E3Q is a trio comprised of Residential College faculty members (from left) Michael Gould, Katri Ervamaa, and Mark Kirschenmann.

E3Q Contemporary Music Ensemble

E3Q is a contemporary music trio comprised of faculty members Katri Ervamaa (cello), Michael Gould (percussion) and Mark Kirschenmann (trumpet and electronics). The trio was founded at the U-M Residential College (RC). Because the RC is located in the U-M’s East Quadrangle, the ensemble took the name E3Q. At the RC, Ervamaa teaches chamber music, Gould teaches Afro Cuban drumming and a course in ‘found’ instruments, and Kirschenmann teaches creative improvisation, composition, and theory. Gould and Kirschenmann also teach for the Department of Jazz and Improvisation at the School of Music. E3Q made their public debut at the Ann Arbor Edgefest in October 2005.

Ervamaa says: “We were friends first, then colleagues and finally formed a trio. As the performance faculty at the Residential College, we felt like we should do a faculty concert every now and then. The first ones were kind of a mixed bag of covers, improvisations, and solo works. Mark wrote a tune for one of then called 'Triangle' which worked so well that he got inspired to write more.”

E3Q Songbook One is available on the U-M Block M Records label.

Ervamaa, who plays Cello, has performed widely in the US, as well as in her native Finland and throughout Europe. As a member of the Owla String Quartet, she appeared in the Bowdoin, Soundfest, Orlando, Norrtälje, Lyckå, Haut Limousin, St.Foi de Grand and Kuhmo Festivals, as well as in recitals in Finland, the Netherlands, Germany, France, England, Sweden, Taiwan and the US. She is a founding member of Brave New Works contemporary music group, Ed Sarath's Timescape, a nine-member free-improvising group, as well as the newly founded Muse String Quartet. She holds the Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Northern Illinois University and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan. Her principal teachers include Erling Blöndal Bengtsson, Marc Johnson, Kazimierz Michalik, and Lauri Laitinen, as well as Andrew Jennings and the Vermeer and Borodin String Quartets.

Gould, who plays Percussion, is an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Michigan, and has received international recognition as a performer and scholar in the field of contemporary percussion performance and pedagogy. Having served for several years as percussion specialist at Huis Ten Bosch European resort in Nagasaki, Japan, Michael has performed with leading artists and performing groups from around the world. He has also taught at Semaine Musicale in Amiens, France, Piteå Conservatory, Sweden, the Tampico International Percussion Festival in Mexico and served on the faculty of Bands of America-World Percussion Symposium. He has toured nationally as percussionist/drumset specialist with the performing group the Dallas Brass and can also be heard on the Seabreeze label with jazz artist Miles Osland. He is the founder of the quartet CASHEW. He has recorded two of his own CD´s, Michael Gould2 and CASHEW. Gould is a performing artist for Zildjian cymbals, Yamaha Drums and Percussion and Innovative Percussion. He is also currently the chair of the College Pedagogy Committee for the Percussive Arts Society.

Kirschenmann is a composer and trumpeter. Much of his work explores the confluence of composition, performance and improvisation. He has an ongoing commitment for composing and performing with his MIDI/electric trumpet, which has been hailed by the likes of Anthony Braxton, Rob Mazurek, and Mark Isham. In 2005 he released the solo recording This Electric Trumpet on his Sonikmann Records label. Kirschenmann has performed in major venues of New York City (Tonic, Knitting Factory, Bowery Poetry Club) and Chicago (Hot House and Empty Bottle). His music is also performed by others throughout the U.S and Europe: recent premieres include his Song of Solomon (Bible Chapter 1-3) for soprano and two cellos in New York, and Metamorfooseja Paavon virrestä for five cellos in Finland. Also known as a music writer, the All Music Guide has published many of his record reviews. He holds degrees in composition from Carnegie Mellon University (B.F.A.), the Eastman School of Music (M.A.), and the Ph.D. in Composition and Music Theory from the University of Michigan, where he is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor for the Department of Jazz and Improvisation, the Residential College, and directs the Michigan Youth Jazz Improvisation program.

E3Q are featured performing artists on Block M Records, a U-M recording label that makes performances available to anyone worldwide through Internet streaming or fee-for-download.

To preview E3Q compositions available from the Block M Records, visit: www.blockmrecords.org/catalog_e3q.htm