Third Practice Electroacoustic Music Festival Benjamin Broening, Artistic Director
WELCOME to the 2019 Third We are happy to present Andrea Practice Electroacoustic Music Cheeseman as our featured guest Festival at the University of Rich- artist this year. Dr. Cheeseman mond. Now in its nineteenth year, shares our commitment to promot- the festival continues to present a ing and encouraging the newest wide range of music that represents of the new electroacoustic music. a diversity of approaches to creat- We celebrate her 2019 release of ing music with technology. We are somewhere, a disc of new music for pleased to present music of recog- clarinet and electronics, with per- nized masters in the field and com- formances of a number of works posers with well-established distinc- composed for her. tive artistic voices alongside works Festivals are collaborative affairs of those in the early stages of their that draw on the hard work, assis- creative practices. tance and commitment of many. Third Practice is dedicated to the I would like to thank my students promotion of new electroacoustic and colleagues in the Department music and takes a special pleasure in of Music for their participation, dedi- commissioning new works. A record- cation and support, the staff of the ing of Third Practice commissions Modlin Center for the Arts for their and premieres has been released energy, time and encouragement, on Centaur records and a DVD-A of and the Cultural Affairs Committee, multi-channel pieces commissioned the Dean of Arts and Sciences and by the festival was released on Ever- the Music Department for providing glade Records. financial support.
CONTENTS
2...... Installation 9...... Concert One 3...... Schedule Overview 16...... Concert Two 4...... Ensemble-in-Residence 24...... Concert Three 6...... Featured Guest Artist 29...... Concert Four 7...... Artistic Director
1 INSTALLATION
STUDENTS OF MUS 217 SOUNDSCAPES Sonic Wave Pendulum Location: Booker 128 Conference Room
PROGRAM NOTE A sonification of the wave pendulum equation. First (longest) pendulum marks 30 periods in 60 seconds. The second marks 31, the third 32, ... etc. Magnets at the bottom of each pendulum move magnets place in the tuned copper tubes, sounding the mid point of each period.
STAFF
Artistic Director Production Manager, Student Assistants Benjamin Broening Modlin Center Jake Cardwell for the Arts Reuben Davis Technical Director Sean Farrell Mike Dietrick Matthew McCabe Xavier McCormick Graphic Design Associate Technical John Malinoski Program Design Director Sarah Barton Nick Mobley Pre-Concert Animations John Malinoski Anya Shcherbakova
2 THIRD PRACTICE 2019 FESTIVAL SCHEDULE OVERVIEW
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2019
6:30 pm SONIC WAVE PENDULUM 7:30 pm CONCERT ONE, INSTALLATION, CAMP CONCERT HALL, BOOKER 128 BOOKER HALL CONFERENCE ROOM OF MUSIC students of MUS 217 Featuring Eighth Soundscapes Blackbird and EMEWS Music of Davidovsky, JacobTV, Joachim, O’Halloran, Park, Photinos and Pierson
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2019
11:00 am CONCERT TWO, 6:30 pm SONIC WAVE PENDULUM CAMP CONCERT HALL INSTALLATION, Andrea Cheeseman, BOOKER 128 clarinet CONFERENCE ROOM Music of Bacon, students of MUS 217 Bouchard, Borcherding, Soundscapes Niekirk, Snyder, Stebbins and Stine 7:30 pm CONCERT FOUR, CAMP CONCERT HALL 2:00 pm CONCERT THREE, Andrea Cheeseman, PERKINSON clarinet RECITAL HALL Music of Burtner, Brown, Andrea Cheeseman, Carroll, Chandler, Shatin, clarinet Volness and Wang Music of Broening, Cunningham, Geers, McCabe, and Vidiksis
Tickets are not required for Third Practice events.
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND 3 ENSEMBLE-IN-RESIDENCE
ENSEMBLE-IN-RESIDENCE
EIGHTH BLACKBIRD totaling tens of thousands. The sextet Eighth Blackbird, hailed as “one of has commissioned and premiered the smartest, most dynamic contem- hundreds of works by composers both porary classical ensembles on the established and emerging, and have planet” (Chicago Tribune), began in perpetuated the creation of music 1996 as a group of six entrepreneur- with profound impact, such as Steve ial Oberlin Conservatory students Reich’s Double Sextet, which went on and quickly became “a brand-name to win the 2009 Pulitzer Prize. The defined by adventure, vibrancy and ensemble’s extensive recording his- quality” (Detroit Free Press). Over the tory, primarily with Chicago’s Cedille course of more than two decades, Records, has produced more than a Eighth Blackbird has continu- dozen acclaimed albums and four ally pushed at the edges of what it Grammy Awards for Best Small means to be a contemporary cham- Ensemble/Chamber Music Perfor- ber ensemble, presenting distinct mance, most recently in 2016 for programs in Chicago, nationally, and Filament. Longstanding collabora- internationally, reaching audiences tive relationships have led to perfor-
4 THIRD PRACTICE 2019 FESTIVAL ENSEMBLE-IN-RESIDENCE
mances with some of the most well- being named Musical America’s 2017 regarded classical artists of today Ensemble of the Year have supported from heralded performers like Dawn Eighth Blackbird’s position as a cata- Upshaw and Jeremy Denk, to semi- lyst for innovation in the new music nal composers like Philip Glass and ecosystem of Chicago and beyond. Nico Muhly. In recent projects, Eighth Eighth Blackbird’s mission—mov- Blackbird has joined forces with com- ing music forward through innova- posers and performers who defy the tive performance, advocating for new persistent distinction between clas- music by living composers, and creat- sical and nonclassical music, includ- ing a legacy of guiding an emerging ing works by The National’s Bryce generation of musicians —extends Dessner and Arcade Fire’s Richard beyond recording and touring to cura- Reed Perry, and performances with tion and education. The ensemble Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, My Bright- served as Music Director of the 2009 est Diamond frontwoman Shara Nova, Ojai Music Festival, has held residen- Will Oldham aka Bonnie “Prince” Billy cies at the Curtis Institute of Music and Iarla Ó Lionáird of The Gloaming, and at the University of Chicago, and among others. holds an ongoing Ensemble-in-Res- Eighth Blackbird first gained wide idence position at the University of recognition in 1998 as winners of the Richmond. In 2017, Eighth Blackbird Concert Artists Guild Competition. launched its boldest initiative yet with Since 2000, the ensemble has called the creation of Blackbird Creative Chicago home, and has been com- Laboratory, an inclusive, two-week mitted to serving as both importer summer workshop and performance and exporter of world class artistic festival for performers and compos- experiences to and from Chicago. A ers in Ojai, CA. recent year-long pioneering residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art- The members of Eighth Blackbird Chicago, during which the ensemble hail from the Great Lakes, Keystone, served as a living installation with Golden, Empire and Bay states. The open rehearsals, performances, guest name “Eighth Blackbird” derives from artists, and public talks, exemplified the eighth stanza of Wallace Stevens’s their stature as community influenc- evocative, imagistic poem, Thirteen ers. Receiving the prestigious MacAr- Ways of Looking at a Blackbird: “I know thur Award for Creative and Effective noble accents / And lucid, inescapable Institutions, Chamber Music Ameri- rhythms; / But I know, too, / That the ca’s inaugural Visionary Award, and blackbird is involved / In what I know.” →
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND 5 FEATURED ARTIST
Electroacoustic Music Festival and the Electroacoustic Barn Dance and has appeared at SEAMUS (Society of Electroacoustic Music in the United States) conferences. She has been described as “a skilled performer with an ability to connect to the audi- ence. And comfortable in her own skin, she has the uncanny ability to slide into the soundscape as if she were physically part of it.” Cheese- man has premiered pieces by today’s leading composers and released her ANDREA CHEESEMAN debut album Somewhere in Septem- Andrea Cheeseman is a clarinetist ber 2019 (Ravello). and teacher living in Columbia, South From 2009 to 2019, Andrea served Carolina. Throughout her career, she on the faculty of Appalachian State has been committed to playing good University where she taught studio music and collaborating with inspiring lessons and a methods course as well people who challenge her. as coached chamber music. Prior to A versatile performer, Cheese- her appointment at ASU, Cheeseman man frequently performs as a soloist was on the faculties of Delta State and chamber musician. Although she University, Alma College and Hill- regularly performs traditional reper- sdale College. Cheeseman earned toire, she is an advocate of new music the Doctorate of Musical Arts and and is a sought-after performer of Master of Music degrees in clarinet electroacoustic music written for performance from Michigan State clarinet and bass clarinet. Wishing to University and the Bachelor of Music promote electroacoustic music, she degrees in clarinet performance and has toured extensively, giving recit- music education from Ithaca College. als and masterclasses throughout When not teaching or performing, the country. Additionally, Cheeseman Cheeseman spends her time garden- has been a featured performer at ing, swimming, practicing ashtanga festivals such as the Third Practice yoga and perfecting her kimchi recipe.
6 THIRD PRACTICE 2019 FESTIVAL ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Broening is recipient of Guggen- heim, Howard and Fulbright Fellow- ships, and has also received recogni- tion and awards from the American Composers Forum, Virginia Commis- sion for the Arts, ACS/Andrew Mellon Foundation, the Jerome Foundation and the Presser Music Foundation among others. Trembling Air, a 2012 Bridge Records release of his chamber music recorded by Eighth Blackbird, has been praised as “haunting” and BENJAMIN BROENING “enchanting” (Cleveland Plain Dealer), Benjamin Broening’s music couples “magical” (Fanfare), “other-worldly” his interest in the expressive power (Gramophone), and “coruscatingly of sound with a sense of line derived gorgeous” (CD Hotlist). from his background as a singer. Critics have called Recombinant His orchestral, choral, chamber Nocturnes, his 2011 disk of music for and electroacoustic music has been piano recorded by Duo Runedako “a performed in over twenty-four coun- breathtaking suite for pianos” (World tries and across the United States by Music Report) “deep, troubling” (Fran- many ensembles including Grammy çois Couture) and “Lovely, delicate, winners Eighth Blackbird, Da Capo calming” (Los Angeles’ KFJC). Of the Chamber Players, Charlotte Sym- disk, New Music Box wrote: phony Orchestra and Chorus, Rich- mond Symphony Orchestra, Choral Recombinant Nocturnes is a gor- Arts Society of Philadelphia, Zeitgiest, geous disc of music...It is adven- Network for New Music and many turous.. thoughtful, eloquent, and others. He has also worked closely disarmingly direct... It’s one of the with numerous leading figures in the most persuasive accounts of a con- contemporary music world includ- temporary composer engaging a ing Tim McAllister, Camilla Hoitenga, tried-and-true form—the piano Richard Hawkins, Tim Munro, Arthur nocturne—with both an individ- Campbell, Nick Photinos, Curtis ual imagination and just the right Macomber, Lina Bahn, Daniel Kop- amount of affectionate familiarity. pelman, James Wilson among others. →
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND 7 ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Other recordings have been work for bass clarinet and electronics released by Ensemble U: in Esto- for Andrea Cheeseman, and a work nia and on the Centaur, Everglade, for celesta and electronics. Broening Equilibrium, MIT Press, Oberlin is at work on his third solo CD entitled Music, Open G, Parma and SEAMUS What the Light Was Like, which focuses record labels. His Arioso/Doubles and on works for large ensemble. Nocturne/Doubles have each been Broening is founder and artistic recorded four times, while Arioso director of Third Practice, an annual and Changing Light have each been festival of electroacoustic music at the recorded multiple times. Of the recent University of Richmond, where he is recording of his Clarinet Concerto, Professor of Music. He holds degrees Sequenza21 praised its “many thrilling from the University of Michigan, Cam- passages” and said “it is, as is most bridge University, Yale University, and of his music, from a formal vantage Wesleyan University where he studied point exquisitely well sculpted.” with many of the leading compos- Recent works include a chamber ers and teachers William Bolcolm, orchestra piece for the Arctic Philhar- Alexander Goehr, Jacob Druckman monic Sinfonietta (Bøde, Norway), a and Martin Bresnick.
8 THIRD PRACTICE 2019 FESTIVAL CONCERT ONE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2019 AT 7:30PM CAMP CONCERT HALL, BOOKER HALL OF MUSIC
CONCERT ONE featuring Eighth Blackbird
PS Quartet No. 1 Joo Won Park 6’
Singaporean Crosswalk Joo Won Park 10’ Electronic Music Ensemble of Wayne State (EMEWS), electronic ensemble Gavin Langley, Jacob Joslin,, Alex MacColl-Artrip, Thane Hall, Sean Monaghan, game controllers, Ebony Swain, conductor
Shahida Kala Pierson fixed media 5’
EIGHTH BLACKBIRD Nathalie Joachim (flutes), Zachary Good (clarinets), Nick Photinos (cello), Matthew Duvall (percussion), Lisa Kaplan (piano)
Dam Mwen Yo Nathalie Joachim cello and fixed media 6’
Pencilled Wings Emma O’Halloran flute, piano and fixed media 7’
Kitchen Étude No. 1 Nick Photinos fixed media 3’
Synchronisms No. 12 Mario Davidovsky clarinet and fixed media 7’
The Body of Your Dreams JacobTV piano and fixed media 8’
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND 9 CONCERT ONE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2019 AT 7:30PM CAMP CONCERT HALL, BOOKER HALL OF MUSIC PROGRAM NOTES
JOO WON PARK, PS Quartet No. 1 nesses”) is made from three types of PS Quartet No.1 is music for Play- acoustic sound sources: unprocessed station DualShock controllers and vocals by my collaborator Sukato; computers. Each performer in minimally processed shimmering the ensemble controls melodic sounds made from my voice saying sequences of a Karplus-Strong “shh”; and minimally processed metal- string synthesizer and interactive lic sounds and changing-harmonics I visuals on their own laptop screen. recorded using a piano’s strings, keys, The piece is ideally performed with and metal frame. Part of an ongoing a conductor, who decides the dura- series of pieces called Axis of Beauty tion and articulations of each section. (begun in 2005 as my response to the Using a graphical score created with Bush administration’s “Axis of Evil” familiar PlayStation button combina- wartime propaganda), Shahida uses tions, the piece takes advantages of textless, ululating vocals to evoke each player’s muscle memories on mourning and witnessing from afar. their gaming expertise and virtuosity. NATHALIE JOACHIM, JOO WON PARK, Dam Mwen Yo Singaporean Crosswalk Dam mwen yo in Haitian Creole simply Singaporean Crosswalk was inspired translates to “they are my ladies”. In by my trip to Singapore in 2010. The Haiti, the cultural image of women is sound of the traffic light in the city one of strength. They are pillars of was quite different from that of the their homes and communities, and United States and Korea. It was fun, are both fearless and loving, all while effective, and musically intrigu- carrying the weight of their families ing. During the day, this sound was and children on their backs. As a first a theme song for the people in a generation Haitian-American, these metropolis. During the night, the women - my mother, grandmothers, traffic lights became part of a flora sisters, aunts, cousins - were central and fauna surrounding the city. I to my upbringing and my understand- thank SPLICE Ensemble for com- ing of what it means to be a woman. missioning this piece. I also thank In Dantan, Haiti-Sud, where my family Oberlin College’s Center for Informa- is from, it is rare to walk down the tion and Technology for renting me countryside roads without hearing the multiple computers. voices of women - in the fields, cook- ing for their loved ones, gathering KALA PIERSON, Shahida water at the wells with their babies. Shahida (Arabic for “she who wit- This piece and the voices within it
10 THIRD PRACTICE 2019 FESTIVAL CONCERT ONE
are representative of these ladies – Chaseloow, took upon himself the my ladies. And the cello sings their task of getting other ex-students of song - one of strength, beauty, pain mine to commission the piece which and simplicity in a familiar landscape. was by then almost forty years over- due. I was pleased and honored when EMMA O’HALLORAN, SEAMUS (Society for Electro-Acoustic Pencilled Wings Music in the United States) took over Pencilled Wings was written in 2014 the project. and it draws inspiration from the I completed the clarinet piece migration patterns of the monarch at Rice University, assisted by Kurt butterfly. I was thinking of the thou- Stallmann, the Director of REMLABS, sands of miles that these butterflies the computer music studio. The dif- travel each year, and of my own ideas ference between this Synchronisms associated with travel. The feelings and the previous ones is that all the I tried to capture in this piece reso- “electronic” sounds were originated nate with the idea of exploring the by sampling different sounds from unknown – the sense of nervous the clarinet and subjecting them to excitement, of hope and anticipation, processes of additive synthesis and and the wonder of new discoveries. editing via the dazzling technology available today. I very much wanted NICK PHOTINOS, to write a concise virtuoso piece with Kitchen Étude No. 1 a celebratory mood to honor, through This is a simple electronic étude, one of its members, the exceptional defined by lexico.com as “a short accomplishments and contribu- musical composition, typically for tions of Speculum Musicae to our one instrument, designed as an artistic world. exercise to improve the technique.” All sounds were derived from eight JacobTV, The Body of Your Dreams individual recordings of a metal mix- JacobTV turned once again to Ameri- ing bowl hit by the rubber end of an can television, using a cheesy adver- OXO cheese grater. tisement for a weight- loss product. The presenters enthusiastically MARIO DAVIDOVKSY, demonstrate the Abtronic Pro, an Synchronisms No. 12 electronic slimming belt, a device During the “Sixties,” I mentioned whose fine-turned wave transmis- to Allen Blustine, a good friend of sions will vibrate fat away: no sweat, mine, my desire to write for him a no workout. ‘It’s one of the easiest new Synchronisms. When I retired ways ever to get your body in the from Harvard, the composer, Eric shape you want it. It helps to tone →
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND 11 CONCERT ONE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2019 AT 7:30PM CAMP CONCERT HALL, BOOKER HALL OF MUSIC
and tighten your upper abs, lower abs, you decide. It also works great as an arms and legs with no sweat at all! It’s abdominal toning device while you are one of the simplest, smallest and most working out on your elliptical trainer or comfortable toning devices ever. You your treadmill; or while you are out for can use it while watching television, your daily walk. It’s easy and effective. doing the dishes, mowing the lawn..... And no sweat!’
PERFORMER BIOGRAPHIES
EIGHTH BLACKBIRD State (EMEWS) is a group dedicated See biography under Ensemble-in- to contemporary electronic music Residence. performance practices and presenta- tions. The performers learn to incor- porate electronic instruments, such as synthesizer, drum machine, game controller, sampler, and computers, in an ensemble situation. Their proj- ects were supported by New Music USA and Wayne State University’s Provost Office. In the past two years, ELECTRONIC MUSIC the ensemble performed across ENSEMBLE OF WAYNE STATE nine states and multiple electronic Electronic Music Ensemble of Wayne music festivals.
COMPOSER BIOGRAPHIES
MARIO posers in the 1950s and ’60s, Mr. DAVIDOVSKY Davidovsky was drawn to the new Mario Davidovsky, possibilities offered by technology. a Pulitzer Prize- But he was uneasy with the pros- winning composer pect of music that was immune to opened up new human interpretation. vistas in chamber Beginning in 1963 with Synchro- music by pairing live acoustic instru- nisms No. 1 for flute and tape, he ments with electronics. coaxed electronic sounds into part- Like many of his fellow com- nership with traditional instruments
12 THIRD PRACTICE 2019 FESTIVAL CONCERT ONE
to create musical pas-de-deux that ertoire, works for live instruments were full of mystery and drama. His with a grooving sound track based on “Synchronisms No. 6” for piano and speech melody, became internation- electronic sounds won the Pulitzer ally popular. With about a 1000 per- Prize for music in 1971. formances worldwide per year, he is From 1981 to 1994 Mr. Davidovsky one of the most performed European directed the Electronic Music Center. composers. JacobTV is still an outlaw He taught at the University of Michi- in the established modern classi- gan, the Manhattan School of Music cal music scene, and was accused and Yale University, and served on of ‘musical terrorism’. According to the faculties of the City College of the Wall Street Journal some of his New York, Columbia University and work ‘makes many a hip-hop artist Harvard. He was elected a member look sedate’. In 2007 a 3-day JacobTV of the American Academy of Arts and festival took place at the Whitney Letters in 1982 and passed away at Museum of American Art in New York the age of 85, in August of this year. City. His never ending reality opera THE NEWS is constantly updated and JacobTV various editions were performed in Dutch ‘avant pop’ Chicago, Rome, Amsterdam, Ham- composer JacobTV burg, New York. (Jacob Ter Veld- huis, 1951) started NATHALIE as a rock musician JOACHIM and studied com- Nathalie Joachim position and electronic music at the is a Brooklyn Groningen Conservatoire. He was born Haitian- awarded the Composition Prize of the American flutist, Netherlands in 1980 and became a composer, and full time composer who soon made vocalist known for her “powerful and a name for himself with melodious unpretentious voice.” (The New York compositions, straight from the heart Times) She is flutist of the Grammy and with great effect. ‘I pepper my winning contemporary chamber music with sugar,’ he says. ensemble Eighth Blackbird, and co- The press called him the ‘Andy founder of the critically acclaimed Warhol of new music’ and his ‘com- urban art pop duo, Flutronix. Upcom- ing-out’ as a composer of ultra-tonal, ing compositions include Discourse, mellifluous music reached its cli- an evening-length performance, max with the video oratorio Paradiso, community engagement and social based on Dante’s Divina Commedia. change initiative commissioned by JacobTV’s so called boombox rep- Carolina Performing Arts; new →
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND 13 CONCERT ONE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2019 AT 7:30PM CAMP CONCERT HALL, BOOKER HALL OF MUSIC
solo works for cellist Seth Parker JOO WON PARK Woods and violinist Yvonne Lam; Dr. Joo Won Park and larger scale chamber works for is an Assistant So Percussion, Lorelei Ensemble, Professor of the Brooklyn Youth Chorus and Duo Music Technol- Noire. Joachim recently released her ogy at the Wayne debut solo album, Fanm d’Ayiti, with State University. Spektral Quartet on New Amsterdam He studied at Berklee College of Records. She holds faculty positions Music (BM) and University of Florida at the Perlman Music Program, Bang (MM and PhD) and has previously On a Can Summer Festival and Banff taught in Oberlin Conservatory, Centre for Arts and Creativity, and is a Temple University, Rutgers University teaching artist for The Juilliard-Nord Camden, and Community College of Anglia Performing Arts Programme. Philadelphia. Dr. Park’s music and writings are available on MIT Press, EMMA Parma Recordings, ICMC, Spectrum O’HALLORAN Press, Visceral Media, SEAMUS, and Emma O’Halloran No Remixes labels. He also directs is an Irish com- Electronic Music Ensemble of Wayne poser who freely State (EMEWS), one of the most active intertwines acous- undergraduate all-electronics ensem- tic and electronic ble touring multiple states. music. A recent graduate from the doctoral program at Princeton Uni- NICK versity, O’Halloran has written for PHOTINOS folk musicians, chamber ensembles, Nick Photinos, turntables, symphony orchestra, film, cellist, is a found- and theatre. For her efforts, she has ing member and been praised by I Care If You Listen co-Artistic Direc- editor-in-chief Amanda Cook for writ- tor of the four- ing “some of the most unencumbered, time Grammy Award-winning cham- authentic, and joyful music that I have ber music ensemble Eighth Blackbird. heard in recent years,” and has won As a solo artist, Nick has toured with numerous competitions, including Björk, recorded with Wilco on their National Sawdust’s Hildegard compe- Grammy-nominated album The Whole tition and the Beth Morrison Projects Love, and recorded with Autumn Next Generation award. O’Halloran Defense on their album Once Around. lives in Brooklyn and is currently He has performed and recorded with working on her first full-length opera. numerous jazz artists including vocal- www.emma-ohalloran.com ists Sheila Jordan, pianist Laurence
14 THIRD PRACTICE 2019 FESTIVAL CONCERT ONE
Hobgood, violinist Zach Brock, and Projects, installing audio in an aban- bassist Matt Ulery, with whom he has doned fortress, or performing endur- been featured on three albums. He ance art at the Guggenheim Museum, has also served as section cellist with she works from her own meditative the Canton and Columbus Symphony and sensory/sensual experience, Orchestras and the Cabrillo Festival producing deeply embodied music Orchestra. He teaches at the Bang on that challenges while luxuriating a Can Summer Festival every July in in the performers’ best qualities. North Adams, MA. Nick is a gradu- Kala’s music has been performed ate of Northwestern University, the in 35 countries on six continents, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of widely awarded and commissioned, Music, and the Oberlin Conserva- and published by Universal Edition. tory of Music. He has recorded for Her music’s “seductive textures numerous labels including the Cedille, and angular harmonies” (Washing- Nonesuch, New Amsterdam, Green- ton Post) build into “massive chords leaf, and Naxos labels. His debut throwing out a wall of sound, like solo album, Petits Artéfacts, featur- a modern-day Gabrieli” (San Fran- ing never-before recorded works by cisco Classical Voice), and her focus some of the most acclaimed names on documentary and culturally reso- in new music, including David Lang, nant subject matter leads to works of Andrew Norman, Bryce Dessner, “marvellous political power” (Louis David T. Little, Angélica Negrón, Flo- Andriessen). She’s held season-long rent Ghys, Molly Joyce, and Pascal composer residencies with American Le Boeuf, was released on the New Opera Projects, Tribeca Perform- Amsterdam label in late August, 2017. ing Arts Center, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and San Francisco KALA Choral Artists; and fellowships at PIERSON Yaddo, MacDowell, the Britten- Kala Pierson’s Pears Foundation, and the Banff music is vivid, Centre’s Leighton Artists Colony. full-throated, Born in 1977, she studied compo- and rooted in the sition at Eastman School of Music joy and urgency and at Bard College at Simon’s Rock. of communication. Whether writ- She lives in Philadelphia with her ing boundary-pushing music for spouses and son. Connect with her at The Crossing and American Opera kalapierson.com.
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND 15 CONCERT TWO SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2019 AT 11:00AM CAMP CONCERT HALL, BOOKER HALL OF MUSIC
CONCERT TWO
Lung Ta Anne Niekirk I. Earth II. Water III. Fire IV. Wind V. Sky percussion and fixed media Adam Vidiksis, percussion 10’
Blood is the Color Red, Love is the Color Red Heather Stebbins (music), video and fixed media Isaiah Oliver (video) 4’
Frenetic Disintegration Carolyn Borcherding bass clarinet and electronics Lara Mitofsky Neuss, bass clarinet 8’
excerpt from The Sound of a Stone Sarah Bouchard voice, mandolin, collected natural objects, and live electronics Sarah Bouchard 10’
Messy Mark Snyder processed clarinet, video and electronics Andrea Cheeseman, clarinet 7’
Vestigial Wings Eli Stine 3D animation and full 3D 5th-order higher order ambisonic fixed media 5’
Ojibwe Song Alexis Bacon percussion and fixed media Brad Meyer, percussion 10’
16 THIRD PRACTICE 2019 FESTIVAL CONCERT TWO
PROGRAM NOTES
ANNE NIEKIRK, Lung Ta and compassion into all pervading Lung Ta is a Tibetan word that liter- space. Therefore, prayer flags are ally translates to “Wind Horse” and thought to bring benefit to all. is a type of prayer flag that is strung horizontally. Lung ta prayer flags are HEATHER STEBBINS, Blood is the of square or rectangular shape, and Color Red, Love is the Color Red are connected along their top edges This is my sonic response to a video to a long string or thread. They are created by Isaiah Oliver (UR 2007). commonly hung on a diagonal line The visual aspect of the work inspired from high to low between two objects a very ambient and dream-like sound. (e.g., a rock and the top of a pole) The film becomes more intense and in high places such as the tops of chaotic as it progresses, and the temples, monasteries, and moun- sounds follow suit. Perhaps surpris- tain passes. Traditionally, prayer flags ingly, even though Isaiah and I have come in sets of five: one in each of never met, we were able to create a five colors. The five colors are yellow, cohesive work. (notes 2006) green, red, white, and blue. The five This piece was my first true foray colors represent the five elements. into working with electronic music, Blue symbolizes the sky and space, and was the seed that planted what white symbolizes the air and wind, is now my career and creative ful- red symbolizes fire, green symbol- fillment. I am deeply grateful for a izes water, and yellow symbolizes 2006 late night work session in the earth. This musical homage to the University of Richmond Music Tech- prayer flags uses electronic sounds nology Lab, and for Benjamin Broen- to evoke each of these elements, and ing’s subsequent technical critique, pairs percussion instruments with the primer on the flexibility of SoundHack, various recordings as a way to musi- and artistic support. The creation cally augment the experience. You will of this piece and later performance hear deep, low drum sounds for the at the 2006 Third Practice Festival Earth, real recordings of both Water motivated me to continue pursuing and Fire for the middle movements, composition and sound art. and the whoosh of the Wind followed Now that over a decade has by pure, quiet and crystalline sounds passed since “Blood...”’s inception, of the Sky. Each movement is punctu- I can reveal the source material: the ated by the sound of the prayer bowls. opening 30 seconds to Wilco’s “I am Traditionally, prayer flags are used to Trying to Break Your Heart” from promote peace, compassion, strength, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, stepping on and wisdom. Tibetans believe the broken glass, and a bit of “Saturn” prayers and mantras will be blown from Holst’s Planets. (notes 2019) → by the wind to spread the good will
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND 17 CONCERT TWO SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2019 AT 11:00AM CAMP CONCERT HALL, BOOKER HALL OF MUSIC
CAROLYN BORCHERDING, phies as an essential step towards Frenetic Disintegration building a global community rooted Frenetic Disintegration focuses on a in environmental awareness. trajectory of falling energy. The bass clarinet begins with fast, guided impro- MARK SNYDER, Messy visational gestures. Written gestures Messy was commissioned by the Mis- are angular and spin upwards into sissippi Music Teachers Association high improvisatory lines. Over time, for the 2008 MMTA Commissioned disjunct gestures become smoother, Composer Award. and broken electronic sounds stretch into longer supporting bodies of sound. ELI STINE, Vestigial Wings Rapidity decreases and pitched ges- At the boundary of the desert tures shorten. The bass clarinet ends Beneath the telescopic sky with a short, final motive upon which I stopped to take the world in all previous pitched materials had As it went on rushing by been built. I thought ten hundred futures SARAH BOUCHARD, Of what could and would become The Sound of a Stone As the dark of night got closer The Sound of a Stone is an immer- Slipping disk of orange sun sive exploration of song, language, ecology and locational listening per- I thought of all I’d loved and lost: formed in a 4-channel surround for- Of dropped, forgotten things mat. In the semi-improvised compo- Of books with unread pages sition, Bouchard samples live vocals, Broken roots, vestigial wings mandolin and natural objects she has collected on walks along the James I thought of names gone River in Richmond, Virginia. Utilizing unremembered, the software Ableton Live to process And of places never seen, and layer the samples in real time, Of the last of every species, she creates a “songscape” which Silent forests, noiseless seas connects to a specific site: the fall And as dusk made way to nightfall line of the James River. The complete Black sky pricked with yellow light 30-minute work searches deep into I had not moved a single muscle this landscape’s past, the geology of And so doing lost my life the area and the cultures embedded in its history. As she activates her col- Because in thinking and not doing lection of natural objects, Bouchard All I did was just compare gives voice to the landscape, urging What could and would become of us to reconnect with local geogra- Rather than what was really there
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ALEXIS BACON, Ojibwe Song metaphor for the rebirth of the Ojibwe Ojibwe Song is a ten-minute electro- language: the speaker became lost in acoustic piece for percussion and a fog (the language was threatened); fixed media. To record the audio, I he experienced corporal punishment interviewed Alphonse Pitawanakwat, (the language nearly disappeared); a First Nations Ojibwe speaker who and after passing through the fog he moved to the Lansing area as a young was again able to sing church hymns man to work in the auto industry. and songs written in Ojibwe (the lan- Now retired, he is one of many Ojibwe guage is returning). (Chippewa) speakers who have been As always in my electroacous- contributing to the rebirth of the tic music, the percussion and the Ojibwe language. recording intertwine to create an During my interview with atmosphere that carries the listener Alphonse, I learned much of his life on an emotional journey. The percus- history, including stories of his rural sionist acts as the protagonist while childhood on Manitoulin Island, the the audience is surrounded by evoca- last unceded reserve in Canada; tes- tive atmospheric sounds that portray timony of how his mother was for- the drama of the story suggested by bidden to speak Ojibwe as a child in the recordings. My goal with this and her Catholic boarding school; and with my other electroacoustic works his fond memories of singing in his is to explore ways in which some of church choir. These spoken phrases the complex tapestry of American allowed me to frame the piece as a voices can be heard through my work.
PERFORMER BIOGRAPHIES
ANDREA CHEESEMAN Studies at Stephen F. Austin State See biography under Featured Artist. University (Nacogdoches, TX) where he is the private lesson teacher and BRAD MEYER director of the percussion ensemble. Dr. Brad Meyer Meyer frequently tours to universi- (www.Brad-Meyer. ties and high schools both nation- com) is a percus- ally and internationally to present sion educator, art- recitals, workshops, masterclasses, ist, and composer and clinics on various topics, includ- with an extensive ing: electro-acoustic percussion, and diverse background. Currently, contemporary marimba, concert Meyer is the Director of Percussion snare drum, marching percus- →
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND 19 CONCERT TWO SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2019 AT 11:00AM CAMP CONCERT HALL, BOOKER HALL OF MUSIC
sion, percussion ensemble, steel LARA band, and world music. His inter- MITOFSKY national performances and clinics NEUSS have taken him to Austria, Taiwan, Lara Mitofsky France, South Africa, and Slovenia. Neuss is a clari- Meyer has been an active presenter/ netist based in performer at numerous festivals and Tallahassee, Flo- conventions, including: Midwest Band rida. Recent solo performances & Orchestra Clinic, Texas Music Edu- include appearances at the National cators Association’s national con- Student Electronic Music Event, vention, Percussive Arts Society’s SPLICE Electroacoustic Festival, International Convention, Interna- Bang on a Can Music Festival, and tional Computer Music Conference, Banff Centre for the Arts. Lara is Society for Electroacoustic Music in the bass clarinetist of the Civita- the United States‚, New York City solis Reed Quintet who made their Electroacoustic Music Festival, Graz‚ Carnegie Hall debut in 2019. Also an (Austria) Night of Percussion, Chiayi’s avid improviser, she recently com- (Taiwan) International Band Festival, pleted a Sweden educational and Indiana University-Purdue University performance tour with the Orford Indianapolis’ Intermedia Festival, and Improvisation Ensemble. Dedicated Transylvania University’s Studio 300 to the creation of new works, she is Festival. Meyer is a composer with the Clarinet Project Manager of the several compositions for snare drum, New Works Project which is dedi- multi-percussion, and percussion cated to commissioning works and ensemble published through Bacho- increasing the accessibility of new vich Publications. Meyer is a proud music. A performer equally of the endorsee of Yamaha Instruments, classical repertoire, Lara was the Zildjian Cymbals, Vic Firth Sticks winner of the Eastern Music Fes- and Mallets, Evans Drumheads, and tival Concerto Competition and a Tycoon Percussion. semi-finalist in the William C. Byrd International Competition. Lara is a doctoral teaching assistant at Florida State University.
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COMPOSER BIOGRAPHIES
ALEXIS BACON of Music Composition at Michigan Alexis Bacon is State University. a composer rec- ognized nation- CAROLYN ally and interna- BORCHERDING tionally for both Carolyn Borcherd- her acoustic and ing is a Graduate electroacoustic music. Her work Assistant pursu- draws inspiration from a diverse array ing a doctorate in of sound worlds, including vanishing music composi- American oral traditions, medieval tion at the University of Illinois. Her Provençal poetry, Norwegian fiddle compositions explore the potential music, and Afro-Brazilian religious musical relationships between ceremonies. Throughout her career, acoustic instruments and electron- she has won awards including the ics, and particularly in fixed media IAWM Search for New Music Pauline works‚ experiment with the creation Oliveros Prize, the Ossia International and destruction of listeners‚sense Composition Prize, the ASCAP/SEA- of space. She has had works per- MUS student composition commis- formed at the Society for Electro sion, and most recently an honor- Acoustic Music in the United States able mention in the 2018 Hildegard (SEAMUS), SPLICE Institute and Fes- Competition. Her work has been sup- tival, Electronic Music Midwest, New ported by awards and grants from Music on the Point, and others. Caro- the Indiana Arts Council, the Percus- lyn received her Master’s in Music sive Arts Society, the American Music Composition at Western Michigan Center, and the American Society of University where she studied with Dr. Composers, Authors, and Publishers, Christopher Biggs and Dr. Lisa Coons. and commissioned by ensembles and artists including National Sawdust, SARAH Burning River Baroque, Due East, BOUCHARD the Bro-Fowler Duo, violinist Robert Sarah Bouchard is Simonds, and several commissioning a multidisciplinary consortiums comprising dozens of artist and com- commissioners. A Fulbright scholar in poser who uses France, she completed undergradu- sound, installation ate studies in music composition and and performance to interweave Amer- viola performance at Rice University ican histories and the landscape. She and graduate studies in music com- has exhibited and performed interna- position at the University of Michigan. tionally, including at The Center for She is currently Assistant Professor Book Arts (NYC), the American →
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND 21 CONCERT TWO SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2019 AT 11:00AM CAMP CONCERT HALL, BOOKER HALL OF MUSIC
Folk Art Museum (NYC), the Berlin in Composition from Temple Uni- Underground (Germany), and the W.E. versity, preceded by an MM from Singleton Center for the Performing Bowling Green State University and Arts (Richmond, VA). Her work is in a BA in Music from Hamilton Col- a growing number of public collec- lege. Upon completing her educa- tions, including the Princeton Univer- tion, she worked as an adjunct faculty sity Library. Born in Stockton, CA, she member at Temple University and at received her BA from Yale University the University of Delaware. In 2016 in 2003 and was subsequently based she began as an Assistant Professor in Brooklyn, NY for 13 years. In 2017 of Composition/Theory at Norfolk she relocated to Richmond, VA, to State University in Virginia. She has study with sound artist Stephen Viti- served on the Executive Boards of ello, receiving her MFA from Virginia the College Music Society (Northeast Commonwealth University in 2019. and Mid-Atlantic Chapters) and the She is currently an Adjunct Profes- Society of Composers, Inc. sor in VCU’s Art Foundation program. MARK SNYDER ANNE NIEKIRK Despite what you Composer Anne may think about Neikirk is drawn electronic com- to creative pro- posers, Mark Sny- cesses that in- der does not work volve interdisci- in a laboratory. plinary work. Her His music does not offer cross-sec- background in vocal music instilled a tions of frequencies or waveforms, particular interest in the relationship nor does it mix technology the canon between music and the written word. inside a closed petri dish. Instead, Past awards and grants include the Snyder produces soundscapes that Presser Music Award, an American envelope the viewer, and charged Composers Forum Subito Grant, and arrangements keyed specifically to inclusion in the Society of Compos- the moving image. Space is occupied ers CD Series. Neikirk has presented and space is offered. Works such as her work at conferences including Facets of Love and Reflections are those of the Society of Composers, acutely aware of the passage of time, the College Music Society, the Soci- of duration, and successfully venture ety of Electroacoustic Music in the beyond the establishment of a mood. United States, and the American Working in conjunction with found Harp Society, among others. Her and computer-generated video, Sny- music is distributed by ADJective der moves seamlessly between high New Music, LLC. and low influences, and the realms of Dr. Neikirk received her DMA “art” and popular music. Put simply,
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it is his mission to engage the lis- and Helena Tulve. Stebbins joined tener, as much to experiment with the faculty at George Washington the esoteric forms and technology University as an Assistant Professor particular to his discipline. Dr. Snyder of Music in 2019. is Assistant Professor of Music Busi- ness and Production at Jacksonville ELI STINE University and is the Artistic Director Eli Stine is a and founder of the Electroacoustic composer, pro- Barn Dance. marksnyder.org grammer, and educator. Stine is HEATHER currently a Visit- STEBBINS ing Assistant Pro- Heather Stebbins fessor at Oberlin Conservatory. Stine is a composer of received PhD and Masters degrees acoustic and elec- in Composition and Computer Tech- troacoustic music nologies as a Jefferson Fellow at the that highlights her University of Virginia and bachelor’s fascination with the kinetic and emo- degrees in Technology In Music And tive properties of sound. Her music Related Arts and Computer Science has been performed by ensembles from Oberlin College and Oberlin such as loadbang, Ensemble U:, the Conservatory. JACK Quartet, Dal Niente, Sound Stine’s work explores electro- Icon, Transient Canvas, Ensemble acoustic sound, multimedia tech- L’Arsenale, and the Riot Ensem- nologies (often custom-built software, ble. She has worked closely with video projection, and multi-channel performers Carlos Cordeiro, Will speaker systems), and collabora- Lang, Andrew Kozar, Adam Vidiksis, tion between disciplines (artistic and Sam Kelder to create collab- and otherwise). orative pieces for solo instrument Festivals and conferences that and electronics. have programmed Stine’s work You Are Not Stone, an EP released include ICMC, SEAMUS, NIME, on Not Art Records, features works CMMR, NYCEMF, the Third Practice, for viola and interactive electronics. Studio 300, and Threshold festivals, Other recordings have been released CubeFest, the Muestra Internacional on the SEAMUS and Coviello labels. de Musica Electroacustica, the Inter- Stebbins was the recipient of a national Sound Art Festival Berlin, Fulbright Fellowship to Estonia and the Workshop on Intelligent Music holds degrees from Boston Univer- Interfaces for Listening and Creation, sity and the University of Richmond. and the International Conference on Her principal teachers include Ben- Computational Intelligence in Music, jamin Broening, Joshua Fineberg, Sound, Art and Design.
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND 23 CONCERT THREE SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2019 AT 2:00PM PERKINSON RECITAL HALL, NORTH COURT
CONCERT THREE Featuring Andrea Cheeseman
Hyperdyne Adam Vidiksis tenor drum and audio processing Adam Vidiksis, percussion 10’
We are the same as we have always been Flannery Cunningham bass clarinet and live electronics Andrea Cheeseman, bass clarinet 10’
Mere See Jog Doug Geers fixed media 5’
somewhere Matthew McCabe clarinet and live electronics Andrea Cheeseman, clarinet 5’
Last Light Benjamin Broening bass clarinet and electronics Andrea Cheeseman, bass clarinet 8’
PROGRAM NOTES
ADAM VIDIKSIS, Hyperdyne variably expanding or diminishing the Hyperdyne explores the dynamics of resonant characteristic of the sound force as the impetus for vibration, produced by the drum. As the piece both electrical and mechanical. This progresses, the digital filtering is work features frenetic rhythms which accompanied by increasingly less are then processed by the computer, resonant sound production by the
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performer, through the use of vari- timbres with manipulated samples, ous extended techniques that reveal exploring a terrain of sonic gestures, harmonic spectra of the drum, sticks, including percussive noises, ton- and performance space. The result is ally-centered harmonic tones, and a process of diminishing resonance inharmonic textures. These were throughout the work, leading to a combined to create a variety of psy- sense of wilting or decay. chological spaces, as a meditation on the tension between ideals (possibly FLANNERY CUNNINGHAM, naive at times) and limits/barriers We are the same as (both real and imagined/imposed). we have always been We are the same as we have always MATTHEW MCCABE, somewhere been plays with an almost slavish somewhere is loosely based on the love of harmony. This devotion mani- e. e. cummings poem somewhere i fests itself in a number of ways: the have never travelled. The piece is not entrance of chordal blocks of sine inspired by the text itself, but rather tones that first amplify the clarinet’s a reading aloud of that text, which already strong odd-number partials was recorded, analyzed, and used to and then fill in its weak even ones; craft the pitch materials in the piece. shifting doublings and even triadic somewhere was commissioned by triplings of the clarinet; and finally the Third Practice Electroacoustic a raucous combination of autotune Music Festival at the University of and a spectral harmonizer that affect Richmond and was composed for a looped, obsessive melody to create Andrea Cheeseman. the character of a wild sing-a-long. The piece moves from a more inti- BENJAMIN BROENING, Last Light mate, private, almost lonely world to Last Light, for bass clarinet and elec- a crowded, public one, and I am inter- troacoustic sounds, is the latest in a ested in how performance can medi- series of works that explores char- ate between these spaces. I hope it acteristics of light during different is also good fun to play, ultimately parts of the day or the year. Whereas creating a very full sonic environment the previous work in the series, Twi- in which the clarinetist is front and light Shift for flute and electroacoustic center as director, sound source, and sounds, explores the liminal light of musical personality. dusk, Last Light explores the shifting colors and lengthening shadows in the DOUG GEERS, Mere Seer Jog transition from twilight to darkness Mere Seer Jog is a brief electro- at the end of the day. The piece was acoustic work that mixes synthesized written for Andrea Cheeseman. →
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND 25 CONCERT THREE SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2019 AT 2:00PM PERKINSON RECITAL HALL, NORTH COURT
PERFORMER BIOGRAPHY
ANDREA CHEESEMAN See biography under Featured Artist.
COMPOSER BIOGRAPHIES
BENJAMIN BROENING de Machaut at the International See biography for Artistic Director. Medieval Congress and has per- formed at the International Computer FLANNERY Music Conference. CUNNINGHAM Flannery writes for both acous- Flannery Cun- tic ensembles and for players with ningham is a real-time electronics, always striving composer and to foreground the musicality of the musicologist fas- human performer. She holds a BA cinated by vocal from Princeton University, an MA from expression, auditory illusions, and University College Cork as a Mitch- the compositional process. She aims ell Scholar, an MA from Stony Brook to write music that surprises and University, and is currently pursuing a delights. She has been commissioned joint PhD in composition and musicol- by Musiqa Houston, the Minnesota ogy at the University of Pennsylvania. Center Chorale, the Cornell University Chorus, the College of St. Benedict/St. DOUGLAS John’s University, SPLICE Ensemble, GEERS and Grace Chorale of Brooklyn, and Douglas Geers her music has been performed by is a composer groups such as International Contem- who uses tech- porary Ensemble, TAK Ensemble, and nology in nearly Music from Copland House. She has all of his works, also been in residence at the Atlantic whether in the compositional pro- Center for the Arts and Craters of cess, as part of their sonic real- the Moon National Monument. An ization, or both. He has created active poet, Flannery often writes her concert music, installations, and own texts. She is attracted to the very several large multimedia theater old and very new; she has presented works. He has also performed as on 14th-century master Guillaume an improviser, playing laptop and his
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own custom electronic instruments. University in Georgia. He holds Reviewers have described his music degrees in music from the Univer- as “glitchy... keening... scrabbling... sity of Richmond, Bowling Green contemplative” (New York Times), State University, and the University “kaleidoscopic” (Washington Post), of Florida, and has worked as an “fascinating...virtuosic...beautifully audio engineer with a huge variety eerie” (Montpelier Times-Argus), of musicians. His creative output “Powerful” (Neue Zuericher Zietung), includes acoustic and electronic “arresting... extraordinarily gratifying” compositions, sound poetry, and (TheaterScene.net), and have praised performing with Celtic music group its “virtuosic exuberance” (Computer Wolf & Clover, who released their Music Journal) and “shimmering first album in 2018. He has also been electronic textures” (Village Voice). studying the Irish language for sev- Geers completed his DMA at Colum- eral years, and has earned A1 and bia University, where he studied with A2 certifications in that language Brad Garton, Tristan Murail, Fred from the University of Maynooth. Lerdahl, and Jonathan D. Kramer. His works have been performed ADAM widely, and he has won numerous VIDIKSIS awards and grants, including from Adam Vidiksis is the Jerome, McKnight, Argossy, and a composer, con- Bush foundations, among others. ductor, percus- Today Geers is a Professor of Music sionist, impro- Composition at Brooklyn College, a viser, and tech- campus of the City University of New nologist based in Philadelphia whose York (CUNY). There he is Director of music often explores social struc- the Center for Computer Music and tures, science, and the intersection the MFA program in Sonic Arts. He of humankind with the machines we also serves on the PhD composition build. Critics have called his music faculty of the CUNY Graduate Center. “mesmerizing”, “dramatic”, “strik- www.dgeers.com. ing” (Philadelphia Weekly), “notable”, “catchy” (WQHS), “magical” (Local MATTHEW Arts Live), and “special” (Percus- MCCABE sive Notes), and have noted that Matthew McCabe Vidiksis provides “an electronically is currently Assis- produced frame giving each sound tant Professor of such a deep-colored radiance you Audio Technology could miss the piece’s shape for at the Schwob being caught up in each moment” School of Music at Columbus State (Philadelphia Inquirer). His work →
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND 27 CONCERT THREE SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2019 AT 2:00PM PERKINSON RECITAL HALL, NORTH COURT
is frequently commissioned and per- serve as Director of Arts Technology formed throughout North America, for a performance during the 2020 Europe, and Asia in recitals, festivals, Olympics in Japan. Vidiksis is Assis- and major academic conferences. tant Professor of music technology Vidiksis’s music has won numer- at Temple University, a founding ous awards and grants, including executive member of the SPLICE recognition from the Society of Com- Institute, Academy, and Festival, posers, Incorporated, the American a Resident Artist at the Renegade Composers Forum, New Music USA, Theater company, and a founding National Endowment for the Arts, member of the Impermanent Society Chamber Music America, and ASCAP. of Philadelphia, a group dedicated His works are available through to promoting improvisation in the HoneyRock Publishing, EMPiRE, performing arts. He performs in New Focus, PARMA, and SEAMUS SPLICE Ensemble and the Transonic Records. Vidiksis recently served Orchestra, conducts Ensemble N_JP, as composer in residence for the and directs the Temple Composers Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia Orchestra and the Boyer College and was selected by the NEA and Electroacoustic Ensemble Project Japan-US Friendship Commission to (BEEP). [www.vidiksis.com]
28 THIRD PRACTICE 2019 FESTIVAL CONCERT FOUR SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2019 AT 7:30PM CAMP CONCERT HALL, BOOKER HALL OF MUSIC
CONCERT FOUR Featuring Andrea Cheeseman
Qin Chi Wang data-driven instrument 8’
Sonic Physiography of a Time-Stretched Glacier Matthew Burtner Percussion and electronics Matthew Duvall, percussion 10’
Orrery Arcana Nicole L. Carroll custom instrument and live electronics Nicole L. Carroll 12’ very close to me Becky Brown & voices, objects, and video Heather Mease Becky Brown and Heather Mease 6’ how silence comes Christopher guitar and electronics Chandler Christopher Chandler 7’
Ultraviolet Kirsten Volness clarinet/bass clarinet and fixed media Andrea Cheeseman 4’
Penelope’s Song Judith Shatin clarinet and fixed media Andrea Cheeseman 9’
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND 29 CONCERT FOUR SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2019 AT 7:30PM CAMP CONCERT HALL, BOOKER HALL OF MUSIC
PROGRAM NOTES
CHI WANG, Qin a recording of Alaska’s Root Glacier. Qin is a real-time interactive compo- The unique and visceral presence of sition of approximately eight minutes glaciers is disappearing across the in duration for two custom-made per- planet because we live in a time of ice formance interfaces, custom soft- melting. Sonic Physiography of a Time- ware created in Max, and Kyma. Qin Stretched Glacier tries to stop global is a special symbol in Chinese culture warming through signal processing and literature that is associated with by freezing time, and suspending the delicacy, elegance, confidence, power, listener within the melting ice. The eloquence, and longing for commu- piece was released on Burtner’s 2019 nication. The symbol Qin appears in album, Glacier Music. literature as early as the time that the Book of Songs was collected. Qin NICOLE L. CARROLL, is also a Chinese instrument. Qin Orrery Arcana has been played since ancient times, Orrery Arcana is a system for real- and has traditionally been favored by time performance, designed for scholars and appeared in literature the performer to embody the role as an instrument associated with of an oracle, to perform and com- the ancient Chinese philosopher pose through a process analogous Confucius. In my composition Qin, I to automatic writing. The system took as inspiration the shape of the includes a self-made modular hard- original Qin instrument and mapped ware controller and custom software some of the traditional functions on that allows the performer to manipu- to my custom-made performance late sound during performance. The interface, replacing the traditional Qin hardware controller is used to navi- performance techniques with newly gate systems that encompass chance developed techniques that draw the operations, conceptual mapping, desired data from the controllers. and data mapping to control audio generation and processing. These MATTHEW BURTNER, process systems are based on NASA Sonic Physiography of a lunar data, the esoteric system in Time-Stretched Glacier W. B. Yeats’ “A Vision” (1937), and Sonic Physiography of a Time- the numerology and symbolism of Stretched Glacier (2014) was com- the Tarot. Yeats’ system is situated in missioned for Brandon Bell with the center, as it contains elements of support from the Presser Music both Tarot and lunar mapping. Award. The music was created from Sound sources include generated
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audio, samples of various analog many tonal works. synthesizers, and field recordings My music is not tonal (or even very that represent elemental corre- Schenkerian), but, I love this idea of spondences. The hardware inter- “sameness” that isn’t really the same. face is housed on a planetary gear Over the past few years, I have been train, which gives the performer developing tools in Max (a visual pro- control over timing and sequenced gramming language) that enable me events through manual gear rota- to create a sort of abstract structure tions. Each gear is equipped with a (a template, if you will) for an idea, a sensor plate upon which light, mag- gesture, or a section of music. The netic, and capacitive-touch sensors abstraction can be presented and are mounted. These sensors are varied by applying algorithmic pro- manipulated via concentric rings of cedures (e.g., randomness, probabili- various colors of acrylic and embed- ties, etc.) to various musical qualities ded magnets that correspond to a (e.g., rhythm, dynamics, pitch, etc.), Tarot deck. producing endless manifestations that are all clearly related but never BECKY BROWN AND HEATHER exactly the same. MEASE, very close to me how silence comes is the third work I’d like to help you feel more comfort- I’ve written using this tool. Scored for able this evening. Do you think you guitar, live processing, and electron- could sit with me for awhile? ics, the piece is different with every performance but all share varying CHRISTOPHER CHANDLER, degrees of sameness. how silence comes A Latin motto appears at the begin- KIRSTEN VOLNESS, Ultraviolet ning of many publications by the Ultraviolet was originally conceived music theorist Heinrich Schenker: as a work exploring ultraviolet rays Semper idem sed non eodem modo, or of light and the concept of radiation “always the same but not always in the from a strong source, highlighting same way.” This phrase captures his its singeing and nuclear qualities. deeply influential approach to ana- Sounds used in the piece attempt to lyzing tonal music, where by using reflect these aggressive attributes by the method of Schenkerian analysis, maintaining a sense of intensity in the one aims to demonstrate how the notes, a grating and straining move- structure of a piece of music can be ment pushing and pulling against a understood as a unique and varied feeling of gravity. The piece was com- manifestation of an abstract deeper missioned by ASCAP/SEAMUS and structure that is common across Lisa Raschiatore. →
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND 31 CONCERT FOUR SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2019 AT 7:30PM CAMP CONCERT HALL, BOOKER HALL OF MUSIC
JUDITH SHATIN, Penelope’s Song made no progress. This piece sings Penelope’s Song is a tribute to Penel- of her, giving voice to her experience ope, Queen of Ithaca and wife of Odys- and response to her own challenges. seus. It was inspired by Homer’s The electronics were created from Odyssey, which tells of the travails recordings I made of Charlottes- of Odysseus, including his ten years ville weaver Jan Russell working on at war in Troy and then, due to the her wooden looms. I processed and sea-god Poseidon’s wrath, for ten shaped these, weaving a new sonic more years. There is little focus on fabric, and then treated the acoustic Penelope, left waiting for all that time, and digital elements as warp and weft with many greedy and arrogant suit- of a new tapestry. Penelope’s Song, ors attempting to woo her to become in the original scoring for amplified king. To stave them off she devised viola and electronics, was premiered excuses. She said she would take no by Laura Wilcox at the Musica Viva suitor until she finished weaving a Festival in Portugal in 2003. Since shroud for her husband’s aged father, then, I have made additional versions Laertes. But, since she unraveled for amplified flute, clarinet, soprano at night what she wove by day, she sax, violin, and cello.
PERFORMER BIOGRAPHY
ANDREA CHEESEMAN the Chamber Music Award from the See biography under Featured Artist. Walter W. Naumburg Foundation, Chamber Music America’s inaugu- MATTHEW ral Visionary Award, and the Concert DUVALL Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competi- Matthew Duvall tion. eighth blackbird has served as is a co-artistic ensemble in residence at the Curtis director, founding Institute of Music, the universities member, and per- of Chicago and Richmond, and the cussionist of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chi- award-winning chamber ensemble cago. Mr. Duvall studied percussion eighth blackbird, named Ensemble with Michael Rosen at Oberlin College of the Year by Musical America in and Conservatory, also completing 2016. The group, which records for studies in classical civilization, art Cedille Records, has received four history, and religion. He attended the GRAMMY awards. Its other honors University of Cincinnati and North- include the MacArthur Award for western University for graduate and Creative and Effective Institutions, post-graduate degree coursework.
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COMPOSER BIOGRAPHIES
BECKY BROWN prestigious IDEA Award for innova- Becky Brown is a tion with new technology in art. His composer, harp- work is performed in music venues ist, artist, and and festivals around the world, and web designer, has been supported by grants and interested in pro- awards from the National Endow- ducing intensely ment for the Arts (NEA), the Howard personal works across the multi- Brown Foundation, the Center for 21st media spectrum. She is currently Century Studies, and the National Sci- a PhD student in composition at ence Foundation (NSF). In addition UVA, co-chair of the UVA Music Arts to working closely with new music Board, live sound engineer for WTJU, organizations and ensembles, Burt- and faculty for the SPLICE Institute. ner has created music for organi- becky-brown.org. zations such as President Obama’s US State Department. His research MATTHEW in ecoacoustics has recently been BURTNER featured by NASA’s Goddard Space Matthew Burtner Center, PBS NewsHour, the American (www.matthew Geophysical Union (AGU), National burtner.com) is Geographic, and the Center for Energy an Alaskan-born Studies in the Humanities (CENHS) at composer, sound Rice University. artist and eco-acoustician whose music and research explores embodi- NICOLE L. ment, ecology, polytemporality and CARROLL noise. He is the Eleanor Shea Pro- Nicole L. Carroll fessor of Music in the Composi- is a composer, tion and Computer Technologies performer, sound (CCT) program in the College of designer, and Arts and Sciences at the University builder. Her work of Virginia where he Co-Directs the spans installation, improvisation, Coastal Futures Conservatory. He and fixed media performance. She is also founded and directs the envi- active as a sound designer and com- ronmental arts non-profit organiza- poser in theater, performs electronic tion, EcoSono (www.ecosono.org). music under the alias “n0izmkr,” Burtner is the composer of several and builds custom synthesizers large-scale environmental, interme- and performance sensor systems. dia artworks including the climate Her research interests include soft change opera Auksalaq which won the circuits and wearable sensors, →
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND 33 CONCERT FOUR SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2019 AT 7:30PM CAMP CONCERT HALL, BOOKER HALL OF MUSIC
AV synthesis on mobile devices and work has been performed across the embedded systems, and generative United States, Canada, and France systems that merge analog and digi- by leading ensembles including tal technologies. Through her work, Eighth Blackbird, the American Wild she seeks to reconcile the natural Ensemble, the Oberlin Contempo- world with technology. Themes found rary Music Ensemble, the Cleveland in her work derive from reflections Chamber Symphony, and Le Nouvel on nature, occult philosophies, litera- Ensemble Moderne. His has received ture, and the human psyche. Nicole recognition and awards for his music holds an MM and BM in Composi- including a BMI Student Composer tion from Bowling Green State Uni- Award, an ASCAP/SEAMUS Com- versity and Arkansas State Univer- mission, two first prizes from the sity, respectively. Her works have Austin Peay State University Young been performed internationally in Composer’s Award, winner of the the USA, Mexico, Wales, Germany, American Modern Ensemble’s Annual Greece, Australia, and China. She Composition Competition, and the received a PhD in Computer Music Nadia Boulanger Composition Prize and Multimedia from Brown Uni- from the American Conservatory in versity in Providence, RI, USA. She Fontainebleau, France. Christopher will begin a position as Lecturer of received a PhD in composition from Digital Composition at the University the Eastman School of Music, an MM of Newcastle in Newcastle, Australia, in composition from Bowling Green in 2020. www.nicolecarrollmusic.com State University, and a BA in composi- tion and theory from the University CHRISTOPHER of Richmond. CHANDLER Christopher Chan- HEATHER dler is a composer MEASE of acoustic and Heather Mease electroacoustic is a multimedia music and the co- artist, composer, founder of the [Switch~ Ensemble]. He and community serves as Assistant Professor of Music arts organizer at Union College where he teaches from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In courses in music theory, composition, addition to currently pursuing gradu- and technology. He draws inspira- ate studies in Composition and Com- tion from nature, poetry, the acoustic puter Technologies at the University properties of instruments, and his of Virginia, Mease manages program- experiences working closely with ming and operations at the Bridge sound in computer music studios. His Progressive Arts Initiative and the
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Charlottesville Mural Project in Char- others. Genre she explores range lottesville, VA. www.hmmease.com from electroacoustic and multimedia to chamber, choral and orchestral JUDITH music. She has received four NEA SHATIN Composer Fellowships as well as Composer Judith grants from the American Music Cen- Shatin (www. ter, the Lila Acheson Wallace-Read- judithshatin.com) ers Digest Arts Partners Program, is renowned for Meet the Composer and the Virginia her acoustic, Commission for the Arts. Her music electroacoustic and digital music. is widely recorded on labels including Called “highly inventive on every level” Innova (two portrait discs), Neuma, by the Washington Post, her music New World, Ravello and Sonora. Sha- combines an adventurous approach to tin is William R. Kenan Jr. Professor timbre with dynamic narrative design. Emerita at the University of Virginia, She draws on expanded instrumen- where she founded the Virginia Cen- tal palettes and a cornucopia of the ter for Computer Music and led the sounding world, from machines in a program to national prominence. coal mine, to the calls of animals, the shuttle of a wooden loom, the pull of KIRSTEN a zipper. Performers and audiences VOLNESS alike respond enthusiastically to her Kirsten Volness is music, called ‘vividly orchestrated an electro/acous- and bursting with imaginative detail’ tic composer and by the San Francisco Chronicle. pianist whose Further described as “powerful music is inspired and distinctive” by Fanfare and “both by nature, myth, science, and envi- engaging and splendidly controlled” ronmental and sociopolitical issues. by the San Francisco Chronicle, her She has received commissions from music reaches from chamber to the BMI Foundation, ASCAP/SEA- choral and orchestral; from purely MUS, Hotel Elefant, NOW Ensemble, electronic to electroacoustic and Transient Canvas, and Experiential multimedia formats. An innovator Orchestra. She performs with Hotel in the world of electronic music, she Elefant and Verdant Vibes, a new also continues to create richly imag- music collective she co-founded in ined acoustic music. Her music has 2015. Recipient of the MacColl John- been commissioned by organizations son and RISCA Fellowships, Kirsten including the Barlow Endowment and was 2017 composer-in-residence at Fromm Foundation, Carnegie Hall, the Music Mansion creating the First the Library of Congress and many Fridays concert series, and later →
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND 35 CONCERT FOUR SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2019 AT 7:30PM CAMP CONCERT HALL, BOOKER HALL OF MUSIC
served on the board as Secretary. She Poland, International Confederation collaborates with Meridian Project on of Electro-Acoustic Music, and WOC- multimedia performances exploring MAT in Taiwan. Chi’s composition was astrophysics, writes and performs selected for inclusion on the music operas with homeless advocacy group from SEAMUS CD Volume 28. She is Tenderloin Opera Company, and is the recipient for the Best Composition an affiliate artist of Sleeping Weazel. from the Americas at the 2018 Inter- Kirsten earned composition degrees national Computer Music Conference. from Universities of Michigan (MM, Chi has also served as a judge for DMA) and Minnesota (BA) and is Visit- international electronic music com- ing Assistant Professor of Music at petitions including Musicacostica‚ Reed College. kirstenvolness.com Beijing, Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States national CHI WANG conferences and International Com- Chi Wang is a puter Music Conference. Chi is also composer and an active translator for electronic performer of music related books. She was the electroacous- first translator for Electronic Music tic music. Her Interactive and for the first book research and about Kyma, Kyma and the SumOf- compositional interests include Sines Disco Club, available as Kyma sound design, data-driven instru- Xitong Shiyong Jiqiao and published ments creation, and musical com- by Southwest China Normal Univer- position and performance. Chi’s sity Press. Chi received her DMA at compositions have been performed the University of Oregon in the Per- internationally including presenta- formance of Data-driven Instruments tions at the International Computer and has taught computer music at the Music Conference, Musicacoustica‚ University of Oregon. She previously Beijing, the Society for Electro- received M.Mus. in Intermedia Music Acoustic Music in the United States Technology from the University of national conferences, the New York Oregon and graduated with a BE in City Electroacoustic Music Festival, Electronic Engineering from Ocean Kyma International Sound Symposia, University of China. Chi is currently Electronic Music Midwest Festival, an assistant professor of music (com- Future Music Oregon Concerts, Port- position: electronic and computer land Biennial of Contemporary Art, I. music) at the Indiana University Paderewski Conservatory of Music in Jacobs School of Music.
36 THIRD PRACTICE 2019 FESTIVAL Third Practice Electroacoustic Music Festival