Jean-Francois Charles

You are invited this Thursday, February 20, 2020 at the Hancher Cafe, Iowa City, at 5:30 p.m. for Science on Tap The Scientific Concert: New Music Distilled from Geology, Physics, and Chemistry I will present how collaboration with musicians, scientists, and technicians has been at the core of the creative process for the Scientific Concert show premiered on October 27, 2019. I will also demonstrate new musical instruments made of stones and show exclusive making-of videos . I hope to see you there!

It was a treat to present in October this Scientific Concert with Volkan Orhon (double bass), Dan Moore (percussion), Benjamin Revis (water clock, Rijke tubes, creation of glass instruments), Ryan Clark (geologist, story about Iowa), Matthew Wortel (creation of stone instruments, preparation of thin slices of stones for visuals), Frederick Skiff (presentation), Will Borich (live media creation for Petrasonic, lighting design), and James Edel, who recorded and worked on audio and video. I hope you enjoy these video excerpts: Scientific Concert excerpts on youtube

The Latin aeris is the genitive form for aer , "air" and for aes , "bronze," airain in French. In this piece, the natural resonances of a cymbal are highlighted through a feedback system. These metal resonances translate to audible air vibrations. Aeris fits in the tradition of pieces exploring the sound of metal, like Mikrophonie I . Frederick Skiff, Professor of Physics, explains how the cymbal sounds like a butterfly wandering through hyperspace. The picture was taken by Miranda Meyer on the day of Scientific Concert's première, October 27, 2019.

To cap a great day with two performances of the Scientific Concert, the clock greeted the audience with the top of its hour: the minutes column is reset while the hours display is incremented from 3 to 4 bulbs. The clock was built by Benjamin Revis at the University of Iowa . It was invented by French artist Bernard Gitton .

Come and let yourself be enchanted by the water clock built by Benjamin Revis after French artist Bernard Gitton's design: it's going to be live on stage this Sunday, October 27, 2019. Scientific Concert at the University of Iowa School of Music . 2 performances: 3pm & 5 pm.

I'm excited to share with you a couple of images from work and rehearsals before the upcoming Scientific Concert. In this video, Matthew Wortel and Dan Moore are extracting sounds hidden inside of an Iowa stone: Only on October 27, 2019, University of Iowa School of Music . 2 performances: 3 pm and 5 pm.