SPLICE Institute 2024 Concert 2 Program
featuring
SPLICE Faculty and Guests
Tuesday June 25, 2024
7:30pm EDT
Dalton Recital Hall, Western Michigan University
Livestream simulcast on SPLICE YouTube (unique link)
Kyong Mee Choi : Du §
Keith Kirchoff, piano
Elainie Lillios : Immeasurable Distance
Scott Deal, percussion
Sam Pluta : points against fields
Dana Jessen, bassoon
Christopher Biggs : We All Fall In
Scott Deal, percussion
Per Bloland : Los murmullos §
Keith Kirchoff, piano
§ Commissioned by Keith Kirchoff
Notes
Kyong Mee Choi : Du
Du (you) is written for the composer's husband, celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary. The electronic part of the piece involves water sounds that are associated with the composer's name and the plainsong that she wrote for her husband. The piece attempts to reflect the balance between lighthearted nature and the depth of connection, which the couple appreciates throughout their life together.
"Du" also has a special meaning to the composer in that Du is the word that her parents who were German literature scholars used to call each other.
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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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Sam Pluta : points against fields
Points Against Fields (tombeau de Bernard Parmegiani) is a collaboration in the truest sense of the word, and is based on improvisations with Dana Jessen. The electronics part is comprised mostly of components created in our improvisations. The bassoon part embraces Dana's skills as both a performer of notated works and as an improviser. Points Against Fields is dedicated to Bernard Parmegiani, one of the great composers of the twentieth century, who died at the end of 2013. The end of the piece is a direct quote of the end of Parmegiani's 1974 masterwork de natura sonorum.
- Sam Pluta
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Christopher Biggs : We All Fall In
we will all fall in was written for and is dedicated to Scott Deal. The work draws on imagery from Jeff Lemire and Scott Snyder’s graphic novel “A.D. After Death.” A
scene in the graphic novel paints a picture of a family playing on a frozen lake and
the juxtaposition between the family’s experience of joy and freezing water below
the ice. “...part of you refuses to ignore what’s beneath, to ignore the fact that at some point...the ice will give way to the cold, black water below it. And, one by one, your friends, your family, and you, will all fall in.”
For me, this scene evoked the feeling that I often have right now: all the joy and
beauty created by humans is at risk because of climate stability. That feeling and
dread for humanity’s future colors all the creative, beautiful, and empathetic acts I witness. Without rapid and dramatic action we will all fall in.
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Per Bloland: Los murmullos
Los murmullos is based on a highly influential yet little known (at least in the US) novel from the 1950s: Pedro Páramo, by the Mexican author Juan Rulfo. It 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 more heavily populated 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. Sound is particularly important to the narrative. The original title of the novel was in fact 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.
My composition, for piano and electronics, shifts between four recurring material types, each inspired by one of the above-mentioned elements as described in the book. 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 short version of this piece, Los murmullitos, has been around for a while, and performed many times by Keith Kirchoff, for whom it was written. I’m thrilled to finally get the full version out there, and even more so to hear Keith work his magic on it. I believe this confirms that he is indeed an alien. At the outset he’d asked for something with a bit of noise – hopefully this does the trick.
Los murmullos is dedicated to Keith Kirchoff (obviously).
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Bios
Christopher Biggs is a composer, electronic music performer, and multimedia artist residing in Kalamazoo, MI, where he is Associate Professor of Music Composition and Technology at Western Michigan University. Biggs’ recent projects focus on developing and performing a live electronic music system for both in-person and networked performances. Biggs is the Director of SPLICE Institute.
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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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Scott Deal has performed throughout the world premiering solo, chamber and mixed media works, and can be heard on the Albany, Centaur, Cold Blue, SCI, and Neuma record labels. His recordings have been described as “soaring, shimmering explorations of resplendent mood and incredible scale”….”sublimely performed”. His recent recording of John Luther Adams’ Four Thousand Holes, for piano, percussion, and electronics was listed in New Yorker Magazine’s 2011 Top Ten Classical Picks.
Described as a “riveting performer” who plays with “phenomenal virtuosity”, Deal has built his work at the nexus of music performance and emerging artistic technologies. He is the founder of the Telematic Collective, an Internet performance group comprised of artists and computer specialists, and was the founder for the computer-acoustic trio Big Robot (2008-2018). In 2011, Deal and composer Matthew Burtner won the coveted Internet2 IDEA Award for their co-creation of Auksalaq, a telematic opera called “an important realization of meaningful opera for today’s world”. In 2020 he launched Earth Day Art Model Festival, a transmedia event highlighting telematic and media-enriched musical performances from around the world. Earth Day Art Model has reached audiences in over 100 countries.
Deal has received funding from organizations that include Meet the Composer, Lilly Foundation New Frontiers, Indiana Arts Council, Clowes Foundation, IUPUI Arts and Humanities Institute, ConocoPhillips, and the University of Alaska. In 2023 he was named an Indiana University President’s Arts and Humanities Fellow. He resides in Indianapolis, Indiana where he is a Professor of Music and Director of the Donald Louis Tavel Arts and Technology Research Center at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Deal was a Professor of Music at the University of Alaska Fairbanks from 1995 to 2007, where he founded the percussion and technology programs and served as Principal Percussionist of the Fairbanks Symphony and the Arctic Chamber Orchestra. He served on the faculty of the New England Conservatory Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice (Sick Puppy) from 2006 to 2022.
Early in his career he was the Timpanist/Principal Percussionist of the Miami Symphony, and taught at the New World School of the Arts, where in 1994 he was voted Teacher of the Year. As a student he was winner in the Music Teacher’s National Association Collegiate Artist Competition, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory Concerto Competition, and was a finalist in the Percussive Arts Society International Marimba Competition and the McMahon Competition. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from the University of Miami, a Master of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cameron University. Deal is a Yamaha and Black Swamp Percussion Artist.
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Kyong Mee Choi, composer, organist, painter, poet, and visual artist, received several prestigious awards and grants including John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, Robert Helps Prize, Aaron Copland Award, John Donald Robb Musical Trust Fund Commission, Illinois Arts Council Fellowship, First prize of ASCAP/SEAMUS Award, Second prize at VI Concurso Internacional de Música Eletroacústica de São Paulo among others. Her music was published at Ablaze, CIMESP (São Paulo, Brazil), SCI, EMS, ERM media, SEAMUS, and Détonants Voyages (Studio Forum, France). She is the Program Director of Music Composition, Music and Computing at Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University in Chicago where she teaches composition and electro-acoustic music. Samples of her works are available at http://www.kyongmeechoi.com.
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Hailed as a “bassoon virtuoso” (Chicago Reader) and 2023 Cleveland Arts Prize winner, 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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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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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 and as Professor of Creative Arts Excellence at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
Sam Pluta is a Baltimore-based composer, laptop improviser, electronics performer, and sound artist. Though his work has a wide breadth, his central focus is on using the laptop as a performance instrument capable of sharing the stage with groups ranging from new music ensembles to world-class improvisers. By creating unique interactions of electronics, instruments, and sonic spaces, Pluta's vibrant musical universe fuses the traditionally separate sound worlds of acoustic instruments and electronics, creating sonic spaces which envelop the audience and resulting in a music focused on visceral interaction of instrumental performers with reactive computerized sound worlds.
As a composer of instrumental music, Sam has written works for Wet Ink Ensemble, the New York Philharmonic, International Contemporary Ensemble, the Warsaw Autumn Festival, Yarn/Wire, Timetable Percussion, Mivos Quartet, Spektral Quartet, Ensemble Dal Niente, Mantra Percussion, TAK, Rage Thormbones, and Prism Saxophone Quartet. His compositions range from solo instrumental works to pieces for ensemble with electronics to compositions for large ensemble and orchestra. In addition to acoustic and electro-acoustic works, Pluta has written extensive solo electronic repertoire ranging from multi-channel acousmatic compositions to solo laptop works with video to laptop ensemble compositions for up to 15 players.
Sam is the Technical Director for the Wet Ink Ensemble, a group for whom he is a member composer as well as principal electronics performer. As a performer of chamber music with Wet Ink and other groups, in addition to his own works, Sam has performed and premiered works by Peter Ablinger, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Katharina Rosenberger, George Lewis, Ben Hackbarth, Alvin Lucier, Chiyoko Szlavnics, Alex Mincek, Kate Soper, and Eric Wubbels among others.
As an improviser, Sam has collaborated with some of the finest creative musicians in the world, including Peter Evans, Evan Parker, Ikue Mori, Craig Taborn, Ingrid Laubrock, Anne La Berge, and George Lewis. Sam is a member of multiple improvisation-based ensembles, the jazz influenced Peter Evans Ensemble, the free improvisation-based Rocket Science (with Evan Parker, Craig Taborn and Peter Evans), the analog synth and laptop duo exclusiveOr (with Jeff Snyder), and his longstanding duo with Peter Evans. Sam has also performed with the Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble. With these various groups he has toured Europe and America and performed at major festivals and venues, such as the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland, the Moers and Donaueshingen Festivals in Germany, Bimhuis in Amsterdam, and The Vortex in London.
Dr Pluta studied composition and electronic music at Columbia University, where he received his DMA in 2012. He received Masters degrees from the University of Birmingham in the UK and the University of Texas at Austin, and completed his undergraduate work at Santa Clara University. His principal teachers include George Lewis, Brad Garton, Tristan Murail, Fabien Levy, Scott Wilson, Jonty Harrison, Russell Pinkston, Lynn Shurtleff, and Bruce Pennycook.
Sam is Associate Professor of Computer Music and Music Engineering Technology at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where he directs the Peabody Computer Music Studios. From 2011-15 he directed the Electronic Music Studio at Manhattan School of Music and from 2015-2020 he directed the CHIME Studio at the University of Chicago. For 16 years he taught composition, musicianship, electronic music, and an assortment of specialty courses at the Walden School, where he also served as Director of Electronic Music and Academic Dean. He now teaches at the Walden School Creative Musicians Retreat, a summer program for adult sonic artists.
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