SPLICE Institute Improvisation Workshops Showcase
Friday June 30, 2023
1:45-3:40pm EDT (more or less...)
Multimedia Room, Western Michigan University
Livestream simulcast on SPLICE YouTube (unique link)
Schedule:
1:45-2:15 Electronic Improv Ensemble Showcase
Adam Vidiksis, ensemble coordinator
2:30-3:00 SPLICE Creative Band Showcase
Dana Jessen, ensemble coordinator
3:10-3:40 Exploring Ensembles Collective Showcase
Per Bloland, ensemble coordinator
Note: all times are approximate
Notes
SPLICE Institute Improvisation Workshops ShowcaseEach summer the SPLICE Institute adopts a theme around which we organize our workshops and events. When something seems to work particularly well, we wait for a few years then bring it back. Improvisation was our theme back in 2018, and we are very excited its return this summer!
This year we decided to be a bit more organized with our improv performance workshops. Througout the week we've had a number of ensembles running consecutively, each with a slightly different focus - see notes below for specifics. The Improv Workshops Showcase is the culmination of those efforts.
We won't know exactly how each workshop will present itself until the end of the week, but we do know this will be an informal affair - not quite a concert. Times listed above are approximate, and you should feel free to come and go as you please! It has, undoubtely, been a long (and hopefully exciting) week!
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Electronic Improv Ensemble Showcase
Through daily performances, this ensemble explores the unique musical properties that emerge in and from instrumental systems capable of automation and increased agency. Our studies will include both free-improvisation and guided improvisational scores. Participants should have experience performing electronics, which could include fully electronic, either digital or analog, or hybrid electronic-acoustic systems, and they should be prepared to bring their instrument/system.
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SPLICE Creative Band Showcase
Splice Creative Music Band is an advanced participant ensemble comprising acoustic and electronic musicians. The term Creative Music refers to the approach of music making established and embodied by the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. CMB seeks to honor the AACM and will rehearse existing repertoire throughout the week that incorporates systems of improvisation. This workshop is limited to 12 participants who have prior experience with improvisation.
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Exploring Ensembles Collective Showcase
The primary goal of this workshop is to provide a structured environment in which to collectively investigate the spontaneous creation of engaging music. Each session will begin with some warmup exercises, followed by short improvisations in ad hoc groupings. Each of these will be followed by discussion and feedback, allowing us to collectively discover what is most and least effective given the setting and the individuals involved. This workshop is open to acoustic and/or electronic performers and to all levels of improvisational experience.
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Bios
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 intimate solo pieces to works for large orchestra, and incorporate video, dance, and custom-built electronics. He has received awards and recognition from organizations including IRCAM, ICMA, SEAMUS/ASCAP, the Ohio Arts Council, Digital Art Awards of Tokyo, ISCM, the Martirano Competition, and SCI/ASCAP. His first opera, Pedr Solis, commissioned and premiered by Guerilla Opera in 2015, received rave reviews from the Boston Globe and the Boston Classical Review. He has received commissions from loadbang, Keith Kirchoff, Wild Rumpus, the Ecce Ensemble, Ensemble Pi, the Callithumpian Consort, Stanford’s CCRMA, SEAMUS/ASCAP, the Kenners, Michael Straus 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, about which he has given numerous lecture/demonstrations and published a paper. In 2013 he completed a five-month Musical Research Residency at IRCAM in Paris. He is currently an Associate Professor of Composition and Technology, and coordinator of the Composition area at Miami University, Ohio. He is also a founding composition faculty member at the SPLICE Institute, and recently established the Composition program at the Montecito International Music Festival. He received his D.M.A. in composition from Stanford University and his M.M. from the University of Texas at Austin.
Scores may be purchased at www.babelscores.com/perbloland.
For more information visit: www.perbloland.com.
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Hailed as a “bassoon virtuoso” (Chicago Reader), Dana Jessen tirelessly seeks to expand the boundaries of her instrument through original compositions, improvisations, and collaborative work with innovative artists. Over the past decade, she has presented dozens of world premiere performances throughout North America and Europe while maintaining equal footing in the creative music community as an improviser. Her solo performances are almost entirely grounded in electroacoustic composition that highlight her distinct musical language. As a chamber musician, Dana is the co-founder of the contemporary reed quintet Splinter Reeds, and has performed with Alarm Will Sound, Amsterdam’s DOEK Collective, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and the Tri-Centric Ensemble, among many others. A dedicated educator, Dana teaches at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and has presented masterclasses and workshops to a range of students from across the globe.
More at: www.danajessen.com
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Adam Vidiksis is a composer, conductor, percussionist, improviser, and technologist based in Philadelphia whose music often explores social structures, science, and the intersection of humankind with the machines we build. Vidiksis’s music has won numerous awards and grants, including recognition from the Society of Composers, Incorporated, the American Composers Forum, New Music USA, National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, and ASCAP. His works are available through HoneyRock Publishing, EMPiRE, New Focus, PARMA, and SEAMUS Records. Vidiksis recently served as composer in residence for the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and was selected by the NEA and Japan-US Friendship Commission to serve as Director of Arts Technology for a performance of a new work during the 2020 Olympics in Japan. Vidiksis is Assistant Professor of music technology at Temple University, President and founding member of SPLICE Music, which includes the annual Institute, Academy, and Festival, a Resident Artist at the Renegade Theater company, and a founding member of the Impermanent Society of Philadelphia, a group dedicated to promoting improvisation in the performing arts. He performs in SPLICE Ensemble and the Transonic Orchestra, conducts Ensemble N_JP, and directs the Temple Composers Orchestra and the Boyer College Electroacoustic Ensemble Project (BEEP). He produces real-time generative improvised electronic music (a.k.a 4EA and Circadia & Currency).
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