About this Artist
LOS ANGELES ELECTRIC 8 is a group of eight electric guitarists dedicated to revitalizing chamber music for a new generation of listeners. Celebrating 10 years, the octet boasts a repertoire which spans from the late Renaissance to the present day, ranging from the polychoral music of Giovanni Gabrieli to Igor Stravinsky’s Octet for Wind Instruments. Their last program juxtaposed Indonesian gamelan with American minimalism. Beyond re-imagining the traditional, the Electric 8 is devoted to playing new music. The group has premiered new works by Andrew McIntosh, Daniel Corral, Frank J. Oteri, Phil Kline, Bill Alves, Derrick Spiva Jr., Peter Yates, Eric Kiersnowski, and Felix Salazar, and continues to actively collaborate with living composers from around the world. Their two previous releases and their latest album, Interlocking Textures, illustrate how the group adapts the old and advances the new.
Los Angeles Electric 8 has performed in a variety of national festivals and venues, including Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Noon to Midnight festival at Walt Disney Concert Hall, The Strathmore Guitar Festival (MD), Grand Performances (LA), The Tank (NY), Sundays Live at LACMA, REDCAT’s Summer Studio, Santa Barbara Guitar Festival, World Festival of Sacred Music, MicroFest, and more. They were part of the Los Angeles County Arts Commission’s Musician’s Roster for 2011-2013. They have been noted as critic’s picks in the Los Angeles Times and Time Out New York.
Aside from performance, the octet is strongly committed to student outreach and music education. The group frequently guest lectures and presents demonstrations and workshops at universities, community schools, and state prisons throughout the United States.