Brief Biography

Thollem tours perpetually as a solo pianist, vocalist and collaborator
regularly covering much of North America and Europe playing his own
very unique brand of piano music he often calls hyphenated music,
post-classical and of course free improvisation. In the past 6 years,
he has added 23 albums to his discography on 10 different vanguard
record labels in 4 different countries. His musical experiences are
extremely diverse and his ever expanding variety of approaches to
making music result in dramatically new and different outcomes.
He plays in punk clubs, museums, concert halls and riots. He works
regularly with film makers, dancers, poets and painters as well as
a wide array of divergent musicians. He has won numerous awards
and is the founding director of Estamos Ensemble, a Mexican-American
cross border ensemble for musical exchange.

Not long after birth, Thollem began studying the keyboard repertoire
from the medieval to the 20th century. After graduating with degrees
in both piano performance and composition, he dedicated his time for
years in grassroots political and ecological movements before returning
to his own music with his full focus in 2006. He is currently touring
perpetually as a soloist, in collaboration with many other individuals
and groups, as well as leading large ensemble free improvisation
workshops.

Thollem performs in theaters, art galleries, universities, elementary
schools, concert halls, jazz clubs, rock clubs, festivals, warehouses,
house concerts, streets, prisons, forests, riots and on television,
radio and the internet. He has performed piano concertos with
symphonies, played in West African drumming troupes, Javanese
gamelan ensembles, punk bands, free improv ensembles, and
regularly collaborates as a comproviser for film and modern dance.
He participates in communities as he travels, collaborating with
individuals and organizations, helping to connect artistic
communities and artists.

Countries Thollem has played:
Canada, U.S., Mexico, Greece, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland,
Germany, Sweden, Austria, Holland, Ireland, Portugal, France

Recordings released with: Stefano Scodanibbio, Arrington deDionyso,
John Dieterich, Vinny Golia, Pauline Oliveros, Joan Jeanrenaud, Ava
Mendoza, Edoardo Ricci, Rent Romus, Jacopo Andreini, Joel Peterson,
Nicola Guazzaloca, Matteo Bennici, Andrea Caprara, Theresa Wong,
Joan Jeanrenaud, Pauline Oliveros, Jorge Torres Saenz, Ana Lara,
Juan Felipe Waller, Glenn Weyant, Jon Brumit, John Niekrasz,
Gregg Skloff, Mae Starr, Monte Trent Allen, Michael Carey, Hasan
Abdur-Razzaq, Kurt Prisbee, Alexander Bruck, Julian Martinez,
Carmina Escobar, Kjell Nordeson, Rick Rivera, Emilio Tamez and
Tatsuya Nakatani

Upcoming albums up with: William Parker and Nels Cline (Porter Records),
Lukas Ligeti (Label TBD), T.D. Skatchit (Edgetone), Mike Watt, Tim
Barnes, John Dieterich (Hand To Man Band - Post-Consumer), Arrington
de Dionyso (Label TBD), Stefano Giust and Edoardo Marraffa (Amirani Records), Scott Rosenberg, Gino Robair, John Shiurba, Ava Mendoza,
Nate Wooley, David Brandt, Nehemiah St. Danger, Gene V Baker,
Jesse Gilbert, Jordan Glenn, Justin Pinkerton, Will Northrich-Redmond,
Jacopo Andreini, and Sam Coomes (Label TBD), Skeeter Shelton
and Joel Peterson (Label TBD), Tsigoti IV (Label TBD)

Live collaborators (not necessarily in order of importance): Alex Cline, Amy
Denio, Faruq Z. Bey, Jad Fair, Ernesto Martinez, Eduardo Gonzales,
Ravon Chacon, LaDonna Smith, Scott Looney, Jesse Rowland, Gino
Robair, Jon Raskin, Ben Wright, Marco Eneidi, Tim DuRoche, Ron
Stabinsky, Jack Wright, João Castro Pinto, Bruce Ackley, Greg
Saunier, T.D. Skatchit, Chris Brown, Ernesto Gonzales, Laura
Ortman, John Butcher, Luca Nostro, Paolo Ravaglia, dSCI, Joao
Pedro Viegas, Gerard Cox, Adam Smith, James Cornish, Anthony
Poretti, Andrew, D'Angelo, Rob Jost, Ullrich Mitzlaff, Syliva
Tarozzi, Joel Grip, Adrienne Webster, Marko Novachkoff, Makoto
Soto, Henry Kaiser, Ed Petterson, Pete Abbott, Tom Carter, Jeff
Lederer, Mick Hobbs, Liz Albee, Billiana Voutchkova, David Michalak,
Tom Nunn, Margaret Cassavetto, Abby Alwin, Carlos Santos, Dave
Stone, Gianluca Gentili, Paulo Curado, Scott Amendola, Damo
Suzuki, Carlos Zingaro, Daniel Carter, and Federico Ughi, Carrie
Shull, Crowmeat Bob

Film makers:
Martha Colburn, Matthew Barney, Peter Sparling, Tuia Cherici, Carlos Sandoval and David Latreille

Dancers (dance companies):
Germaul Barnes (Bitahkiz Ayeli), Gary Masters, Peter Sparling,
Viewsic Expressions, Black Bones, San José Cleveland Ballet,
Limón West Dance Company

Recent Awards:
Meet the Composer: Creative Connections
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation: USArtists Estamos Ensemble, Director
American Music Center: CAP
'Stirring Awake' debuted at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts