Jake Sentgeorge
Yes yes yes
for voice and electronics
with Alex Smith, chimes, drum set, electronics
Craig Michael Davis
Safe Haven
Piano and Electronics
In most of my pieces, I try to create a consistent sound world. In this piece, Safe Haven, I used mostly long drones with the occasional high-frequency granulated sound. The piece continues to change in a sort of Kaleidoscopic way with most parts entering and exiting the sound very modestly.
The electronics in “Safe Haven” uses various spectral analysis and granulation, mixed with various synth patches from the Absynth 5 and East West Sound Libraries. As the piece unfolds, the piano part begins to loosely mimic the electronics. In the middle of the piece, the sound of a boy chorus is heard. The audience is left wondering, “is this real or artificial?””Generally, humans think of electronics or AI’s as mimicking humans so in “Safe Haven,” the roles are reversed and now the human mimics the machine.
Joe Cantrell
Trash Talk
The Blackbox Loop series is a cycle of process pieces composed on and for broken and obsolete audio equipment that have their output channels directly routed to their audio inputs. This creates a feedback loop is controlled by the patch made specifically to create sound that can evolve and degrade over time. Into this system, moments of influence are initiated by the performer, adding and altering the stasis of the feedback and the piece. In this way, a soundscape unfolds in which the agency of the performer and the technological objects are more leveled than a traditional performance situation, affording a collaborative voice to discarded, unwanted technological objects.
Michael James Olson
Along The North Shore
The north shore of Lake Superior is a special place for me: the rhythms of the waves meet the jagged rocky shores, the massive lake with an endless stretch of horizon. This piece is a snapshot of spending time on the lake; the constant movement framed through the illusion of expansive stasis.
Brad Decker
Ricercar in Green
Contrabass, Electronics
A ricercar is traditionally a contrapuntal work that imitates one or more themes. My work is influenced by the performance style of contrabassist Bertram Turetzky, an innovator in modern extended techniques, who recorded “Ricercar a 3” by Robert Erickson in 1967. Like Erickson’s work from 50 years ago, which uses tape recording techniques to simulate a three-voice canon, this work utilizes a computer application created in Max to record and playback two additional imitative layers. This ricercar imitates three points of imitation, based upon Turetzky’s techniques – touch, wood, and bow.
Biographies
Joe Cantrell: I am a musician and multi-media artist specializing in sound art, installations, compositions, and performances inspired by the implications and consequences of technological objects and practices. My work examines the incessant acceleration of technology and media production, its ownership, and the waste it produces. In the rush to get the newest and shiniest things, the less new and less shiny are cast off: today’s hot commodity is often tomorrow’s garbage. In solidarity with these abandoned objects and the hands that put them together, I make electronic feedback soundscapes using only discarded, obsolete and / or broken technology. It’s a physical collaboration: the machines listen to themselves and act accordingly. I offer suggestions to them and we make sound together. I have presented my research, art and performances for audiences around the world, including the Society for Electroacoustic Music in the US, the International Computer Music Association, the New Instruments for Musical Expression conference, as well as artist residencies in New York, London and Beijing. My work has been honored with grants from the Creative Capital Foundation, New Music USA, the University of California Institute for Research in the Arts, and the Qualcomm Institute Initiative for Digital Exploration of Arts and Sciences, among others. I hold a BFA in music technology from the California Institute of the Arts, an MFA in digital arts and new media from UC Santa Cruz, and am currently a PhD candidate in integrative studies at UC San Diego.
Craig Michael Davis is an internationally known composer, conductor, and pianist from California who currently lives in Bloomington, Indiana. He travels the world performing with ‘Command-E,’ which he founded in 2015. Receiving a Master’s Degree in Theory and Composition from the New York University, Craig studied predominately with Michael Gordon and Julia Wolfe. Craig’s most recent work Re-Creation, for String Orchestra, was premiered by the L’viv Philharmonic Orchestra in May 2015. For the theater, Craig is currently working on a piece entitled, “Letters to a Terrorist,” portraying one woman’s journey and life as the wife of the leader of a terrorist organization in Algeria. Since 2009, Craig has conducted various full and scratch orchestra-type ensembles, including the Broadway Chamber Players, the New Music Ensemble at California State University, Fullerton; the Fullerton Choir; and The White Noise Contemporary Music Ensemble. These ensembles have curated music from the Renaissance through music of today including David Lang, Louis Andriessen, Terry Riley, Kyle Gann, Lloyd Rodgers, and Frederic Rzewski. His writing has earned a number of awards and residencies, among which include Finalist in the 2015 Sacrarium International Composition Competition and Forum, The 2013 Alan A. Mannason Award for Composition, and The 2012 Henriquez Award for Composition. His music has been played in the United States as well as in Europe. Most recently, his works have been performed by the New York University Philharmonic Orchestra; the L’viv Philharmonic Orchestra in L’viv, Ukraine; the JACK Quartet, in New York; and at various new music performance spaces in and around New York City. Craig’s music is published through Jack Harrison Publishing Inc.
Brad Decker is a composer, improviser, and educator in new music composition, multimedia, and sound art. He performs as a double-bassist and sound artist using structured improvisation and live computer processing in numerous capacities, namely solo works, group ensemble collaboration, video art installations, and film soundtracks. Notable performances have been in Mexico, Australia, Italy, France, Brazil, and Canada, as well as at numerous venues in the United States. He completed his Doctorate of Musical Arts in composition from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and his Masters in Music composition and theory at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He currently teaches music composition and electronic music at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois.
Michael James Olson is a Minnesota-based composer, performer, producer, and media artist. Michael’s concert music has been performed throughout the world, including the Beijing Science Museum, SEAMUS, ICMC, EMM, EABD, Noisefloor Festival, International Saxophone Symposium, and Audiograft Festival, among others. Michael is the co-Director of the Root Signals Electronic Music Festival, an annual festival of electronic music and media art which is held at campuses across the country. Michael’s music and production has been featured on more than 30 albums and in films and television, including programs on MTV, VH1, E!, Spike, ABC, NBC, PBS, and CBS. He holds a MM from Georgia Southern University, and a Doctorate from Ball State University. Michael currently serves as Assistant Professor of Music Composition and Music Technology at Minnesota State University, Mankato.
Jake Sentgeorge is a thrilling and intense performer with significant experience as a solo recitalist. This year he was invited to perform electroacoustic and solo voice concerts in Denver, Baltimore, and Appleton. Having performed with early music ensembles such as Pro Musica Colorado, Spire, and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, he looks forward to pursuing creative opportunities in improvised electroacoustic music. Jake has served at the University of Central Missouri for the past eight years, currently as Associate Professor of Voice.