- Danny Fratina • Vortex Fields • 5
- Chin Ting Chan • 52 Blue • lap steel guitar and electronics • 9
- Jeff Albert • Is that what I said? • Improviser and computer • 5
- Nolen Liu • seabeams • for live electronics and visuals • 4
- Mickie Wadsworth • Mirror, Mirror, • Voice and Live Electronics • 6
- Mark Phillips • Waiting • EWI and Kyma • 6.5
- Carter Crosby • Toothache • 7
- University of Louisville Electro Acoustic Ensemble • Yo banana boY • 4.5
- Total: 47 mins
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Vortex Fields
Danny Fratina
Inspired by recent research on light’s inclination to array itself into vortices of choreography at the fentometric scale, “Vortex Fields” offers a sonic interpretation of light’s movement across surfaces. Designed for electronically augmented solo trumpet, motion tracking hardware digitally incorporates physicality in terms of flow, velocity, directionality, and intensity.
Ultimately, with the contemplation that if light can dance, it should conceptually be able to be rewoven into music both composed and improvised—”Vortex Fields” is seeking common ground between time and tempo, and light and sound.
Danny Fratina is a composer and trumpet player based in Pittsburgh and Istanbul. His work ties together improvisation and notation with themes of belonging, detachment, and control, incorporating the textures of coolness and panic, joy and fear, and perfection and disaster. He is currently working on electronically augmented trumpet projects which involve the use of motion/speed tracking (via Arduino and MaxMSP) and performance choreography-as-music.
His 2022 release Bb, in Isolation, is a collection of capturings of musicians in a moment in time balancing improvisation with the demands of notated music. His work has recently been played by ensembles like Ensemble Dal Niente, Unheard-of Ensemble, Nat28, Hezarfen Ensemble in Istanbul, the University of Memphis New Music Ensemble, and the Cambridge Philharmonic. His arranging and transcription skills have led to collaborations with the Boston Pops, the University of Sydney, the New York Youth Symphony Jazz Band, the Plymouth Symphony, and the Cape Cod Symphony. He was a transcriptionist for the Harvard University Natural History of Song postdoctoral ethnographic project. In 2024, he was a featured composer at the RED NOTE New Music Festival.
Danny received his MA in Composition from the Istanbul Technical University Centre for Advanced Studies in Music (MIAM) in Istanbul, Turkey, and holds a BM in Jazz Composition from the Berklee College of Music. From 2019 to 2022 he was Lecturer of Jazz Composition at the Istanbul University State Conservatory. He now lives in Pittsburgh with his partner ilkim, a brilliant anthropologist, and their dog Köfte, while he works on his PhD in Composition and Theory at the University of Pittsburgh.
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52 Blue
lap steel guitar and electronics
Chin Ting Chan
52 Blue is said to be the loneliest whale in the world. First detected by sensors across the Pacific Ocean in 1989, they sing at an unusual frequency of 52 hertz, far above that of a typical blue whale’s singing at 10-40 hertz. These recorded tones usually last for 5-7 seconds, in groups of 2-6. The migratory patterns suggest that 52 Blue may in fact be a blue whale, but more likely to be a hybrid between two different species. Their unique song travels thousands of miles in the ocean. While other whales can detect this frequency, none has ever connected. Whales are deeply social animals, but 52 Blue continues to sing a cappella, alone and unanswered.
The music is about loneliness. The story of 52 Blue is used as a metaphor or symbol of being alone but in a positive way. Throughout the piece, the performer freely explores and interacts with oceanic soundscapes accompanied by rich synthesized materials; eventually, they experience a process of self-discovery.
Composer Patrick Chin Ting CHAN grew up in Hong Kong and came to the United States in 2003. He has been featured in events including Ars Electronica, IRCAM’s ManiFeste, ISCM World Music Days, UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers, and Venice Art Biennale, among others. He has worked with ensembles such as City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, Ensemble intercontemporain (France), Ensemble Metamorphosis (Serbia), eighth blackbird (U.S.), Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Mivos Quartet (U.S.), and New York New Music Ensemble, with performances in more than thirty countries. His scores are published through BabelScores and Universal Edition. He is also an active performer and improviser of accordion, guqin, as well as live electronics using a Eurorack modular system and other custom interfaces on the computer. He is currently an Associate Professor of Music Composition at Ball State University.
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Is that what I said?
Improviser and computer
Jeff Albert
“Is that what I said?” for improviser and computer is an exploration of meaning both as intended and as perceived. It is an encouragement to be patient and listen before speaking. In this performance system, impatient utterances may get lost in the din and patience may be rewarded with intelligibility. The piece also acknowledges that the perception of an utterance does not always match the intentions of the speaker, and the speaker (improviser) has a chance to clarify… or possibly further confuse the matter.
Jeff Albert is an Associate Professor and Interim Chair of the School of Music at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His areas of research and creative practice include improvisation and interaction, jazz performance, performance paradigms for live computer music, and audio production. He has performed in concerts and festivals in the U.S and throughout Europe, and contributed as a performer, producer, or engineer on over 60 recordings, including the 2017 Grammy winner for Best Traditional Blues Album. He has been named a Rising Star Trombonist in the DownBeat Critics Poll, and his album “Unanimous Sources” was named a Top 10 album of 2020 by Jan Garelick in the Boston Globe.
Albert received his B.M. from Loyola University New Orleans, and his M.M. from the University of New Orleans. In May of 2013, he became the first graduate of the PhD program in Experimental Music and Digital Media at Louisiana State University, where he was a founding member of the Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana (LOLs). He has presented his creative work and research at academic gatherings in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia.
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seabeams
for live electronics and visuals
Nolen Liu
seabeams is an ambient piece for live electronics and visuals inspired by the Valhalla Supermassive preset by the same name.
Nolen Liu is a composer, percussionist, and music technologist currently pursuing a B.M. in Music Composition at the University of North Texas. Her principal teachers include Jon Nelson, Andrew May, Kirsten Soriano, and Panayiotis Kokoras.
Though her roots lie within traditional styles of acoustic composition, Liu has branched out to the world of electronic and audio-visual music. Her pieces have explored multichannel audio processing, physical computing, and most recently, ambisonics and generative AI. Despite her wide variety of interests and influences, Liu’s current compositional direction is guided by her fascination with the distortion of time and space, and the subconscious influences of the mind. She places an emphasis on evolving textures, fragmentation, and repetitive systems.
Her works have been selected to be performed at conferences such as SEAMUS and Electric Latex, as well as various other concerts hosted by the University of North Texas. As a member Octothorpe, an emerging electronic music duo based out of North Texas, Liu has also engaged in a wide variety of performance opportunities at venues such as Rubber Gloves, the Merrill Ellis Intermedia Theater, and the University of Central Missouri’s MOXsonic electronic music festival.
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Mirror, Mirror,
Voice and Live Electronics
Mickie Wadsworth
When you look in the mirror, what stares back at you?
Mickie Wadsworth is a composer and conductor based in Upstate New York. Much of their work focuses on the human experience, and the complexity of our emotions. Their discography primarily consists of vocal, electro-acoustic, fixed media, and large ensemble pieces. As a musician, they are dedicated to creating a welcoming community that celebrates new music from diverse voices. Outside of being a musician, they spend much of their time hiking in the adirondacks, working at Bitchin’ Donuts, or hanging out with their cat Norma. Mickie is happy to answer both compositional or coffee/donut related questions. They received their M.M. in Composition and their M.M. in Conducting (Wind Track) from Ohio University, and their B.M. in Music Composition from SUNY Fredonia.
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Waiting
EWI and Kyma
Mark Phillips
“Waiting” employs a number of semi-autonomous algorithms guided and conducted during the performance by audio and MIDI data from my EWI. In addition, I will be responding to and interacting with some aspects of the Kyma algorithms.
Mark Phillips (Ohio University Distinguished Professor Emeritus) won the 1988 Barlow International Competition for Orchestral Music, leading to collaborations with conductor Leonard Slatkin. His Violin Power appears on the SEAMUS 2015 conference CD. The World Saxophone Congress commissioned and premiered his What If for 101 saxophones. His music has been performed at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Wigmore Hall, the Festival Internacional de Música de Bogotá, the Blossom Music Festival, and numerous other festivals and conferences around the world. Commissioned for a Memphis premiere, his Dreams Interrupted has received performances across the country. He has received orchestra performances by groups such as the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the NHK Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra — and has been recorded by Richard Stoltzman and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Lark Quartet, and several solo artists. My performance uses no prerecorded audio or MIDI files. More information is available at https://coolvillemusic.com/
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Toothache
Carter Crosby
“Toothache” takes the sounds of family heirlooms (accordion, teacups) along with samples of my own voice and uses them as a meditation on my relationship with my family. For many people, family is the first thing they think of when they consider the concept of “home”, but as an out queer person, that relationship is more complicated. As I navigate early adulthood, my relationships with those who have known me my whole life are changing in unexpected ways, and using and transforming these materials is one way for me to process that “home” feels very different now.
Carter Crosby (they/them) is a composer and multimedia artist currently based in East Lansing, Michigan. They work to create immersive experiences in both their musical works and installations- combining auditory, visual, and written art forms to create dynamic music that engages fluidly with both the performers and audience. In their music they explore improvisation, intertwining artistic mediums, and the interpretation of personal histories.
Carter has had works selected for performance at national festivals such as Electronic Music Midwest, SoundSCAPE composition-performance exchange, Walden Creative Musicians Retreat, and REDNOTE composition workshop. They are pursuing a master’s in music composition from Michigan State University, where they serve as a Graduate Assistant in Music Technology and Leadership Fellow.
Carter is excited about interdisciplinary work within and beyond the arts, working with writers, visual artists, and scientists. It is also a core tenet of their composing as an individual, frequently producing their own video for installations, creating graphic scores, or utilizing programs like Max/MSP to create dynamic electronic effects for live performance. Carter has had works selected for performance at national festivals such as Electronic Music Midwest, SPLICE Institute, Walden Creative Musicians Retreat, and REDNOTE composition workshop. Outside of music, Carter enjoys embroidery, baking, and exploring their local farmer’s market.
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Yo banana boY
University of Louisville Electro Acoustic Ensemble
Yo banana boY is a structured improvisation composed and performed by the UofL Electro Acoustic Ensemble. Proposed by Lillie Binford-Andrews, Yo banana boY is the first piece that is composed by all members of the UofL Electro Acoustic Ensemble. The name is inspired by the structure of the piece.
UofL Electro-Acoustic Ensemble is a student-based ensemble established in 2024. It provides students with the opportunity to perform electro-acoustic and digitally influenced music using laptops, tablets, various sensors, controllers, synths, and electronic instruments, along with acoustic instruments. Music performances also include live synth jams, live coding jams, and installation activities held by the ensemble. It is a type of ensemble that not only helps students familiarize themselves with rapidly evolving music technology, but also learn how to improvise and create art using different media.