Alvin Lucier Festival Celebrates Landmark Electronic Composer with Concerts at UBalt, May 12 and 19, Followed by Performances in D.C.
May 6, 2022
Contact: Office of Advancement and External Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
Three dozen musicians from eight states will come together to pay tribute to the trailblazing electronic composer Alvin Lucier (1931-2021) with four epic concerts of his work, including two performances at The University of Baltimore on Thursday, May 12 and Thursday, May 19. The performances will honor the acclaimed experimental composer, who passed away last December. All events are free and open to the public. Attendance details are linked below.
Lucier was one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He wrote music that highlighted the physical effect of sound in space and on the listener's body, and he managed to make scientific sonic principles into tender, sincere musical pieces for many different instruments. A recent article in VICE gives an excellent overview of his work.
Highlights of the festival include Georgia Tech professor Grace Leslie, a researcher on using brain waves in music making, performing Lucier’s Music for Solo Performer, in which she generates alpha brain waves that make percussion instrument sound via an EEG sensor. Sam Pluta and Christopher Burns will install Music on a Long Thin Wire, which uses a large horseshoe magnet and a wire to generate strange, vibrating, droning music. The New England experimental ensemble Ordinary Affects will perform Corner Church & High, a recent piece of Lucier's that was written for them. The largest piece will be Lucier's Septet for seven instruments and sine wave oscillator.
The first two concerts will take place at the University of Baltimore's Wright Theater, 21 W. Mt. Royal Ave., Baltimore, Md. 21230, on Thursday, May 12 and Thursday, May 19, each at 7:30 p.m. The latter two performances will take place at George Washington University’s Corcoran Flagg Building, 500 17th St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006, on Friday, May 20 at 6 and 8 p.m.
Tickets may be reserved at these links:
Composers Ian Power, assistant professor in The University of Baltimore's Klein Family School of Communication Design, Sam Pluta of the Peabody Conservatory, and Heather Stebbins of George Washington University are organizing the festival.
Performers from the Baltimore/D.C. region include Sky Macklay, Will Yager, James Young, Dannielle Sturgeon, Robin Rhodes, Sean McFarland, David Mirowski, Shelly Purdy, Sarah Manley, Melissa Wertheimer, Stephanie Ray, Ning Yu, Ian Power, Tom Moore, Zoe Fried, and Bonnie Lander.
Performers visiting from other cities include Neha Rajagopalan (Athens, Ga.), Saksham Jain (Athens, Ga.), Fabio Oliveira (Glassboro, N.J.), Katie Porter (Salt Lake City), Devin Maxwell (Salt Lake City), Mischa Salkind-Pearl (Boston), Jeff Gavett (New York), Bri Wiegand (State College, Pa.), Laura Cetilia (Providence, R.I.), Jordan Dykstra (New York), Morgan Evans-Weiler (Philadelphia), and J.P.A. Falzone (Boston).
More information is available by sending an email to Ian Power or calling 585.746.1930.