Featuring the World Premiere of a Work by Linda Dusman

Thursday, March 4, 2010
8 p.m.
UMBC Fine Arts Recital Hall

Contact: Thomas Moore
Director of Arts & Culture
410-455-3370
tmoore@umbc.edu

Note: This release is available as a pdf file.

UMBC presents composer/performer/vocalist/sound artist Joan La Barbara and violinist/composer Tom Chiu in a program of contemporary classical music, including a new work by Linda Dusman, professor of music at UMBC. The concert will be held on Thursday, March 4th, at 8 pm in the Fine Arts Recital Hall. The program will feature works for solo violin, for solo voice, and for ensemble:

For solo violin:
Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988): L'ame ailee
Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001): Mikka
Ezequiel Viñao (b. 1960): The Seven Valleys

For solo voice:
Charles Dodge (b. 1942): The Waves (for amplified voice and computer-enhanced sounds and vocal processing)
Joan La Barbara (b. 1947): Circular Song
John Cage (1912-1992): Music for Three (by One) (for amplified voice and two voices on CD)

For voice and violin:
Joan La Barbara (b. 1947): Die Wassergeister (Water Ghosts) (for voice, violin and sonic atmosphere)
Tom Chiu (b. 1971): hello aloha
Linda Dusman (b. 1956): Triptych of Gossips (world premiere)

About Joan La Barbara
Joan La Barbara's career as a composer/performer/sound artist explores the human voice as a multi-faceted instrument, expanding traditional boundaries in compositions for multiple voices, chamber ensemble, music theater, orchestra and interactive technology, using a unique vocabulary of experimental and extended vocal techniques--multiphonics, circular singing, ululation and glottal clicks--that have become her "signature sounds," influencing several generations of composers and singers. Awards include Guggenheim Fellowship in Music Composition; DAAD Artist-in-Residency in Berlin; National Endowment for the Arts fellowships in Music Composition, Opera/Music Theatre, Inter-Arts, Recording, Solo Recitalist and Visual Arts; ISCM International Jury Award for sound sculpture; Meet The Composer; ASCAP; the 2008 Letter of Recognition from The American Music Center for her significant contributions to new American music; and numerous commissions for concert, theatre and radio, including Saint Louis Symphony, European radio and Live Music for Dance. She was Artistic Director of the Carnegie Hall series "When Morty met John"; co-Artistic Director of New Music America festival in LA; has produced 11 recordings of her own works, including ShamanSong (New World) and Voice is the Original Instrument (a two CD set of her seminal works from the 70s for Lovely Music); served as producer and performer on internationally-acclaimed recordings of music by John Cage and Morton Feldman; produced and hosted "Sonic Lives," a series of composer portraits for Netherlands radio; co-founded the performing composers collective Ne(x)tworks; premiered landmark compositions written for her and has performed with the orchestras of New York, San Francisco, Den Haag, Houston, and Los Angeles and at international festivals including Brisbane Biennial, Festival d'Automne Paris, Warsaw Autumn, Frankfurt Feste, Lincoln Center, Metamusik-Berlin and Olympics Arts Festivals. La Barbara creates sound scores for video, dance and film, including a score for voice and electronics for Children's Television Workshop's Sesame Street, broadcast worldwide since 1977. 73 Poems, her collaboration with text-artist Kenneth Goldsmith, was included in The American Century Part II at The Whitney Museum of American Art. The award-winning interactive media work Messa di Voce premiered at ars electronica festival in Linz, Austria. Composer and publisher member of ASCAP, La Barbara composed the score for An American Rendition, a political theater work for Jane Comfort and Company (September 2008 at Duke Theater, NYC), and is composing a new opera.

About Tom Chiu
Violinist/composer Tom Chiu has received wide acclaim for his performances as a soloist, chamber artist, and experimental improviser. Particularly noted for his endeavors in new music, Mr. Chiu has performed over 100 premieres worldwide and has worked closely with composers such as Virko Baley, David Chesky, Leroy Jenkins, Alvin Lucier, Somei Satoh, and John Zorn. He has also developed a close working relationship with free jazz icon Ornette Coleman, with whom he appeared at the Dancing In Your Head Festival at the Walker Arts Center in 2005. In addition, Mr. Chiu has cultivated collaborations with conceptual artists as unique as experimental balloonist Judy Dunaway, ambient-drone guitarist David First, and puppeteer Basil Twist. With pioneering director Lee Breuer of avant theater troupe Mabou Mines, he is music director for the acclaimed show Red Beads. He has also worked extensively with choreographers to create new works, including Christopher Wheeldon, Eun-Me Ahn, Desmond Richardson, and Shen Wei. His discography includes recordings for the Chesky, Innova, Koch, Mode, Sombient, and Tzadik labels. His extensive work in film showcases his creative versatility: as composer (Boris), solo fiddler (I Sell The Dead), voice-over artist (Chandni Chowk to China), and actor (The Man With One Red Shoe, with Tom Hanks). He is also founder of the FLUX Quartet, which has become "legendary for its furiously committed, untiring performances." (Alex Ross, The New Yorker). As part of When Morty Met John, a 3-year festival directed and curated by visionary sound-artist Joan La Barbara, FLUX performed Morton Feldman's 6-hour String Quartet No.2 in the opening season of Carnegie's Zankel Hall. Holding degrees in music and chemistry from Yale, along with a doctorate from Juilliard, Chiu has conducted numerous college residencies, including those at Dartmouth, Princeton, Rice, UNF, Williams, and Wesleyan, among others.

Admission
$10 general admission, $5 students and seniors. Tickets are available through MissionTix at www.missiontix.com or 410-752-8950. Tickets will also be available at the door (cash or check only).

General Public Information
http://www.umbc.edu/arts

Directions
-- From Baltimore and points north, proceed south on I-95 to exit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to the Fine Arts Building.
-- From I-695, take Exit 12C (Wilkens Avenue) and continue one-half mile to the entrance of UMBC at the roundabout intersection of Wilkens Avenue and Hilltop Road. Turn left and follow signs to the Fine Arts Building.
-- From Washington and points south, proceed north on I-95 to Exit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to the Fine Arts Building.
-- Daytime metered visitor parking is available in Lot 10, near the Administration Building. Visitor parking regulations are enforced on all University calendar days. Hilltop Circle and all campus roadways require a parking permit unless otherwise marked.
-- Online campus map: http://www.umbc.edu/aboutumbc/campusmap/

Images for Media
High resolution images for media are available online:
http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/arts/hi-res/
Photos of Joan La Barbara: Mark Hahaney and Enrique Escorza.