Not content to sit still

Cellist Zoe Keating is a string quartet of one.

By rigging a system that allows her to sample her playing and use it in real time during concerts, Keating can replicate herself onstage. All she needs is a MIDI footpad and a computer.

Her performances are just one of many examples of how the cello is evolving. That evolution is the focus of the three-day New Directions Cello Festival starting Friday at California State University, Sacramento. Keating will appear at 8:30 p.m. Saturday in the Music Recital Hall on campus.

In its second year of setting up shop at CSUS -- which is co-sponsoring the event -- the festival is a combination of afternoon master classes, jam sessions and evening performances by musicians from around the country whose musical focus is the non- classical cello.

This will be the first year for Keating to play at the festival, and she is the most technologically focused cellist on the roster of artists.

She started experimenting with the sampling process five years ago when she realized that she was writing compositions that sounded like cello ensemble pieces.

"I was trying to figure out how to play them live," she said. "I actually tried getting live players to play this music, and it turned out to be difficult to find cellists that were classically trained and also had swing and style."

She soon realized it would be easier to figure out how to program her musical ideas into a computer.

To do so, she integrates a program called Ableton Live and a hardware device called the Electrix Repeater for composing. The repeater works like a four-track recorder to record her cello parts on the fly. The software allows her to layer in recorded cello parts to her liking. The crucial link in the chain is a MIDI foot controller, which allows Keating to control both hardware and software, leaving her hands free to play the cello.

"It's like having an empty score," said Keating, who lives in Sonoma County. "I just have to play the notes into the score, and the computer takes care of bringing the sampled parts in and out for the audience, somewhat like a conductor would do."

Most of what she plays is composed beforehand, though one-fourth of her concert program is improvised, she said.

Through the use of different bowing techniques and electronics, Keating believes she's adding to the evolution of the instrument.

"I think what I and other cellists are doing is taking part in the natural evolution of the cello," Keating said. "I think everything evolves, and when things stop evolving, they die out."

Like most musicians, Keating got her start in music early, at age 8 in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Unlike many musicians who show promise, Keating chose not to go the music conservatory route when she got older. She opted for private lessons while planning a music career.

"When I was 17, I was definitely on the classical cello track," she said. "I was doing competitions and practicing all the time."

But a career as a classical cellist grew illusory as the pressure of competitions and recitals began to weigh on her.

"I didn't want to live under that kind of stress anymore," she said.

Instead, Keating opted for a liberal arts education at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y. That led her on a roundabout path to becoming a builder of custom databases for arts organizations while she continued exploring new directions on the cello.

That exploration led her to work with cutting-edge musicians.

From 2002 to '06, Keating was a member of the cello-rock ensemble Rasputina, founded by cellist Melora Creager, who had toured in the employ of Nirvana. She also has played cello for the Boston-based Dresden Dolls and Robin Guthrie, and has been on five tours with Grammy nominee Imogen Heap.

During her CSUS concert on Saturday, Keating will discuss and demonstrate the finer points of a pursuit she's undertaking -- the writing of film scores. Keating is writing the score to the upcoming British indie film "The Devil's Chair."

About the writer:

• The Bee's Edward Ortiz can be reached at (916) 321-1071 or eortiz@sacbee.com.