SEPARATE CHECKS – Tom Hamilton

CAMA Event
Saturday, May 8, 2010 – 7:30 pm
Kranzberg Arts Center
501 N. Grand

Separate Checks is a new work by composer/performer Tom Hamilton that combines electronic sound with acoustic performers. Hamilton continues the direction started in his CAMA event last season by directing a stream of improvising musicians to create a confluence of changing sonic ideas and moods in the midst of his sonic environment.

Percussionist/electronic musician Rich O’Donnell and reed player Dave Stone will join Hamilton in the spontaneous creation of Separate Checks. The group will also incorporate musical elements supplied by bassist Zimbabwe Nkenya.

Hamilton’s work with electronic music originated in the late-60s era of analog synthesis. He often explores the interaction of many simultaneous layers of activity, prompting the use of “present-time listening” on the part of both performer and listener. Hamilton was a 2005 Fellow of the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Umbria, has worked on more than 60 recordings, including 12 CDs of his own music, and is a longtime member of composer Robert Ashley’s touring opera ensemble.

More information and music samples.

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FLICKER TONE PULSE – Curtis Roads and Brian O’Reilly

Saturday, May 1, 2010 – 7:30 pm
Mildred E. Bastian Theatre (Forest Park C.C.)
5600 Oakland Ave.
Co-sponsored by Forest Park Community College

A prolific composer, performer, and author, Curtis Roads says he “pursues research in the interdisciplinary territory spanning music and technology.”

He was Editor and Associate Editor of Computer Music Journal (The MIT Press) from 1978 to 2000, co-founded the International Computer Music Association in 1979, and was a pioneer in the development of granular synthesis. Roads developed the Creatophone, a system for spatial projection of sound in concert, as well as the Creatovox, an expressive new instrument for virtuoso performance that is based on the synthesis of sound particles.

Along with video artist Brian O’Reilly, Roads will present a set of new electronic compositions with visual accompaniment. These works explore a multiscale approach to composition, and are designed to be spatialized live by the composer, with simultaneous video projection on multiple screens.

More information about Curtis Roads.

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STAINS – Craig Hultgren

CAMA Event!
Saturday, April 3, 2010 – 7:30 pm
Kranzberg Arts Center
501 N. Grand

Cellist Craig Hultgren is an activist for new music, the newly creative arts, and the avantgarde.

Possessing a broad range of instrumental techniques from traditional to radical, he has had over 100 new works written for him. He currently plays in the Alabama Symphony, has served as principal cellist with the National Symphony Orchestra of Panamá, and teaches at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the Alabama School of Fine Arts, and Birmingham-Southern College, where he directs the BSC New Music Ensemble.

Along with poet Anna Lum, Dr. Mabuse (synthesizer and cello), and Rich O’Donnell on KYMA electronics, Hultgren will present a program that blurs the conclusions, beginnings and differences of music and poetry.

In Stains, an evocative set of solo cello pieces with strong narratives will be sampled and extended to run seamlessly, overlapping poems and stories. The works will include acoustic, electronic, and video pieces for solo cello played by Hultgren, as well as a variety of narrative pieces. The audience will contribute a collective “exquisite corpse” that will be created in the first part of the performance and performed at the end of the concert.

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DRONNING MAUD LAND – John Tamm-Buckle

Saturday, March 13, 2010 – 7:30 pm
Kranzberg Arts Center
501 N. Grand

“Ice is personal to me – it reminds me of the cultural autonomy I felt as a child growing up in all-engulfing Nordic winters.” –John Tamm-Buckle

John Tamm-Buckle’s musical background ranges from classical training to rave-scene electronica. Growing up in Scandinavia and the UK, Tamm-Buckle’s interest in alternative forms of sonic expression stems from exposure to European modern art, sculpture, and British pirate radio.

Tamm-Buckle will perform Dronning Maud Land, an interactive sculpture made of ice frozen around a frame, contact microphones, and a digital thermometer. While the ice melts, pieces of the sculpture will be amplified and played like a percussion instrument. The signal sources will be run through a custom Max/MSP patch that performs various signal-processing and signal-routing functions. In addition to the sound of the sculpture, analyzed audio data will trigger and morph samples recorded in Antarctica.

More information about John Tamm-Buckle.

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MODULAR MAZES – Van McElwee and friends

CAMA Event
Saturday, February 27, 2010 – 7:30 pm
Winifred Moore Auditorium
470 E. Lockwood Ave.
Co-sponsored by the Webster Film Series

Admission prices for this event only:
$6 Regular admission, $5 for Seniors, students, Webster alumni
$4 Webster U staff/faculty, $Free Webster U students with a valid ID

Media artist Van McElwee presents an evening of new video work, 3D animation by Casper McElwee, and new music by Rich O’Donnell and the Semi-Acoustic Noise Ensemble (SANE). In MODULAR MAZES these elements will operate as one, exploring the ancient form of the labyrinth in novel ways. 3D glasses will be provided for two of the pieces, BLUE SNOWBALLS and Y-SPACE.

McElwee’s body of work encompasses over 40 video installations and single channel works. He is the recipient of multiple awards and grants including The American Film Institute Independent Filmmaker Award and seven fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. He has exhibited his work extensively worldwide, and is currently Professor of Electronic and Photographic Media at Webster University.

In Modular Mazes video and music, as well as 3D animation by Casper McElwee will operate as one, exploring the ancient form of the labyrinth in new ways.

http://www.webster.edu/filmseries/current.html

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