Zeena Parkins


Zeena Parkins is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist active in experimental, free improvised, contemporary classical, and avant-jazz music; she is known for having "reinvented the harp". Parkins performs on standard harps, several custom electric harps, piano, and accordion. She is a 2019 Guggenheim Fellow and professor in the Music Department at Mills College.
WWW zeenaparkins.com

Life and career

Born in 1956 in Detroit, Michigan, Parkins studied at Bard College and moved to New York City in 1984.
Her work ranges from solo performance to large ensembles. Besides standard and electric harps, her work also incorporates Foley, field recordings, analog synthesizers, samplers, oscillators and homemade instruments.
She has recorded six solo harp records and recorded and performed with Björk, Matmos, Ikue Mori, Fred Frith, Tom Cora, Christian Marclay, Yoko Ono, John Zorn, Chris Cutler, Pauline Oliveros, Nels Cline, Elliott Sharp, Lee Ranaldo, Butch Morris, Tin Hat Trio, William Winant, Anthony Braxton, Bobby Previte, Courtney Love's band Hole, and others. She has also been a member of a number of experimental rock bands, including No Safety, News from Babel, and Skeleton Crew.
Parkins worked with dance companies and choreographers, including the John Jasperse Company, Jennifer Monson, Neil Greenberg, and Emmanuelle Vo-Dinh, and has won three Bessie Awards for her achievement in composition for dance.
She provided scores for filmmakers including Abigail Child, Isabella Rossellini, and Cynthia Madansky.
Parkins received a 1997 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award.

Discography

As leader

Release yearTitleLabelAdditional personnel
1987Something Out ThereNo Man's LandSam Bennett, Cora, Wayne Horvitz, Christian Marclay, Jim Mineses, Ikue Mori, James Staley
1992Ursa's DoorLes Disques VictoMori, Chris Cochrane, Sara Parkins, Maggie Parkins
1993Nightmare AlleyTable of the Elements
1995IsabelleAvantS. Parkins, M. Parkins, Lisa Crowder
1996Mouth=Maul=BetrayerTzadikS. Parkins, M. Parkins, Mark Stewart, Jim Pugliese ft. Carsten Dane, Mattthias Breitenbach, Andy Hass
1998No Way BackAtavistic
1999The Opium War: A Radio PlayEinstein RecordsText by Ana María Simo; ft. M. Parkins, Ikue Mori, Joe Trump, Cochrane, David Shea, DJ Olive, DD Dorvillier, Jonathan Bepler, Tenko
1999Pan-AcousticonTzadikS. Parkins, M. Parkins, Stewart, Pugliese, ft. Trump
2004DevotionTable of the Elements
2006NecklaceTzadikDoug Henderson, Eclipse Quartet: S. Parkins, Sara Thorblade, Joanna Hood, M. Parkins
2010Between the WhilesTable of the Elementsluciana achugar, Levi Gonzalez, Eleanor Hullihan, S. Parkins, Pugliese
2012Double Dupe DownTzadikMori, Marclay, Shelley Hirsch, Okkyung Lee, S. Parkins, M. Parkins, Staley, Matthew Welch, David Watson, William Winant, Pugliese
2013The AdorablesCrytogramophoneParkins, Shayna Dunkelman, Preshish Moments, ft. Deep Singh, Dave Sharma, Kristin Slipp, Danny Blume
2016Three Harps, Tuning Forks & ElectronicsGood Child MusicNuiko Wadden, Kristen Theriault, Megan Conley ft. Mori
2018CaptivaGood Child MusicMatthew Ostrowski

Collaborations

;with News from BabelWork Resumed on the Tower ; Parkins, Chris Cutler, Lindsay Cooper, Dagmar KrauseLetters Home ; Parkins, Cutler, Cooper, Krause ft. Robert Wyatt, Dagmar Krause, Sally Potter, Phil Minton
;with Ikue Mori
  • Parkins & Mori, Phantom Orchard
  • Phantom Orchard, Orra ; ft. Cyro Baptista, Makigami Koichi, Josh Quillen, Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje
  • Phantom Orchard Orchestra, Trouble In Paradise ; ft. Sara Parkins, Shayna Dunkelman, Ratkje, Maggie Parkins, Hild Sofie Tafjord
  • Phantom Orchard Ensemble, Through the Looking Glass ; ft. Sylvie Courvoisier, S. Parkins, Ratkje, M. Parkins
;with No SafetyThis Lost Leg ; Parkins, Chris Cochrane, Doug Seidel, Ann Rupel, Pippin BranettSpill ; Parkins, Cochrane, Seidel, Rupel, Tim SpeliosLive at the Knitting Factory ; Parkins, Cochrane, Seidel, Rupel, SpeliosLive in Italy
;with Elliott Sharp
  • Elliott Sharp / Zeena Parkins, Psycho–Acoustic
  • Psycho-Acoustic, Blackburst
;with Skeleton CrewThe Country of Blinds ; Parkins, Fred Frith, Tom CoraFree Dirt (Live) ; Parkins, Frith, Cora
;Other collaborations

As instrumentalist

With BjörkTelegram Vespertine Drawing Restraint 9 Biophilia
With Alex ClineFor People in Sorrow
With Nels ClineThe Inkling Destroy All Nels Cline Macroscope Lovers
With Fred FrithThe Country of Blinds as Skeleton CrewStep Across the Border That House We Lived In Stone, Brick, Glass, Wood, Wire Traffic Continues with Ensemble ModernRagged Atlas as Cosa BravaThe Letter as Cosa BravaZ Sides as Cosa Brava
With Maybe MondayUnsquare
With Yoko OnoBlueprint for a Sunrise
With Marc RibotRequiem for What's His Name
With John ZornCobra John Zorn's Cobra: Live at the Knitting Factory The Bribe
With Tin Hat TrioBook of Silk
With Bobby Previte
  • ''Terminals''