 1973 Music Easel, a rare, performance-oriented portable synth made from two modules of the Buchla 200 series.
In addition to his performance on Wednesday 21.1. at HAU2, Cohen will host a workshop illuminating both his unique creative philosophy and musical practice. He will also present the new re-issue of the original Buchla Music Easel system, produced in close consultation with Don Buchla himself.
The workshop will culminate in a collaborative jam session, during which participants are invited to use their own analogue equipment, as well as the equipment found at Schneider's Buro, famous with audiophiles world-wide for its expansive selection of weird and wonderful sound generating devices.
A retrospective of Cohen’s early works was released in November 2013 via Rabih Beaini’s (aka Morphosis) Morphine label, marking the first substantive release of this pioneering musician’s material to date.
The workshop, open to 12 people is now full. Registration is closed.
Synthesizer improvisor and experimental composer Charles Cohen produces solely on a vintage Buchla Music Easel synthesizer, a rare integrated analogue performance instrument created in the early 1960s by synthesizer pioneer Don Buchla. Cohen’s intuitive approach to making music combines the spontaneity, energy, and rhythm of free jazz with the sonic possibilities of synthesizers.