Amra Arma Members

Stanley Lunetta, Founding Member/Wizard

Ken Horton, Founding Member/Barbarian

Ken began playing professionally at the age of twelve. By the time he was 15, Ken was performing with the UC Davis Percussion Ensemble. Later that year, Ken began his 20-year employment with The Sacramento Symphony Orchestra where he was Principal of the Percussion Section during the last 10 of those years. Ken has also performed as Timpanist of the Reno Symphony.

Ken was one of the founding members of the Hyborean Performance group, Amra/Arma who have played extensively on the West Coast. Amra/Arma has also performed in England and Scotland at the International Carnival of Experimental Sound (ICES ’72). That tour was captured in the comic book, “AMRA/ARMA Meets the Lurker Within”.

Ken has also toured with the following artists:

Paul Anka, Dick Clark, Barbara Eden, Bob Hope, Englebert Humperdink, Tom Jones, Steve Lawrence and Edie Gourmet, Henry Mancini, Johnny Mathis, Lou Rawls, Joan Rivers, The Smothers Brothers, Dionne Warwick, Andy Williams, Jerry Van Dyke

Ken has played with the National Touring Companies of “Annie”, Man of LaMancha” “Raison”, “Sugar Babies”, and “9 to 5” and has played in the following Sacramento Music Circus Productions:

“Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”, “Fiddler on the Roof”, “The Mitzi Gaynor Show”, “The Music Man”, “The Pirates of Penzance”

Currently, Ken is performing locally with The Sierra Nevada Winds and Jazz group, Idle Fret.

Ken is also currently studying the Art of Taiko Drumming with The Sacramento Taiko Dan.

Kurt Bischoff, Founding Member/Barbarian

Kurt Bischoff was raised in Sacramento, California, where he performed in numerous rock and jazz groups, the Sacramento Symphony and the Camellia City Orchestra. He later attended the University of California, Davis where he majored in music composition and electronic music, studying under Stanley Lunetta, Larry Austin and John Cage. After college, he performed with the avant garde music ensemble Amra Arma (with which he performed at the International Carnival of Experimental Sound in London) and the progressive rock group Opus Fluke. After moving to the Northwest, he performed with numerous jazz groups before forming the band Mission Drift.

Karl Bischoff, Founding Member/Wizard

Karl Bischoff is a person of passion. Member of avant-garde musical group AMRA/ARMA (https://moosack.net/stang/Armen/thegroup.html) for 56 years, 12 years building solo a 36’ wood schooner sail boat BISH (bischoffboatworks.com), endurance cyclist, professional photographer for 25 years, retired owner of brand strategy/design firm for 40 years (phinneybischoff.com), married for 39 years.

Education: Glenn Fishback School of Photography, School of Hard-Knocks

Jobs: Fashion/travel/architecture photographer, electronic design engineer, musician, boat-builder, design firm owner/creative director, co-owner AVERI (Audio Visual Electronic Research Institute…. partnering with Stanley Lunetta).

Life Ambition: Remain married and a member of Amra/Arma till I croak.

Jeff Karl, Founding Member/Barbarian

Jherek Bischoff, Wizard

Jherek Bischoff is an American composer, songwriter, arranger, producer, and multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles. His credits include over a dozen albums as a solo artist or band member (The Dead Science, Parenthetical Girls, Xiu Xiu), over sixty albums as a songwriter, producer, arranger, musician, or engineer (Andra Day, Regina Spektor, Angel Olsen), and music for film, symphony orchestra, opera, theater, and ballet (Exhibiting Forgiveness, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Organ Trail).

Bischoff began his musical career as a member of alt-rock and experimental bands and taught himself to record, produce, arrange, and orchestrate. In 2012, he ventured out as a composer and solo artist, and with the release of two critically-acclaimed albums — the orchestral-pop Composed and the ambient-instrumental Cistern — Bischoff was hailed a “polymath” (The New York Times), a “visionary” (SPIN), a “formidable force in orchestral music” (NPR), and quickly became an in-demand composer and collaborator.

With a deep love of classic Hollywood movie soundtracks, Bischoff’s progression as a composer for stage and screen comes naturally. Since his first musical score in 2014 (Johnny Breitwieser for Schauspielhaus Vienna), he has scored another six theater productions, including the National Theatre award-winning The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and the Staatstheater Hanover award-winning Kasimir und Karoline. Most recently, Bischoff has pivoted to film and television, with credits including Exhibiting Forgiveness, Small Town Universe, and Organ Trail.

Bischoff’s prolific career includes collaborations with William Shatner, Neil Gaiman, David Byrne, and Kronos Quartet; commissions by The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, The Royal Conservatory, and St Ann’s Warehouse; performances by the National Symphony Orchestra, BBC Orchestra, s t a r g a z e, and yMusic, and performances at Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Glastonbury Festival, and in Times Square.

Korum Bischoff, Barbarian

Korum Bischoff is a Grammy-nominated drummer who has rocked 1000+ audiences nationally with legendary family-music band Recess Monkey and indie outfit The Dead Science. Now residing in Suquamish, WA, Korum has played in dozens of other bands in the PNW over the last 30 years. He has recorded and/or performed with everyone from his brother Jherek Bischoff, to David Byrne, Yo Gabba Gabba, Amanda Palmer, Xiu Xiu, El Vez, Devilhead, and many more. His other current projects include The Phantom Years and Western Arrow and Wurlipop.