James Ilgenfritz

Composer/bassist James Ilgenfritz (NYC) leads an evening of solo and duo works, with a program stradding the worlds of composition and free improvisation, including an improvising duo with Bay Area oboist Kyle Bruckmann. His program includes his own work, fellow New Yorkers Lucie Vitkova and Miya Masaoka, Anthony Donofrio, and Watsonville-based composer Jeffrey Treviño.

James Ilgenfritz

Composer/bassist James Ilgenfritz leads The Anagram Ensemble and performs regularly as a solo bassist. In June 2018 James will present his second residency at John Zorn’s venue The Stone, now located at the New School’s Black Box Theater, featuring world premieres of Ilgenfritz compositions for the Momenta Quartet, flutist Margaret Lancaster, The New Thread Saxophone Quartet, and the Kathleen Supove/James Moore/Jennifer Choi trio, as well as works for solo contrabass by John King, Anthony Donofrio, Lucie Vitkova, and James Ilgenfritz.

James’s 2017 CD Origami Cosmos features works by Annie Gosfield, Miya Masaoka, Elliott Sharp, & JG Thirlwell, and his international jazz quartet MiND GAMeS released their second CD Ephemera Obscura on the Portuguese label Clean Feed in July 2017. His trio Hypercolor (w/ Lukas Ligeti & Eyal Maoz) recently released their debut CD on John Zorn’s label Tzadik. James has performed throughout the US, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Poland, and Switzerland. James’s notable performances include work with composer/improvisers Pauline Oliveros, Roscoe Mitchell, Rufus Reid, Anthony Braxton, “Blue” Gene Tyranny, and many others. James has received grants from New Music USA and American Composers Forum.

He holds a BA in Music Performance from University of Michigan and a MA in Contemporary Music Performance from UCSD, and directs the Suzuki bass program at Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.

Indexical’s Santa Cruz concert series is made possible through generous support by Arts Council Santa Cruz.