The Tonearm Zeena Parkins: Invention, Loss, and the Living Harp
Today we're putting The Tonearm's needle on Zeena Parkins, composer, improviser, and one of the most singular forces in experimental music.
Zeena has spent four decades dismantling what the harp can do: through electronics, object preparations, and a series of custom electric instruments she built herself, she's turned a concert hall fixture into something alive and unpredictable.
Her collaborators range from Björk to John Zorn to Pauline Oliveros. Last year, she released two records paying tribute to her years teaching at Mills College before its closure: Modesty of the Magic Thing and Lament of the Maker. And she's performing this spring at Big Ears Festival in Knoxville. She's also a Guggenheim Fellow and a three-time Bessie Award winner for her work composing for dance.
We cover all of it: her instruments, her process, and what it means to make music at the edge of what's possible.
(The musical excerpts heard in the interview are from Zeena Parkins' album Lament of the Maker)
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Dig Deeper
Artist and Recordings
- Visit Zeena Parkins at zeenaparkins.com and follow her on Instagram and Bandcamp
- Purchase Lament for the Maker (Relative Pitch Records, 2025) from Bandcamp or Qobuz, and listen on your streaming platform of choice
- Purchase Modesty of the Magic Thing (Tzadik, 2025) from Qobuz or Squidco, and listen on your streaming platform of choice
Collaborators Mentioned
- William Winant — percussionist and longtime collaborator; Parkins discusses finding Lou Harrison instruments in his studio and performing Modesty of the Magic Thing with him
- Fred Frith — guitarist and composer; Parkins replaced him at Mills and performed with him in Skeleton Crew
- Laetitia Sonami — sound artist and Mills colleague; composed "She is a Butcher in My Dreams" for Lament for the Maker
- James Fei — composer and Mills colleague; composed "In Such Circumstances of Miscalculations" for Lament for the Maker
- Jennifer Monson — choreographer; one of Parkins's most significant long-term dance collaborators
- Chris Cutler — drummer; encountered Parkins in Europe and brought her into News from Babel
- Nayland Blake — artist who curated the San Francisco gallery show where Parkins gave her first solo concert
Ensembles and Projects
- Skeleton Crew — experimental rock trio with Fred Frith and Tom Cora
- News from Babel — group with Chris Cutler, Lindsay Cooper, and Dagmar Krause; Parkins discusses joining after meeting Cutler in Europe
- Table of the Elements — American experimental music label; released Parkins's first solo record
- Roulette Intermedium — Brooklyn venue where Parkins and Winant perform Modesty of the Magic Thing just before Big Ears
Artists and Figures Discussed
- Jay DeFeo — Bay Area visual artist whose work, particularly The Rose and the Seven Pillars of Voice series, inspired Modesty of the Magic Thing
- The Rose at the Whitney Museum — DeFeo's monumental painting, now in the Whitney's permanent collection
- Lou Harrison — American composer whose handmade instruments, bequeathed to William Winant, are central to Modesty of the Magic Thing
- Daphne Oram — British electronic music pioneer who worked at the BBC; Parkins mentions her as inspiration for an upcoming electric harp record
Festivals
- Big Ears Festival — Knoxville, Tennessee; March 26–29, 2026; Parkins performs Modesty of the Magic Thing with William Winant
- Other Minds Festival — San Francisco; site of the West Coast premiere of Modesty of the Magic Thing
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