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Eighth Annual UNCG New Music Festival Mark Engebretson, Director Alejandro Rutty, Associate Director Steve Landis and Jonathan Wall, Assistants September 26-30, 2011 Greensboro, North Carolina Festival Schedule Monday, September 26, 2011 3:00-5:00 p.m. Open Rehearsal with Richard Power and the UNCG Saxophone Ensemble Location 3:00-4:00 Music Building, Room 154 4:00-5:00 Music Building, Recital Hall Tuesday, September 27, 2011 12:00 p.m. Outdoor lunch concert, sponsored by the UNCG Student Chapter of the Society of Composers Stone Lawn, College Avenue, UNCG, free 1:00 p.m. Steven Bryant - lecture Music Building, Room 226, free 3:30 p.m. Bruno Louchouarn - lecture Music Building 129/131, free Cognition and Multi-Media Narratives in Film, Theater, Dance, and Immersive Installations. 5:30 p.m. Concert I - SCI Student Chapter concert with Swiss/American saxophonist Laurent Estoppey Organ Hall, free Music by Olivier Messiaen, Luciano Berio, Caroline Charrière, Nicholas Rich, Elizabeth Kowalski, Laszlo Sary, Laurent Estoppey and Steve Reich 7:30 p.m. Concert II Recital Hall, tickets $10/6/4/3 Music by Amy Williams, Alejandro Rutty, Hilary Tann, Lukas Ligeti, Bruno Louchouarn, Eric Schwartz and Richard Power Wednesday, September 28, 2011 10:00 a.m. Amy Williams - lecture Music Building, Organ Hall Bach's Influence on Selected Contemporary Composers 11:00 a.m. Hilary Tann - lecture Music Building, Room 223 The Pivotal Role of Poetry in My Musical Life 1:00 p.m. Lukas Ligeti - lecture Music Building, Room 116, free Working with Electronic Music in Africa 4:00 p.m. Concert III Recital Hall, free Lukas Ligeti, original compositions, performed on Marimba Lumina Evening open. Recommended: Chinese Opera at Elliott University Center Auditorium Thursday, September 29, 2011 10:00 a.m. Gerard Morris - lecture Music Building, Room 233 Edgard Varèse: The Astronomer of Sound 11:00 a.m. David Claman - lecture Music Building, Room 223 Rehearing and Responding: Music from Another Time and Place 1:00 p.m. Round Table discussion with Crystal Bright, Will Ridenour, Shaun Sandor Music Building, Room 224, free 3:30 p.m. Musicians of the Chinese Opera Orchestra – lecture demonstration Music Building, Room 217, free 5:30 p.m. Reception, free Weatherspoon Art Museum, Atrium 6:30 p.m. Concert IV Weatherspoon Art Museum, free Music by Steven Bryant, Shaun Sandor, David Claman, Mark Engebretson, Will Ridenour, and Crystal Bright Friday, September 30, 2011 2:00 p.m. Eric Schwarz - lecture Music Building, Room 221 This Modern World: The Influence of Early Music on the Composers of Today 3:00 p.m. Gerard Morris - lecture Music Building, Room 111 Conducting the Works of Edgard Varèse 9:00 p.m. Concert V Downtown at Mack and Mack, $10/6/4/3 Invisible presents The New Obsolete 220 South Elm Street, Greensboro Tuesday, September 27, 2011 CONCERT I Society of Composers, Inc, UNCG Student Chapter Featuring guest artist Laurent Estoppey, saxophone UNCG School of Music, Theatre and Dance. Organ Hall, 5:30 p.m. An Extraordinary Correspondence (2011) Nathan Daughtrey (6 minutes) Laura Stevens, flute, Nathan Daughtrey, marimba Subtilité des corps glorieux (1939) Olivier Messiaen (5 minutes) Laurent Estoppey, saxophone Sequenza VIIb (1995) Luciano Berio (7 minutes) Laurent Estoppey, saxophone Inner Piece (2011) world premiere Caroline Charrière (6 minutes) Laurent Estoppey, saxophone, electronics 2 Pieces from Seven Haiku (2011) Nicholas Rich (3 minutes) Hanna Lomas, soprano, Dianna Yodzis, mezzo-soprano, Anna Darnell, clarinet, Jonathan Stuart-Moore, cello, Evan Stevens, percussion, Alejandro Rutty, conductor Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (2011) Elizabeth Kowalski (12 minutes) Denise Murphy, choreography Eric Perrault, cello Intermission Pebbles Playing in a Pot (1978) Laszlo Sary (8 minutes) Laurent Estoppey, saxophone and electronics IXS_XIS_ISX_SIX_SXI_XSI (2011) world premiere Laurent Estoppey (8 minutes) Laurent Estoppey, saxophone, live electronics New York Counterpoint (1985) Steve Reich (9 minutes) Laurent Estoppey, saxophone, electronics CONCERT II UNCG School of Music, Theatre and Dance Recital Hall, 7:30 p.m. Univocity (2009) Amy Williams (5 minutes) Red Clay Saxophone Quartet Susan Fancher, soprano saxophone Robert Faub, alto saxophone Steve Stusek, tenor saxophone Mark Engebretson, baritone saxophone Guitars (2011) Alejandro Rutty (10 minutes) Anthony Taylor and Kelly Burke, clarinets, with electronics Song of the Cotton Grass Hilary Tann (14 minutes) I. A Girl’s Song to Her Mother (1999) II. Wings of the Grasses (2003) III. Vale of Feathers (2005) Susan Fancher, soprano saxophone, Clara O’Brien, mezzo-soprano Bacchanale (2011) Richard Power (11 minutes) UNCG Saxophone Ensemble, Steve Stusek, conductor Xin Gao, sopranino saxophone; Jared Newlen, Alex Smith, soprano saxophones Jason Wallace, Lee Burgess, Raychl Smith, Ryan Redd, Abbe Pass, alto saxophones Ben Crouch, Danny Collins, Andrew Lovett, Nikki Trail, tenor saxophones Alanna Hawley, Peter Salvucci, Brandon Noftle, baritone saxophones; Neil Ostercamp, bass saxophone Intermission RetouR (2006) Bruno Louchouarn (10 minutes) Sally Renée Todd, piano, with electronics and video The Incredible, Disappearing Vampire Music (2006) Eric Schwartz (5 minutes) James Douglass, piano Frozen State of Song (1993) Lukas Ligeti (16 minutes) Red Clay Saxophone Quartet Wednesday, September 28, 2011 CONCERT III UNCG School of Music, Theatre and Dance. Recital Hall, 4:00 p.m. Compositions by Lukas Ligeti Entering: Perceiving Masks Great Circle's Tune II Chimaeric Procession Labyrinth of Clouds Redux Triangulation Exiting: Perceiving Faces Lukas Ligeti, Marimba Lumina Thursday, September 29, 2011 CONCERT IV Weatherspoon Art Museum, 6:30 p.m. Dancing Around the Cathode Campfire (1997) Steven Bryant (10 minutes) Michael Ptacin, marimba, Cat Keen Hock, clarinet, with electronics West African Kora Music Will Ridenour Will Ridenour, kora and percussion Radio Hydrophone, Strings and Things (2011) Shaun Sandor (11 minutes) Shaun Sandor, water tank, steel strings, planks of wood Loose Canons (1995) David Claman (9 minutes) David Claman, Brian Koenig, and Gavin Douglas, electric guitars Illuminating and Transcending Crystal Bright Crystal Bright and the Silver Hands Buddha Machine (2011) Mark Engebretson (6 minutes) Deborah Egeqvist, flute; Guy Capuzzo, electric guitar, video by Gregory Grieve, with electronics. Friday, September 30, 2011 CONCERT V Mack and Mack, 9:00 p.m. 220 South Elm Street, Downtown Greensboro The New Obsolete (2011) Invisible Invisible, Mark Dixon and Bart Trotman “A new performance featuring the Selectric Piano, self-produced video content, and new unheard-of sound making inventions”. The New Obsolete has been produced with support from the North Carolina Arts Council and the partnering arts councils of the Central Piedmont Regional Artists Hub Program Concert I – Artists Nathan Daughtrey Whether performing nationally as a marimba/vibraphone soloist or a chamber musician, conducting percussion clinics, composing for a range of soloists and ensemble around the world or teaching at the university level, Nathan Daughtrey (b. 1975) is a musical chameleon who uses his wide-ranging talents to adapt comfortably to a variety of environments. As a performing artist and clinician for Yamaha and Vic Firth, Dr. Daughtrey has performed and conducted master classes and clinics in concert halls and at universities throughout the United States and across three continents. He has two solo marimba CDs to his credit – Spiral Passages, which features premiere recordings of David Gillingham’s “Gate to Heaven” and David J. Long’s “Concerto for Marimba;” and The Yuletide Marimba, which showcases Daughtrey’s solo and marimba quartet arrangements of 13 Christmas favorites. Also active as a collaborative artist, he has performed and recorded in chamber settings with composers Michael Udow and Daniel McCarthy, saxophonists Susan Fancher and Steven Stusek, bassoonist Michael Burns, clarinetist Christina Giacona, and the Virginia Beach Percussion Quartet, Trommel Percussion Group and Philidor Percussion Group. With over fifty publications for concert band, percussion ensemble, orchestra, chamber ensembles, and soloists as well as an ever-growing number of commissions, his works have been performed at national and international conferences. Performance venues include Percussive Arts Society International Convention, Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, Bands of America National Percussion Festival, Asian Symphonic Band Competition (Bangkok, Thailand), and the International Music Conference (Beijing, China). He has received annual awards from ASCAP since 2007. Additionally, his new "Concerto for Vibraphone and Wind Ensemble" will receive its premiere in Wisconsin in October. Dr. Daughtrey currently teaches Percussion and Music Composition at High Point University (NC), where he teaches applied lessons, directs the percussion ensemble and works in collaboration with the School of Communication on film projects. www.NathanDaughtrey.com Caroline Charrière Caroline Charrière is a Swiss composer. She has written approximately ten pieces using various instrumentations for Laurent Estoppey over the past 16 years. www.carolinecharriere.ch/ Laurent Estoppey After studying saxophone at the Conservatory of Lausanne, where he received a « License de Concert » degree in 1994, Laurent Estoppey devoted himself entirely to contemporary music. Numerous collaborations with composers have led him to create at least one hundred works. Now Estoppey’s musical activity is divided between written music and improvisation. He performs throughout Switzerland, many European countries, as well as Canada, USA, Argentina, Guatemala and South Africa. Estoppey works with many orchestras, has founded several chamber ensembles and has recorded a dozen CDs. He lives between Greensboro, NC and Lausanne, Switzerland. www.laurentestoppey.blogspot.com Elizabeth L. Kowalski (b. 1986) Born in Stony Brook, Long Island, NY, Elizabeth is a composer of both electro-acoustic and acoustic music. She started singing and soon after, began playing the piano at the age of 6 and flute at the age of 11. Currently, she is pursuing a MM in Composition at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro under the instruction of both Mark Engebretson and Alejandro Rutty. As a composer, her music reflects life events, nature, and human rights topics, such as the "Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire". Elizabeth's music is very much visually-inspired and she frequently composes for dance and film. Nicholas Rich Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, is a composer of acoustic and electro-acoustic music which investigates the interaction of music and memory and the interaction of humanity with the natural world. Raised by a family of Bluegrass and Country- Western musicians, and taught guitar by his family members at an early age, his music frequently carries strong associations with American pop and folk music. Rich's primary interest in the field of electronic and electro-acoustic music is the laptop ensemble. He composes and performs with the Greensboro Laptop Orchestra (GLOrk), the first ensemble of its kind in North Carolina. Rich was educated at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (B.M., Composition) where his principle teachers were Mark Engebretson and Alejandro Rutty. Concert I – Program Notes An Extraordinary Correspondence "An Extraordinary Correspondence" was commissioned by the Elliott Duo (Jennifer Elliott, flute and Richard Elliott, marimba) as a means of expanding their repertoire. Inspired by the Griffin & Sabine Trilogy of books by Nick Bantock (Chronicle Books), the work takes its title from the subtitle of the first book. Bantock tells the mystical story of these two people by inviting readers to examine handmade postcards and letters that are sent back and forth. As the story unfolds, we discover that Sabine can “see” what artist Griffin paints. Filled with skepticism and doubt, Griffin is resistant to the idea and flees. When he finally starts to come around, Griffin and Sabine attempt to meet but quickly discover that they are living in parallel universes. I will not reveal any more plot points, as I think Bantock does a much better job of telling the story. The 6-1/2 minute piece unfolds in much the same way and is divided into six main sections, each describing a mood or quoting a phrase from the book: A postcard... Griffin receives the first postcard from Sabine “I share your sight...” – Sabine shares her ability with Griffin “I must believe you’re real” – Griffin trying to convince himself “You’re a figment of my imagination...” – Doubt & uncertainty return for Griffin “Are you my shadow?” – Trying to make sense, Griffin asks… Parallel worlds… – Attempting to meet one another, the discovery they are living in parallel worlds "An Extraordinary Correspondence" received its premiere by the Elliott Duo on August 7, 2011 in Hamilton, Ohio. Sequenza VIIb Sequenza VII, written in 1969, is one of the most important pieces of the repertory for oboe. In 1995 Luciano Berio approved this version for soprano saxophone. This composition is a discourse passing through the twelve semi-tones around the note B, which is heard throughout the piece. Inner Peace for alto saxophone and electronics (2011 – première) Some slaptongues diffused in a slow motion and a high little melody gliding above everything are the points I started with. And finally: a fight between the violence of the sounds produced by the computer and the unalterable softness, the joy, the peace of the musician. IXS_XIS_ISX_SIX_SXI_XSI for saxophone and live electronics (2011 – première). Based on a text by French poet Christian Gabriel/le Guez Ricord, the piece is a dialog between the saxophonist and the prints he left behind himself. All sounds are generated by the saxophone in a real time, the computer reacting to various parameters. Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (for Cello, Electronics, and Dance) March 25, 1911, at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. It was the deadliest industrial disaster in New York City incurred the fourth highest loss of life from an industrial accident in U.S. history. The fire claimed 146 lives of garment workers who were mostly immigrants (129 women, 17 men) ages 14-48. The monotonous sewing and working movements are portrayed in the electronics and cello, as well as the dance. A fire breaks out and they cannot escape because the owners keep the doors locked for fear of theft. Panic sets in and as a last resort, some tragically resort to jumping out of the windows of the 8th through 10th stories of the building. The few survivors that were able to escape try to maintain the images of those who lost their lives through a memorial in the latter part of the piece. Industrial accidents unfortunately still happen today all over the world, and could be easily prevented by utilizing safety standards. Two movements from 7 Haiku I. Mirror pond of stars; suddenly a summer shower dimples the water -Sora V. Yellow evening sun; long shadow of the scarecrow reaches to the road -Shoha These short movements are settings of haiku by Basho, Shoha, Sora, Issa, Sokan, Soin, and Buson. Haiku are, of course, extremely condensed, and my music reflects their aphoristic nature. But more important to me than their small size is their dialectical method. Haiku are distinguished by the technique of "cutting," which in many cases means a juxtaposition of two ideas or images, which together create a meaning not necessarily indicated by either image individually. The "cutting word" in these instances would be a word that is in some way applicable to both images. In other cases, the poem might not juxtapose, and the "cutting word" may be used at the end of the poem to stop the flow of information in an unexpected but appropriate way. The two movements contained on this program represent both methods. A haiku's extremely small nature does have at least one important consequence: words (or characters) from physically disparate locations in the poem can be experienced simultaneously. Indeed, the entire poem could be taken in at a single glance. I believe that the experience of haiku is not necessarily a linear one, and my music respects that experience by not simply "setting" the poems. Rather, each movement lives within the idea-space of the poem, suggesting or connecting thoughts freely. Sometimes the text is sung; sometimes it is spoken; sometimes it is left out entirely. Sometimes the words are half-sung, or sung so slowly that they lose annunciation, becoming pure sounds and transferring the burden of semantic meaning to the texts printed in the program. More than anything I love the refinement of haiku, and I hope that I have managed to capture something of the gem-like quality of these great works of art. Concert II – Artists Amy Williams The compositions of Amy Williams (b. 1969, Buffalo, New York) have been presented at renowned contemporary music venues in the United States, Australia, and Europe, including Ars Musica (Belgium), Gaudeamus Music Week (Netherlands), Dresden New Music Days (Germany), Musikhøst Festival (Denmark), Festival Aspekte (Austria), Festival Musica Nova (Brazil), Subtropics Festival (Miami), Spring Festival of New Music (UK), Sound Field Festival (Chicago), Music Gallery (Canada), NUMUS (Canada), LA County Museum of Art, and Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music. Her works have been performed by leading contemporary music soloists and ensembles, including The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Aleph, Duo Diorama, Dal Niente, Brave New Works. Wet Ink Ensemble, North/South Consonance, Monarch Brass, CUBE, Empyrean Ensemble, Maverick Ensemble, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, California E.A.R. Unit, Dinosaur Annex, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Due East, Maki-Mack Piano Duo, H2 Saxophone Quartet, Vancouver Miniaturist Ensemble, Bent Frequency, pianists Yvar Mikhashoff and Amy Dissanayake, bassist Robert Black, and pianist Ursula Oppens with the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra. Her works appear on VDM Records (Italy), Navona and New Ariel. As a member of the Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo, Ms. Williams has performed throughout Europe and the Americas, including the Ojai Festival (California), NUMUS Festival (Denmark), Jordan Hall (Boston), Merkin Hall, Miller Theatre, Americas Society, Symphony Space (New York City), Musica Contemporanea Ciclos de Conciertos (Buenos Aires), Musik aus Solitude (Stuttgart), FORUM (Hamburg), Cutting Edge (London), UNAM (Mexico City), Unerhörte Musik (Berlin), Köln Triennale, and Wittener Täge für Neue Kammermusik. The Duo’s debut CD of Conlon Nancarrow's complete music for solo piano and piano duet (Wergo, 2004) has garnered much critical acclaim. Wergo released the Duo’s second CD of the music of Stravinsky in 2007 and their third, with music of Morton Feldman and Edgard Varèse in 2009. Ms. Williams has also recorded for Mode, Albany and Hat-Art. She has won the Wayne Peterson Composition Prize ("Sextet"), Audio Inversions Composition Prize ("Cineshape 1"), Thayer Award for the Arts, an ASCAP Award for Young Composers ("verre-glaz"), and grants from the American-Scandinavian Foundation, American Music Center, Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, Pro Musica Viva (Germany) and Meet the Composer. She was the recipient of a Howard Foundation Fellowship for 2008-2009 and recently received a Fromm Music Foundation Commission to write a new piece for the JACK Quartet. Ms. Williams holds a Ph.D. in composition from the State University of New York at Buffalo, where she also received her Master's degree in piano performance. She has taught at Bennington College (1997-2000) and Northwestern University (2000-2005) and is currently Assistant Professor of Composition at the University of Pittsburgh. An avid proponent of contemporary music, she served as Assistant Director of June In Buffalo, Director of New Music Northwestern, and is currently on the Artistic Boards of the Pittsburgh-based concert series, Music on the Edge, and the Yvar Mikhashoff Trust for New Music. Alejandro Rutty Born in Argentina, composer Alejandro Rutty’s output includes orchestral, chamber, mixed-media music, and arrangements of Argentine traditional music. Rutty’s compositions and arrangements have been played by the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Argentina, National Symphony Orchestra of Brazil, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, among other groups. Recordings of his music have been released by Capstone Records, Arizona University Recordings, and ERM Media. An All-Rutty CD (Navona Records) including A Future of Tango is scheduled to appear in March 2012. Founder and Artistic Director of the Hey, Mozart! Project, Alejandro Rutty is currently Associate Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. www.alejandrorutty.com Hilary Tann Welsh-born composer, Hilary Tann, lives in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York where she is the John Howard Payne Professor of Music at Union College, Schenectady. She holds degrees in composition from the University of Wales at Cardiff and from Princeton University. From 1982 to 1995 she held a number of Executive Committee positions with the International League of Women Composers and she was recently Composer-in-Residence at the 2011 Eastman School of Music Women in Music Festival. Praised for its lyricism and formal balance, her music is influenced by her love of Wales and a strong identification with the natural world. A deep interest in the traditional music of Japan has led to private study of the shakuhachi and guest visits to Japan, Korea, and China. Many works are available on CD and her compositions have been widely performed by ensembles such as the European Women’s Orchestra, Tenebrae, Lontano, Meininger Trio, Thai Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBCNOW, and KBS Philharmonic in Seoul, Korea. www.hilarytann.com Richard Power Composer and saxophonist Richard Power’s musical interests include exploring the dialogue between tradition and innovation, the continuum between composition and improvisation, and new types of formal and temporal expression through sound. He writes for both acoustic instruments and electronically generated sounds, and while much of his music is precisely notated, other scores encourage interactive collaboration through structured improvisations. He received a Bachelor’s degree in composition and performance from Trinity University (San Antonio, Texas), and Master’s and D.M.A. degrees in composition and theory from the University of Illinois, Urbana. As a performer Dr. Power enjoys placing the baritone saxophone within contexts where it is not normally found. For several years he was a member of the Austin-based Cornell Hurd Band, performing for dance and music lovers across Texas. Other groups he has been a part of are the Walter Thompson Orchestra, Third Coast Noise, Coherent, Blue Noise Saxophone Quartet and the Mad Dingo Trio. He has been a promoter of new music by fellow composers as both a performer and concert organizer. Dr. Power has been the recipient of awards from the American Music Center, ASCAP, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Austin Peay State University. His scores are published by Richard Power Music, Media Press, and HoneyRock Publications. Born in Austin, Texas, he currently lives in Danville, Kentucky with his wife, author and professor Stacey Peebles. http://richardpower.net Bruno Louchouarn French-Mexican composer and cognitive scientist. Bruno Louchouarn’s music has been performed at venues internationally. He has extensive film, theater, dance, and multimedia installations credits, including the futuristic cantina music in Total Recall. His musical compositions are informed by his studies in cognitive musicology and often focus on the narrative structure of myths, emotions and rhetoricas well as temporality in the interaction ofmusic and the moving image. Louchouarn lectures widely on this subject and teaches at Occidental College. Recent projects include: Tree (2010 PEN Award winner) by Julie Hébert, directed by Jessica Kubzansky; Galileo’s Daughters, written and directed by Giulio Cesare Perrone, Inferno Theatre, Berkeley and San Jose; Alcances, commissioned by the Pasadena Biennial 09: ORIGINS, premiered by pianist Vicki Ray and the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet at Art Center; Surf Orpheus, musical with book writer, Corey Madden and choreographer, Jacques Heim, UCSD & Getty Villa; Agamemnon, directed by Stephen Wadsworth, featuring Tyne Daly, Getty Villa; Shekinah, La MaMa, NY; Little Sisters, choreographed by Rosanna Gamson, REDCAT in Disney Hall. Day For Night a 12-hour film and music installation, commissioned by GLOW 2010, Santa Monica beach, and featured at Transatlantyk Film Festival 2011, Poland. A Weekend With Pablo Picasso, with Culture Clash’s Herbert Siguenza, Alley Theatre, Houston, and Los Angeles Theater Center. We Are Not Alone, A Musical Narrative, with book and lyrics by Carlos E. Cortés and Juan Felipe Herrera, commissioned by and premiered at the 24th Annual Tomás Rivera Conference, at University of California Riverside. His next projects include Rain After Ash, a multimedia work opening at A X S Festival in Pasadena, California, Night Falls, a dance-theater work at ODC in San Francisco, Drive-Through, a new work for piano and video, commissioned by Piano Spheres for Mark Robson, as well as a multimedia viola concerto for violist Brett Deubner. Eric Schwartz Eric Schwartz has studied composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music, New York University, and both the Interlochen and Aspen Summer Music Festivals. Past teachers have included Margaret Brouwer, Donald Erb, George Tsontakis, and Randy Woolf. Primarily interested in a synthesis of musical archetypes, Schwartz is always at work on a variety of genre bending projects. Formative influences include an amalgamation of the glam metal of the late 80′s, and the baroque intellectualism of Arnold Schoenberg. His music has been performed on five continents, at venues ranging from Merkin Concert Hall in NYC and the BMW Edge Theatre in Melbourne, Australia to universities, coffee shops, gas stations, and bars of all shapes and sizes. He has received awards and grants from Meet the Composer, ASCAP, The Society for New Music, The Puffin Foundation, The Cleveland Chamber Symphony, and The Ohio Federation of College Music Clubs. Schwartz has served on the faculties of New York University, Hunter College, the Lucy Moses Music School, and most recently the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and is the artistic director of the Winston-Salem, NC based experimental music group Forecast Music. He was formerly a Resident Composer for the Los Angeles based Tonoi contemporary music ensemble, the Minnesota based Renegade Ensemble, and NYC’s Vox Novus. His debut CD 24 Ways of Looking at a Piano, named one of the top classical CDs of 2005 by All Music Guide, is available from Centaur Records. His second solo album, OYOU will be available from CD Baby in 2011. His music is also available on Signum Classics, Capstone Records, Trace Label, and a host of others, and is published by Staunch Music (UK) and Lovebird Music (US). Following a wonderful, rewarding decade in NYC, Schwartz has recently taken a position at the University of North Carolina School for the Arts, where he serves as Music Director for the School of Dance. He and his wife, graphic designer Erin Raines, are now living in lovely Winston-Salem, NC. Lukas Ligeti Transcending the boundaries of genre, composer-percussionist Lukas Ligeti has developed a musical style of his own that draws upon downtown NY experimentalism, contemporary classical music, jazz, electronica, and world music, particularly from Africa. Lukas creates music ranging from the through-composed to the free-improvised, often exploring non-Western elements, and has been participating in cultural exchange projects for the past 15 years. Lukas studied composition and jazz drums at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria, and spent two years working at CCRMA, the computer music research center at Stanford University, before settling in New York City in 1998. Lukas has been commissioned by Bang on a Can, Kronos Quartet, Ensemble Modern, and the American Composers Orchestra, the Vienna Festwochen, Austrian Radio, and Radio France, to name a few; his music has also been performed by the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchetra, Orchestre National de Lyon, the London Sinfonietta, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Amadinda, Third Coast, and So Percussion Groups. He frequently performs solo on the Marimba Lumina, a rare electronic percussion instrument. As a drummer, he co-leads several bands including Burkina Electric, the first electronica band from Burkina Faso in West Africa. He performs at jazz and world music festivals internationally and has worked with John Zorn, Henry Kaiser, Raoul Björkenheim, Elliott Sharp, Gary Lucas, Marilyn Crispell, John Tchicai, Jim O’Rourke, Borah Bergman, Eugene Chadbourne, Tarek Atoui, and many others. He has led or co-led experimental intercultural projects in Florida, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Lesotho, among other places, has taught at the University of Ghana and was composer-in-residence at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Lukas’ music is has been released to high acclaim on two CDs on the Tzadik label as well several more on the Intuition, TUM, Wallace, and Innova labels, among others. In 2010, Lukas received the Alpert Award in the Arts in Music. For more information, please see www.lukasligeti.com Concert II – Program Notes Univocity Univocity is a philosophical term that means "one voice". I was particularly interested in Gilles Deleuze's use of it as a way of describing Being. It is difference that connects all. It seems appropriate for the saxophones, with subtle differences in the instruments, but which are all one family (voice). The piece undergoes an always-differentiating process, from a single voice to maximum difference and back again. Guitars In Guitars, music is understood as a cultural practice. There is the music that the clarinets bring with them, and the music and music-making practice associated with certain kind of guitar playing. At the heart of the piece, is the attempt of the clarinet performers to incorporate the sound, the inflections, the way of thinking and music-making of these “distant” instruments, as if they were immersed in an environment of organological multiculturalism. Songs of the Cotton Grass The cycle, “Songs of the Cotton Grass,” evolved over six years with all texts by Welsh poet Menna Elfyn. These “reverse lullabies” -- in which a daughter lulls her mother to sleep -- recall the open, high moorland of South Wales, near the composer’s home. The first song, "I. A Girl’s Song to Her Mother” was written for mezzo-soprano Mari Morgan and premiered July 30, 1999 during a Celtic Weekend at the Pan-American Games in Winnipeg. The second song, "II. Wings of the Grasses" was composed for "A Garland for Presteigne” and received its first performance August 25, 2003 by soprano Gillian Keith with Simon Lepper, piano. In 2004 the “Girl’s Song” was slightly revised for soprano Janeanne Houston who recorded the two completed songs (on So Much Beauty, Elmgrove productions) and subsequently commissioned and recorded “III. Vale of Feathers” (on The Shining Place, Elmgrove Productions). “Vale of Feathers” opens with a slow, tolling figure inspired in part by the then-recent passing of Pope John Paul II in April 2005; the refrain “take me to the vale of feathers” echoes back to the first song of the cycle. The cycle is completed by a fast, hushed movement placed between the "Girl's Song" and "Wings of the Grasses". The "Slave's Song" takes the cotton grass image to the plantations of the American South. Bacchanale In modern times the word is often associated with drunken orgies of the most sordid type. Not so, here. This Bacchanale is a celebration of life and living; a validation of simple sensorial pleasures, and a commemoration of times when friends gather and share good times with one another. And what better instrument to celebrate life than the saxophone! Memories of my own experience with the instrument, as well as the enjoyment I’ve experienced from the innumerable great saxophone performances I’ve heard have influenced this composition from beginning to end. Bacchanale was commissioned by, and is dedicated to, Steve Stusek and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Saxophone Ensemble. Their encouragement and enthusiasm has been a great source of inspiration throughout the journey. ReTouR, for piano, video and electronics. A return—but also a reversal (of fortune)—ReTouR stems from an inquiry into the narrative shape of love gained and lost, mediated and articulated by music. The myth of Orpheus is a archetype of such a narrative. In itself the myth has a symmetrical structure: growing love interrupted by the death of Eurydice, followed by Orpheus’ descent to Hades, his stay there and intense negotiation with the powers that be; his ascent back toward light with his love regained, only to loose her again forever. The piece’s shape and structure—a quasi palindrome—explore the abstract narrative of loss in the liminal and negotiated space between the metaphors of dream and reality. The pianist states the struggle of the tangible world while the disembodied electronic sound world challenges. The Incredible, Disappearing Vampire Music was written, in part, as an homage to two of my very favorite dead keyboard composers, J.S. Bach and Frederic Chopin. At the same time, I also undertook the composition of this work while I was in something of a " sinister children's music" phase. As such an abstract, utterly nonsensical narrative arose from this homage, sort of like a demented bedside reading woven into the texture and evolving along with the processes of the piece. Or something... Anyhow, the long and short of it is that this piece is an utter beast to perform, and finely woven cloths, jewels, and lots of gold should be gifted to the fabulous Jim Douglass for taking it on. Enjoy! Frozen State of Song Frozen State of Song was written for the Vienna Saxophone Quartet between 1990 and 1993. It’s a fairly traditional piece in that it recognizes certain conventions of harmony and voice-leading; it does so, however, in a way that is at times fairly surrealistic and tongue-in-cheek. The three movements all speak of similar concerns, although they do so in very different manners. Cross-rhythms and polymeters, and area of exploration I’m very interested in, play an important role throughout. In Frozen State of Song, they serve mainly as a key to rhythmic illusion, be it through a complicated sequence of temporal relationships (as in the first movement) or through an ambiguity of beat and off-beat (as in the second, where metric uncertainty is created in spite of the fact that the music is very simple and moves at a very slow pace). In the third movement, interlocking rhythms create a springboard for propelling the music through several contrasting sections, funky riffs developing out of and back into highly chromatic areas. Although Frozen State of Song is definitely intended for an ensemble of “classical” coloration, jazz is a strong influence on the piece. Jazz is one of the few functional, interactive musical languages created largely in the 20h century, and ultimately, I believe that the development of such systems of communication – that is, languages – is the major challenge for contemporary composers, because it is only through communication that truly new paths can be embarked on which will help new music win back its social significance without becoming retro or populist. Concert III – Program Notes Since computers first appeared on the music-making scene a few decades ago, everything has changed. New paradigms have sprung up; open-ended, infinitely flexible environments have been created; and yet so many new questions are still unanswered. I'm enthusiastic about the musical possibilities of electronics, and, from early on in my days as a musician, have felt the need to work in this field, using electronics to create music that could not possibly be done any other way. While many electronic music composers incorporate much randomness in their work and emphasize timbral experiments, my main interest is in new rhythmic structures, a new sense of melody, and in using electronics to reach across cultural boundaries. As a drummer, I'm interested in the motional aspect of music. I love to play instruments, and love to watch people playing, but I don't much enjoy watching people play laptops, with movements so minuscule that I can no longer follow them. And after spending much time practicing percussion technique, wouldn't it be a shame to abandon it all for a computer keyboard? I started out with a DrumKat, an electronic instrument intended to imitate a drum set, though imitation was not my goal. Influenced by traditional music of Uganda, I had developed a motion-based, polyrhythmic drumming technique, a choreography for drums, allowing me to play extremely long cyclic patterns; with my DrumKat and its triggering and layering options, I was able to expand my patterns to almost any length I could, or couldn't, imagine, creating patterns that would run for thousands of years before repeating. But I was yearning for more sophisticated software and a greater facility for melodic improvisation. The answer was the Marimba Lumina, an electronic marimba ingeniously designed by the synthesizer pioneer Donald Buchla, which I have played since 2005. The sounds I use are mainly the results of sampling - short snippets of recorded sound I made during my travels, often in Africa, recording street noise, traditional instruments, etc., and then detuning and altering them in my search for new means of expression. While I do use some sound processing - filters, delay, etc. - much of what you might think is processing really is not. Rather, I use unconventional approaches to looping, and delay effects are often built into the sounds themselves by the time I'm ready to manipulate them through my live playing. The music allows for a certain freedom of improvisation and expresses my joy and my sadness; my imagination not only in sounds but also in shapes and colors; and my longing for places far away, especially for the continent of Africa, to which this music is a loving tribute. This music is not in any known genre. There is no downbeat, no offbeat, but there are beats. It is music you can listen to from multiple acoustical or rhythmic vantage points, each listener in his or her own way, always in a new way. (See Concert II for biographical information on Lukas Ligeti) Concert IV – Artists Steven Bryant (b. 1972, Little Rock, AR) is an active composer and conductor with a varied catalog, including works for wind ensemble, orchestra, electronic and electro-acoustic creations, chamber music, and music for the web. Steven's music has been performed by numerous ensembles across North America, Europe, and East Asia. He is a three-time winner of the National Band Association's William D. Revelli Composition Award: in 2010 for Ecstatic Waters, in 2008 for Suite Dreams, and in 2007 for his work Radiant Joy. His first orchestral work, Loose Id for Orchestra, hailed by celebrated composer Samuel Adler as "orchestrated like a virtuoso," was premiered by The Juilliard Symphony and is featured on a CD release by the Bowling Green Philharmonia on Albany Records. Alchemy in Silent Spaces, a new large-scale work commissioned by James DePreistand The Juilliard School was premiered by the Juilliard Orchestra in May 2006. Other notable commissions have come from the Amherst Saxophone Quartet (funded by the American Composers Jerome Composers Commissioning Program), the University of Texas - Austin Wind Ensemble, the US Air Force Band of Mid- America, the Japanese Wind Ensemble Conductors Conference, and the Calgary Stampede Band, as well as many others. Recordings include multiple releases by Eugene Corporon and the University of North Texas Wind Symphony, the Ron Hufstader and the El Paso Wind Symphony, William Berz and the Rutgers University Wind Ensemble, and Thomas Leslie and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Wind Orchestra. Steven has also created a recomposition of the Iggy Pop and the Stooges song, "Real Cool Time," for the independent Italian record label, Snowdonia, as well as music for portions of the Virtual Space Tour at space.com. Steven is a founding member of the composer-consortium BCM International: four stylistically-diverse composers from across the country. BCM's music has generated a following of thousands around the world and two recordings: "BCM Saves the World" (2002, Mark Custom Records) and "BCM Men of Industry" (2004, BCM Records). Steven studied composition with John Corigliano at The Juilliard School, Cindy McTee at the University of North Texas, and Francis McBeth at Ouachita University. He resides in Durham, NC. www.stevenbryant.com, Twitter: @SBryantComposer, Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/stevenbryant Will Ridenour Will Ridenour is a musician from Greensboro NC, specializing in world percussion and the kora, a 21-stringed harp-lute from West Africa. The strings of the kora are made of fishing line and they resonate through a large, halved calabash gourd stretched with a cowhide. Will has performed in 40 US states and 25 countries worldwide, and studied with master teachers in the US, Sweden, Mali and Senegal. Today Will performs with a variety of groups including Diali Cissokho & Kairaba!, Paperhand Puppet Intervention, Gmish Klezmer Band, and various other projects in central North Carolina. www.facebook.com/pages/will-ridenour-kora, www.myspace.com/zumana, www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-iJRSPe_7w Shaun Sandor (Promute / Bicameral Mind) I have been earnestly recording and experimenting with unconventional sound since 1997. After playing in guitar in a variety of bands in the late 80's and early 90's, I was living in Europe and got exposed to some of the innovators of experimental music. I came back to the states and got involved in the Cleveland experimental art scene where I was a part of the Pieta and Speak in Tongues phenomenon for a brief time. I left there to attend Columbia College Chicago, and graduated from the Radio and Sound program with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2002. During that time I attended a workshop by Sound Artist Eric Leonardson that strengthened my drive to experiment with new instruments and stimulating sounds. As Promute, I have utilized broken circuits, a synthesizer, and home-made electronic boxes, and fused them with home-made acoustic counter parts in creating electro-acoustic music. I have assembled 5 releases to date and performed at Sonic Circuits and Signal Festival, as well as a tour in the US and in Europe. As one half of Bicameral Mind (with Bryce Eiman), I have thoroughly enjoyed performing at various festivals in the US and have 7 releases with a variety of collaborators. www.blondenamusic.com/promute.html Releases: Rast Figment (CD, Blondena Music, 2006), Dark Moving (CDr, Blondena Music, 2007), Evoka (mini-CDr, Blondena Music, 2007), Portocal Sessions (CDr, Zeromoon, 2011), Sam Uho (CDr, Full Spectrum, 2011) Promute (Shaun Sandor) - Artist Statement My work is an examination of contrasting ideas and elements in music. It is a space where complex circuits fuse with hardware store parts or scrap metal. I take aim at using restraint as a powerful tool by taking away more than I'm giving, and accomplish this by removing a single conventional element of music making. Imagine a song of choruses but no verse, or a crash cymbal and a bass, but no guitar. I often use a plank of wood with steel strings and a synthesizer to create minimalist, dynamic pieces. My music embraces the electro-acoustic and ambient genres, with hints of musique concrete. David Claman I was raised in Denver, Colorado where I attended public and private schools. I took piano lessons briefly, sang in choirs and played horn. I attended Wesleyan University as an undergraduate, studying electronic music with Ron Kuivila, and the classical music of South India (Carnatic music) with T. Viswanathan, T. Ranganathan, and K.S. Subramanian. After graduating, I played electric bass in typically unsuccessful rock bands in Boston. But I learned a great deal along the way and first started thinking about composing. John McDonald was my first composition teacher. My lessons with him at the Longy School in Cambridge were like revelations. I then attended the University of Colorado at Boulder where I studied with Richard Toensing, Luis Gonzalez, and Steven Bruns, receiving an M.M. in 1993. I received a Ph.D. in composition from Princeton in 2002. My principal teachers there were Steve Mackey and Paul Lansky. I also wrote a dissertation entitled "Western Composers and India's Music: Concepts, History, and Recent Music" under the guidance of Scott Burnham. Now I try to balance composing, scholarly work, and teaching. I am Assistant Professor at Lehman College-CUNY in The Bronx. Recordings of my music are available on the Innova, Capstone, Bridge, and Vox Novus labels. In 1998 I received a fellowship from The American Institute of Indian Studies for research in India. I have held residencies at The MacDowell Colony and the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center in Italy. I've received commissions from The American Composers Forum, The Cygnus Ensemble, Noa Even, Christopher Creviston and Oren Fader, Dither Electric Guitar Quartet, The Da Capo Chamber Players, The Zephyrus Duo, and The Cadillac Moon Ensemble. I have presented scholarly papers on topics related to my dissertation at regional and national theory and ethnomusicology conferences. Along with Matt Malsky, I co-direct the Extensible Toy Piano Project (XTP). I may be contacted at: davidclaman@yahoo.com Crystal Bright & the Silver Hands The formation of Crystal Bright & the Silver Hands began when Crystal met Diego Diaz (formerly of Citified), who had been a fan of Bright's previous group, Albina Savoy, and quickly signed on to play nylon, electric and lapsteel guitars. Since then, Crystal can be found playing with one or more amazing musicians depending on the occasion. Crystal's songs heavily incorporate her educational background in Anthropology and Ethnomusicology and her experiences playing in groups that have varied from Mariachi, Chinese, Balinese Gamelan, Samba, to Ugandan ensembles. She learned to play a wide range of instruments, from the accordion, to the musical saw (which she taught herself by watching YouTube videos), to an adungu (a Ugandan harp), to the concertina, all of which she added to her piano background in order to create the 2010 self-titled debut album. She is currently working on a new full length album to be released in the Fall of this year. The lyrics and melodies on the albums portray the world as a dark and strange (and often funny) place deeply connected to fables and imagination. Stories, such as "Little Match Girl" and "Skeleton Woman" convey lessons from folklore that address phases in women's lives where they need to be conscious of staying true to their intuition. For Crystal, songwriting can be begin in many different ways, including refrigerator magnets or going to the movie theater at midnight by herself. It can be collaborative, but is mostly accomplished during the darkest hours of the night by herself surrounded by all of her instruments and computer. During 2010, Bright began a creative partnership with photographer, Rusty McDonald, and wrote a script for a multi-media performance art production, inspired by her desire to have a visual outlet to express the stories in her songs. The production, entitled "Illuminating and Transcending the Shadow," was inspired by many folk tales and myths, and its central theme is about overcoming self-imposed oppression, themes that also run through many of her songs to date. It premiered at Greensboro, NC's Broach Theatre on October 8th and 9th, 2010, and will be shown again in November of this year. She has desires to collaborate with other artists in all areas of media, and believes strongly that music and the arts have the power to create community and heal. She is also a Holistic Health Counselor and teaches piano, accordion, and voice lessons out of her home studio. Mark Engebretson (b. 1964) is Associate Professor of Composition and Electronic Music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is the recipient of the 2011 North Carolina Artist Fellowship in Composition, and has received major commissions from Harvard University’s Fromm Music Foundation and the Thomas S. Kenan Center for the Arts. He is the founder of the UNCG New Music Festival, with performances at SEAMUS, ICMC, Wien Modern, Third Practice, Festival of New American Music, ISCM, BGSU Festival of New Music and Art, Carnegie Hall, Argentina, Albania, Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Sweden, Norway, China, Terre Haute and many more. Recordings of his work are available on the Albany, Innova, Lotus, and Capstone labels. Dr. Engebretson taught composition at the University of Florida, music theory at the SUNY Fredonia and 20th-century music history at the Eastman School of Music. He studied at the University of Minnesota (graduating Summa cum Laude), the Conservatoire de Bordeaux (as a Fulbright Scholar), and Northwestern University, where he received the Doctor of Music degree. At Northwestern he studied composition with M. William Karlins, Pauline Oliveros, Marta Ptaszynska, Michael Pisaro, Stephen Syverud and Jay Alan Yim and saxophone with Frederick Hemke. His teachers in France were Michel Fuste-Lambezat and Jean-Marie Londeix. Artistic Statement: Melody, timbre, virtuosity, clear and balanced formal structure, the integration of new media, multiple levels of associations, and a desire for fresh, engaging expression all drive my creative work. Of course, the concept of melody can be interpreted quite broadly: a melody could be a singing, arcing line, a single tone with constant microtonal or timbre changes, a jumping, jagged, asymmetrical riff, or a lick played on a snare drum. A fascination with both performance and compositional virtuosity joins melody to form the basis of my ongoing interest in writing works that push my boundaries as a composer and that engage superstar performers in technical and musical challenges. Such works teach us something about music, endless possibilities, and ourselves. http://home.earthlink.net/~mark.engebretson/index.html Gregory Price Grieve (b. 1964) is a filmmaker, performance artist and a leading scholar in the emerging field of Digital Religion, where he concentrates on Asian contemplative practice, digital media, and theories and methods for the study of popular religion. He is an associate professor in Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, director of MERGE: a Network for Collaborative Interdisciplinary Scholarship, and co-chair of the American Academy of Religion’s section on Religion and Popular Culture. Grieve’s undergraduate degree is in Film Studies, where, under the mentorship of the experimental feminist filmmaker Trin T. Min-ha, he studied the production and criticism of experimental documentaries. After college, Grieve melded his interest in religion, media, and the constructed nature of lived reality through performance art; and he presented regularly at the San Francisco based Artists' Television Access (an experimental media arts gallery). Grieve graduated from the University of Chicago with a PH. D. in 2002, where he concentrated on the visual performance of religion in Nepal, and studied with the Historians of Religion Wendy Doniger, J.Z Smith, and Bruce Lincoln, as well as the with Anthropologist Arjun Appadurai and the media theorist W. J. T. Mitchell. Grieve’s films have been shown at numerous festivals, he has published over twenty articles, and has written or is working on two monographs, and three edited volumes on visual culture and digital media. Concert IV – Program Notes Dancing Around the Cathode Campfire (1997) This was my very first foray into combining acoustic and electronic sounds in my music. Quoting and sampling TV themes from the past several decades, I've woven a motivically coherent tapestry of sound ranging from ethereal to silly. The primary motivic material is from the opening of a popular childhood cartoon of my youth, revealed several minutes into the piece. Created on a Macintosh Quadra 950, using Studio Vision Pro, Roland JV-2080, Korg Wavestation, and E-mu Procussion. Radio Hydrophone, Strings and Things My first impression of Weatherspoon was that it reminded me of a large ship, and I could not escape the feeling that I would hear sound underwater, or metal creaks as I walked along the gallery space. I will put to use a hydrophone and a tank of water to make this impression real. The metallic sounds will materialize by way of steel strings and springs strung across planks of wood. You will be hearing these as raw sound sources mostly. Some small toys and plastic objects will be utilized through a signal processing device and pumped into the underwater tank. My piece is 11 minutes, and represents my sonic interpretation of the Weatherspoon space, as well as my playful nature in instrumentation. Loose Canons "Canon est regula voluntatem compositoris sub obscuritate quadam ostendens." (A canon is a rule which shows the intention of the composer in an obscure way). - Tinctorus, Diffinitorium (ca. 1500) "What does it mean to engage in canon formation at this historical moment? In what ways does the prevailing crisis in the humanities impede or enable new canon formations?" -Cornel West, Keeping Faith (1994) Loose Canons was written in response to the music of Johannes Ockeghem (ca. 1410- 1497) in particular to his Missa Prolationum, which consists of a series of canons in different time signatures and at different intervals of imitation. Ockeghem's music has been described as idiosyncratic, without system, even as 'sounding improvised.' On the other hand, he has been characterized as a, "pure cerebralist, almost exclusively preoccupied with intellectual problems." Like other composers of the time, Ockeghem was trained as a singer and his music was vocally conceived. In our time composers are often trained, or self-taught, as electric guitarists and the electric guitar could even be described as the voice of our era. Loose Canons downplays the usual rock-star affect and pyrotechnics and focuses instead on sound. Loose Canons utilizes a device known as an 'ebow' (electric bow) which the guitarist holds above the strings, causing them to vibrate indefinitely without being plucked. Thus traditional contapuntal activities like passing tones and suspensions can be greatly prolonged, which both exaggerates and disarms their power and function. In addition, as the distorted guitar sounds interact with one another, rich patterns of overtones and dissonances are produced, beyond the 'written notes' of the piece. The Buddha Machine was created by sampling found images form the Internet Archive, a San Francisco based non-profit whose library includes texts, audio, moving images and archived WebPages. The video generates trsna (the Buddhist notion of desire) by visually embodying Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s notion of the desiring machine. By desire, Buddhists refer to craving pleasure, material goods, and immortality, all of which are wants that can never be satisfied, and lies at the root of suffering. Suffering, or duḥkha, literally means to be “stuck” or stopped. Similarly, for Deleuze and Guattari, desire is not to be identified with lack, with the law, or with the signifier, but rather with production, or really with the stoppage of production. As they write in Anti-Oedipus "a machine may be defined as a system of interruptions or breaks." The Buddha Machine is connected visually to the viewer, and creates desire by breaking visual flow. However, simultaneously, it is at the same time also a flow itself, or the production of a flow. Concert V – Artists/Program Notes Invisible Invisible is an experimental multimedia performance amalgamation combining unheard-of sound making inventions, multi-channel video and a vast archive of collected sounds and outmoded consumer devices. The group is comprised of Mark Dixon, Bart Trotman, Jodi Staley and Jonathan Henderson and Fred Snider. The New Obsolete Invisible’s current production, "The New Obsolete," is acupuncture for your vestigial organs and purgatory for your VHS deck. The show unfolds in 10 movements centered on the idea of obsolescence – both in technology and the human body. The New Obsolete features fresh video content and two of Invisible’s one-of-a-kind inventions: the “Selectric Piano” and “Elsewhere’s Roof.” The Selectric Piano is an IBM Selectric typewriter that has been electromechanically rigged up to a piano so that every letter typed results in a note played. Elsewhere's Roof is a contraption that uses dripping water and human hearts to trigger acoustic percussion devices. It produces rhythms that humans can’t and machines don’t. For more about Invisible tune in to www.soundsinvisible.com Lectures: Abstracts Bruno Louchouarn Cognition and Multi-Media Narratives in Film, Theater, Dance, and Immersive Installations. Because of my work in film, theater, dance, and in cognitive science, I am particularly interested the relationship between various cognitive streams in the construction of meaning in a multimedia experience. We will look at cognitive synergy between modalities and explore the notions of metaphor and “cross-domain mapping” in multimedia artworks. I will also share examples of my music for multimedia works, and discuss the collaborative process as well as the conceptual and technical underpinnings in the design and realization of the experience. Amy Williams Bach's Influence on Selected Contemporary Composers Works of György Kurtág and Amy Williams will be discussed in relation to the music of J.S. Bach. Bach's music influenced the compositional process of these contemporary composers in different ways: as a stylistic reference, quotation, homage and transcription. Musical examples will be for solo piano and piano duet (one piano, four hands). Hilary Tann The Pivotal Role of Poetry in My Musical Life Hilary Tann’s music is influenced by poetry in many ways, from the titles of her works to the character of different movements and to word-setting itself. In this short talk the composer will pay special attention to influences from three Welsh poets: Dylan Thomas (“Fernhill”); R. S. Thomas (“The Moor”); and Menna Elfyn (“Songs of the Cotton Grass” – performed 9/27 at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro New Music Festival). Lukas Ligeti Working with Electronic Music in Africa: My Experiences in Intercultural Collaboration and How Africa Has Influenced Me in Creating Electronic Music I will talk about how I actually made my beginnings in electronic music while in Africa, and how the culture of the African continent continues to be a central influence in the way I work with electronics. I will explain how my approach to live electronics, especially, is rooted in African performance practice, and why I think Africa is a particularly worthwhile place to work in electronic music. I will also give a summary of my experiences in cultural exchange projects in countries such as Cote D'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Egypt, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Lesotho and explain why I think such collaborations bear much potential for musical innovation and mutual understanding in all cultures involved. Gerard Morris Edgard Varèse: The Astronomer of Sound This lecture will explore the life, philosophies, and oeuvre of Edgard Varèse, as well as his compositional process. Through the score to "Intégrales", I will discuss Varèse's concept of rhythm, melody, form, sound mass, and space. Round Table Discussion with Crystal Bright, Will Ridenour, Shaun Sandor The Non-Conformist Artist in the Age of E-Commerce Eric Schwarz This Modern World: The Influence of Early Music on the Composers of Today This lecture will present a friendly discussion of the works of composers of today and also of the recent past, and demonstrate specific influences, textures, and techniques pulled from the music of Antiquity through the Baroque. Gerard Morris Conducting the works of Edgard Varèse This lecture will discuss approach and preparation when conducting the works of Varèse. Focus will placed on analysis and interpretation of the sores to "Octandre" and "Intègrales."
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Title | 2011-09-26 New Music Festival [recital program] |
Date | 2011 |
Creator | University of North Carolina at Greensboro. School of Music, Theatre and Dance |
Subject headings | University of North Carolina at Greensboro. School of Music, Theatre and Dance;University of North Carolina at Greensboro |
Place | Greensboro (N.C.) |
Description | Fall 2011 programs for recitals by students in the UNCG School of Music. |
Type | Text |
Original format | programs |
Original publisher | Greensboro N.C.: The University of North Carolina at Greensboro |
Contributing institution | Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries |
Source collection | UA9.2 School of Music Performances -- Programs and Recordings, 1917-2007 |
Series/grouping | 1: Programs |
Finding aid link | https://libapps.uncg.edu/archon/index.php?p=collections/controlcard&id=608 |
Rights statement | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/ |
Additional rights information | NO COPYRIGHT - UNITED STATES. This item has been determined to be free of copyright restrictions in the United States. The user is responsible for determining actual copyright status for any reuse of the material. |
Object ID | UA009.002.BD.2011FA.999 |
Digital publisher | The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University Libraries, PO Box 26170, Greensboro NC 27402-6170, 336.334.5304 |
Full Text | Eighth Annual UNCG New Music Festival Mark Engebretson, Director Alejandro Rutty, Associate Director Steve Landis and Jonathan Wall, Assistants September 26-30, 2011 Greensboro, North Carolina Festival Schedule Monday, September 26, 2011 3:00-5:00 p.m. Open Rehearsal with Richard Power and the UNCG Saxophone Ensemble Location 3:00-4:00 Music Building, Room 154 4:00-5:00 Music Building, Recital Hall Tuesday, September 27, 2011 12:00 p.m. Outdoor lunch concert, sponsored by the UNCG Student Chapter of the Society of Composers Stone Lawn, College Avenue, UNCG, free 1:00 p.m. Steven Bryant - lecture Music Building, Room 226, free 3:30 p.m. Bruno Louchouarn - lecture Music Building 129/131, free Cognition and Multi-Media Narratives in Film, Theater, Dance, and Immersive Installations. 5:30 p.m. Concert I - SCI Student Chapter concert with Swiss/American saxophonist Laurent Estoppey Organ Hall, free Music by Olivier Messiaen, Luciano Berio, Caroline Charrière, Nicholas Rich, Elizabeth Kowalski, Laszlo Sary, Laurent Estoppey and Steve Reich 7:30 p.m. Concert II Recital Hall, tickets $10/6/4/3 Music by Amy Williams, Alejandro Rutty, Hilary Tann, Lukas Ligeti, Bruno Louchouarn, Eric Schwartz and Richard Power Wednesday, September 28, 2011 10:00 a.m. Amy Williams - lecture Music Building, Organ Hall Bach's Influence on Selected Contemporary Composers 11:00 a.m. Hilary Tann - lecture Music Building, Room 223 The Pivotal Role of Poetry in My Musical Life 1:00 p.m. Lukas Ligeti - lecture Music Building, Room 116, free Working with Electronic Music in Africa 4:00 p.m. Concert III Recital Hall, free Lukas Ligeti, original compositions, performed on Marimba Lumina Evening open. Recommended: Chinese Opera at Elliott University Center Auditorium Thursday, September 29, 2011 10:00 a.m. Gerard Morris - lecture Music Building, Room 233 Edgard Varèse: The Astronomer of Sound 11:00 a.m. David Claman - lecture Music Building, Room 223 Rehearing and Responding: Music from Another Time and Place 1:00 p.m. Round Table discussion with Crystal Bright, Will Ridenour, Shaun Sandor Music Building, Room 224, free 3:30 p.m. Musicians of the Chinese Opera Orchestra – lecture demonstration Music Building, Room 217, free 5:30 p.m. Reception, free Weatherspoon Art Museum, Atrium 6:30 p.m. Concert IV Weatherspoon Art Museum, free Music by Steven Bryant, Shaun Sandor, David Claman, Mark Engebretson, Will Ridenour, and Crystal Bright Friday, September 30, 2011 2:00 p.m. Eric Schwarz - lecture Music Building, Room 221 This Modern World: The Influence of Early Music on the Composers of Today 3:00 p.m. Gerard Morris - lecture Music Building, Room 111 Conducting the Works of Edgard Varèse 9:00 p.m. Concert V Downtown at Mack and Mack, $10/6/4/3 Invisible presents The New Obsolete 220 South Elm Street, Greensboro Tuesday, September 27, 2011 CONCERT I Society of Composers, Inc, UNCG Student Chapter Featuring guest artist Laurent Estoppey, saxophone UNCG School of Music, Theatre and Dance. Organ Hall, 5:30 p.m. An Extraordinary Correspondence (2011) Nathan Daughtrey (6 minutes) Laura Stevens, flute, Nathan Daughtrey, marimba Subtilité des corps glorieux (1939) Olivier Messiaen (5 minutes) Laurent Estoppey, saxophone Sequenza VIIb (1995) Luciano Berio (7 minutes) Laurent Estoppey, saxophone Inner Piece (2011) world premiere Caroline Charrière (6 minutes) Laurent Estoppey, saxophone, electronics 2 Pieces from Seven Haiku (2011) Nicholas Rich (3 minutes) Hanna Lomas, soprano, Dianna Yodzis, mezzo-soprano, Anna Darnell, clarinet, Jonathan Stuart-Moore, cello, Evan Stevens, percussion, Alejandro Rutty, conductor Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (2011) Elizabeth Kowalski (12 minutes) Denise Murphy, choreography Eric Perrault, cello Intermission Pebbles Playing in a Pot (1978) Laszlo Sary (8 minutes) Laurent Estoppey, saxophone and electronics IXS_XIS_ISX_SIX_SXI_XSI (2011) world premiere Laurent Estoppey (8 minutes) Laurent Estoppey, saxophone, live electronics New York Counterpoint (1985) Steve Reich (9 minutes) Laurent Estoppey, saxophone, electronics CONCERT II UNCG School of Music, Theatre and Dance Recital Hall, 7:30 p.m. Univocity (2009) Amy Williams (5 minutes) Red Clay Saxophone Quartet Susan Fancher, soprano saxophone Robert Faub, alto saxophone Steve Stusek, tenor saxophone Mark Engebretson, baritone saxophone Guitars (2011) Alejandro Rutty (10 minutes) Anthony Taylor and Kelly Burke, clarinets, with electronics Song of the Cotton Grass Hilary Tann (14 minutes) I. A Girl’s Song to Her Mother (1999) II. Wings of the Grasses (2003) III. Vale of Feathers (2005) Susan Fancher, soprano saxophone, Clara O’Brien, mezzo-soprano Bacchanale (2011) Richard Power (11 minutes) UNCG Saxophone Ensemble, Steve Stusek, conductor Xin Gao, sopranino saxophone; Jared Newlen, Alex Smith, soprano saxophones Jason Wallace, Lee Burgess, Raychl Smith, Ryan Redd, Abbe Pass, alto saxophones Ben Crouch, Danny Collins, Andrew Lovett, Nikki Trail, tenor saxophones Alanna Hawley, Peter Salvucci, Brandon Noftle, baritone saxophones; Neil Ostercamp, bass saxophone Intermission RetouR (2006) Bruno Louchouarn (10 minutes) Sally Renée Todd, piano, with electronics and video The Incredible, Disappearing Vampire Music (2006) Eric Schwartz (5 minutes) James Douglass, piano Frozen State of Song (1993) Lukas Ligeti (16 minutes) Red Clay Saxophone Quartet Wednesday, September 28, 2011 CONCERT III UNCG School of Music, Theatre and Dance. Recital Hall, 4:00 p.m. Compositions by Lukas Ligeti Entering: Perceiving Masks Great Circle's Tune II Chimaeric Procession Labyrinth of Clouds Redux Triangulation Exiting: Perceiving Faces Lukas Ligeti, Marimba Lumina Thursday, September 29, 2011 CONCERT IV Weatherspoon Art Museum, 6:30 p.m. Dancing Around the Cathode Campfire (1997) Steven Bryant (10 minutes) Michael Ptacin, marimba, Cat Keen Hock, clarinet, with electronics West African Kora Music Will Ridenour Will Ridenour, kora and percussion Radio Hydrophone, Strings and Things (2011) Shaun Sandor (11 minutes) Shaun Sandor, water tank, steel strings, planks of wood Loose Canons (1995) David Claman (9 minutes) David Claman, Brian Koenig, and Gavin Douglas, electric guitars Illuminating and Transcending Crystal Bright Crystal Bright and the Silver Hands Buddha Machine (2011) Mark Engebretson (6 minutes) Deborah Egeqvist, flute; Guy Capuzzo, electric guitar, video by Gregory Grieve, with electronics. Friday, September 30, 2011 CONCERT V Mack and Mack, 9:00 p.m. 220 South Elm Street, Downtown Greensboro The New Obsolete (2011) Invisible Invisible, Mark Dixon and Bart Trotman “A new performance featuring the Selectric Piano, self-produced video content, and new unheard-of sound making inventions”. The New Obsolete has been produced with support from the North Carolina Arts Council and the partnering arts councils of the Central Piedmont Regional Artists Hub Program Concert I – Artists Nathan Daughtrey Whether performing nationally as a marimba/vibraphone soloist or a chamber musician, conducting percussion clinics, composing for a range of soloists and ensemble around the world or teaching at the university level, Nathan Daughtrey (b. 1975) is a musical chameleon who uses his wide-ranging talents to adapt comfortably to a variety of environments. As a performing artist and clinician for Yamaha and Vic Firth, Dr. Daughtrey has performed and conducted master classes and clinics in concert halls and at universities throughout the United States and across three continents. He has two solo marimba CDs to his credit – Spiral Passages, which features premiere recordings of David Gillingham’s “Gate to Heaven” and David J. Long’s “Concerto for Marimba;” and The Yuletide Marimba, which showcases Daughtrey’s solo and marimba quartet arrangements of 13 Christmas favorites. Also active as a collaborative artist, he has performed and recorded in chamber settings with composers Michael Udow and Daniel McCarthy, saxophonists Susan Fancher and Steven Stusek, bassoonist Michael Burns, clarinetist Christina Giacona, and the Virginia Beach Percussion Quartet, Trommel Percussion Group and Philidor Percussion Group. With over fifty publications for concert band, percussion ensemble, orchestra, chamber ensembles, and soloists as well as an ever-growing number of commissions, his works have been performed at national and international conferences. Performance venues include Percussive Arts Society International Convention, Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, Bands of America National Percussion Festival, Asian Symphonic Band Competition (Bangkok, Thailand), and the International Music Conference (Beijing, China). He has received annual awards from ASCAP since 2007. Additionally, his new "Concerto for Vibraphone and Wind Ensemble" will receive its premiere in Wisconsin in October. Dr. Daughtrey currently teaches Percussion and Music Composition at High Point University (NC), where he teaches applied lessons, directs the percussion ensemble and works in collaboration with the School of Communication on film projects. www.NathanDaughtrey.com Caroline Charrière Caroline Charrière is a Swiss composer. She has written approximately ten pieces using various instrumentations for Laurent Estoppey over the past 16 years. www.carolinecharriere.ch/ Laurent Estoppey After studying saxophone at the Conservatory of Lausanne, where he received a « License de Concert » degree in 1994, Laurent Estoppey devoted himself entirely to contemporary music. Numerous collaborations with composers have led him to create at least one hundred works. Now Estoppey’s musical activity is divided between written music and improvisation. He performs throughout Switzerland, many European countries, as well as Canada, USA, Argentina, Guatemala and South Africa. Estoppey works with many orchestras, has founded several chamber ensembles and has recorded a dozen CDs. He lives between Greensboro, NC and Lausanne, Switzerland. www.laurentestoppey.blogspot.com Elizabeth L. Kowalski (b. 1986) Born in Stony Brook, Long Island, NY, Elizabeth is a composer of both electro-acoustic and acoustic music. She started singing and soon after, began playing the piano at the age of 6 and flute at the age of 11. Currently, she is pursuing a MM in Composition at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro under the instruction of both Mark Engebretson and Alejandro Rutty. As a composer, her music reflects life events, nature, and human rights topics, such as the "Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire". Elizabeth's music is very much visually-inspired and she frequently composes for dance and film. Nicholas Rich Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, is a composer of acoustic and electro-acoustic music which investigates the interaction of music and memory and the interaction of humanity with the natural world. Raised by a family of Bluegrass and Country- Western musicians, and taught guitar by his family members at an early age, his music frequently carries strong associations with American pop and folk music. Rich's primary interest in the field of electronic and electro-acoustic music is the laptop ensemble. He composes and performs with the Greensboro Laptop Orchestra (GLOrk), the first ensemble of its kind in North Carolina. Rich was educated at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (B.M., Composition) where his principle teachers were Mark Engebretson and Alejandro Rutty. Concert I – Program Notes An Extraordinary Correspondence "An Extraordinary Correspondence" was commissioned by the Elliott Duo (Jennifer Elliott, flute and Richard Elliott, marimba) as a means of expanding their repertoire. Inspired by the Griffin & Sabine Trilogy of books by Nick Bantock (Chronicle Books), the work takes its title from the subtitle of the first book. Bantock tells the mystical story of these two people by inviting readers to examine handmade postcards and letters that are sent back and forth. As the story unfolds, we discover that Sabine can “see” what artist Griffin paints. Filled with skepticism and doubt, Griffin is resistant to the idea and flees. When he finally starts to come around, Griffin and Sabine attempt to meet but quickly discover that they are living in parallel universes. I will not reveal any more plot points, as I think Bantock does a much better job of telling the story. The 6-1/2 minute piece unfolds in much the same way and is divided into six main sections, each describing a mood or quoting a phrase from the book: A postcard... Griffin receives the first postcard from Sabine “I share your sight...” – Sabine shares her ability with Griffin “I must believe you’re real” – Griffin trying to convince himself “You’re a figment of my imagination...” – Doubt & uncertainty return for Griffin “Are you my shadow?” – Trying to make sense, Griffin asks… Parallel worlds… – Attempting to meet one another, the discovery they are living in parallel worlds "An Extraordinary Correspondence" received its premiere by the Elliott Duo on August 7, 2011 in Hamilton, Ohio. Sequenza VIIb Sequenza VII, written in 1969, is one of the most important pieces of the repertory for oboe. In 1995 Luciano Berio approved this version for soprano saxophone. This composition is a discourse passing through the twelve semi-tones around the note B, which is heard throughout the piece. Inner Peace for alto saxophone and electronics (2011 – première) Some slaptongues diffused in a slow motion and a high little melody gliding above everything are the points I started with. And finally: a fight between the violence of the sounds produced by the computer and the unalterable softness, the joy, the peace of the musician. IXS_XIS_ISX_SIX_SXI_XSI for saxophone and live electronics (2011 – première). Based on a text by French poet Christian Gabriel/le Guez Ricord, the piece is a dialog between the saxophonist and the prints he left behind himself. All sounds are generated by the saxophone in a real time, the computer reacting to various parameters. Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (for Cello, Electronics, and Dance) March 25, 1911, at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. It was the deadliest industrial disaster in New York City incurred the fourth highest loss of life from an industrial accident in U.S. history. The fire claimed 146 lives of garment workers who were mostly immigrants (129 women, 17 men) ages 14-48. The monotonous sewing and working movements are portrayed in the electronics and cello, as well as the dance. A fire breaks out and they cannot escape because the owners keep the doors locked for fear of theft. Panic sets in and as a last resort, some tragically resort to jumping out of the windows of the 8th through 10th stories of the building. The few survivors that were able to escape try to maintain the images of those who lost their lives through a memorial in the latter part of the piece. Industrial accidents unfortunately still happen today all over the world, and could be easily prevented by utilizing safety standards. Two movements from 7 Haiku I. Mirror pond of stars; suddenly a summer shower dimples the water -Sora V. Yellow evening sun; long shadow of the scarecrow reaches to the road -Shoha These short movements are settings of haiku by Basho, Shoha, Sora, Issa, Sokan, Soin, and Buson. Haiku are, of course, extremely condensed, and my music reflects their aphoristic nature. But more important to me than their small size is their dialectical method. Haiku are distinguished by the technique of "cutting" which in many cases means a juxtaposition of two ideas or images, which together create a meaning not necessarily indicated by either image individually. The "cutting word" in these instances would be a word that is in some way applicable to both images. In other cases, the poem might not juxtapose, and the "cutting word" may be used at the end of the poem to stop the flow of information in an unexpected but appropriate way. The two movements contained on this program represent both methods. A haiku's extremely small nature does have at least one important consequence: words (or characters) from physically disparate locations in the poem can be experienced simultaneously. Indeed, the entire poem could be taken in at a single glance. I believe that the experience of haiku is not necessarily a linear one, and my music respects that experience by not simply "setting" the poems. Rather, each movement lives within the idea-space of the poem, suggesting or connecting thoughts freely. Sometimes the text is sung; sometimes it is spoken; sometimes it is left out entirely. Sometimes the words are half-sung, or sung so slowly that they lose annunciation, becoming pure sounds and transferring the burden of semantic meaning to the texts printed in the program. More than anything I love the refinement of haiku, and I hope that I have managed to capture something of the gem-like quality of these great works of art. Concert II – Artists Amy Williams The compositions of Amy Williams (b. 1969, Buffalo, New York) have been presented at renowned contemporary music venues in the United States, Australia, and Europe, including Ars Musica (Belgium), Gaudeamus Music Week (Netherlands), Dresden New Music Days (Germany), Musikhøst Festival (Denmark), Festival Aspekte (Austria), Festival Musica Nova (Brazil), Subtropics Festival (Miami), Spring Festival of New Music (UK), Sound Field Festival (Chicago), Music Gallery (Canada), NUMUS (Canada), LA County Museum of Art, and Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music. Her works have been performed by leading contemporary music soloists and ensembles, including The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Aleph, Duo Diorama, Dal Niente, Brave New Works. Wet Ink Ensemble, North/South Consonance, Monarch Brass, CUBE, Empyrean Ensemble, Maverick Ensemble, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, California E.A.R. Unit, Dinosaur Annex, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Due East, Maki-Mack Piano Duo, H2 Saxophone Quartet, Vancouver Miniaturist Ensemble, Bent Frequency, pianists Yvar Mikhashoff and Amy Dissanayake, bassist Robert Black, and pianist Ursula Oppens with the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra. Her works appear on VDM Records (Italy), Navona and New Ariel. As a member of the Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo, Ms. Williams has performed throughout Europe and the Americas, including the Ojai Festival (California), NUMUS Festival (Denmark), Jordan Hall (Boston), Merkin Hall, Miller Theatre, Americas Society, Symphony Space (New York City), Musica Contemporanea Ciclos de Conciertos (Buenos Aires), Musik aus Solitude (Stuttgart), FORUM (Hamburg), Cutting Edge (London), UNAM (Mexico City), Unerhörte Musik (Berlin), Köln Triennale, and Wittener Täge für Neue Kammermusik. The Duo’s debut CD of Conlon Nancarrow's complete music for solo piano and piano duet (Wergo, 2004) has garnered much critical acclaim. Wergo released the Duo’s second CD of the music of Stravinsky in 2007 and their third, with music of Morton Feldman and Edgard Varèse in 2009. Ms. Williams has also recorded for Mode, Albany and Hat-Art. She has won the Wayne Peterson Composition Prize ("Sextet"), Audio Inversions Composition Prize ("Cineshape 1"), Thayer Award for the Arts, an ASCAP Award for Young Composers ("verre-glaz"), and grants from the American-Scandinavian Foundation, American Music Center, Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, Pro Musica Viva (Germany) and Meet the Composer. She was the recipient of a Howard Foundation Fellowship for 2008-2009 and recently received a Fromm Music Foundation Commission to write a new piece for the JACK Quartet. Ms. Williams holds a Ph.D. in composition from the State University of New York at Buffalo, where she also received her Master's degree in piano performance. She has taught at Bennington College (1997-2000) and Northwestern University (2000-2005) and is currently Assistant Professor of Composition at the University of Pittsburgh. An avid proponent of contemporary music, she served as Assistant Director of June In Buffalo, Director of New Music Northwestern, and is currently on the Artistic Boards of the Pittsburgh-based concert series, Music on the Edge, and the Yvar Mikhashoff Trust for New Music. Alejandro Rutty Born in Argentina, composer Alejandro Rutty’s output includes orchestral, chamber, mixed-media music, and arrangements of Argentine traditional music. Rutty’s compositions and arrangements have been played by the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Argentina, National Symphony Orchestra of Brazil, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, among other groups. Recordings of his music have been released by Capstone Records, Arizona University Recordings, and ERM Media. An All-Rutty CD (Navona Records) including A Future of Tango is scheduled to appear in March 2012. Founder and Artistic Director of the Hey, Mozart! Project, Alejandro Rutty is currently Associate Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. www.alejandrorutty.com Hilary Tann Welsh-born composer, Hilary Tann, lives in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York where she is the John Howard Payne Professor of Music at Union College, Schenectady. She holds degrees in composition from the University of Wales at Cardiff and from Princeton University. From 1982 to 1995 she held a number of Executive Committee positions with the International League of Women Composers and she was recently Composer-in-Residence at the 2011 Eastman School of Music Women in Music Festival. Praised for its lyricism and formal balance, her music is influenced by her love of Wales and a strong identification with the natural world. A deep interest in the traditional music of Japan has led to private study of the shakuhachi and guest visits to Japan, Korea, and China. Many works are available on CD and her compositions have been widely performed by ensembles such as the European Women’s Orchestra, Tenebrae, Lontano, Meininger Trio, Thai Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBCNOW, and KBS Philharmonic in Seoul, Korea. www.hilarytann.com Richard Power Composer and saxophonist Richard Power’s musical interests include exploring the dialogue between tradition and innovation, the continuum between composition and improvisation, and new types of formal and temporal expression through sound. He writes for both acoustic instruments and electronically generated sounds, and while much of his music is precisely notated, other scores encourage interactive collaboration through structured improvisations. He received a Bachelor’s degree in composition and performance from Trinity University (San Antonio, Texas), and Master’s and D.M.A. degrees in composition and theory from the University of Illinois, Urbana. As a performer Dr. Power enjoys placing the baritone saxophone within contexts where it is not normally found. For several years he was a member of the Austin-based Cornell Hurd Band, performing for dance and music lovers across Texas. Other groups he has been a part of are the Walter Thompson Orchestra, Third Coast Noise, Coherent, Blue Noise Saxophone Quartet and the Mad Dingo Trio. He has been a promoter of new music by fellow composers as both a performer and concert organizer. Dr. Power has been the recipient of awards from the American Music Center, ASCAP, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Austin Peay State University. His scores are published by Richard Power Music, Media Press, and HoneyRock Publications. Born in Austin, Texas, he currently lives in Danville, Kentucky with his wife, author and professor Stacey Peebles. http://richardpower.net Bruno Louchouarn French-Mexican composer and cognitive scientist. Bruno Louchouarn’s music has been performed at venues internationally. He has extensive film, theater, dance, and multimedia installations credits, including the futuristic cantina music in Total Recall. His musical compositions are informed by his studies in cognitive musicology and often focus on the narrative structure of myths, emotions and rhetoricas well as temporality in the interaction ofmusic and the moving image. Louchouarn lectures widely on this subject and teaches at Occidental College. Recent projects include: Tree (2010 PEN Award winner) by Julie Hébert, directed by Jessica Kubzansky; Galileo’s Daughters, written and directed by Giulio Cesare Perrone, Inferno Theatre, Berkeley and San Jose; Alcances, commissioned by the Pasadena Biennial 09: ORIGINS, premiered by pianist Vicki Ray and the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet at Art Center; Surf Orpheus, musical with book writer, Corey Madden and choreographer, Jacques Heim, UCSD & Getty Villa; Agamemnon, directed by Stephen Wadsworth, featuring Tyne Daly, Getty Villa; Shekinah, La MaMa, NY; Little Sisters, choreographed by Rosanna Gamson, REDCAT in Disney Hall. Day For Night a 12-hour film and music installation, commissioned by GLOW 2010, Santa Monica beach, and featured at Transatlantyk Film Festival 2011, Poland. A Weekend With Pablo Picasso, with Culture Clash’s Herbert Siguenza, Alley Theatre, Houston, and Los Angeles Theater Center. We Are Not Alone, A Musical Narrative, with book and lyrics by Carlos E. Cortés and Juan Felipe Herrera, commissioned by and premiered at the 24th Annual Tomás Rivera Conference, at University of California Riverside. His next projects include Rain After Ash, a multimedia work opening at A X S Festival in Pasadena, California, Night Falls, a dance-theater work at ODC in San Francisco, Drive-Through, a new work for piano and video, commissioned by Piano Spheres for Mark Robson, as well as a multimedia viola concerto for violist Brett Deubner. Eric Schwartz Eric Schwartz has studied composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music, New York University, and both the Interlochen and Aspen Summer Music Festivals. Past teachers have included Margaret Brouwer, Donald Erb, George Tsontakis, and Randy Woolf. Primarily interested in a synthesis of musical archetypes, Schwartz is always at work on a variety of genre bending projects. Formative influences include an amalgamation of the glam metal of the late 80′s, and the baroque intellectualism of Arnold Schoenberg. His music has been performed on five continents, at venues ranging from Merkin Concert Hall in NYC and the BMW Edge Theatre in Melbourne, Australia to universities, coffee shops, gas stations, and bars of all shapes and sizes. He has received awards and grants from Meet the Composer, ASCAP, The Society for New Music, The Puffin Foundation, The Cleveland Chamber Symphony, and The Ohio Federation of College Music Clubs. Schwartz has served on the faculties of New York University, Hunter College, the Lucy Moses Music School, and most recently the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and is the artistic director of the Winston-Salem, NC based experimental music group Forecast Music. He was formerly a Resident Composer for the Los Angeles based Tonoi contemporary music ensemble, the Minnesota based Renegade Ensemble, and NYC’s Vox Novus. His debut CD 24 Ways of Looking at a Piano, named one of the top classical CDs of 2005 by All Music Guide, is available from Centaur Records. His second solo album, OYOU will be available from CD Baby in 2011. His music is also available on Signum Classics, Capstone Records, Trace Label, and a host of others, and is published by Staunch Music (UK) and Lovebird Music (US). Following a wonderful, rewarding decade in NYC, Schwartz has recently taken a position at the University of North Carolina School for the Arts, where he serves as Music Director for the School of Dance. He and his wife, graphic designer Erin Raines, are now living in lovely Winston-Salem, NC. Lukas Ligeti Transcending the boundaries of genre, composer-percussionist Lukas Ligeti has developed a musical style of his own that draws upon downtown NY experimentalism, contemporary classical music, jazz, electronica, and world music, particularly from Africa. Lukas creates music ranging from the through-composed to the free-improvised, often exploring non-Western elements, and has been participating in cultural exchange projects for the past 15 years. Lukas studied composition and jazz drums at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria, and spent two years working at CCRMA, the computer music research center at Stanford University, before settling in New York City in 1998. Lukas has been commissioned by Bang on a Can, Kronos Quartet, Ensemble Modern, and the American Composers Orchestra, the Vienna Festwochen, Austrian Radio, and Radio France, to name a few; his music has also been performed by the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchetra, Orchestre National de Lyon, the London Sinfonietta, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Amadinda, Third Coast, and So Percussion Groups. He frequently performs solo on the Marimba Lumina, a rare electronic percussion instrument. As a drummer, he co-leads several bands including Burkina Electric, the first electronica band from Burkina Faso in West Africa. He performs at jazz and world music festivals internationally and has worked with John Zorn, Henry Kaiser, Raoul Björkenheim, Elliott Sharp, Gary Lucas, Marilyn Crispell, John Tchicai, Jim O’Rourke, Borah Bergman, Eugene Chadbourne, Tarek Atoui, and many others. He has led or co-led experimental intercultural projects in Florida, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Lesotho, among other places, has taught at the University of Ghana and was composer-in-residence at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Lukas’ music is has been released to high acclaim on two CDs on the Tzadik label as well several more on the Intuition, TUM, Wallace, and Innova labels, among others. In 2010, Lukas received the Alpert Award in the Arts in Music. For more information, please see www.lukasligeti.com Concert II – Program Notes Univocity Univocity is a philosophical term that means "one voice". I was particularly interested in Gilles Deleuze's use of it as a way of describing Being. It is difference that connects all. It seems appropriate for the saxophones, with subtle differences in the instruments, but which are all one family (voice). The piece undergoes an always-differentiating process, from a single voice to maximum difference and back again. Guitars In Guitars, music is understood as a cultural practice. There is the music that the clarinets bring with them, and the music and music-making practice associated with certain kind of guitar playing. At the heart of the piece, is the attempt of the clarinet performers to incorporate the sound, the inflections, the way of thinking and music-making of these “distant” instruments, as if they were immersed in an environment of organological multiculturalism. Songs of the Cotton Grass The cycle, “Songs of the Cotton Grass,” evolved over six years with all texts by Welsh poet Menna Elfyn. These “reverse lullabies” -- in which a daughter lulls her mother to sleep -- recall the open, high moorland of South Wales, near the composer’s home. The first song, "I. A Girl’s Song to Her Mother” was written for mezzo-soprano Mari Morgan and premiered July 30, 1999 during a Celtic Weekend at the Pan-American Games in Winnipeg. The second song, "II. Wings of the Grasses" was composed for "A Garland for Presteigne” and received its first performance August 25, 2003 by soprano Gillian Keith with Simon Lepper, piano. In 2004 the “Girl’s Song” was slightly revised for soprano Janeanne Houston who recorded the two completed songs (on So Much Beauty, Elmgrove productions) and subsequently commissioned and recorded “III. Vale of Feathers” (on The Shining Place, Elmgrove Productions). “Vale of Feathers” opens with a slow, tolling figure inspired in part by the then-recent passing of Pope John Paul II in April 2005; the refrain “take me to the vale of feathers” echoes back to the first song of the cycle. The cycle is completed by a fast, hushed movement placed between the "Girl's Song" and "Wings of the Grasses". The "Slave's Song" takes the cotton grass image to the plantations of the American South. Bacchanale In modern times the word is often associated with drunken orgies of the most sordid type. Not so, here. This Bacchanale is a celebration of life and living; a validation of simple sensorial pleasures, and a commemoration of times when friends gather and share good times with one another. And what better instrument to celebrate life than the saxophone! Memories of my own experience with the instrument, as well as the enjoyment I’ve experienced from the innumerable great saxophone performances I’ve heard have influenced this composition from beginning to end. Bacchanale was commissioned by, and is dedicated to, Steve Stusek and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Saxophone Ensemble. Their encouragement and enthusiasm has been a great source of inspiration throughout the journey. ReTouR, for piano, video and electronics. A return—but also a reversal (of fortune)—ReTouR stems from an inquiry into the narrative shape of love gained and lost, mediated and articulated by music. The myth of Orpheus is a archetype of such a narrative. In itself the myth has a symmetrical structure: growing love interrupted by the death of Eurydice, followed by Orpheus’ descent to Hades, his stay there and intense negotiation with the powers that be; his ascent back toward light with his love regained, only to loose her again forever. The piece’s shape and structure—a quasi palindrome—explore the abstract narrative of loss in the liminal and negotiated space between the metaphors of dream and reality. The pianist states the struggle of the tangible world while the disembodied electronic sound world challenges. The Incredible, Disappearing Vampire Music was written, in part, as an homage to two of my very favorite dead keyboard composers, J.S. Bach and Frederic Chopin. At the same time, I also undertook the composition of this work while I was in something of a " sinister children's music" phase. As such an abstract, utterly nonsensical narrative arose from this homage, sort of like a demented bedside reading woven into the texture and evolving along with the processes of the piece. Or something... Anyhow, the long and short of it is that this piece is an utter beast to perform, and finely woven cloths, jewels, and lots of gold should be gifted to the fabulous Jim Douglass for taking it on. Enjoy! Frozen State of Song Frozen State of Song was written for the Vienna Saxophone Quartet between 1990 and 1993. It’s a fairly traditional piece in that it recognizes certain conventions of harmony and voice-leading; it does so, however, in a way that is at times fairly surrealistic and tongue-in-cheek. The three movements all speak of similar concerns, although they do so in very different manners. Cross-rhythms and polymeters, and area of exploration I’m very interested in, play an important role throughout. In Frozen State of Song, they serve mainly as a key to rhythmic illusion, be it through a complicated sequence of temporal relationships (as in the first movement) or through an ambiguity of beat and off-beat (as in the second, where metric uncertainty is created in spite of the fact that the music is very simple and moves at a very slow pace). In the third movement, interlocking rhythms create a springboard for propelling the music through several contrasting sections, funky riffs developing out of and back into highly chromatic areas. Although Frozen State of Song is definitely intended for an ensemble of “classical” coloration, jazz is a strong influence on the piece. Jazz is one of the few functional, interactive musical languages created largely in the 20h century, and ultimately, I believe that the development of such systems of communication – that is, languages – is the major challenge for contemporary composers, because it is only through communication that truly new paths can be embarked on which will help new music win back its social significance without becoming retro or populist. Concert III – Program Notes Since computers first appeared on the music-making scene a few decades ago, everything has changed. New paradigms have sprung up; open-ended, infinitely flexible environments have been created; and yet so many new questions are still unanswered. I'm enthusiastic about the musical possibilities of electronics, and, from early on in my days as a musician, have felt the need to work in this field, using electronics to create music that could not possibly be done any other way. While many electronic music composers incorporate much randomness in their work and emphasize timbral experiments, my main interest is in new rhythmic structures, a new sense of melody, and in using electronics to reach across cultural boundaries. As a drummer, I'm interested in the motional aspect of music. I love to play instruments, and love to watch people playing, but I don't much enjoy watching people play laptops, with movements so minuscule that I can no longer follow them. And after spending much time practicing percussion technique, wouldn't it be a shame to abandon it all for a computer keyboard? I started out with a DrumKat, an electronic instrument intended to imitate a drum set, though imitation was not my goal. Influenced by traditional music of Uganda, I had developed a motion-based, polyrhythmic drumming technique, a choreography for drums, allowing me to play extremely long cyclic patterns; with my DrumKat and its triggering and layering options, I was able to expand my patterns to almost any length I could, or couldn't, imagine, creating patterns that would run for thousands of years before repeating. But I was yearning for more sophisticated software and a greater facility for melodic improvisation. The answer was the Marimba Lumina, an electronic marimba ingeniously designed by the synthesizer pioneer Donald Buchla, which I have played since 2005. The sounds I use are mainly the results of sampling - short snippets of recorded sound I made during my travels, often in Africa, recording street noise, traditional instruments, etc., and then detuning and altering them in my search for new means of expression. While I do use some sound processing - filters, delay, etc. - much of what you might think is processing really is not. Rather, I use unconventional approaches to looping, and delay effects are often built into the sounds themselves by the time I'm ready to manipulate them through my live playing. The music allows for a certain freedom of improvisation and expresses my joy and my sadness; my imagination not only in sounds but also in shapes and colors; and my longing for places far away, especially for the continent of Africa, to which this music is a loving tribute. This music is not in any known genre. There is no downbeat, no offbeat, but there are beats. It is music you can listen to from multiple acoustical or rhythmic vantage points, each listener in his or her own way, always in a new way. (See Concert II for biographical information on Lukas Ligeti) Concert IV – Artists Steven Bryant (b. 1972, Little Rock, AR) is an active composer and conductor with a varied catalog, including works for wind ensemble, orchestra, electronic and electro-acoustic creations, chamber music, and music for the web. Steven's music has been performed by numerous ensembles across North America, Europe, and East Asia. He is a three-time winner of the National Band Association's William D. Revelli Composition Award: in 2010 for Ecstatic Waters, in 2008 for Suite Dreams, and in 2007 for his work Radiant Joy. His first orchestral work, Loose Id for Orchestra, hailed by celebrated composer Samuel Adler as "orchestrated like a virtuoso" was premiered by The Juilliard Symphony and is featured on a CD release by the Bowling Green Philharmonia on Albany Records. Alchemy in Silent Spaces, a new large-scale work commissioned by James DePreistand The Juilliard School was premiered by the Juilliard Orchestra in May 2006. Other notable commissions have come from the Amherst Saxophone Quartet (funded by the American Composers Jerome Composers Commissioning Program), the University of Texas - Austin Wind Ensemble, the US Air Force Band of Mid- America, the Japanese Wind Ensemble Conductors Conference, and the Calgary Stampede Band, as well as many others. Recordings include multiple releases by Eugene Corporon and the University of North Texas Wind Symphony, the Ron Hufstader and the El Paso Wind Symphony, William Berz and the Rutgers University Wind Ensemble, and Thomas Leslie and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Wind Orchestra. Steven has also created a recomposition of the Iggy Pop and the Stooges song, "Real Cool Time" for the independent Italian record label, Snowdonia, as well as music for portions of the Virtual Space Tour at space.com. Steven is a founding member of the composer-consortium BCM International: four stylistically-diverse composers from across the country. BCM's music has generated a following of thousands around the world and two recordings: "BCM Saves the World" (2002, Mark Custom Records) and "BCM Men of Industry" (2004, BCM Records). Steven studied composition with John Corigliano at The Juilliard School, Cindy McTee at the University of North Texas, and Francis McBeth at Ouachita University. He resides in Durham, NC. www.stevenbryant.com, Twitter: @SBryantComposer, Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/stevenbryant Will Ridenour Will Ridenour is a musician from Greensboro NC, specializing in world percussion and the kora, a 21-stringed harp-lute from West Africa. The strings of the kora are made of fishing line and they resonate through a large, halved calabash gourd stretched with a cowhide. Will has performed in 40 US states and 25 countries worldwide, and studied with master teachers in the US, Sweden, Mali and Senegal. Today Will performs with a variety of groups including Diali Cissokho & Kairaba!, Paperhand Puppet Intervention, Gmish Klezmer Band, and various other projects in central North Carolina. www.facebook.com/pages/will-ridenour-kora, www.myspace.com/zumana, www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-iJRSPe_7w Shaun Sandor (Promute / Bicameral Mind) I have been earnestly recording and experimenting with unconventional sound since 1997. After playing in guitar in a variety of bands in the late 80's and early 90's, I was living in Europe and got exposed to some of the innovators of experimental music. I came back to the states and got involved in the Cleveland experimental art scene where I was a part of the Pieta and Speak in Tongues phenomenon for a brief time. I left there to attend Columbia College Chicago, and graduated from the Radio and Sound program with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2002. During that time I attended a workshop by Sound Artist Eric Leonardson that strengthened my drive to experiment with new instruments and stimulating sounds. As Promute, I have utilized broken circuits, a synthesizer, and home-made electronic boxes, and fused them with home-made acoustic counter parts in creating electro-acoustic music. I have assembled 5 releases to date and performed at Sonic Circuits and Signal Festival, as well as a tour in the US and in Europe. As one half of Bicameral Mind (with Bryce Eiman), I have thoroughly enjoyed performing at various festivals in the US and have 7 releases with a variety of collaborators. www.blondenamusic.com/promute.html Releases: Rast Figment (CD, Blondena Music, 2006), Dark Moving (CDr, Blondena Music, 2007), Evoka (mini-CDr, Blondena Music, 2007), Portocal Sessions (CDr, Zeromoon, 2011), Sam Uho (CDr, Full Spectrum, 2011) Promute (Shaun Sandor) - Artist Statement My work is an examination of contrasting ideas and elements in music. It is a space where complex circuits fuse with hardware store parts or scrap metal. I take aim at using restraint as a powerful tool by taking away more than I'm giving, and accomplish this by removing a single conventional element of music making. Imagine a song of choruses but no verse, or a crash cymbal and a bass, but no guitar. I often use a plank of wood with steel strings and a synthesizer to create minimalist, dynamic pieces. My music embraces the electro-acoustic and ambient genres, with hints of musique concrete. David Claman I was raised in Denver, Colorado where I attended public and private schools. I took piano lessons briefly, sang in choirs and played horn. I attended Wesleyan University as an undergraduate, studying electronic music with Ron Kuivila, and the classical music of South India (Carnatic music) with T. Viswanathan, T. Ranganathan, and K.S. Subramanian. After graduating, I played electric bass in typically unsuccessful rock bands in Boston. But I learned a great deal along the way and first started thinking about composing. John McDonald was my first composition teacher. My lessons with him at the Longy School in Cambridge were like revelations. I then attended the University of Colorado at Boulder where I studied with Richard Toensing, Luis Gonzalez, and Steven Bruns, receiving an M.M. in 1993. I received a Ph.D. in composition from Princeton in 2002. My principal teachers there were Steve Mackey and Paul Lansky. I also wrote a dissertation entitled "Western Composers and India's Music: Concepts, History, and Recent Music" under the guidance of Scott Burnham. Now I try to balance composing, scholarly work, and teaching. I am Assistant Professor at Lehman College-CUNY in The Bronx. Recordings of my music are available on the Innova, Capstone, Bridge, and Vox Novus labels. In 1998 I received a fellowship from The American Institute of Indian Studies for research in India. I have held residencies at The MacDowell Colony and the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center in Italy. I've received commissions from The American Composers Forum, The Cygnus Ensemble, Noa Even, Christopher Creviston and Oren Fader, Dither Electric Guitar Quartet, The Da Capo Chamber Players, The Zephyrus Duo, and The Cadillac Moon Ensemble. I have presented scholarly papers on topics related to my dissertation at regional and national theory and ethnomusicology conferences. Along with Matt Malsky, I co-direct the Extensible Toy Piano Project (XTP). I may be contacted at: davidclaman@yahoo.com Crystal Bright & the Silver Hands The formation of Crystal Bright & the Silver Hands began when Crystal met Diego Diaz (formerly of Citified), who had been a fan of Bright's previous group, Albina Savoy, and quickly signed on to play nylon, electric and lapsteel guitars. Since then, Crystal can be found playing with one or more amazing musicians depending on the occasion. Crystal's songs heavily incorporate her educational background in Anthropology and Ethnomusicology and her experiences playing in groups that have varied from Mariachi, Chinese, Balinese Gamelan, Samba, to Ugandan ensembles. She learned to play a wide range of instruments, from the accordion, to the musical saw (which she taught herself by watching YouTube videos), to an adungu (a Ugandan harp), to the concertina, all of which she added to her piano background in order to create the 2010 self-titled debut album. She is currently working on a new full length album to be released in the Fall of this year. The lyrics and melodies on the albums portray the world as a dark and strange (and often funny) place deeply connected to fables and imagination. Stories, such as "Little Match Girl" and "Skeleton Woman" convey lessons from folklore that address phases in women's lives where they need to be conscious of staying true to their intuition. For Crystal, songwriting can be begin in many different ways, including refrigerator magnets or going to the movie theater at midnight by herself. It can be collaborative, but is mostly accomplished during the darkest hours of the night by herself surrounded by all of her instruments and computer. During 2010, Bright began a creative partnership with photographer, Rusty McDonald, and wrote a script for a multi-media performance art production, inspired by her desire to have a visual outlet to express the stories in her songs. The production, entitled "Illuminating and Transcending the Shadow" was inspired by many folk tales and myths, and its central theme is about overcoming self-imposed oppression, themes that also run through many of her songs to date. It premiered at Greensboro, NC's Broach Theatre on October 8th and 9th, 2010, and will be shown again in November of this year. She has desires to collaborate with other artists in all areas of media, and believes strongly that music and the arts have the power to create community and heal. She is also a Holistic Health Counselor and teaches piano, accordion, and voice lessons out of her home studio. Mark Engebretson (b. 1964) is Associate Professor of Composition and Electronic Music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is the recipient of the 2011 North Carolina Artist Fellowship in Composition, and has received major commissions from Harvard University’s Fromm Music Foundation and the Thomas S. Kenan Center for the Arts. He is the founder of the UNCG New Music Festival, with performances at SEAMUS, ICMC, Wien Modern, Third Practice, Festival of New American Music, ISCM, BGSU Festival of New Music and Art, Carnegie Hall, Argentina, Albania, Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Sweden, Norway, China, Terre Haute and many more. Recordings of his work are available on the Albany, Innova, Lotus, and Capstone labels. Dr. Engebretson taught composition at the University of Florida, music theory at the SUNY Fredonia and 20th-century music history at the Eastman School of Music. He studied at the University of Minnesota (graduating Summa cum Laude), the Conservatoire de Bordeaux (as a Fulbright Scholar), and Northwestern University, where he received the Doctor of Music degree. At Northwestern he studied composition with M. William Karlins, Pauline Oliveros, Marta Ptaszynska, Michael Pisaro, Stephen Syverud and Jay Alan Yim and saxophone with Frederick Hemke. His teachers in France were Michel Fuste-Lambezat and Jean-Marie Londeix. Artistic Statement: Melody, timbre, virtuosity, clear and balanced formal structure, the integration of new media, multiple levels of associations, and a desire for fresh, engaging expression all drive my creative work. Of course, the concept of melody can be interpreted quite broadly: a melody could be a singing, arcing line, a single tone with constant microtonal or timbre changes, a jumping, jagged, asymmetrical riff, or a lick played on a snare drum. A fascination with both performance and compositional virtuosity joins melody to form the basis of my ongoing interest in writing works that push my boundaries as a composer and that engage superstar performers in technical and musical challenges. Such works teach us something about music, endless possibilities, and ourselves. http://home.earthlink.net/~mark.engebretson/index.html Gregory Price Grieve (b. 1964) is a filmmaker, performance artist and a leading scholar in the emerging field of Digital Religion, where he concentrates on Asian contemplative practice, digital media, and theories and methods for the study of popular religion. He is an associate professor in Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, director of MERGE: a Network for Collaborative Interdisciplinary Scholarship, and co-chair of the American Academy of Religion’s section on Religion and Popular Culture. Grieve’s undergraduate degree is in Film Studies, where, under the mentorship of the experimental feminist filmmaker Trin T. Min-ha, he studied the production and criticism of experimental documentaries. After college, Grieve melded his interest in religion, media, and the constructed nature of lived reality through performance art; and he presented regularly at the San Francisco based Artists' Television Access (an experimental media arts gallery). Grieve graduated from the University of Chicago with a PH. D. in 2002, where he concentrated on the visual performance of religion in Nepal, and studied with the Historians of Religion Wendy Doniger, J.Z Smith, and Bruce Lincoln, as well as the with Anthropologist Arjun Appadurai and the media theorist W. J. T. Mitchell. Grieve’s films have been shown at numerous festivals, he has published over twenty articles, and has written or is working on two monographs, and three edited volumes on visual culture and digital media. Concert IV – Program Notes Dancing Around the Cathode Campfire (1997) This was my very first foray into combining acoustic and electronic sounds in my music. Quoting and sampling TV themes from the past several decades, I've woven a motivically coherent tapestry of sound ranging from ethereal to silly. The primary motivic material is from the opening of a popular childhood cartoon of my youth, revealed several minutes into the piece. Created on a Macintosh Quadra 950, using Studio Vision Pro, Roland JV-2080, Korg Wavestation, and E-mu Procussion. Radio Hydrophone, Strings and Things My first impression of Weatherspoon was that it reminded me of a large ship, and I could not escape the feeling that I would hear sound underwater, or metal creaks as I walked along the gallery space. I will put to use a hydrophone and a tank of water to make this impression real. The metallic sounds will materialize by way of steel strings and springs strung across planks of wood. You will be hearing these as raw sound sources mostly. Some small toys and plastic objects will be utilized through a signal processing device and pumped into the underwater tank. My piece is 11 minutes, and represents my sonic interpretation of the Weatherspoon space, as well as my playful nature in instrumentation. Loose Canons "Canon est regula voluntatem compositoris sub obscuritate quadam ostendens." (A canon is a rule which shows the intention of the composer in an obscure way). - Tinctorus, Diffinitorium (ca. 1500) "What does it mean to engage in canon formation at this historical moment? In what ways does the prevailing crisis in the humanities impede or enable new canon formations?" -Cornel West, Keeping Faith (1994) Loose Canons was written in response to the music of Johannes Ockeghem (ca. 1410- 1497) in particular to his Missa Prolationum, which consists of a series of canons in different time signatures and at different intervals of imitation. Ockeghem's music has been described as idiosyncratic, without system, even as 'sounding improvised.' On the other hand, he has been characterized as a, "pure cerebralist, almost exclusively preoccupied with intellectual problems." Like other composers of the time, Ockeghem was trained as a singer and his music was vocally conceived. In our time composers are often trained, or self-taught, as electric guitarists and the electric guitar could even be described as the voice of our era. Loose Canons downplays the usual rock-star affect and pyrotechnics and focuses instead on sound. Loose Canons utilizes a device known as an 'ebow' (electric bow) which the guitarist holds above the strings, causing them to vibrate indefinitely without being plucked. Thus traditional contapuntal activities like passing tones and suspensions can be greatly prolonged, which both exaggerates and disarms their power and function. In addition, as the distorted guitar sounds interact with one another, rich patterns of overtones and dissonances are produced, beyond the 'written notes' of the piece. The Buddha Machine was created by sampling found images form the Internet Archive, a San Francisco based non-profit whose library includes texts, audio, moving images and archived WebPages. The video generates trsna (the Buddhist notion of desire) by visually embodying Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s notion of the desiring machine. By desire, Buddhists refer to craving pleasure, material goods, and immortality, all of which are wants that can never be satisfied, and lies at the root of suffering. Suffering, or duḥkha, literally means to be “stuck” or stopped. Similarly, for Deleuze and Guattari, desire is not to be identified with lack, with the law, or with the signifier, but rather with production, or really with the stoppage of production. As they write in Anti-Oedipus "a machine may be defined as a system of interruptions or breaks." The Buddha Machine is connected visually to the viewer, and creates desire by breaking visual flow. However, simultaneously, it is at the same time also a flow itself, or the production of a flow. Concert V – Artists/Program Notes Invisible Invisible is an experimental multimedia performance amalgamation combining unheard-of sound making inventions, multi-channel video and a vast archive of collected sounds and outmoded consumer devices. The group is comprised of Mark Dixon, Bart Trotman, Jodi Staley and Jonathan Henderson and Fred Snider. The New Obsolete Invisible’s current production, "The New Obsolete" is acupuncture for your vestigial organs and purgatory for your VHS deck. The show unfolds in 10 movements centered on the idea of obsolescence – both in technology and the human body. The New Obsolete features fresh video content and two of Invisible’s one-of-a-kind inventions: the “Selectric Piano” and “Elsewhere’s Roof.” The Selectric Piano is an IBM Selectric typewriter that has been electromechanically rigged up to a piano so that every letter typed results in a note played. Elsewhere's Roof is a contraption that uses dripping water and human hearts to trigger acoustic percussion devices. It produces rhythms that humans can’t and machines don’t. For more about Invisible tune in to www.soundsinvisible.com Lectures: Abstracts Bruno Louchouarn Cognition and Multi-Media Narratives in Film, Theater, Dance, and Immersive Installations. Because of my work in film, theater, dance, and in cognitive science, I am particularly interested the relationship between various cognitive streams in the construction of meaning in a multimedia experience. We will look at cognitive synergy between modalities and explore the notions of metaphor and “cross-domain mapping” in multimedia artworks. I will also share examples of my music for multimedia works, and discuss the collaborative process as well as the conceptual and technical underpinnings in the design and realization of the experience. Amy Williams Bach's Influence on Selected Contemporary Composers Works of György Kurtág and Amy Williams will be discussed in relation to the music of J.S. Bach. Bach's music influenced the compositional process of these contemporary composers in different ways: as a stylistic reference, quotation, homage and transcription. Musical examples will be for solo piano and piano duet (one piano, four hands). Hilary Tann The Pivotal Role of Poetry in My Musical Life Hilary Tann’s music is influenced by poetry in many ways, from the titles of her works to the character of different movements and to word-setting itself. In this short talk the composer will pay special attention to influences from three Welsh poets: Dylan Thomas (“Fernhill”); R. S. Thomas (“The Moor”); and Menna Elfyn (“Songs of the Cotton Grass” – performed 9/27 at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro New Music Festival). Lukas Ligeti Working with Electronic Music in Africa: My Experiences in Intercultural Collaboration and How Africa Has Influenced Me in Creating Electronic Music I will talk about how I actually made my beginnings in electronic music while in Africa, and how the culture of the African continent continues to be a central influence in the way I work with electronics. I will explain how my approach to live electronics, especially, is rooted in African performance practice, and why I think Africa is a particularly worthwhile place to work in electronic music. I will also give a summary of my experiences in cultural exchange projects in countries such as Cote D'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Egypt, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Lesotho and explain why I think such collaborations bear much potential for musical innovation and mutual understanding in all cultures involved. Gerard Morris Edgard Varèse: The Astronomer of Sound This lecture will explore the life, philosophies, and oeuvre of Edgard Varèse, as well as his compositional process. Through the score to "Intégrales", I will discuss Varèse's concept of rhythm, melody, form, sound mass, and space. Round Table Discussion with Crystal Bright, Will Ridenour, Shaun Sandor The Non-Conformist Artist in the Age of E-Commerce Eric Schwarz This Modern World: The Influence of Early Music on the Composers of Today This lecture will present a friendly discussion of the works of composers of today and also of the recent past, and demonstrate specific influences, textures, and techniques pulled from the music of Antiquity through the Baroque. Gerard Morris Conducting the works of Edgard Varèse This lecture will discuss approach and preparation when conducting the works of Varèse. Focus will placed on analysis and interpretation of the sores to "Octandre" and "Intègrales." |
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