SPLICE Institute 2024 Concert 4 Program
featuring
SPLICE AlumnX Special Concert Event
Thursday June 27, 2024
5:00pm EDT
Dalton Recital Hall, Western Michigan University
Livestream simulcast on SPLICE YouTube (unique link)
Carolyn Borcherding: Integrity of Heart (2022)
Justin Ortez, piano
J. Andrew Wright Smith : Utterances: Rage/Remit (2023)
Jordan Walsh, Percussion and live electronics
Ralph Lewis: Can't Take You Anywhere (2019)
briar darling, cello
Treya Nash : Whisper (2023)
Treya Nash, audience and electronics
Dara Etienne : Warp and Weft (2024)
Leni Kreienberg, voice & electronics
Ethan Isaac, seaboard
Austin Williams : Plip Plop (2023)
Austin Williams, modular synth and audio reactive video
Eliza Gelinas: Your Silent World (2023)
Eliza Gelinas, euphonium
Notes
Carolyn Borcherding: Integrity of Heart
Integrity of Heart meditates on the process of identifying one's sense of self, adhering to healthy core values in the face of adversity, and ultimately healing and growing from those challenges in the end.
back to program
J. Andrew Wright Smith : Utterances: Rage/Remit
Rage/Remit is part of a longer cycle of pieces called Utterances, a body of pieces interested in simultaneously showcasing the subtle and beautiful timbral qualities of each instrument and the implications of a fundamental human action given shape and form. The totality of Utterances attempts to engage with acousmatic ideas in mixed music and find a meaningful praxis for people-centered music. This movement is an outlet for rage and for finding forgiveness for others. This piece sees rage as a formless entity, akin to the desire to break things, and as determination, an anger driven force to channel that energy into something meaningful and sustaining.
back to program
Ralph Lewis: Can't Take You Anywhere
Can't Take You Anywhere is a composition I wrote for cellist Dr. Stephen Marotto. Composed for cello and electronics, much of gestural and recorded material are inspired by adventures in recording a very fussy light-sensor crackle box. Different lighting situations brought out even more unexpected sonic behavior from it than usual. As part of capturing the quirky responses to lights in an elevator, I apologized to a fellow rider for this cantankerous little object's "bad behavior"–in that moment the phrase "Can't Take You Anywhere" came to mind.
back to program
Treya Nash : Whisper
Whisper is a whispering gallery-inspired web app designed for collaborative performance between audience cell phones and a performer. The audience record themselves whispering into their cellphones, then upload their audio samples to a server. The performer controls a separate webpage through which they diffuse the samples into multichannel space, using the JSAmbisonics library. The piece is intended to engage the audience and give them agency through the use of their voice and the choice of whether to upload or delete their recording. The soundworld of the piece is designed to create a highly intimate and immersive experience which plays with the intelligibility of speech.
back to program
Dara Etienne: Warp and Weft
Warp and Weft is a guided improvisation for two performers. The duo realizes a sonic interpretation of a textile score composed by visual artist and craftsperson Dara Etienne. Using line, color, texture, and pattern, performers translate a textile object into a sonic one. The score offers unique, multidimensional and tactile opportunities for play between performers.
Though weaving and its associated tools date back many millennia, technologies of weaving looms have laid the foundation of several modern appliances. Warp and Weft evokes a connection between the historic technology of weaving and new technologies of sound, interweaving sonic fabrics past and future.
back to program
Austin Williams : Plip Plop
My attempt at providing something visually stimulating to have the viewer engaged while I perform a quasi improvised set of music. The piece is improvised in the sense of general durations of different moments and sound processing are not determined. What is determined are the set of signal processing effects and how they will affect the visuals.
The selected visuals are simple videos I have taken on my iPhone to further the concept of accessibility. Creating the atmosphere that any audience member could also have take a simple video of the subject. The reactive aspect is to accentuate the intensity of the electronics and allow the listener to fully engage in the experience.
back to program
Eliza Gelinas: Your Silent World
Your Silent World is a mixed media short film scored by an ambient generative soundscape and improvised electro-acoustic performance. The film was shot on a consumer-grade Bolex 16mm film camera and features hand-drawn animation, found footage, and home videos shot in the early 2000s. I decided to film strictly with analog equipment to comment on the rapidly improving entertainment technology of the 21st century.
The generative soundscape, created in Max/MSP, selects samples from an archive of ambient field recordings to be played back at different intervals throughout the work. These recordings were captured in the kitchen while my partner cooked or while walking around my neighborhood. When creating the ideal high-fidelity listening environment, these sounds are unwelcome as they distract from the immersive fantasy of hyper-authentically reproduced sound. Achieving a soundproof hi-fi space without isolating the listener from all noise, including people who make noise, is impossible.
By superimposing these typically intrusive sounds as the soundtrack to an otherwise silent film, Your Silent World creates an eerie representation of reality and highlights the absurd desire to replicate physical experiences. The euphonium is used for sound design, featuring real-time manipulation of effects that add an imaginative and interactive atmosphere to the performance.
back to program
Bios
Carolyn Borcherding is a composer and sound artist predominantly interested in building sounding and visual worlds within which performing bodies and audio gestures can exist together in fluid relationships. Her body of work ranges from pieces for solo instrument to multimedia ensembles consisting of video, electronically produced sound, and acoustic instruments. In her multimedia works, she considers each medium an essential performing body in which the media interact with, relate to, and inform one another. In fixed media works, she experiments particularly with the creation and destruction of the listeners’ sense of space. Her works have increasingly explored narrative constructs related to historical, cultural, and societal topics.
back to program
briar darling (they/fae/she) is a freelance composer and cellist, sound designer, and multi-instrumentalist based in Chicago, IL. faer primary aesthetic interest is exploring electroacoustic systems of musicmaking within a mode that conveys unhinged virtuosity and ecstatic emotion in equal and overwhelming measure.
As a cellist, they have performed within genres ranging from early baroque and cutting edge contemporary compositions to grindcore and avant garde improvisation. she has an ongoing collaborative relationship with Ashton Bauer, a Chicago-based dancer, choreographer, and educator. As a passionate advocate of new music, she has premiered works by Ben Johnston, Jack Langdon, Christian Quiñones, Alyssa Aska, Cheng Jin Koh, among many others. fae has performed with ensembles and bands such as New Music Mosaic, Illinois Modern Ensemble, Sweetmelk, and members of the Bergamot Quartet and JACK Quartet. As a keyboardist, she performed as a ringer with the meteoric cybergrind band Thotcrime during the winter and spring of 2023. In addition to her musical endeavors, fae is a passionate cook and a PK-12 substitute teacher for Chicago Public Schools.
back to program
Dara Etienne is a multidisciplinary visual artist and craftsperson from Eastern Massachusetts. Using both institutionally learned and self taught processes, their work spans from printmaking to woodworking, quilting, weaving, etc. Their pieces often revolve around labor, workmanship, expression of the self, and gender identity. Currently based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Dara is a member of the hotbed artist collective and spends their time laboring over materials to fashion new art work. They have worked both within and outside of the state, attending residencies at Contemporary Craft and the Center for Creative Reuse in Pittsburgh as well as the Chrysalis Institute micro residency in Michigan.
back to program
Eliza Gelinas is a composer, filmmaker, and multi-instrumentalist living in Western Massachusetts who specializes in creating music that accompanies film, digital media projects, contemporary dance, and theater. They specialize in low-brass and electric bass, and perform live electroacoustic music to experimental visual media that they create using a combination of digital animation and analog filmmaking techniques. Eliza holds a Master’s degree in Music Composition from The Hartt School at the University of Hartford.
back to program
Ethan Isaac (b.1996) whose music has been described as "Post-revolutionary" and "an almost Elgarian sweep of broad melody" (New York Classical Review) is a composer that deals with topics from Russian novels to urban planning. By fusing alchemical audio processes with conventional notation they are able to realize a new musical future. They attained their B.A at Bard College and M.A at Rutgers University where they studied under Kyle Gann, Matt Sargent, Robert Aldridge, and Scott Ordway. Currently attending the University of Pittsburgh as a PhD student under Eric Moe, Ethan teaches undergraduates and researches new methods of realizing just intonation music.
Ethan has had the pleasure of working as an audio engineer under producers Jamey Lamar, and Marlan Barry. They have recorded various jazz and classical performers such as Arturo Sandoval, Branford Marsalis, Tommy Emmanuel, the Dover Quartet, and members of the LA Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, MET Orchestra.
back to program
Leni Kreienberg is a composer, improviser, and performer based in New York, originally from Albany. Leni’s work uses electronics to create and extend instruments and imagine relationships between objects, people, machines, locations, and the sounds they create. Leni builds instrument systems that connect the voice with analog electronics and live processing in Max MSP and Ableton. Their compositional mediums include text scores, sound collage, songs, improvisation, games, graphic scores, and classically notated scores in the Western tradition. They earned their B.A. at Brown University and are currently in the Performer-Composer MM program at the New School, where they study with Levy Lorenzo and Wendy Eisenberg.
back to program
Dr. Ralph Lewis is a composer whose works seek meeting points between sonorous music and arresting noise, alternative tunings and timbre, and the roles of performer and audience. He currently serves as Adjunct Instructor of Music Composition and Music Theory at Millikin University. Lewis’s music has been presented at festivals and conferences including the TENOR Conference and ACMC in Australia, Radiophrenia Glasgow, Convergence, and Sonic Cartography in the UK, as well as Verdant Vibes, Thirsty Ears Festival, SEAMUS, Boston Microtonal Society, SCI National Conference, College Music Society, Electronic Music Midwest, MOXsonic, N_SEME, CHIME Fest, Electroacoustic Barn Dance, and the Music for People and Thingamajigs Festival. Throughout the 2020-2021 school year, he served as Composer-in-Residence for the Oberlin Arts and Sciences Orchestra. Lewis was elected as Member-At-Large for Outreach for SEAMUS in 2023, and leads All Score Urbana, a free-to-the-public community music composition program he founded in 2016. Lewis received his DMA from University of Illinois in 2021.
back to program
Treya Nash is a composer and creative coder based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She is currently completing her PhD at Louisiana State University with Mara Gibson and Jesse Allison. She teaches courses in composition and coding, and previously worked as Program Director for Charlotte New Music. Treya has presented her work at conferences and festivals such as the Web Audio Conference, SEAMUS, Electronic Music Midwest, Espacios Sonoros, LaTex festival, and more. She has worked with ensembles such as Popebama, Ensemble Ipse, Bent Frequency, New Music Mosaic, Hypercube, Homegrown New Music Ensemble, Camerata Temporalis, PHACE, F-Plus, and more. She was a winner of the 2023 Ensemble Ipse Call for Scores and the 2023 Bent Frequency Underscore Call for Scores. Treya’s area of focus is audience participation in the concert hall, which often involves creating web apps for cell phone use.
back to program
Justin Paul Ortez is a pianist, composer, and songwriter based in
Chicago, Illinois, whose work across disciplines centers emotional
immediacy, sonic experimentation, and narrative. Most frequently a
performer of contemporary music, he has given dozens of premieres
and performances of new music in the United States, Canada, and
Europe. He has been praised for thoughtful approaches to avant-garde
repertoire, sensitivity to dynamic extremes, and a sense of poise and
comfort when navigating techniques inside the piano. Ortez is currently
pursuing a Performance Diploma at Roosevelt University, conducting his
primary piano studies under Winston Choi.
back to program
An educator, composer, electronic musician, and vocalist from Atlanta, GA, J. Andrew Wright Smith (b. 1992) is zealous about the intersections between acousmatic sound, live performers, and improvisation.
A graduate of the University of North Texas’s PhD program in Music Composition. J. Andrew’s teachers have included Joseph Klein, Panayiotis Kokoras, Andrew May, John Nelson, Elainie Lillios, Mikel Kuehn, Christopher Dietz, Fred Cohen, and Matthew McCabe. Additionally, he has worked with artists and performers such as Jordan Walsh, Diana Rojas, Sean Lopez, Stephen Marotto, Lisa Kaplan, Matthew Duvall, Conner Simmons, and Caleb Burkhardt.
Currently Assistant Professor of Practice in Music Technology at the University of Texas San Antonio, J. Andrew lives in San Antonio with his dog, Auggie, his cat, George, and his loving wife, Anna.
back to program
Jordan Walsh is a percussionist and audio engineer based in Austin, Texas. A proponent of electronics and theater in music, he strives to perform the most absurd music with the most genuine fervor. Frequently engaged as a solo performer, Jordan has appeared as a guest at the SEAMUS conference, the University of Arkansas Fort Smith, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, and Purdue University. He is principal percussionist for the Density512 new music collective, member of minimalist improvisation group Goliath Was Bigfoot, and is one half of the non-broadcast-pirate-radio phenomenon Peach Blossom Highway. When he is not engaged with contemporary classical music, Jordan can be found playing drums with orchestral glam-rock band Maru and prepared guitar with Austin’s experimental folk band Middle Sattre. Jordan currently serves as Professor of Percussion at Southwestern University and Austin Community College, and proudly endorses Pearl/Adams Percussion, Sabian Cymbals, Black Swamp Percussion, and Innovative Percussion.
back to program
Breaching into interdisciplinary practices and a wide variety of collaborations, Chicago Based composer and sound designer Austin Gray Williams uses both traditional and exploratory compositional techniques and trends to create art at his highest level. Having a deep understanding of music technology and common practice techniques has enabled Austin to create worlds of sound that bridge natural acoustic settings and unconventional electroacoustic phenomena. By incorporating electronics and acoustic techniques there is a generally maximal approach to most works. Throwing paint against the wall, seeing what sticks, throwing more paint, seeing what sticks again. Explorations and a fervent attitude towards learning are key aspects to Williams’ process and desire towards elevated artistic output.
With a strong performance background guiding compositional techniques it’s not uncommon to see Austin directly improvising and collaborating with performers in the Chicago New Music scene. In doing so, he creates a deeper connection with performers and an even deeper connection with self and understanding of how art deeply impacts the individual and community. Not only does this strengthen connection between individuals but also allows a space for questions to be asked and furthering the conversation between performers and the performer/composer relationship.
Life is messy, harsh, and beautiful; Austin Gray Williams reflects on finding the space where chaos and beauty intersect.
back to program