c e l l o d r e a m s

& wildwood river & the cosmic pit orchestra

sample tracks

about cellodreams

kathy mctavish trained as a classical cellist and studied composition and music theory. her current work as a composer/free-style musician is influenced by studies of 12-tone music, chance, minimalism, polyphonic forms, free jazz and old blues. she is inspired by the rhythms of human speech, beat poets such as alan ginsberg and abstract expressionist art. kathy uses chance and generative/organic forms to create everything from sparse, minimalist spaces to dense, orchestral landscapes. her work has been used behind spoken word, theater, visual art/sound installations, and film. in 2009 she was awarded an american composers forum / jerome foundation commission to compose and perform a work for electrified solo cello called: river icarus: rusted bridge / deep water". an arrowhead regional arts council / mcknight foundation grant funded the recording equipment / software used for this project. in 2010 she received an arts and cultural heritage individual artist fellowship from the arrowhead regional arts council.

visit her myspace page: www.myspace.com/cellodreams

visit kathy on facebook: www.facebook.com/kathymctavish

view: artist statement / resume 06/2010

about wildwood river

cellist kathy mctavish and poet sheila packa perform a dialogue of music and poetry. each performance of this duo is new and different. bob moynihan of duluth called the performance "mesmerizing."

"my instrument is voice and poetics," says sheila packa. kathy mctavish plays cello. "her sound," says packa, "is edgy, from deep listening with electronic looping, echoes of blues, classical, jazz and the wilderness. we play together. we experiment. in this connection, i've moved away from a standard poetry reading into an improvisational, musical pouring of word with her cello dream sound. it's interactive. it's wild streams, water rushing, neon and mercury lights, a wingbeat through the streets, and at the edge, love's shoreline."

sheila packa is a poet, author of the mother tongue, published by calyx press duluth. the poetry, according to the minnesota literature newsletter, celebrates the past, her heritage, and the north, which provides "the iron in our veins." she grew up on minnesota's iron range, is the granddaughter of finnish immigrants, and lives in duluth. she has an mfa in creative writing, and has published poems, short stories, and essays in many literary magazines and anthologies. she's received two loft mcknight awards and two arrowhead regional arts council awards. most recently, her work has been featured in new rivers press book, to sing along the way: minnesota women poets from pre-territorial days to the present, edited by joyce sutphen, thom tammaro, and connie wanek.

visit sheila's website: www.sheilapacka.com

about the cosmic pit orchestra

blending electric guitar (richie townsend) & cello (kathy mctavish), the cosmic pit orchestra creates vivid improvisational soundscapes. with an innovative use of modes, rhythms, textures and a sense of wild, joyful abandon the cosmic pit orchestra weaves a moving, psychedelic listening experience.

visit their myspace page: www.myspace.com/cosmicpitorchestra

click here to view full-size, high-resolution images of cosmic pit orchestra (taken by mary plaster)

cds / music samples

see the music link to purchase, download, or listen to samples.

upcoming events

see the calendar page for a list of public events.

contact information

kathy mctavish

kathy@cellodreams.com

(218) 343-7998

email list

send an email to: kathy@cellodreams.com to be notified of upcoming events.

quotes

"the journey of a bird...a winged instrument"
- concert attendee

"unbelievably beautiful...sounds like whales"
- concert attendee

"abstract expressionist... sound paintings..."
- concert attendee

"a beautiful, poignant exploration of integration/disintegration, sanity/insanity, coherence/incoherence...the world"
- a listener to the cd lines

"mystical possession...cave drawings"
- online music listener

"spoken-word cello..."
- concert attendee

"after the initial shock tears ran down my face...so moving"
- concert attendee

"definitely another member of the waisted lute family"
- university music professor

"images flow endlessly....visions..."
- local writer & concert attendee

"the complexity of sounds you created with your soulful intensity were a really lovely musical treat."
- email from a listener

a cross between yo-yo ma and a freight train."
- concert attendee

"i've never heard a better depiction of war than your performance of dylan's masters of war...extremely moving"
- concert attendee

"thank you, thank you, thank you. what serendipity it was that brought us together. your music was such an important and moving part of the [wedding] ceremony. it was truly beyond our expectations. you were great to work with and an exceptionally gifted musician. we can't thank you enough."

"it was great to meet you kathy, and i am excited that we were able to talk for a few minutes. it is amazing how music can touch people so deeply, as the audience watched you play, saw you connect with the song, we felt time slow if just for a moment, a light of something sweet and emotional. and simply on a personal note i thought the ending was great, i felt like i should cry and jump for joy all at once! thank you for your time and patience throughout the entire process, the night was beyond expectations!"

"dobro and banjo picker lance rhicard, cellist kathy mctavish and fiddler rachael kilgour are stellar with judicious note choices and uplifting accompaniment. ...the starkness of "the morning after your heart breaks" is disarmingly beautiful. the completely laid-bare lyrics, the achingly honest vocal reading, the angst of the cello lamenting along with the voice and the frailty of the sparse arrangement paint the picture of someone whose heart has been shattered."
- review of sara thomsen's cd "everything changes" by john ziegler appearing in the duluth news tribune 02/08
see: full review.

specifically about the wildwood river (sheila packa/poetry & kathy mctavish/cello)...

"mesmorizing"
- concert attendee

"meditative, moving...i was transfixed"
- concert attendee

"whether the landscape is the tender grittiness of the iron range, the sensuousness of the body, or the complicated terrains of memory and expression, these poems are something to write home about. "
- ellie schoenfeld, author of difficult valentines

specifically about the cosmic pit orchestra (richie townsend/electric guitar & kathy mctavish/cello)...

"a drug experience for sober people"
- concert attendee

"there is an elliptical beauty in the give and take between musicians who are on the same wavelength and can almost telepathically transmit their innermost thoughts and feelings. ...sounds of nature. At times...the craggy power of tectonic plates shifting deep in the earth before an earthquake. Then it's the rustle of the wind through birches. Next you're inside the eye of a hurricane or hearing groans from the depths of the ocean."
- john ziegler, from a duluth news-tribune review of "caught you falling"

"there are more extension cords and pedals than at a pink floyd concert. ...the amplified cello and guitar launch into trippy experimental music with tribal undertones. both musicians appear possessed. this is the soundtrack to my alien abduction. "
- duluth news tribune

"keeping over 50 people in a dark room for over 2hrs to listen to poetry may seem like a sociology experiment that needs an ethics review, but, for me and the majority of the people there, it was a pleasure. thank you devin, thank you poets, that you homegrown, thank you comic pit orchestra (for providing the great music that complimented each poet - showing how adept they are at improvisation by keying in on rhythms and tones almost instantaneously!), and thank you duluth for setting in which this is all possible."
- john mccormick

"first of all i really enjoy the cosmic pit orchestra. simply badass.... as far putting that music into a category... heavy ambiance comes to mind... when i heard you guys at the grace i thought to my self 'what level of heaven have i entered?!'"
- heavy metal musician/concert attendee

"i like to imagine using the hubble ultra deep field image as a kind of cosmic sheet music. "
- richie

"i really fucking adored your music; thank you so much; you made my dark day much brighter"
- tip jar note from concert attendee

"i dreamed a painting - i think it was a painting? i think it was the cosmic pit orchestra but 'you' were a large bird - big beak, black wings - your neck moved back and forth while you played the cello with your wings? actually i could barely see the cello - i decided it was a cello after waking but really it was like the bird was both you and the cello. richie [the electric guitar player] was unclear except that his guitar floated and was battered by hummingbirds. i think he was behind them but i couldn't see him. between you guys were a bunch of woodpeckers on a tree trunk and dead stump. above the woodpeckers was an owl - kinda hard to see - i kept trying to tell if it was really there. pretty weird but i think it all fits - i trust you to just take this with a grain of salt. i thought it was fun. i dreamed it the morning after seeing you at the quaker meetinghouse concert. i may do something with this - i don't know. good dream anyway. great concert."
- molly tillotsen (artist)