What is reality? Sentient beings clamoring for existence, the wind whistling through leafy vegetation, the silence and noise of this stony planet. Come along on musical safari with the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra in Animal, Vegetable, Mineral — a tour of the Earth’s scenic and sonic wonders, in compositions by
Michael Cooke, Loren Jones, Jorge Liderman, Terry Riley, Lisa Scola Prosek, Erling Wold, and Mark Alburger.
The latter’s Animal Farm: Grand Zoological Fantasy-Variations is a dark, Orwellian spin on creatures great and small, including a visual presentation of surrealistically-altered YouTube videos. In biological distinction, Jones will offer Banyan: an aural giving-tree of multicultural musical delights. Answering this will be a revival of Riley’s celebrated minimalist-improvisatory anthem In C, in all of its crystalline and granitic splendor.
Also along for the journey are
Michael Cooke’s deeply-felt Love Letters; Lisa Scola Prosek’s vibrant Piano Sonata; a retrospective work of the late, great Jorge Liderman; and an exciting new work by Erling Wold. John Kendall Bailey will join Alburger in the zoomusicological tour-guiding responsibilities.
Cost: $14-17
Videos featuring musicians playing at this event
Ken Filiano/ Steve Adams Duo at the Stone
Open Ended by Michael Cooke is a very versatile work that is composed live before your eyes and ears. Based on Rova‘s Radar techniques, Open Ended is less of a composition and more of a color or tool palette. It is an ever-growing collection of rules and games for the performers that are triggered by hand signals by the conductor/composer. The conductor/composer then composes the piece live using these hand signals to guide the performers. The ability to compose with what happens in the moment, in real time, is what is required to produce this piece. This similar to the “Soundpainting” language was created by Walter Thompson in Woodstock, New York in 1974. Open Ended has no set instrumentation and can be played by any number of performers. It also has no set length; the piece could last 5 minutes or 24 hours.