Livewire 12: Patrick Crossland and Alexander Frangenheim

UMBC’s 12 annual Livewire festival — Livewire: Flow — presents trombonist Patrick Crossland and bassist Alexander Frangenheim, who will perform an evening of improvised music.

Trombonist Patrick Crossland was born in Jackson, Mississippi. Growing up in southern Louisiana, he began playing trombone at age 10. His musical study continued at the University of Southern Mississippi, the Manhattan School of Music, the Royal College of Music (London), the University of Minnesota, and the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik – Trossingen (Germany). Prominent solo performances include the Walker Art Center’s “Festival Dancing In Your Head”, the Darmstadt Course for New Music, where he was awarded a Solo Performance Prize, UMBC’s Livewire Festival, and the American Trombone Workshop. Crossland has performed with orchestras and ensembles across Europe and the USA, including concerto performances in the USA, England, and Germany. In addition to his activities as a soloist and chamber musician, he is an avid improviser, performing and recording with artists including Günter Christmann, Alexander Frangenheim, and Jack Wright. Recent festival performances include High Zero (Baltimore) and concepts of doing (Berlin). He is currently a member of the composers slide quartet and Ensemble Laboratorium. Patrick Crossland is the recipient of Maryland State Arts Council awards and teaches trombone, improvisation, and other courses at UMBC.

Alexander Frangenheim, a classically trained bassist, has worked as an improvisor since the late 1980s. He has played with many leading musicians from around the world and shares a long-term artist partnership with Günter Christmann. In collaboration with dance, he has worked with such artists as Julyen Hamilton, Nigel Charnock, Benoit Lachambre, Fine Kwiatkowski, Jose Luis Sultan. Frangenheim was member of the ensemble Zeitkratzer, performing Metal Machine Music by and with Lou Reed as well as music by alva noto, Merzbow, Lee Ronaldo and Elliott Sharp. He can be heard on 10 of the ensemble’s CDs. Since 2005 he has lived in Berlin, where he created studioboerne45, a distinguished recording studio for independent artists. Among his recent releases are Sugar is a necessary fluid with guitarist Niklas Fite, light air still gets dark together with Isabelle Duthoit and Roger Turner, Frost Burning with Biliana Voutchkova and Antonis Anissegos and Vario 34 Christmann/Frangenheim/Gustafsson/Lehn/Lovens, Berlin 2018.