Noiseborder Ensemble Performance - Outer Drive & Epiphanies
May 15, 6PM, Freedom Way, Multimedia Studio
FREE ADMISSION
The Noiseborder Ensemble presents two recent pieces in an open recording session. Outer Drive (8 minutes) is composed by Brent Lee with video by Chris McNamara; Epiphanies (20 minutes) is composed by Douglas Finch with video by Sigi Torinus. Both pieces feature Megumi Masaki on piano.
Outer Drive is a ten-minute work for piano with electroacoustic audio and video. The work exists both in a fixed version and in an interactive version where specific video clips are triggered by the bass notes of the piano. There are streets named Outer Drive in both Windsor, Ontario and Dearborn, Michigan; the video footage captures the austere spaciousness and unsentimental architecture of the suburbs of North American cities. The piano composition in turn creates a sense of expansiveness through the resonance of piano sonorities and through long melodies whose notes connect on multiple levels.
Epiphanies (2017, 20”) for piano, spoken text, live mixed visuals - music by Douglas Finch, video by Sigi Torinus, piano Megumi Masaki
Spoken text inspired by Alice Munro’s writing conjures moments of heightened perception that tend to come to characters in a state of solitude, fragility or vulnerability. In Epiphanies, a few of these moments have been strung together from different stories - transplanted out of their original context into a a dream-like collage of impressions, using words, music, images and sound.
Pianist Megumi Masaki’s innovation and breadth of her artistic activity, dynamic temperament and “riveting and mind-expanding” performances have earned her a reputation as a leading interpreter of contemporary music. “Her depth of understanding of narrative is unprecedented and her ability to translate musical composition into something emotionally vivid and alive is quite extraordinary (The Wholenote).” She specializes in exploring interactive possibilities of sound, image, text and movement in the creation and performance of piano+computer+multimedia works. She frequently collaborates with composers, visual artists, writers and choreographers on interdisciplinary projects involving technologies to enhance the dynamic interaction between creator and performer. So far, 33 new works have been created for Megumi and she has premiered over 80 works worldwide. Megumi is Professor of piano and director of the New Music Ensemble and New Music Festival at Brandon University Canada. She is also a member of the interdisciplinary Noiseborder Ensemble and Slingshot-Kidõ USA, on faculty at the Casalmaggiore Festival Italy and Chetham's International Summer School and Festival in Manchester UK.
www.megumimasaki.com l www.brandonu.ca/music/dept-faculty/masaki/
Brent Lee is a composer, media artist, and musician whose work explores the relationships between sound, image, and technology, especially through multimedia performance. He has created more than one hundred works, ranging from orchestral music to interactive media pieces to film soundtracks.
An active instrumentalist, he has performed in many countries with groups such as the Noiseborder Ensemble, blackhole-factory, and Modus vivendi. His most recent project is entitled Homstal, and brings together composition, improvisation, saxophone performance, videography, and Max programming.
Sigi Torinus studied Fine Art, Philosophy and Art Education in Germany and received her MFA from the Braunschweig Art Institute, Germany, and San Francisco State University in California. Her work explores our perceptions of the migratory journey, through time and space, in both physical and digital worlds; her hybrid new media installations often combine sculptural elements with video, audio, and performance.
Sigi is co-founding member of the Noiseborder Ensemble as well as the Noiseborder Multimedia Performance Laboratory at the University of Windsor.