SoundImageSound 9 International Festival of New Music and Video
Co-sponsored by the Pacific Humanities Center
Thursday, Jan. 31, 7:30 P.M.,
Recital Hall
Concert of New Music and Video
Friday, Feb. 1, 7:30 P.M.
Faye Spanos Concert Hall
Concert of Live Ensemble Works: Bass Flute, Alto and Baritone Saxophone, Analog Synthesizer, Computer, and Video
After a year long break while Artistic Director Robert Coburn was composing and doing research in Japan, SoundImageSound Festival of New Music and Video returns with another exciting year featuring works that blend sound and visual image in an experience often described as intermedia. By combining acoustic instruments with live music technology, video, and multi-channel audio, SoundImageSound 9 will envelope the audience in unimagined sounds and moving images.
As in years past, SoundImageSound 9 brings to Stockton a wide selection of video works and live performance pieces for acoustic and electronic instruments, computer, and video. The 7:30 PM concert on Thursday, January 31 features video works from Japan, England, Austria, Greece, and the US. The concert at 7:30 PM Friday night, February 1 presents animations from Japan by the Calf Collective and live performance pieces by Todd Barton, Ricardo Sigal, and Robert Coburn/Celia Eid. Guest performers include Mat Krejci, bass flute; David Henderson alto saxophone; Kevin Baldwin, baritone saxophone, and Todd Barton, Buchla analog synthesizer.
Special attention this year is given to several works receiving premiere performances. While in Japan, Robert Coburn collaborated with French animation artist Celia Eid in the creation of Interstitial Traces, a work for saxophones, computer soundscape, and animation. This work will be presented in its original 2 screen projection format. About this piece Robert Coburn says,
“We created this piece while living on different continents – Celia in France and I in Japan. In a way, the piece represents both of those influences. The flowing, abstract gestures of the animation represent Celia’s Brazilian/French artistic nature. The sound world I have created grows entirely from field recordings made in Japan, while the saxophone writing serves to bridge the distance. Part of our intention in making this piece was to deal with layered relationships of foreground and background. We first collaborated on the black and white, horizontal imagery as background. That evolved into something more. After seeing the abstraction of Celia’s animation I found that many shapes suggested real world elements. In wanting to highlight that, as well as to ground the abstraction in a non-abstract sound world, I worked with found sounds and site recordings - footsteps in the night, the sounds of a Buddhist temple, insects and birds in a Japanese garden. The images and sounds seemed to make a perfect pairing. As the work unfolded, the foreground/background elements merged and took on new life. The completed saxophone parts will now also participate in this evocative foreground/background relationship, and in doing so bring an entirely different element to the mix."
Also featured on the Friday night concert will be a performance by composer Todd Barton of a new work for analog synthesis and video. Todd recently retired after over 30 years as the composer-in-residence at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. His career has involved the composition of music for over 100 theater productions and in doing so he has creative some of the most evocative and innovative sounds to serve the dramatic intent. This is a rare opportunity to hear him perform new soundwork on the Buchla analog synthesizer.
Tickets: $8 general admission, $5 Pacific faculty/staff and seniors. Students are admitted free. PURCHASE TICKETS
For further information, and artist pictures or video screenshots please contact Robert Coburn: rcoburn@pacific.edu or call 209.946.2186
Artist urls:
Todd Barton: http://www.toddbarton.com/content/about/bio.shtml
Celia Eid: http://mapage.noos.fr/celiaeid/cv.html (in french)
Rodrigo Sigal: http://www.cmmas.org/cmmas_staff.php?lan=en&staff_id=2
Calf Animation Collective (Japan): http://calf.jp/en/news/
Bret Battey: http://www.mti.dmu.ac.uk/~bbattey/