SPLICE Festival VI 2025 Concert 3 Program
Friday January 24, 2025
7:00pm EDT
Dalton Recital Hall, Western Michigan University
Zaira Castillo : For it is Our First Universe
Zaira Castillo, piano + lights
Emmanuel Lacopo : the way water breathes
Emmanuel Lacopo, electric guitar
Chris Biggs : Artifacts of Leisure
Henning Schroeder, saxophones
Yu-Lien Thé, piano
Arya Nair : Vara Da: Missed Stop
Ethan Franklin, vibraphone
Duo Cataclysma : Improvisation
Jeff Kaiser, trumpet + laptop/electronics
Seth Andrew Davis, electric guitar + laptop/electronics
Elainie Lillios : Immeasurable Distance
Scott Deal, percussion
Per Bloland : Los murmullos
Keith Kirchoff, piano
Notes
Zaira Castillo : For it is Our First Universe
The conceptual framework of For it is Our First Universe is taken from Gaston Bachelard's book, Poetics of Space. In this book, Bachelard talks about the intimacy one develops toward the space of their childhood home, and how that intimate relationship becomes a fundamental part of that person. The title of the work was constructed by putting two quotes from Bachelard’s book together. In general, the concept of home could be applied to things beyond the house itself. For example, it could be applied to home town, home country, the language one grows up with, the cuisine of one's culture, etc.
In this work, I use phonographies of the bazaar in Kerman, Iran to make the electronics and form the instrumental part. I chose to record the sounds of this bazaar because of its national significance as well as personal meaning. As one of the largest and oldest bazaars in Iran, it has cultural significance and has become a destination. Additionally, its sounds have a strong sense of intimacy for me since the distinctive accent of the Farsi spoken in Kerman resonates with me personally. In this piece I tried to capture the essence of this intimacy through the bazaar’s sounds and spaces.
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Emmanuel Lacopo : the way water breathes
The Way Water Breathes pulls from musical influences in progressive music, post-rock, and ambient genres. Through its fusion with the classical guitar, the piece presents a new way to approach the instrument by incorporating extended techniques typically found in these musical worlds. The chosen scordatura, often used by the guitarist Yvette Young, transposes the instrument to an open sonority that allows previously impossible gestures to become much more accessible. Alongside techniques like “hammer-on's from nowhere,” popularized by Tosin Abasi, the piece replicates the unpredictable temperance of large bodies of water.
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Arya Nair : Vara Da: Missed Stop
Paragon of vortex,
I swirl into abyss
For the sake of composure,
I'm smiling
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Duo Cataclysma : Improvisation
For SPLICE Fest, Duo Cataclysma will be showcasing both Kaiser and Davis’ and their respective robot improvisers, KaiGen and Cybersyn. Both systems reflect the creative outlook and values of their creators. This hybrid quartet is intended to reflect the post-humanist possibilities of what it can mean for human and robot agents to interact in creative practice, specifically improvised music.
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Elainie Lillios : Immeasurable Distance
Immeasurable Distance was composed in memory of my percussion colleague Roger Schupp. Roger asked me to write a piece for him but passed away before the piece could be brought to fruition. My sincere appreciation and thanks to Scott Deal, who agreed to join me to imagine and complete the journey of this piece. While Immeasurable Distance was initially composed as a tribute to Roger, I think it has become a piece about the immeasurable distance that can exist between any of us.
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Per Bloland : Los murmullos
Los murmullos, for piano and electronics, is based on a highly influential novel from the 1950s: Pedro Páramo, by the Mexican author Juan Rulfo. The electronics for this piece were generated using a physical model of the Electro-Magnetically Prepared Piano – a device consisting of a rack of twelve electromagnets that can be installed on the frame of any grand piano. The EMPP is somewhat like an EBow in that the electromagnets cause the strings to vibrate. However, because the electromagnets receive audio signals from a computer, there is a much higher degree sonic variability. The physical model of this device, called the Induction Connection, was developed during an Artistic Research Residency at IRCAM in Paris. The Induction Connection is currently built into IRCAM’s software Modalys.
The novel Pedro Páramo is the surreal tale of a man’s return to the town in which his parents lived, long after that town has fallen into decay. Comala is now populated more heavily by the dead than the living, and exists in a blurred twilight realm in which such distinctions are meaningless. The descriptions of the environment are exceptionally vivid, often invoking the four elements to transition between the past and the present, and between the living and the dead. The original title of the novel was Los murmullos, a reflection of the murmuring and whispering of the dead heard at various points throughout. Contrary to the gentle implications of the word, it is the intensity of these murmurs that overwhelms and suffocates the protagonist just over half way through the narrative.
Los murmullos is dedicated to Keith Kirchoff.
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Bios
Christopher Biggs is a composer, electronics performer, and multimedia artist whose “original and unique musical language” blends dense, contrapuntal textures with direct, visceral expression. His music presents a “masterful combination between acoustic instruments and electronics” (Avant Scena), and has been described as “heartbreakingly beautiful” (Classical Music Review), and a “sonic foodfight” (Jazz Weekly). His recent projects focus on integrating live instrumental performance with interactive audiovisual media.
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Per Bloland is a composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music whose works have been praised by the New York Times as “lush, caustic,” and “irresistible.” His compositions range from solo pieces to works for large orchestra, and incorporate video, dance, and custom-built electronics. His opera, Pedr Solis, was premiered by Guerilla Opera in 2015. He has also received commissions from Unheard-of//Ensemble, loadbang, Keith Kirchoff, Wild Rumpus, the Ecce Ensemble, the Callithumpian Consort, Stanford’s CCRMA, SEAMUS/ASCAP, and Patti Cudd. His music can be heard on the TauKay (Italy), Capstone, Spektral, and SEAMUS labels, and through the MIT Press. A portrait CD of his work, performed by Ecce Ensemble, is available on Tzadik.
Bloland is the co-creator of the Electromagnetically-Prepared Piano. In 2013 he completed a five-month Musical Research Residency at IRCAM in Paris, and is currently in a second multi-segment residency there. He is an Associate Professor of Composition and Technology, and coordinator of the Composition area at Miami University, Ohio. He is also a founding board member of the SPLICE Institute. He received his D.M.A. in composition from Stanford University and his M.M. from the University of Texas.
Scores may be purchased at www.babelscores.com/perbloland
For more information visit: www.perbloland.com
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Zaira Castillo is a passionate pianist with a profound commitment to contemporary music and collaboration with living composers. Over recent years, she has commissioned and premiered numerous solo and chamber piano works, showcasing her passion for pushing musical boundaries. As an active performer, she has premiered and performed works at several venues in the Chicago area including, Constellation Chicago, the Epiphany Center for the Arts, Northwestern University, Roosevelt University, Experimental Sound Studios, and Clara Chicago.
Her programming style reflects thoughtful curation, seamlessly blending traditional repertoire with contemporary works. This approach has earned her recognition through multiple grants, affirming her impact on the musical landscape.
Based in Chicago, Zaira balances her career as a freelance pianist and private instructor with her role as a founding member and pianist for Duo Riso.
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Percussionist Scott Deal engages new works of computer interactivity, networked systems, media, and music. Hailed as “a riveting performer” who “exhibits phenomenal virtuosity”, Deal has performed at venues worldwide, with groups that include ART GRID, ESC, Callithumpian Consort, Percussion Group Cincinnati, Miami Symphony, Sonic Arts Ensemble, and Big Robot. His recordings of Pulitzer Prize/Grammy Award-winning composer John Luther Adams were listed in New Yorker Magazine’s and WNYC’s “Top Ten Classical Picks” and featured in the soundtrack of the Academy Award winning movie The Revenant, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. In 2011, Deal and collaborator Matthew Burtner won the coveted Internet2 IDEA Award for their co-creation of "Auksalaq", a telematic climate opera called “an important realization of meaningful opera for today’s world”. His work has received funding from organizations that include Meet the Composer, New Frontiers, Indiana Arts Council, Clowes Foundation, Indiana University Arts and Humanities Institute, and the University of Alaska. Deal is a Professor and Director of the Donald Tavel Arts and Technology Research Center at Indiana University Indianapolis and is an Indiana University Presidential Arts and Humanities Fellow.
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Duo Cataclysma is the electro-acoustic duo of Jeff Kaiser (trumpet, flugelhorn, and laptop/electronics) and Seth Andrew Davis (electric guitar, laptop/electronics). The group focuses on improvisation and interactive electronics with live signal processing and virtual/artificial/robot agents. The group is heavily influenced by American free jazz, European free Improvisation, and Electro-Acoustic free improvisation traditions.
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Ethan Franklin
Senior at Berklee College of Music, Drummer/Percussionist.
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Described as a “virtuosic tour de force” whose playing is “energetic, precise, (and) sensitive,” pianist and composer Keith Kirchoff has performed throughout North America, Europe, and the Pacific Southwest. A strong advocate for living composers, Kirchoff is committed to fostering new audiences for contemporary music and giving a voice to emerging composers, and to that end has commissioned several dozen compositions and premiered hundreds of new works. He is the co-founder and President of SPLICE Music: one of the United States’ largest programs dedicated to the performance, creation, and development of music for performers and electronics. Kirchoff is active as both a soloist and chamber musician, and is a member of both Hinge Quartet and SPLICE Ensemble. Kirchoff has won awards from the Steinway Society, MetLife Meet the Composer, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Chamber Music America, and was named the 2011 Distinguished Scholar by the Seabee Memorial Scholarship Association. He has recorded on the New World, Kairos, New Focus, Tantara, Ravello, Thinking outLOUD, Zerx, and SEAMUS labels.
You can follow Kirchoff on Instagram @8e8keys and learn more at his website: keithkirchoff.com
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Post-Classical Guitarist and Composer, Emmanuel Jacob Lacopo, is an artist driven by collaboration and innovation who aims to redefine the constraints of 21st century classical music. His music challenges conventions and offers an expanded world of soundscapes. Seamlessly blending his influences, Lacopo unifies the different stylistic and cultural worlds of his instrument to create a more realistic picture of the genre in the 21st century.
Acknowledged as one of CBC’s 2023 30 under 30 classical musicians, his performances showcase the guitar in a new light through multi-instrumental performances, live electronic processing, and original compositions that mesh his influences in progressive metal, math rock, and post-rock into a post-classical experience. Lacopo’s latest release, Eastman, is a re-imagination Julius Eastman’s music arranged for guitar and electronics (released with People Places Records, 2023) and “it needs to be heard to be believed” (CBC 2023).
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Acclaimed as one of the “contemporary masters of the medium” by MIT Press’s Computer Music Journal, Elainie Lillios creates works that reflect her fascination with listening, sound, space, time, immersion, and anecdote. Her compositions include stereo, multi-channel, and Ambisonic fixed media works, instrument(s) with live electronics, collaborative experimental audio/visual animations, and installations. She also performs live electronics with ESC Trio collaborators Chris Biggs and Scott Deal and with Origami Sound Society collaborator Mark Nagy.
Elainie’s work has been recognized internationally and nationally through awards, grants, and commissions, including a 2020 Johnston Foundation commission, 2018 Fromm Foundation Commission, 2016 Barlow Endowment Commission, a 2013 Fulbright Scholar Award and many others. Her music is regularly performed at conferences, festivals, and concerts throughout the United States and abroad by amazing virtuoso performers who give their time and talent bringing her music to life in vibrant, engaging ways. Elainie’s work can be accessed on compact disc through many publishers including Emprientes DIGITALes (electrocd.com), as well as on SoundCloud, and YouTube.
Elainie serves as Director of Composition Activities for SPLICE (www.splicemusic.org) and as Professor of Creative Arts Excellence at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. elillios.com.
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Arya Nair
Sophomore in Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Composer/Singer/Pianist.
Emerging from Dubai, U.A.E, she has traveled the world; growing her expertise and striving to bridge sociocultural barriers with music. Her compositions have earned her a scholarship at the Conservatory, where she continues to grow under the guidance of composers including Bahar Royaee, Victoria Cheah, Marti Epstein, and Mischa Salkind-Pearl.
Additionally, she is enriched by her experience as a certified Trinity College London grade 8 Piano performer, and is acclaimed as the 2022 London Young Musicians Silver Award winner.
Arya works as a Stage Manager in Boston Conservatory. She is currently Boston-based, where she enjoys exploring bakeries and taking walks by the stream.
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German saxophonist Henning Schröder has concertized at major venues throughout Europe, Asia and North America, both as a soloist and in groups as diverse as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Max Raabe & Das Palast Orchester. Dr. Schröder holds the baritone saxophone chair in the Capitol Quartet. Together with his longtime duo partner, pianist Yu-Lien The, Dr. Schröder explores both the standard and contemporary repertoire of his instrument. He frequently collaborates with composers and has performed world premieres of solo or chamber compositions by Frederic Rzewski, Anna Clyne, Carter Pann, and Branford Marsalis, to name just a few.
A Yamaha Performing Artist, he has been featured in performances, lectures, clinics and as a composer at international conferences and festivals in Europe and North America, including the Midwest Clinic, SEAMUS, World Saxophone Congresses, Biennial Conferences of the North American Saxophone Alliance as well as the Schleswig Holstein Musikfestival. Dr. Schröder holds degrees in saxophone performance and saxophone pedagogy from the University of Arts Berlin, Western Michigan University and the University of Illinois. He studied with Debra Richtmeyer, Johannes Ernst, Trent Kynaston and Chip McNeill. Dr. Schröder teaches at Western Michigan University and he spends his summers in North Carolina as a member of the Brevard Summer Music Festival Artist Faculty.
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Yu-Lien Thé has performed throughout the U.S., Europe, and Southeast-Asia, including appearances as a soloist with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, the Kammerorchester Hannover, and the Baroque Orchestra L'Arco. Other notable performances include a two-piano recital with Lori Sims of Messiaen’s “Visions de l’Amen” in 2008 and a lecture-recital of “The Other Diabelli-Variations” in 2012, both at the Gilmore International Keyboard Piano in Kalamazoo. A prizewinner of the 12th International Piano Competition Viotti-Valsesia (Italy) and the Deutsche Musikwettbewerb, she was admitted to the National Concert Podium for Young Artists (Germany), which led to several concert tours with violinist Tomo Keller. Dr. The is a champion of contemporary composers and has been involved in a number of commissions and world premieres. She frequently collaborates with saxophonists Joe Lulloff and Henning Schröder as well as composers Dorothy Chang, Keith Murphy, and Carter Pann. During her tenure with the new music ensemble Opus21, she worked with composers Anna Clyne, David Lang, and Frederic Rzewski, which culminated in premiere performances at Symphony Space (New York) as well as Zankel Hall at Carnegie in 2007 and 2008, respectively.
Born in the Netherlands, Yu-Lien Thé received most of her musical training in Germany, where she obtained degrees in both piano and recorder performance and pedagogy from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover. She has earned an Artist Diploma from the Hochschule für Musik Detmold, a Master of Music from Western Michigan University, as well as a D.M.A. in piano performance from Michigan State University. Her principal piano teachers were Arie Vardi, Anatol Ugorski, Deborah Moriarty, and Lori Sims.
Yu-Lien Thé is Associate Professor of Keyboard Studies at Western Michigan University and has previously served on the faculties at Bowling Green State University, Valparaiso University, and Kalamazoo College.
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