Music Innovators’ Series 2009

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On Tuesday, July 7th Digital Musics will host its first of twelve events presenting the music, research, and ideas of individuals driven by interdisciplinary work and who believe that music interfaces and informs many other aspects of the human experience. Their endeavors cross a wide array different fields of study, ranging from social neuroscience, information theory, physical modeling, signal processing, to linguistics, remix culture, and composition.

Our First guest in our series will be Dartmouth alum Ted Coffey ‘91 will present a talk entitled: Making Unrealistic Demands of Music

In this lecture, Dr. Coffey presents a set of sociological and spiritual concerns in recent composition, as he explains: In an undergraduate course at Dartmouth, in the American experimental tradition taught by Christian Wolff, I was introduced to the idea that a composition, in all of its phases, makes propositions about how human relationships might be ordered. Ever since, I’ve been especially concerned that my musical work and values be as closely aligned as possible. The talk presents a small sample of tactics and strategies brought to this purpose from visual art, information theory, Zen and elsewhere.

-Ted Coffey, University of Virginia

This series aims to highlight the interconnectedness of science and art and to engage the broader Dartmouth community in this conversation. We welcome interested individuals to attend from all fields of research and art-making, and in addition to presentations, our guests will also host a question and answer session following their event.

-Hosted by the Digital Musics Program and Sponsored by the Dartmouth Department of Music

Location:
Wilson 219, generally from 2:00P until 3:15P

Events are free and open to the public

-click here for a complete list and biographies-

Digital Musics 2009 Spring Undergraduate Showcase

Undergraduate Spring Showcase

Please join us for a showcase of works by students of my Music 024 class. The event is free and open to the public.

Festival of New Musics Recap

After a busy two weeks, our new music festival is complete and we are preparing for digital archiving. In addition to great concerts and visits from the UK by performers Chris Redgate and David Casal, Charles Dodge was mentioned as “a pioneer of computer music, who made important contributions to American music” on NPR’s “All Things Considered” on the day of his concert at Spaulding Auditorium. Great work to all involved!

hopfestivalnewmusics

Dartmouth New Music Festival 2009

31st Annual Dartmouth Festival of New Musics
Charles Dodge: A Celebration of His Legacy in Electronic Music

Special guests -  David Casal, Stephen Rush, Richard Karpen, Baird Dodge, Christopher Redgate, eighth blackbird

Dartmouth Performers - Kai Saul’09, Andrew Lebovich ’09, Pete Mathias ’09, Hyoung Cheol Yoon ’10, Leah Scrivner ’11, Kristina Wolfe, Chris Peck, Paul Osetinsky, Doug Perkins, Alex Ogle, Spencer Topel, Michael Casey, and others

Festival Director - Doug Perkins
Festival Assistant – Leah Scrivner

All Concerts FREE and open to the public

April 29th 12:30 pm Faulkner - Opening Concert
Three Oranges – Joel Hoffman
Kai Saul-violin
Doug Perkins- marimba
Marimba Phase – Steve Reich
Andrew Lebovich  - marimba
Doug Perkins – marimba
Music for Piano and electronics – David Casal
David Casal – piano and electronics

April 30th 6pm “The Way to Go Out” –Spheris Gallery, Main St., Hanover
Spencer Topel – violin and electronics
Listening Music for the Age of Mooncone - Chris Peck, Jon Moniaci,  Stephen Rush (guitars, accordion, keyboards, and electronics)

May 3  Christopher Redgate and Friends – 4pm Faulkner
New Work – Michael Chinen
Michael Chinen - laptop
Finnissy – Runnin’ wild (wp)
Skempton – 3 pieces for oboe
David Gorton, Errinerungspiel
Christopher Redgate - oboe
Chris Peck – new piece for oboe and percussion
Christopher Redgate – oboe, Doug Perkins – percussion
Improvisation for Piano, Oboe, and Sound Spotter
Christopher Redgate – oboe, David Casal – piano, Michael Casey – Sound Spotter

May 3-5 Installation Spaulding Lobby
Sound Installation by Michael Chinen

May 4th “Charles Dodge Day”
4:30 pm Faculty Lounge
Charles Dodge’s Musical Legacy (working title)
A Lecture by Richard Karpen

7pm Rollins Chapel
Charles Dodge Portrait Concert
Baird Dodge, violin and viola
New Work for Baird
Etudes for Violin
Viola Elegy
Speech Songs

Post-concert reception in the faculty lounge

May 5th 7pm Spaulding Auditorium - Dartmouth New Music

New Work – Beau Sievers
Doug Perkins, percussion
New Work – Kristina Wolfe
For cello quartet
New Piece for Audience Participation - Chris Peck
Drum and Grain – Paul Hogan
Peter Mathias, Hyoung Cheol Yoon, Doug Perkins – Percussion
Any Resemblance is Purely Coincidental -  Charles Dodge
Piece Piece # 4 – Frederic Rzewski
Lisa Moore - Piano
New Work - Chris Fox
Cardiophony – Heinz Holliger
Christopher Redgate - oboe


May 8th  8pm Spaulding Auditorium

Eighth blackbird

May 10th 2pm - Rollins Chapel
Pangu’s song - Kui Dong
Alex Ogle – flute
Doug Perkins - Percussion
Piece for Electronics – Charles Dodge
New Work – Paul Osetinsky
Paul Osentinsky - piano
Little Eye – David Lang
Leah Scrivner – cello

Dartmouth at SEAMUS 2009

The Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS) 2009 conference is being held at Fort Wayne, Indiana, with a focus on human interface devices. The conference will run from April 16-18.

Dartmouth faculty, students (alumni and current) will present pieces and papers:

Jon Appleton - “Is Simplicity The New Complexity?” (paper)

Tae Hong Park (Alumni) - “ViPer” (music)

Mike Frengel (Alumni) - “And Then, Romina…” (music)

Michael Chinen (Current Student) - “Links” (music)

Ted Coffey (Alumni) is hosting a panel on “Production Value in E/A Practice” with Paul Koonce, Virgil Moorefield, Peter Swendsen, Kojiro Umezaki (Alumni).

New York Electroacoustic Music Festival or NYCEMF 2009

On April 2nd - 4th, the first annual New York Electroacoustic Music Festival took place at the CUNY Graduate Center’s Elebash Hall.  I managed to get down to the city in time for my concerts on Saturday, where I played two works by American composers Tom Lopez (Oberlin) and David Jaffe (CCRMA). I also spent time with former Dartmouth Technical Director Yury Spitsyn who presented his work Welcome to the Machine! on the first concert of the festival.  Also in attendance as a performer/composer and researcher was my fellow collaborator Juraj Kojs, who presented his work At and Across and a paper session on physical modeling.

Overall the concerts were well attended (though way too long) and personal highlights include learning and performing Tom’s piece, Immaculata Erotica for five performers and electronics, and a second hearing of Hans Tutschku, Zellen-Linien for solo piano and electronics.  Both of these works stood out on Concert 13 and possessed a great deal of individuality.

TOM LOPEZ
TOM LOPEZ

Immaculata Erotica might the most sexual piece of music I have ever played, if such a description can be attributed to music.  The work starts with every instrument on the stage covered by a fine piece of cloth or fabric.  As the piece unfolds, contact microphones on the instruments pickup sounds of the players caressing the instruments through the fabric, under the fabric, etc. followed by an sonic investigation of every inch of each instruments in pairs.

Need I go further in the description, the effect on the audience was stunning, with some people exuberant after the performance and others disgusted. Quite possibly the best reaction one can hope for. My only criticism was it seemed that everything was mixed to loud, since I looked up and noticed a good number of people in the audience covering their ears. Aside from this, our rendition of the piece flowed quite well and seemed to reach a fevered pitch that was unlike any performance I have ever participated in.

HANS TUTSCHKU

HANS TUTSCHKU

Zellen-Linien, by Hans Tutschku was an amazing experience, even for the second time (prior hearing at ICMC 2006 in New Orleans).  The musical language, though quite firmly grounded in the post-tonal vernacular, integrated nicely with the  live-processing. The effects used in this piece are stunning and exacting. Any composer attempting to do a piece with solo piano and live-electronics should listen to this piece.

You can find more on their work at:

Tom Lopez:  http://www.firstwavemusic.com/tml/music.html#immaculata

Hans Tutschku: http://www.tutschku.com/content/works-Zellen-Linien.en.php

where you can also download Han’s Max/MSP patch.

The Nature of Creativity: Arts and the Environment

Tuesday, April 14 • 7 pm
Haldeman Center 041 • Free

As a prelude to tomorrow’s performance of Terra Nova (Wed. April 15th 7PM), DJ Spooky and Dartmouth faculty members Ross Virginia (Environmental Studies/Institute of Arctic Studies), Mary Flanagan (Film & Media Studies/Digital Humanities) and Michael Casey (Digital Musics) explore how science and art are redefining representations of the environment and our relationship with it. No registration required. Reception to follow in Russo Gallery, Haldeman Center, sponsored by Dartmouth’s Institute of Arctic Studies at the Dickey Center for International Understanding. For more info, call Hop Outreach at 603.646.2010.


“Tutti” New Music Festival 2009

from left: Spencer Topel, Kojiro Umezaki (Dartmouth '93), Daniel Morse, Ching-chu Hu

from left: Spencer Topel, Kojiro Umezaki (Dartmouth '93), Daniel Morse, Ching-chu Hu

A festival of new music is not an uncommon occurrence, but one that features consistently stellar performances by groups such as Brave New Works and Brooklyn Rider are hard to come by.  From March 26th - 28th, Denison University, in Granville, Ohio, put together a great set of concerts that featured over 30 composers from across the United States. Derek Bermel was the featured composer at the festival, and his openness and friendly demeanor set a great tone for both interactions between composers, as well as with the students from Denison.

Ching-chu Hu, the festival director and chair of the music department, presented a well organized series of concerts that had consistently great turnouts.  As a friend of mine who goes way back to my years as a high school student attending the Aspen Music Festival, it was exciting to catch up with Ching-chu and to see how we have both developed as composers.

My work Three Preludes for Violin and Cello was performed by Brave New Works on the Friday evening concert.  Maria Sampen, violin and Katri Ervamaa, cello were the performers and their version of the work was refreshingly passionate and I look forward to seeing how this work develops in their repertoire.

Also in attendance was Kojiro Umezaki, an alumnus of the Dartmouth Electroacoustic Music Program (’93), who I had the opportunity to meet when he visited Dartmouth last month with the ensemble Brooklyn Rider. In his performance along side Brooklyn Rider, the energy and playing was fantastic. The crowd, mainly comprised of faculty, students, and local residence were savvy and seemed to enjoy the performances thoroughly.  Both Kojiro and Ching-chu had premieres on this concert and the pieces sparkled with brilliance and craft.

New Website Launch

oldeasite.jpg Welcome to the new Digital Musics website.  We’ve tried to keep most of the content from the old site (which will be fondly remembered, featured at right).

We’ve also added new content, such as the Earwarmers section, featured under the projects heading on the left.  Also, we’ve tried to make it easier for frequent users as well as visitors to interact with the site once they’ve registered, via writing comments or posts. As the site matures, more content will be filled into the news and events sections.

We invite you to join our community by regsitering and exploring the site.

Concert Thursday 27th Jan: 6PM Spheris Gallery

For Immediate Release
Contact: Douglas Perkins
perkinsdf@gmail.com

The Way to Go Out  at the Spheris Gallery, Hanover, NH

The third concert of “The Way to Go Out” will be at the Spheris
Gallery in Hanover on January 29th at 6pm.  This is going to be a
wonderfully eclectic event.  Special guest flutist Amanda Baker will
be performing brand new works for flute and electronics by Kaija
Saariaho and Brooklyn composer Nathan Davis.  By contrast, series
regular and Dartmouth Digital Music grad student will be performing
music for Viola da Gamba from the 17th century.  Dartmouth senior Kai
Saul and series organizer will be rounding out the concert with a
piece for violin and bass drum by composer Matt Burtner.  Not to be
missed!

“The Way to Go Out” is a great opportunity to bring the best in
experimental music to Hanover, NH.  The year-long residency will give
members of the Dartmouth community a chance to have a hand in building
projects and interfacing with audiences and guest artists from around
the world.  This type of experience will be invaluable in their
training.

Concerts will be the third Thursday of each month at 6 pm.  The next
concert will be on February 26, 2009