[silence] S.E.M. Ensemble Concert, March 1st @ Issue Project Room

[S.E.M. Ensemble]

NOISE & ANTI-NOISE
S.E.M. ENSEMBLE CONCERT
AT 
ISSUE PROJECT ROOM
 
Saturday, March 1, 8pm
 
Issue Project Room
The (OA) Can Factory
232 3rd Street, 3rd Floor
Brooklyn, NY       
 
THE S.E.M. ENSEMBLE
Petr Kotik, Director, Flutist
Ben Neill, Mutantrumpet
Michael Schumacher, Electronics
Gayla Morgan, Soprano
Lev Zhurbin, Viola
 
PROGRAM:
Ben Neill: Posthorn (2005)
Michael Schumacher: Glacier (2007)
Petr Kotik: Refraction (1960)
Petr Kotik: There is Singularly Nothing  (1971/1995)
 
Tickets: $10; Info & Reservations: Issue Project Room‹718-330-0313
 
 
Noise was always part of music ‹ the term itself is relative. What
constitutes a noise for someone may be a beautiful sound for someone else.
The advent of musique concrète and electronic music in the early 1950s
however, erased the separation between a non-musical noise and musical
sounds. 
 
The recent renewed interest in noise inspired the programm on March 1. We
will investigate two different approaches ‹ one represented by Petr Kotik¹s
acoustical music (There is Singularly Nothing) and the other represented by
electronic works by composers Michael Schumacher,  and Ben Neill, with the
added electronic work by Kotik (Refraction).
 
 
ABOUT THE PROGRAM:
 
In 1969, Czech born composer, conductor and flutist Petr Kotik moved to the
United States, and one year later he founded the S.E.M. Ensemble.  In 1992,
the group expanded into The Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble for which he
serves as artistic director and conductor. Kotik has received numerous
composition grants and commissions including from the National Endowment for
the Arts, the West German Radio in Cologne and the prestigious composition
award from the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts. In 2003 Kotik
was a resident composer in Berlin under the sponsorship of Deutscher
Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD). His recent compositions include
Variations for 3 Orchestras, which was performed at MaerzMusik Festival in
Berlin and at the Ostrava Days 2005 festival, Plains at Gordium for 6
percussionists (2004) and String Quartet (premiered in December 2007).
 
In 1960, at the age of 18, Kotik produced his first composition, a piece of
electronic music on magnetic tape, called Refraction. This 7- minute piece
was realized with the use of two tape recorders and one sine wave
oscillator. Kotik, however, did not continue to create electronic music.
Following Refraction he focused almost entirely on instrumental music and in
the early 1970s, he embarked on a series of compositions, which all used
instruments and voices in their basic nature ‹ without the aide of
technology or the use of extended techniques.
 
There is Singularly Nothing is a series of 18 independent solos/parts, which
Kotik composed between 1971 and 1973. In 1995, four more solos for voice
were added, making it a total of 22. The vocal writing in this piece (8 out
of 22 solos are for voice) was inspired by collaboration with the composer
and singer Julius Eastman, who was at that time a member of the S.E.M.
Ensemble. The text consists of excerpts from Gertrude Stein¹s 1926 lecture
at Oxford University entitled ³Composition as Explanation.² The text of the
lecture starts with the following words:
 
³There is singularly nothing that makes a difference a difference in
beginning and in the middle and in ending except each generation has
something different at which they are all looking.  By this I mean simply
that anybody knows it that composition is the difference which makes each
and all of them then different from other generations and this is what makes
everything different otherwise they are all alike and everybody knows it
because everybody says it.²
 
Each solo/part was composed independently, without regard to other solos.
The instrumentation is open and  each solo/part can be transposed and
performed by any melodic instrument (voice solos may be sung in any voice
range), although initially they have been written with a specific
instrument/voice in mind. The solos/parts can be superimposed, thus creating
various ensemble configurations. The unifying element is a pulse, common to
all performers. 
 
Ben Neill, composer, performer, and inventor of the mutantrumpet, has
recorded seven CDs of his music on the Verve/Universal, Astralwerks, Six
Degrees, New Tone and Ear-Rational labels. Performances include Etnafest
Italy, Cite de la Musique Paris, Spoleto Festival, Guggenheim Museum, Umbria
Jazz, Bang On A Can, ICA London, Istanbul Jazz Festival, House of Blues
clubs throughout the US and Canada, New Territories Festival Glasgow, and
the Edinburgh Festival.  Neill studied with minimalist La Monte Young and
has worked closely with numerous other musicians and artists including David
Behrman, John Cale, Rhys Chatham, Nicolas Collins, Coil, Mimi Goese, Petr
Kotik, DJ Spooky, DJ Olive, Helmet¹s Page Hamilton, Pauline Oliveros, and
David Wojnarowicz.  Neill was music curator of The Kitchen in New York City
from 1992-98. He is currently collaborating with Ridge Theater and Mimi
Goese on a music theater work to be presented at BAM¹s Next Wave Festival
2009, as well as curating the River to River Festival at World Financial
Center in Summer 2008.
 
Posthorn is a live performance piece for Neill¹s self-designed
mutantrumpet/electronics system. The work is titled after and based on the
³Posthorn solo,² a section of the third movement of Gustav Mahler¹s Symphony
No. 3. Mutantrumpet is an invention of Ben Neill, created in early 1980s.
Initially an acoustic instrumet (a combination of 3 trumpets combined into
one instrument), Neill made the instrument interactive with electronics in
the mid 1980s when collaborating with the synthesizer inventor Robert Moog.
In 1992, while in residency at Steim¹s research and development lab for new
instruments in Amsterdam, Neill made the mutantrumpet fully computer
interactive.
 
In Posthorn, two computers, running three programs respond to Neill¹s
playing in real time. The pitches and dynamics of his acoustic performance
are sent to all three programs simultaneously. The first program triggers
and modifies the playback of the mutantrumpet. The output of the program
triggers a sample of Mahler¹s orchestral chord, which immediately precedes
the entrance of the Posthorn solo. The second software is a live sampling
program, which grabs samples and modifies them in real time. The third
program, which runs on the second computer translates the data from the
mutantrumpet into real time video control. It manipulates live digital video
samples of 19th century landscape paintings and live action footage of
pastoral landscapes. While the basic shape of Posthorn is fixed, its details
are improvised, depending on how Neill unfolds the melodic material and the
dynamics with which he plays.  He is guided by the feedback of the system,
progressing into unforeseen areas each time it is performed.
 
Michael J. Schumacher is a composer/performer, concert producer and curator,
and has received degrees in music from Juilliard School of Music and Indiana
University.  Director of the sound and intermedia galleries Studio Five
Beekman and Diapason, he has produced exhibitions by David Behrman, Alvin
Lucier, La Monte Young and other pioneer sound experimenters.  He composes
electronic sound installations using 2 - 22 speakers, computer-controlled
random structures, taped and live music and acoustic works for piano,
chamber ensemble, voice, and orchestra, and has presented his sound
installations at major art institutions in the United States and Europe.
His discography includes five solo CDs, including a double CD set on the XI
label ³Room Pieces² (2002).
 
Glacier was composed during a stay near Glacier Lake in Nederland, Colorado
this past summer. It consists of four sections, each with a distinctive
sonic character, mood, feeling. Each section is made up of 13 modules, (a
module being defined as a specific sound as well as the process used by the
computer to execute the sound).  The parts aren¹t executed sequentially,
rather, the computer allows a certain number of modules from each section to
turn on in various combinations. The more modules from a section that are on
at a given moment, the more that section¹s character imbues the whole. Over
time, the sense of the individual sections emerge, though they may rarely or
never be heard entirely alone.
 
Gayla Morgan, soprano, began her music career as a classical violinist and
later pursued western/folk singing and fiddling as well as musical theater
(Dreamhouse. Justine¹s Red; Regional: Grapes of Wrath, among them). She has
premiered contemporary art songs (Eleanor Cory, Mark Grant and Ilse Gilbert)
and appeared on the Sound of New Music Series at St. Marks-in-the-Bowery.
She has also soloed with NY Virtuoso Singers, Amor Artis, and the Hunter
College Choir; and was one of the six members of The Western Wind Vocal
Ensemble for five years.
 
New York-based violist Lev Zhurbin is a graduate of The Juilliard School
where he was a student of Samuel Rhodes. Born in Moscow, Russia, he is the
son of the composer Alexander Zhurbin and the poet Irena Ginzburg. Lev has
appeared many times at New York¹s Lincoln Center as well as at Bargemusic,
Living Room, Makor, Tonic, and also at several prestigious international
classical music festivals. He has performed with jazz guitar legend Bucky
Pizzarelli, Steven Bernstein¹s Millennial Mob, violinist Lara St. John, and
has recently premiered viola works by Newton Strandberg, Joseph Pehrson, and
Misha Stefanuk¹s Suite for Viola and Jazz Trio. As a composer and arranger,
Lev is the author of about seventy works including compositions for
orchestras, chamber ensembles, jazz and Latin bands, as well as over a dozen
scores for film and theatre projects.
 
Issue Project Room provides an open and versatile environment where both
established and emerging artists can conduct, exhibit and perform new and
site-specific work according to their respective visions. Through an
evolving collaboration with curators, artists and educators, the Project
Room fosters a wide -range of artistic projects that challenge and expand
conventional practices in art. The Project Room fulfills its mission through
a series of innovative programs, events, exhibitions, performances, talks
and concerts. The Project Room is building a platform where possibilities
can manifest openness for change, new perceptions and experiences; a
platform where stimulating ideas can be exchanged, discussed and exposed.
Its programs are designed to present innovative projects, rare artist
appearances, first time showings and multidisciplinary events, highlighting
the creative process while encouraging broad public appreciation and access
to the art of our times.
 
The S.E.M. Ensemble is dedicated to the performance and advancement of new
music, with a focus on works that can best be described as post-Cagean.
Since its inception in 1970, SEM has collaborated with composers who have
also often performed with the group, including Earle Brown, John Cage, David
Tudor, Alvin Lucier, Morton Feldman, Pauline Oliveros, Roscoe Mitchell, and
a score of other composers. In 1992, the Ensemble expanded into The
Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble with a debut concert in Carnegie Hall,
³Tribute to John Cage,² premiering the complete Atlas Eclipticalis with an
86-piece orchestra, Kotik conducting, and Tudor at the piano. Since then,
the SEM Orchestra has toured Europe five times and performed in Japan. SEM
holds yearly concerts in New York at the Paula Cooper Gallery and other
venues such as Merkin Concert Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center,
Carnegie Hall, Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, and the World Financial Center.
#  #  #
 
This Concert is possible thanks to support from the Paula Cooper Gallery,
New York State Council on the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Mary
Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, National Endowment for the Arts, The Amphion
Foundation, Phaedrus Foundation and individual contributions. Special thanks
to the Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Markowitz, for his support.
 
 
 
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