Composer and multimedia artist Elise Kermani (http://ishtar.cdemusic.org) has created sound design for multimedia, dance and theater groups across New York and the United States since the mid 1980’s. Her work has been heard in venues such as Dance Theater Workshop, P.S. 122, Roulette, The Kitchen, Knitting Factory, The Texas Gallery, DiverseWorks Artspace, Cleveland Public Theater, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, and Madame Walker Theater in Indianapolis, Southern Theater in Minneapolis and several venues in Eastern Europe. Her music has been reviewed in the New York Times, the Village Voice, Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Reader.
Kermani is dedicated to the promotion and recognition of women’s music and she is the producer of the dice Project, a Compact Disc collection of contemporary women composers released on her own label, Ishtar Records. In September 2002 she curated the website ‘dice3-an international community of women in electronic music’
(http://ishtar.cdemusic.org/dice3.html).
Most recently, Kermani’s music involves the sampling and processing of sound files on her G4 laptop in a post-minimalistic style. She often records voices and live actions on stage as sources for her abstract soundscapes. She works with her collaborators to develop specific sonic images which express the text, visuals and movements as one unified gesture.