Posts

Masse pétrie

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Here is a video of the première of Masse pétrie , a new piece for cello and live electronics system Sampo. Cellist Marie Ythier gave a wonderful performance during the Impressions concert at Musinfo's festival Art & Sciences Days 2019 . Youtube link: Masse pétrie for cello and Sampo live electronics . Rencontres Don't miss Marie's new album, just released: she performs Schumann as well as new music by Tristan Murail in this album titled Une Rencontre .

Composing for the Sampo

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I am honored to have been awarded a commission and residency at the 2019 Sampo Composition Competition , organized by musinfo . Following this award, I have composed a new piece Masse pétrie for cello and the live electronics system Sampo , which will be performed by cellist Marie Ythier . She has worked with many composers, and has recorded new works for cello and live electronics in her album Le Geste Augmenté . I'm looking forward to working with her, and to meeting the festival guest composers . What is the Sampo? The Sampo is a live electronics set-up that implements a simplified version of one algorithm available on the Lexicon sound processor LXP-15. Although the Sampo hardware is quite advanced and expensive (it includes a computer and a sound card), the software's capabilities are more limited than these offered by the original LXP-15 sound processor. Sampo implements a simplified version of the Pitch-Delay algorithm, from the Lexicon LXP-15 sound processor. C...

Petrified: double bass & live electronics

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Petrified is a composition for double bass and live electronics. Bassist Will Yager premiered the piece during our Spring 2019 Laptop Orchestra concert . In this first version, I performed the live electronic processing live. Will asked me to prepare a standalone version that he could take on the road. Here is a screenshot of the live audio processing interface: In this work, the electronics consist of two layers: live spectral processing of the double bass, including pitch shifting, frequency shifting, noise shaping, etc. multi-playhead sampler, applied to sound sampled at different points during the piece. These sonic layers are also mixed with the direct sound of the instrument, and sent to a delay and two reverb lines. Tonight, Will is performing Petrified with the standalone live electronics, during the Electronic Music Studio concert, Stark Studio, Voxman Building, 7:30. Update: the score and Max patch for Petrified, version for double bass & live electronics , a...

Dusapin's Anacoluthe

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This semester, I've been coaching bassist Will Yager and soprano Anika Kildegaard on their chamber music project LIGAMENT . They have been building a great repertoire of pieces for double bass and soprano. Then, we had the idea of working on Pascal Dusapin 's composition Anacoluthe , for soprano, double bass, and contrabass clarinet. Last week, during Ensemble Accroche Note 's residency at the School of Music, we worked with clarinetist Armand Angster and soprano Françoise Kubler - she took the pictures. We are performing Anacoluthe tonight, at the School of Music, University of Iowa , at 7:30 in the Recital Hall. You are invited! By the way, do you know what an anacoluthe is?

Grant Wood in Paris: Music Engraving

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To engrave the score and parts for the Grant Wood in Paris opera, I used Dorico . You'll find more information in this conversation with Daniel Spreadbury: Dorico Showcase: Celebrating Grant Wood’s Strokes of Genius . Here are a couple of examples that could not be included on the article:

Canvas and Composers

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You are invited on Thursday night at the Canvas & Composers event, featuring the composer-librettists who created The Grant Wood Operas: Strokes of Genius : Jean-François Charles Robert Lindsey-Nassif Michael Ching With the presence of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art staff: Executive Director Sean Ulmer Associate Curator Kate Kunau They are going to discuss the Grant Wood painting that inspired the three new operas. Canvas & Composers Thursday, March 14, 7-8 pm Cedar Rapids Museum of Art 410 Third Avenue SE, Auditorium Free and open to the public

Grant Wood in Paris: the paintings

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The Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre production Grant Wood: Strokes of Genius is coming soon! Here are the paintings that inspired me to compose Grant Wood in Paris . The postcard written by Grant Wood in Paris is not going to be shown, but you will see that the set includes projections of the paintings. If you want to buy your tickets, they are available online at the Cedar Rapids Theatre .