ONCE Festival Guide

8/8/2019 ONCE Festival Guide

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/once-festival-guide 1/55

1

E .Nurtured by mutual support and driven by youthulidealism, they reused to let nancial or logistical barriers

dampen their plans....

The ONCE phenomenon testies to the productive and

energizing power o community—the interactions and cross-

infuences o the artists who created it, and the reactions o

the patrons who attended its productions.

C

N

OA 50th Anniversary Celebration of

Ann Arbor’s ONCE Festival

November 2–6, 2010



2 TABLE OF CONTENTSP H O T O : M a k e p e a c e T s a o

Introductions

4 The Creativity o Community

by Mark Clague

8 ONCE. MORE.

How It Came To Be…by Michael Daugherty

10 Welcome

by Daniel Herwitz

Exhibitions

12 Curator’s Statement

by Amanda Krugliak

12 ONCE. MORE.An Exhibition

14 Why Cage?

By Daniel Herwitz

16 John Cage’s

Lecture on the Weather (1976)

Brown Bag Lecture

18 The Book as Such in the RussianAvant-Garde

by Nancy Perlo

Rackham Lobby Installation

18 Specious Present

ONCE. MORE.

ONCE THEN

20 Robert Ashley, George Cacioppo,

Gordon Mumma, Roger Reynolds,

+ Donald Scavarda

Music + lms rom the historic

ONCE Festivals

ONCE. MORE.

Symposium

28 Symposium Schedule

29 Symposium Biographies

The Penny Stamps Distinguished

Speaker Series

32 The John Cage Trust

Indeterminacy

Closing Receptions +

Celebrations

36 Celebration o the John Cage andONCE. MORE. Exhibitions

36 Outlier: Hauntings o the Avant Garde

ONCE. MORE.

ONCE NOW

38 Robert Ashley, Gordon Mumma,

Roger Reynolds, + Donald Scavarda

Recent music + lms rom the ONCE Festival composers

40 Composer Biographies

44 Artist + Ensemble Biographies

Performing Arts Technology

25th Anniversary Celebration

48 Welcome

by Mary Simoni

50 25th Anniversary Celebration Schedule

52 25th Anniversary Concert

Collaborators, Thank Yous,

+ Credits

55 Funding Partners

55 Collaborators

55 Sources + Further Reading



3

O N C E .M O R E . S Y MP O S I UM / We d Ne s d a y ,N o V e mb e r 3

L–R: Mary Ashley, Annette Tsao, Robert Ashley (1963).



4ONCE” SigNALS iNTENSiTy , a singularity o purpose. Never

a thing , once is always in action : a eeting opportunity

to be seized in time and witnessed. Once is energy,

excitement, ambition, possibility, community. Every art,

in its broadest sense, aspires to once. Perormance

catalyzes intent to transorm time into communication:

while materials may be reused—perormer, audience,

and context are always in motion, always changing,

and thus artistic expression occurs in precisely the

same way only once. Yet art is oten rittered away as

timeless rather than timely. Static, hung on a wall or

embalmed in history, its process unappreciated, it ails

to communicate even once. When composers Robert

Ashley, George Cacioppo, Gordon Mumma, Roger

Reynolds, Donald Scavarda, and their colleagues an-

nounced ONCE—they trumpeted the raw ambition to

create sounds that were original, certainly, but that alsoengaged, sparked debate, and echoed into the uture.

Thus, some fve decades later, their creativity is heard

“ONCE. MORE.”—not as nostalgia but as ongoing ex-

ploration. The periods in the name signal once again

their interest in expression over continuity.

The frst ONCE Festival o avant-garde peror-

mance comprised our concerts on successive week-

ends—February 24–25 and March 3–4, 1961—in

Ann Arbor’s Unitarian Church (now the Vitosha Guest

Haus at 1917 Washtenaw). Concerts alternated be-tween guest artists typically rom Europe or New York

and recitals by the host composers. The opening con-

cert eatured members o Pierre Boulez’s “Domaine

musical” ensemble rom Paris with composer Luciano

Berio and multi-vocalist Cathy Berberian. Pianist Paul

Jacobs presented music by Schoenberg, Webern,

Krenek, Messiaen, Boulez, and Stockhausen on the

third concert, while concerts two and our included

chamber works by Ashley, Cacioppo, Mumma, Reyn-

olds, and Scavarda, along with then-graduate students

Sherman Van Solkema and Bruce Wise. Ashley also

contributed an electronic accompaniment to George

Manupelli’s flm The Bottleman . The concerts sold to

capacity and Ann Arbor’s Dramatic Arts Center (DAC),

which sponsored the event, covered a defcit o only

about $125 on a total budget o $1300 (ca. $9000 in

2010 dollars).

Even beore the frst estival closed, its success

inspired talk o a second. All told, there would be six

ONCE estivals over the course o fve years (1961–65),

while the ONCE Group, a theatrical troupe led by Rob-ert and Mary Ashley, remained active through 1968.

Critics moaned “Once is enough” and “Once too oten,”

yet the estivals grew. The ourth was the largest at

eight perormances, while the last, held on the roo o

Ann Arbor’s Thompson Street parking garage (and thus

providing or the sale o more tickets), even returned a

small proft to the DAC. Programs or a total o 29 esti-

val events list some 170 works by 92 composers. Guest

artists included John Cage, Eric Dolphy, Morton Feld-

man, Lukas Foss, Alvin Lucier, Pauline Oliveros, David

Tudor, LaMonte Young, and others. By any measure,

ONCE was monumental. Reviews appeared in the

local press, as well as in the Musical Quarterly , Boston

Globe , Toronto Star , and Preuves (Paris). Dozens o

guest appearances took ONCE artists to Detroit, New

York, San Diego, Los Angeles, Paris, Rome, Tokyo,

and beyond, to perorm under rubrics including ONCE

Friends, ONCE a Month, ONCE Removed, ONCE-O,

and ONCE Echoes. Related initiatives by ONCE artists,especially Ashley and Mumma, such as the Collabora-

tive Studio or Electronic Music, the Truck Ensemble,

New Music or Pianos, and the Sonic Arts Group (later

Union), carried Ann Arbor’s experimental music, flm,

and theater ar and wide, only increasing the impact

and reputation o ONCE. Similar estivals arose in Seattle,

Toronto, and Tucson, while in 1963 the Ann Arbor Film

Festival arose rom its cinematic eorts. ONCE art-

ists even recreated Milton Cohen’s Space Theatre at

the 1964 Venice Biennale, and the estival propelledseveral participants to careers outside o Ann Arbor:

Reynolds to the CROSS TALK presentations in Tokyo

and then to UC San Diego, Mumma to the Merce

Cunningham Dance Company in New York (and later to

UC Santa Cruz), and Ashley to Mills College in Oakland.

The primary driving orce o ONCE, however, was

not ame (and certainly not ortune), but the deep de-

sire o its composers to hear their music. Many ONCE

composers were also fne musicians; their passion or

new music and dedication to excellence in its per-

ormance was clearly inectious, attracting dozens o

volunteer instrumentalists and even administrative

talents eager to share in their work. Yet the momen-

tum o the estivals also inspired creativity: Scavarda

notes, “Suddenly we could write anything we wanted

and have it heard.”1 Although deliberately cutting

edge, ONCE was not doctrinaire. Perormances em-

braced a wide range o materials (ound sound, text,

flm, multiphonics, non-metrical time), methods (seri-

alism, graphic notation, indeterminacy, improvisation,

electronic synthesis, tape manipulation, audienceinvolvement, theater), and aesthetics (modernism,

expressionism, collage, happenings). ONCE compos-

1 Mill, 87 .

ThE CrEATiviTy OF COmmuNiTy:Ann Arbor, the University of

Michigan, and the ONCE

Phenomenon, 1961–68

by Mark Clague, PhD

associate proessor o musicology,

University o Michigan

4“



5

P H O T O S : M a k e p e a c e T s a o

From top-let to bottom-right: Alvin Lucier (conductor, Brandeis University Chamber Chorus) (1964); Bonnie Jean Cross (1963); Gordon Mumma (1963); Robert Ashley (1964); Milton Cohen in the Space Theatre lot (1964); unknown perormer (1965);

Larry Leitch (ONCE pianist) and Max Neuhaus (guest percussionist) (1965); Anne Opie Wehrer (1963); L–R: Alex Hay, Harold Borkin, Steve Paxton at the VFW Hall (Hay and Paxton, members o Judson Dance Theater) (1964).



6

I N T R O

D U C T I O N S

sions, the Minnesota-born Finney brought a new level

o proessionalism to the program and connected the

university to European musical currents. His personal

interests included Bartók, Stravinsky, and American

olk music, and while sensitive to his students’ need

to develop an individual voice, Finney championed

traditional harmonic and contrapuntal skills as well asimmaculate habits o notation. His energy and expec-

tations inspired, while his critiques could be devastat-

ing: “Finney was incapable o being indirect,” recalls

Reynolds, “he said what he elt and thought without

any flter, and, o course, this rubbed a lot o people the

wrong way or even injured them.”

Yet Finney laid many o the entrepreneurial oun-

dations or ONCE. He organized the campus’ original

“Composers’ Forum,” or which student composers re-

cruited and rehearsed perormers to present their work

to the community each semester. He invited prominent

composers such as Ralph Vaughan Williams, Luigi Dal-

lapiccola, Walter Piston, and Karlheinz Stockhausen tospeak on campus. (Stockhausen, in act, lectured the

young composers to assume responsibility or peror-

mances o their own works.3) Finney also ostered peer-

to-peer collaboration by hosting a our-hour discussion

seminar each week: “I…elt that composers learned

as much rom their peers as rom their teachers….”

writes Finney in his autobiography. “My object was to

organize a peer group that would unction outside o

the classroom as well as in it.”4 Finney’s eorts encour-

aged the ormation o the Interarts Union, an extracur-ricular student group combining art, theater, and mu-

3 Mill, 28.

4 Fiy, 160.

ers shared a common goal, but never a single artistic

maniesto. For Mumma the estival was radical; or

Scavarda it was simply pragmatic.

Progressive politics saturated the university’s social

milieu in the 1960s. Students or a Democratic Soci-

ety (SDS) held its frst meeting in Ann Arbor in 1960

and on October 14 o that same year President JohnF. Kennedy proposed the Peace Corps rom the steps

o the Michigan Union. Yet many ONCE compositions

were ocused explorations o musical materials and

procedures; they assert a right to individual creative

radicalism without additional reerence to contempo-

rary events. Politics motivates the art o ONCE directly

only in certain instances (e.g., Reynolds’ A Portrait o

Vanzetti ) but oten appears obliquely (e.g., Ashley’s in

memoriam…). As Ashley remembers, “Everybody was

into those ideas by deault because they were all aroundyou. But the ONCE Group, by some tacit agreement, we

never did anything political; it seemed in bad taste be-

cause you’d be preaching to the congregation.”2 Nev-

ertheless, political overtones can be heard requently in

the music o ONCE, possibly because such issues were

so much a part o the era’s socio-cultural discourse.

The spark that ignited ONCE is oten attributed to

a car ride back to Ann Arbor rom Stratord, Ontario,

where Ashley, Cacioppo, Mumma, and Reynolds had

attended the International Conerence o Composers(August 7–14, 1960). Intended to oster exchange

among the world’s leading modern composers, the

symposium welcomed participants rom 20 countries.

These musical pioneers included Berio (Italy), Henri

Dutilleux (France), Jose Tal (Israel), and Elizabeth

Maconchy (England), as well as Ernst Krenek, Otto

Luening, George Rochberg, Vladimir Ussachevsky,

and the 75-year-old Edgard Varèse—all then living in

the US. While symposium concerts were open to the

public, papers and discussions were not, and thus

Ann Arbor’s contingent let rustrated ater havingmanaged to speak with only a handul o their amous

colleagues. They concluded that they could do a bet-

ter job on their own.

Yet attributing ONCE to a single inspiration ignores

other inuences. The estival grew rom a conuence

o opportunities, the frst o which occurred in 1949

with the hiring o composer Ross Lee Finney (1906–

97) as a tenured proessor at U–M’s School o Music

(as it was then known) and the subsequent creation o

its graduate program in composition. Having studiedwith Alban Berg, Nadia Boulanger, and Roger Ses-

2 Ulss d, all qus a fm psal iviws by h auh wih h

cmps.

sic that sponsored events o campus. This group later

inuenced the creation o the Dramatic Arts Center,

which would sponsor ONCE. “Finney was a remarkable

man,” notes Reynolds. “There’s probably no composi-

tion teacher in American music history who has dealt

with as large and as diverse a group o successul com-

posers as he.”The 1950s were a period o rapid growth and in-

tellectual excitement at the University o Michigan, in

which enrollment, driven by the G.I. Bill, increased

and the aculty expanded. Research unding grew

and, as the Cold War deepened, many placed hope

in the nation’s scientifc and technological prowess.

U-M scientists successully tested Salk’s polio vaccine

(1955) and operated the “Phoenix” nuclear reactor

(1957–2003). Cross-disciplinary interchange was vig-

orous and as a result science, architecture, engineer-ing, and mathematics would deeply inuence several

ONCE composers. Ashley was initially enrolled through

the Speech Research Institute, and, ater Finney

threw the manuscript to one o Mumma’s composi-

tions out the eighth-oor window o his Burton Me-

morial Tower ofce, the young composer transerred

to the literature department, later working in a seis-

mology lab and all the while constructing electronic

sound equipment or his home studio. Reynolds was

not initially trained as a musician at all, but completeda bachelor’s degree in engineering beore returning to

U-M to earn a master’s in composition in 1961. Col-

laboration was modeled as well. From 1958, Mumma

and Ashley created live sonic accompaniments using

prepared tapes plus improvised live sound or U-M

art proessor Milton Cohen’s Space Theatre. Subtitled

“Maniestations in Light and Sound,” these avant-

garde light shows also eatured creative contributions

by Manupelli and Harold Borkin, then a graduate stu-

dent in U-M’s architecture program. Increasing rom

invitation-only aairs to twice-weekly public events,the Space Theatre ostered Ann Arbor’s audience or

experimental art.

ONCE composers also learned important lessons

in publicity and marketing. Written and premièred at

Tanglewood in 1959, Scavarda’s Groups or Piano ex-

plores the question o how concise a piece o music

might be (its fve movements require just 55 seconds

to play). Perormed the ollowing spring or the Mid-

west Composers Symposium at the University o Il-

linois, Groups again sparked heated debate about thenature o music. Its success taught ONCE artists the

P H O T O S : M a k e p e a c e T s a o



7

I NT R O D U C T I O N S

value o controversy, and Groups was subsequently

eatured on the frst ONCE composers program. For

estival two, controversy struck over the artistic viabili-

ty o LaMonte Young and Terry Jennings’ perormance

and again provided ONCE with national attention.

Most amously, the group’s 1964 publicity poster ea-

turing political activist Martina Algire reclining nudeon the counter o a local diner avored by music stu-

dents—Red’s Rite Spot—produced another benefcial

racas, although it oended some in the DAC. In the

end, however, such scandals were less tactics than

endemic to the ONCE enterprise. As Mumma notes,

“Anything or everything we did was controversial or

someone.”

The rigor Finney’s teaching inculcated among

ONCE composers was ultimately released by his win-

ter 1960 sabbatical replacement—Catalan modernistcomposer Roberto Gerhard (1896–1970). Steeped

in Spanish nationalism but later studying extensively

with Arnold Schoenberg, Gerhard taught a seminar

at U-M in serial techniques that sparked excitement.

“Gerhard had never taught beore he came to Ann

Arbor,” Reynolds recalls. “He was very intense and in-

tellectual, but extremely retiring and without pretens-

es.” Gerhard oered an afrming voice and graciously

supported student initiatives. “He never missed a

Space Theatre perormance,” recalls Ashley. Mumma

likewise was inspired: “Gerard was wide open and

positive about innovation.”

Although he emphasized method, Gerhard

challenged his students to extend tradition in new

directions while modeling a broad engagement

with literature and philosophy. His campus lecture, “Is

Modern Music Growing Old?” oered an emphatic re-

utation to Theodor Adorno’s Dissonanzen (1956), while

ranging broadly rom Aristotle and Charles Burney to

the poets Paul Valéry and Wallace Stevens. Ultimately

Gerhard’s message afrmed individual exploration.

“The contemporary conusion in the feld o music…”Gerhard said, “is rather what one would expect rom a

social body deep in erment and teeming with creative

energy. It would seem a poor show i an epoch does

not… develop its ‘contemporary’ ideas ully in all di-

rections, to the utmost limits o contradiction. Even by

linguistic implication, contradictions evidently belong

together…. We move in all directions at once, and in

each to the ullness o our bent.”5 (The same May as

Gerhard’s lecture, composer John Cage and pianist

David Tudor, as well as Berio, visited Ann Arbor, urtherwhetting Ann Arbor’s appetite or the avant garde and

inspiring the soon-to-be ONCE composers to seize the

means or their own artistic expression.) On campus

or only a term and ree o institutional entanglements,

Gerhard liberated the creative energies o those around

him. A crucial event in the planning or ONCE took

place when eight o Gerhard’s seminar participants

took inventory o their compositions to see i there were

sufcient works to merit a public perormance.

Accounts o the School o Music’s relationship to

ONCE vary widely, maybe not surprisingly given the

university’s decentralized authority located in indi-

vidual aculty. While the ONCE composers had each

studied at the university’s School o Music, the estivals

were independent events wholly organized, supported,

and housed by the local community. ONCE was not a

rejection o the establishment as much as an exten-

sion o ongoing creative work. Most o its composers

were alumni, and thus the estivals created vital peror-

mance opportunities now that university programs were

no longer open to them. Many younger music aculty,such as theorist Wallace Berry, composer Paul Cooper,

and musicologist Wiley Hitchcock, were interested in

ONCE, and the campus radio station WUOM (where

Cacioppo worked) recorded each concert. Likewise,

Finney attended the frst estival and contributed by

convincing band director William Revelli to loan some

o the school’s percussion instruments to the event.

The school’s talented pool o instrumentalists was also

essential. Yet, especially as the estivals grew, their no-

toriety overshadowed ofcial university activities. In re-sponse, the School o Music organized i ts own contem-

porary music events and or “the 1964 ONCE Festival,”

5 Ghad, 206.

writes Mumma, “there was a nearly unanimous boycott

o the concerts by the School o Music aculty…on the

grounds that such activities were everything rom

immoral to academically and culturally disreputable.”6

Although individual works by ONCE composers have

been perormed by School o Music aculty and the

school’s Contemporary Directions Ensemble oered amemorial concert or George Cacioppo in April 1985,

ONCE. MORE. represents the frst comprehensive cel-

ebration o ONCE and its alumni by the University.

For Reynolds, the ultimate message o ONCE is sim-

ple: “I you don’t like the way things are, do something

to change the situation.” Indeed ONCE should inspire

students today, especially as the Internet makes sel-

promotion only more accessible. In the 1960s, ONCE

composers depended on the organizational skills o

a small coterie o non-musician supporters includingMary Ashley, Harold Borkin, Cynthia Liddell, George

Manupelli, plus Anne and Joseph Wehrer, who mailed

countless letters, reserved venues, set up chairs, and

contributed their own creative energies. Yet while the

Internet acilitates, it also encourages competition; in

1961 by contrast, ONCE entered a veritable vacuum

as little avant-garde musical activity happened outside

o New York and the Cage/Tudor tours, giving ONCE

events immediate prominence.

For Mumma, ONCE continues to oer advice to art-

ists today: “Limit your habits,” “defne innovative goals

and build your discipline to achieve them,” and “work

together generously while developing the best o your

individuality.” Mumma’s last bit o advice hints at what

is potentially the most important legacy o ONCE—its

example o the power o an arts community. The es-

tivals ended because DAC unding dried up, not be-

cause artistic cooperation ailed. ONCE was made pos-

sible by a radical alliance o imagination that mustered

collaboration in the service o artistic expression—a

conspiracy or creativity that runs counter to the West-ern ideology o the lone artist working in isolation. The

increasing tendency o ONCE towards theater reects

this same communal understanding o creativity. Fur-

ther, ONCE benefted rom the social and creative

environment o its hometown, and, in turn, increased

and perpetuated those values o association, diversity,

tolerance, ambition, and innovation that continue to

make Ann Arbor a dynamic place. Thus, ONCE afrms

a three-dimensional community model o art requir-

ing collaboration among creators, supporters, and anengaged audience. Reynolds sums up the result suc-

cinctly: “Common interests have uncommon power.”

6 Mumma, 390.

Udo Casemets, rehearsing at WUOM studio, Ann Arbor (1965).



8 ONCE. mOrE.How It Came To Be…

by Michael Daugherty,

co-director ONCE. MORE.,proessor o composition,

University o Michigan School o Music,

Theatre & Dance

iN 1991, when I joined the composition aculty at the

University o Michigan School o Music, I remember tell-

ing composer György Ligeti the good news that I was

moving to Ann Arbor. During the years I studied with him

in Hamburg, Germany, he had already mentioned Ann

Arbor: “That was where the ONCE Festival happened…

very amous!” In 2002, at the Venice Biennale, I met

composer Mauricio Kagel who, like Ligeti, was one o Eu-

rope’s most eminent 20th-century modernist compos-

ers. When I mentioned to him that I lived in Ann Arbor,

he had a similar reaction: “Oh, the ONCE Festival!”

It was then and there that I decided it would be a great

idea to (once again) celebrate the ONCE Festival, and the

pioneering contributions o the fve composers who mas-

terminded it: Robert Ashley, George Cacioppo, Gordon

Mumma, Roger Reynolds, and Donald Scavarda.

But where to begin? I knew the music o Ashley: I heardhim perorm his opera Perect Lives at Centre Georges

Pompidou when I was a student in Paris in 1980. I was

acquainted with Mumma’s and Scavarda’s music rom the

New World Records compilation Music rom the ONCE

Festival: 1961–1966 . But I did not know any o them per-

sonally. George Cacioppo had passed away in 1984.

Fortunately, I had studied composition with Roger

Reynolds at Yale in 1982 and stayed in touch with him

over the years, hearing his music perormed at IRCAM

in Paris and seeing him years later in San Diego, wherehe still teaches at UC San Diego. In 2008, I approached

Reynolds with the idea o a ONCE celebration in Ann

Arbor. It was his brilliant suggestion to organize two con-

certs: ONCE THEN, eaturing historic works rom the

original ONCE Festival o the 1960s, and ONCE NOW,

eaturing recent music by the our living composers.

Reynolds reached out to Ashley, Mumma, and

Scavarda or repertoire suggestions; all agreed to participate

and return to Ann Arbor or the celebration. It was Scavarda

who suggested we wait until 2010, to properly celebrate the

50th Anniversary o the ONCE group (1960–2010).But to put all this together I needed help!

I frst approached Daniel Herwitz, director o the

Institute or the Humanities, and he immediately ex-

pressed his enthusiasm. In addition to the two con-

certs, he proposed a symposium and exhibition about

the ONCE Festival, hosted by the Institute, which also

provided signifcant fnancial support to bring the

ONCE composers to Ann Arbor. The sta o the In-

stitute, including Fellows Coordinator Doretha Coval,

Communications Coordinator Stephanie Harrell, andCurator Amanda Krugliak, have done a wonderul job

coordinating the travel arrangements or the compos-

ers as well as media and exhibition logistics.

Next, Michael Kondziolka, director o program-

ming at the University Musical Society (UMS), joined

the cause. He lent his expertise and UMS resources to

help produce the concerts and tie everything together.

UMS’s amazing sta has done a antastic job, includingProgramming Manager Mark Jacobson who assembled

and co-edited this ONCE. MORE. Festival Guide, and

Sara Billmann and Jim Leija who coordinated media

support or the celebration.

Mary Simoni, then director o Perorming Arts Tech-

nology (PAT) at the University o Michigan, signed on

to serve as co-director o ONCE. MORE. Mary oered

important technology support and assistance rom PAT

or the ONCE concerts. In addition, it was decided to

organize a 25th Anniversary PAT Concert to round othe weeklong estivities. Roger Arnett, perorming arts

sound and recording engineer, agreed to do the hard

work o putting the technology together or all three

concerts: no easy task!

U-M School o Music, Theatre & Dance aculty Chris-

topher James Lees, lecturer o conducting; Andrew

Bishop, assistant proessor o jazz and contemporary

improvisation; and Amy Porter, proessor o ute; kindly

agreed to help assemble the musicians to perorm in the

ONCE THEN and ONCE NOW concerts. Music librar-ian Kristen Castellana oered her impeccable assistance

to procure the scores and parts or the concerts.

University o Michigan musicologist Mark Clague

graciously agreed to write the ONCE. MORE. estival

guide opening essay.

Special thanks to aculty and student perormers

at the U-M School o Music, Theatre & Dance or the

many hours o hard work and rehearsals it has taken

to prepare the extremely demanding and rewarding

music or these concerts. The George Cacioppo

Memorial Fund o at the U-M School o Music, Theatre &Dance helped to deray some o the concert expenses.

Finally, my deep gratitude goes to composer Paul

Dooley, DMA candidate in composition at the Universi-

ty o Michigan. Paul worked tirelessly at al l hours o the

day and night to help me answer and sort through hun-

dreds o ONCE-related emails during the past year.

At last ater years o planning, November 2010

is here and it is now time or us to experience in

Ann Arbor the magic o the music o Robert Ashley,

George Cacioppo, Gordon Mumma, Roger Reynolds,and Donald Scavarda ONCE. MORE.

P H O T O : D o n a l d S c a v a r d a



9

O N C E .M O

R E . S Y MP O S I UM / We d Ne s d a y ,N o

V e mb e r 3

Gathering o students o Roberto Gerhard, Ann Arbor, 1960. (bottom, L–R): Leslie

Bassett, Ralph Bassett (son); (second row, sitting): Roger Reynolds, Roberto

Gerhard; (third row, squatting): Robert Ashley, Sherman Van Solkema, David Bates,

(sitting) Leopoldina Gerhard, Anita Denni ston Bassett; (standing at back): George

Cacioppo, Ed Coleman, Tom Schudel.



10iT iS A priviLEgE to reconvene a estival that became

ONCE, once upon a time in the 1960s, when the avant-

garde could stake terrain between music, poetry, and

the ow o sound in gestures so resh and experimen-

tal that the composers were invited to occupy a kind

o Salon des Reus és down the street rom the ofcial

University o Michigan campus, where they had allstudied. Their relentless, irrepressible energy is hard to

recapture in these, our more market-driven, neo-liberal

times, and experimentation has perhaps shited into

more technological domains, given that they perormed

what they perormed beore computers were widely

available, the Internet was invented, and digital realities

became that. The recovery o the power in their sounds

is a pleasure and also a task, perhaps a moral task i

one is humanist about it, subscribing to the belie that

nothing human is ever fnally too oreign to regain, insome creative way or other.

Now, a hal century ater these inventions were pro-

duced, is the time or an Institute or the Humanities

to regain them, but certainly not alone, certainly not

without the partnerships built with the U-M School o

Music, Theatre & Dance and the University Musical

Society, with composers like Michael Daugherty and

impresarios like Kenneth Fischer. The Institute or the

Humanities strives to build these kinds o sustaining

partnerships because without them ONCE could notturn into ONCE. MORE. And when ONCE does turn

into ONCE. MORE., as it will in the frst week o Novem-

ber 2010, the question will not simply be how to think

about what was, and how to hear it again and perhaps

even better, certainly dierently. The question will also

be: What kind o new meaning is to be ound in this en-

livening music 50 years later? How does time loop back

onto this music in a way that proves its purpose? These

events will occasion responses to these questions. I or

one cannot wait to see what happens to happen.

The Institute or the Humanities is delighted toadd a John Cage installation into the mix, in its gal-

lery, since Cage, although somewhat peripheral to the

original ONCE estival, is everywhere entwined with the

history o experimental music that happened beore,

during, and ater it. We are even more del ighted that

the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has generously sup-

ported the ONCE. MORE. estival.

This catalogue is a mere guide and primer or the

occasion. It is the occasion that matters. Go or it.

P H O T O : M a k e p e a c e T s a o

WELCOmE

by Daniel Herwitz, director,

University o Michigan Institute or

the Humanities



11

O N C E .M O

R E . S Y MP O S I UM / We d Ne s d a y ,N o

V e mb e r 3

Milton Cohen and Space Theatre, Ann Arbor.



12iN ThE iNSTiTuTE or the Humanities Gallery, John Cage’s

multi-media stage work Lecture on the Weather , based

on the texts o Henry David Thoreau, brings together

speech, music, flm, lighting, and a weather sound-

scape to orm a sotly political piece as relevant today

as the year it was written.

In the Institute’s Osterman Common Room, originalprograms, manuscripts, and photographs document

the inuential avant-garde ONCE Festival held annu-

ally in the early- to mid-1960s in Ann Arbor and at-

tended by Cage. A now-and-then exposition, it reprises

the phenomenon o the event, the brazen energy o

the new-music scene rom the era, and honors the tal-

ents o the ONCE ounding composers Robert Ashley,

George Cacioppo, Gordon Mumma, Roger Reynolds,

and Donald Scavarda.

Cage and the ONCE composers ran parallel, over-lapped, and intersected proessionally and personally

in their inquiries and collaborative eorts. Deeply pas-

sionate about musical experimentation and the con-

cept o indeterminacy, the constant or Cage and the

ONCE composers was ultimately their persistence and

their commitment to their work.

Cage spoke o time as horizontal rather than verti-

cal: “The past is not a act but simply a big feld that

has a great deal o activity in it.” These exhibitions in

duet continue the conversation in time both real and

imagined, without the notations o a clear beginning or

end, recognizing that it is the ongoing question rather

than certainty that leads to discovery.

—Amanda Krugliak, arts curator, University o

Michigan Institute or the Humanities

ONCE. mOrE.

AN ExhiBiTiON

Monday, September 20–

Thursday, November 4, 2010

U-M Institute or the HumanitiesOsterman Common Room

202 South Thayer Street

Ann Arbor

JOhN CAgE’S LECTurE ON

ThE WEAThEr (1976)

Monday, September 20–Thursday, November 4, 2010

U-M Institute or the Humanities Gallery

202 South Thayer Street, Room 1010

Ann Arbor

Free and open to the public.

8:00 am–5:00 pm, Mondays–Fridays

I MA G E : c o ur t e s y o f t h e J o h n C a g e T r u s t



13

Cover page o John Cage’s Lecture on the Weather , ©Henmar Press, Inc.



14 Why CAgE?

by Daniel Herwitz, director,University o Michigan Institute or the Humanities

Cage’s aims were being put into practice in the

1950s and 1960s when America ached or such relie.

Having endured decades o Great Depression, Great

War, and the repetition o war since, living daily lie on a

chess board o potential cold war annihilation, his was

a moment when America was in need o relie rom the

manic state o its ebrile temperature. The most radi-cal o his works, 4.33 directs the pianist towards our

minutes and 33 seconds o non-playing. This so-called

silent work is about placing the entire institution o mu-

sic in relie: score, instrument, perormer, concert hall,

audience. It was frst perormed in Woodstock in 1952,

a location about as ar rom New York and as rural as

Jackson Pollock’s Montauk o the same time period,

where the painter went to escape the pressures o the

city and his own alcoholic deterioration and where in

the solitude o his barn he achieved his artistic break-through. Pollock ended up drunk and dead in an auto

accident; Cage was more cheerul, and practical. He

took the route o producing an art that would improve

lie rather than escape rom it into autonomous tran-

scendental genius, about which Cage was skeptical

as to whether it was not the same pattern o obses-

sive conquest, control, achievement that had wracked

modern lie to its anguished core.

Both Pollock and Cage were in 20th-century terms

about as ar rom the center o things as Walden Pond

rom Concord town. Henry David Thoreau went to

Walden to fnd the solitude necessary or him to take

the measure o his own soul, and o that human en-

terprise called living, and in the silence o that place

ound the ability to think. His two years at Walden were

an “experiment” which easily could have ailed. “I went

to Walden to discover i lie was mean and i so to pub-

licize that act,” Thoreau writes in the opening beats o

his masterpiece, revealing all his sense o uncertainty,

experiment, risk, and resolution. That Walden was

a success, both in the act o the experiment and inits completion through the seven hard years o com-

posing the book, is an achievement that could in no

way have been predictable in advance, above all by

Thoreau himsel. Cage’s experiments in sound have

proved equally aspirational, and equally ortuitous. His

idea is practical and utopian by equal measure. Think-

ing changes when an experiment in living is put into

place which carries the risk o unpredictable ailure

but whose wager is that the scale o the event/experi-

ment is lie changing or the mind’s capacity to limnthe world without and within. Cage’s meditative prac-

tice was put in place at the moment (the 1960s) when

Thoreau returned to America ater years o neglect to

JOhN CAgE ATTENdEd the ONCE Festival as a cheerul

avant-garde riend. But more than that he was among

the once primogenitors. Cage’s experiments in the

1950s included the introduction o chance operations

into musical composition and perormance, the blur-

ring o the distinction between music and sound per

se (whatever sounds happen to happen at a particulartime), and the turning o perormance into theater or

spectacle. All o these were o importance to the ONCE

Festival. Wishing to put a ull stop to two centuries o

common practice and modernist musical traditions,

Cage replaced control over sound (the essence o the

musical score), expressivity (the communication o the

soul), and the cult o genius with a structured roll o the

dice that would get the listener o these fxations (as

he believed them to be) and restore the listener to a

celebration o the ow o contingency.The cult o (musical) genius seemed to Cage a

delusion o unbridled superiority over sound, wherein

the composer orges music as i a Wagnerian sword

symbolically unleashed upon lie. This big connection

between culture and politics linked the cult o musical

control to larger systems o Euro-American expansion

central to colonialism, nationalism, and modernity. Its

practitioner in music was above all Richard Wagner,

although Cage had it in or Beethoven. Cage’s musical

experiments were meant to inaugurate a new practice

o listening that would counter the orging o the musi-

cal sword on the anvil o composition by suspending

the composer’s own tastes and voice in a structured

environment o chance and contingency. By creating

musical works which integrated compositional choice

with whatever happens to happen in the world at the

moment o their perormance, Cage elt he was replac-

ing directed listening (listening through a composition

to its directed endpoint in a way that ocuses on expres-

sion and related intensities) with a meditative rhythm o

contingency. The key was to structure the work so thatcontingency rolled out in orms o repetition prevent-

ing mere chaos rom being unleashed. Scale proved

critical: gradually the listener slows down, drops the

impatience with waiting or modulation, development

section, recapitulation, and ugue, and begins to get

inside the peculiar rhythm o what is happening. Mean-

ing is not imposed on sound but instead an emptying

o meaning takes place within the ow o sound. This

leaves one with one’s eet a little o the ground, in a

strange inexplicable place, Cage the Zen student wouldsay. It is a place neither o transcendence nor o imma-

nence but o immersion and suspension o hierarchical

values, so he believed.



15

E X HI B I T I O N S

inhabit the unlikely position o rock star. Such iconic

celebrity would have made him shudder. But there was

reason or it. His dierent drummer was demanded by

an America on the edge o annihilation and also sub-

urban conormity. Thoreau’s greatest student was per-

haps John Cage, American transcendentalist ater the

act, or whom, as he put it in the orward to his Lecture

on the Weather , the work he wrote or the American

Bicentennial in 1976:

“It may seem to some that through the use o

chance operations I run counter to the spirit o Thoreau

(and ’76, and revolution or that matter). The fth para-

graph o Walden speaks against blind obedience to ablundering oracle. However, chance operations are not

mysterious sources o ‘the right answers.’ [i.e. oracu-

lar]. They are a means o locating a single one among a

multiplicity o answers, and at the same time, o reeing

the ego rom its taste and memory, its concern or proft

and power, o silencing the ego so that the rest o the

world has a chance to enter into the ego’s own experi-

ence whether that be outside or inside.”

The Institute or the Humanities has chosen John

Cage’s Lecture on the Weather or its sound installa-tion because this work is the clearest example o Cage’s

utopian desire to ree the mind to think and accept oth-

erness, be it in sound, in text, or in nature and people.

This bicentennial address to America at its great mo-

ment o sel-adulating nationalism says nothing is more

American than the retreat rom the America o the city,

the monument, the freworks, the bulkhead, the settler

claim o sovereignty over land and native, the politics

o Cold War domination, to a place a ew miles lateral

where through experiment lie can be experienced oth-

erwise and thinking can become new.

Later in his career he will compose his works in the

orm o a mesostic, a poetic orm invented by Cage which

subjects materials rom source texts to a computer gen-

erated program o chance operations, mixing words into

seemingly random order and spewing them out in theorm o a single, long, vertical string. The Lecture on the

Weather relies on chance operations or the choice o

text ragments which are taken rom the works o Henry

David Thoreau. These ragments are read out, that is,

perormed by 12 speaker-vocalists and/or instrumen-

talists, each o whom relies on an independent sound

system distinguishing them rom the others. The per-

ormers frst reach consensus about the total length o

the work. Once time length has been established each is

ree to perorm within that unit o time at a rate o speedo their choosing, also pausing when they like.

The result is a polyphonic choral address to America

poised between contingency and anarchy, concordance

and disunity—a perormed human and choral multiplic-

ity reusing hierarchy and hanging together in ways that

place received practices o voice-leading, phrase struc-

ture, and musical through-composition on their head.

It is too simple to say either that these voices are,

or are not, communicating . They happen to happen at

the same time, like the weather in various parts o theworld. But perhaps this is mere contingency. On the

other hand various inections o response, each voice

to the other, cannot help but happen in the course o

perormance, implying partial conversation. This piece,

begun in group consensus with everyone then ree

to engage as they do, cannot help but appear as an

image o the ideal origin and practice o governance:

governance in an agreement that regulates and makes

possible reedom. The piece is an image o equality

that is however decidedly anti-national, since it is a cel-ebration o voices which reuse to match up except in

their derivation rom the source texts o Thoreau and

his vision o an America spiritualized by dierences,

reusals, and harmonies achieved through things both

willed and sudden/unpredictable. National narratives

are orms o control placed on time, rewritings o the

past in the name o group and state empowerment.

This piece aims to ree time rom such bicentennial

straight-jackets, and in doing so to ree America rom

its inheritance o maniest destiny. Time is given back

to people who rame its length and are ree to variously

inhabit it/make it happen.

You don’t need a weatherman to know which way

this kind o wind blows. One should be less clear about

the world and one’s place in it ater thinking through

the terms o this peculiar lecture on the weather. One

thing is clear: it aspires to a uture o toleration instead

o one o marking its trees and orests like a certain

kind o male animal.

Cage’s intervention in the uture o humanity is now

part o our past . And yet, it strangely remains vibrant.What he called tolerance and respect within nature,

what he called meditation and the openness to working

with things as they happen within the ow o time and

materiality, we would now call sustainability. His Lecture

on the Weather , which took the temperature o America

at a moment o its most vivid nationalism, is even more

apt at a moment o global warming. Its aim o cooling

down the temperature o Beethoven, Wagner, Schoe-

nberg, not to mention George Washington, should be

outsourced to China where energy is being eaten aliveto produce a ruination o landscape as buildings arise

with the speed o Fritz Lang’s Metropolis . We are driv-

ing ourselves crazy….once more, once again.

P H O T O : A l i x J e f f r y ,1 9 6 8

L–R: David Behrman, David Tudor, John Cage, Gordon Mumma, and E ric Salzman (1968).



16

E X H I B I T I O N S

recordings, perormances, workshops, estivals, and

more. The John Cage Trust is now a resident organi-

zation at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY,

where all o its materials are housed and maintained.

The John Cage Trust at Bard College provides access to

these holdings through courses, workshops, and con-

certs, and continues to develop new programs aroundthis extraordinary resource. Dr. Kuhn, in addition to

maintaining and operating the John Cage Trust at Bard

College, holds the position o John Cage Proessor o

Perormance Arts at Bard College.

UMS presents

mErCE CuNNiNghAm dANCE COmpANy

ThE LEgACy TOurFiday, Fbuay 18, 2011

Sauday, Fbuay 19, 2011

Pw C, A Ab

When the always orward-thinking Merce Cunningham

passed away in July 2009 at the age o 90, he let

behind a plan or the dissolution o his dance company

and the preservation o his works: a two-year legacy

tour that would end on December 31, 2011 with aperormance in New York City. UMS presents two

seminal Cunningham works on consecutive evenings

in February 2011: Squaregame (1976) and Split Sides

(2003). Please visit www.ums.org or urther inormation

and event tickets.

JOhN CAgE’SLECTurE ON ThE WEAThEr (1976)

In some respects, Lecture on the Weather is an atypi-

cal work or Cage in its overtly political tone. It came

about as a commission rom the Canadian Broadcast-ing Corporation, in 1975, who wanted a work “in ob-

servance o America’s bicentennial.” Cage chose to

create a piece that would engage as perormers 12

expatriate American men who had settled in Cana-

da during and shortly ater the Vietnam War. As you

hear in his preace, which begins any perormance,

Cage used this work as an opportunity to articulate

his dissatisaction with American government. His

observations are noteworthy, both or the sentiments

expressed—prescient and still timely, rom our cur-rent perspective—but also that he said them out loud.

By the end o his lie, Cage didn’t really avor “critical”

response, preerring instead “composition.” I you

don’t like something, the “proper” response, in his

view, would be to make something better.

But Cage’s preace to Lecture on the Weather is not

the only place a political statement is being made. What

Cage also did, here and elsewhere, was to embed politi-

cal ideas into the very orms and practices o his compo-

sition. Lecture on the Weather , like virtually all o Cage’sworks rom the 1950s orward, was conceived through

a variety o chance means, and it comprises a delicate

balance between what he called law elements and ree-

dom elements—that is, law elements where he elt they

were needed, reedom elements everywhere else.

For a multimedia slideshow and

perormance o the “Preace” to

Lecture on the Weather as read

by John Cage, please visit www.

photoshow.com/watch/ru3tm8MZ

or scan the QR code (let) wi th yourmobile device.

JOhN CAgE (1912–1992) was a singularly inventive,

highly inuential, and much beloved American com-

poser, writer, philosopher, and visual artist. Beginning

around 1950, and throughout the passing years, he de-

parted rom the pragmatism o precise musical notation

and circumscribed ways o perormance. His principalcontribution to the history o music is his systematic es-

tablishment o the principle o indeterminacy: by adapting

Zen Buddhist practices to composition and perormance,

Cage succeeded in bringing both authentic spiritual ideas

and a liberating attitude o play to the enterprise o West-

ern art. His aesthetic o chance produced a unique body

o what might be called “once-only” works, any two per-

ormances o which can never be quite the same. In an

eort to reduce the subjective element in composition, hedeveloped methods o selecting the components o his

pieces by chance, early on through the tossing o coins or

dice and later through the use o random number genera-

tors on the computer, and especially IC (1984), designed

and written in the C language by Cage’s programmer-

assistant, Andrew Culver, to simulate the coin oracle o

the I Ching. Cage’s use o the computer was creative and

procedural, and resulted in a system o what can easily be

seen as total serialism, in which all elements pertaining to

pitch, noise, duration, relative loudness, tempi, harmony,etc., could be determined by reerring to previously drawn

correlated charts. Thus, Cage’s mature works did not

originate in psychology, motive, drama, or literature, but,

rather, were just sounds, ree o judgments about whether

they are musical or not, ree o fxed relations, ree o

memory and taste. His most enduring, indeed notorious,

composition, inuenced by Robert Rauschenberg’s all-

black and all-white paintings, is the radically tacet 4’33”

(1952). Encouraging the ultimate reedom in musical ex-

pression, the three movements o 4’33” are indicated by

the pianist’s opening and closing o the piano key cover,during which no sounds are intentionally produced. It was

frst perormed by the extraordinarily gited pianist and

long-time Cage associate, David Tudor, at Maverick Hall

in Woodstock, NY, on August 29, 1952.

WhEN JOhN CAgE diEd, in August o 1992, his signifcant

holdings passed to his longtime riend and collabora-

tor, the dancer and choreographer Merce Cunning-

ham. The John Cage Trust was legally ormed shortlythereater, with a board o directors consisting o Cun-

ningham, Anne d’Harnoncourt (director o the Phila-

delphia Museum o Art), David Vaughan (archivist at

the Cunningham Dance Foundation), and Laura Kuhn

(who had been Cage’s assistant since 1986), who

continues to serve as its ounding executive director.

The primary unctions o the Trust are to maintain a

sizable archive and to monitor and administer rights

and licenses to Cage’s published and unpublished

work. In both ways, the John Cage Trust creates andencourages educational experiences, enhances public

access, and enlivens global awareness through new

P H O T O S : ( B e l o w ) D o n a l d D i e t z , c o ur t e

s y o f t h e J o h n C a g e T r u s t ; ( O p p o s i t e ) M a k e p e a c e T s a o

Merce Cunningham, perorming in John Cage’s Lecture on the Weather ,

Bard College (2007).



17


Pop Art Lecture (November 1963).



18 BrOWN BAg LECTurE:The Book as Such in theRussian Avant-Garde

Visiting Fellow Nancy Perlo, curator o modern and

contemporary collections,

Getty Research Institute

Tuesday, November 2, 2010 at 12 noon

U-M Institute or the Humanities

202 South Thayer Street, Room 2022

Ann Arbor


SiNCE ThE 1970S, scholarship on the historical avant-

gardes has extended well beyond painting to encompass

the illustrated book and other orms o print media.

Yet modernist studies still pay little attention to the

collaborative books o the Russian Futurists—poets

Alexei Kruchenykh and Velimir Khlebnikov and artists

Mikhail Larionov, Natalia Goncharova, Olga Rozanova,and Kazimir Malevich. It is Nancy Perlo’s contention

that these pocket-sized, hand-lithographed books, with

their transrational language o zaum or “beyonsense”

and their neo-primitive, Cubo-Futurist, and Rayist im-

agery, are crucial to our understanding not only o the

Russian avant-garde, but o modernism more broadly.

Zaum was both archaic incantation and Futurist neolo-

gism and marked the beginning o sound poetry. Poets

and artists juxtaposed sound with word and image, and

used humor and parody to explore tensions between


SpECiOuS prESENT

A Rackham Installation

by Alex Drosen and

Matthew Rose

Specious Present

–noun.

a short time span in which change and

duration are directly experienced.

Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday

November 2, 4, and 6, 2010

Pre- and post-concerts

Rackham Auditorium Inner-Lobby Restrooms

915 East Washington Street

Ann Arbor

SpECiOuS prESENT is an interactive algorithmic soundand video installation created specifcally or the ONCE.

MORE. estival. The piece celebrates the anniversaries

o the ONCE Festival and the U-M Perorming Arts

Technology program with an exploration o the concept

o the passage o time rom both aesthetic and histori-

cal perspectives. The piece manipulates and distorts

timing and duration with its structure and content.

Inormed by the original ONCE composers, Specious

Present takes a historical look at the techniques and

attitudes o these innovative electronic composers.

Simultaneously, the piece takes advantage o new

technology, using interactive digital systems to inu-

ence sound and image in real-time.

past and uture, sacred and secular, rural and urban.

This analysis will place these tensions and the role o

the avant-garde book as a vessel o sound within the

context o the crisis enveloping Russia between the

1905 Revolution and the Bolshevik takeover o 1917.

Please refer to page 30 for a biography of

Nancy Perloff.





20 ONCE. mOrE.

ONCE ThEN

Michael Daugherty and Mary Simoni

Co-Directors

Faculty Artists o the University o Michigan

School o Music, Theatre & Dance, Creative

Arts Orchestra, and Digital Music Ensemble

Christopher Albrecht, Trumpet

Chad Burrow, Clarinet

Michael Daugherty, Piano

John Ellis, Piano

Daniel Gilbert, Clarinet Joseph Gramley, Percussion

Pia Greiner, Cello

David Jackson, Trombone

Fritz Kaenzig, Tuba

Nancy Ambrose King, Oboe

Cary Kocher, Percussion

Kristin Kuster, Piano

Samuel Livingston, Percussion

Jerey Lyman, Bassoon

Ryan Mackstaller, Guitar

Stacie Mickens, French Horn

Seth Allyn Morris, Flutes

Amy Porter, Flutes

Linnea Powell, Viola

Theresa Prokes, Violin

George Shirley, Narrator

Adam Unsworth, French Horn

Roger Arnett, Technical Director

Paul Dooley, Technical Assistant

Tuesday, November 2, 2010 at 8:00 pm

Rackham Auditorium


Ann Arbor

132nd Annual UMS Season

ONCE. MORE.

The photographing or sound and video

recording o this concert or possession o any

device or such recording is prohibited.

Music + lms rom the historic ONCE Festivals

Roger Reynolds Mosaic (1962) or ute and piano

Ms. Porter, Mr. Ellis

Robert Ashley in memoriam… Crazy Horse (symphony) (1963) or 32 instruments

Creative Arts OrchestraMark Kirschenmann, Director

Gordon Mumma Large Size Mograph 1962 (1962) or solo piano

Mr. Ellis, Piano

Donald Scavarda Groups for Piano (1959)

Mr. Ellis, Piano

InterMISSIon

Ashley in memoriam… Esteban Gómez (quartet) (1963)

Digital Music EnsembleStephen Rush, Director

Scavarda FilmSCORE for Two Pianists (1962)

Mr. Daugherty, Ms. Kuster

Scavarda GREYS, A FilmSCORE (1963) silent version

Visuals by Scavarda/ GREYS (1963) stereo electronic music or Donald Scavarda’s FilmSCORE Electronic music by Mumma



21

O N C E .M O R

E . O N C E T HE N

/ t ue s d a y ,N o V e mb e r 2

George Cacioppo Cassiopeia (1962)

Mr. Daugherty

Mumma Sinfonia (1958–60) 12 instruments and magnetic tape

Ms. Porter, Ms. King, Mr. Lyman, Mr. Jackson, Mr. Kaenzig, Mr. Mackstaller,

Mr. Ellis, Mr. Gramley, Ms. Prokes, Ms. Powell, Ms. Greiner

Christopher James Lees, Conductor

InterMISSIon

Scavarda Matrix for Clarinetist (1962)

Mr. Gilbert

Reynolds A Portrait of Vanzetti (1962–63) or narrator, instruments, and stereophonicelectro-acoustic sound

(Text edited by the composer rom the letters o Bartolomeo Vanzetti)

Mr. Shirley, Ms. Porter, Mr. Morris, Mr. Burrow, Mr. Unsworth, Ms. Mickens,

Mr. Albrecht, Mr. Jackson, Mr. Gramley, Mr. Kocher, Mr. Livingston

Mr. Lees, Conductor

Special thanks to all o the U-M School o Music, Theatre & Dance aculty artists or their

ongoing commitment o time and energy to this special perormance.

In the interests o saving both dollars and the environment, please either retain this estival

guide and return with it when you attend other estival events or return it to your usher

when leaving the venue.



Robert Ashley’s score or in memoriam… Esteban Gómez (quartet) (1963).

22



23

O N C E .M O R

E . O N C E T HE N

/ t ue s d a y ,N o V e mb e r 2

Mosaic (1962) or ute and pianoRoger Reynolds

Born July 18, 1934 in Detroit, Michigan

Mosaic or ute (piccolo) and piano is subdivided into

12 sections, and temporal proportion is established

here by small number groupings (2 7s=14, 3 8s=24,5 4s=20, etc.) which are arranged so as to result in a

gradual expansion o sub-section duration (24”, ...48”,

...100”, 132”). Here, a new level o attention is paid to

instrumental “color” and the shaping inuence o tex-

ture. There are—it is hardly surprising—12 categories

o musical articulation specifed in the sketches, rang-

ing rom trills and repeated notes, to pitch glissandi

and percussive sounds such as key clicks.

Program note by Roger Reynolds.

in memoriam… Crazy Horse (symphony) (1963)or 32 instruments

Robert Ashley

Born March 28, 1930 in Ann Arbor, Michigan

in memoriam . . . Crazy Horse (symphony) is one o a

group o our pieces (a quartet, a trio concerto, a sym-

phony, and an opera) that I hoped were pure and ac-

curate abstractions o those musical orms as I under-stood them rom the European tradition. (Each o these

orms was given the name o a “New World” hero rom

dierent times in our history, because it seemed rom

my reading o European musical history and American

social history that there was a remarkably curious co-

incidence between the emergence o a musical orm

in Europe with the emergence o a very “similar” social

idea represented by the American hero. It was as i the

same “idea” happened on both continents at the same

time, but had to be represented dierently in the twoplaces, because the orm o the idea had to come rom

what was available to be changed: in Europe, in music;

in America, in social organization.)

Program note by Robert Ashley.

Large Size Mograph 1962 (1962) or solo pianoGordon Mumma

Born March 30, 1935 in Framingham, Massachusetts

This solo piano work is rom a series o dierent-

sized pieces or various combinations o pianos ti-

tled Mographs . The activities o each Mograph were

derived rom seismograph-recorded P-wave and

S-wave patterns o earthquakes and underground

nuclear explosions. I was intrigued with the relation-

ship similarities between the time-travel patterns o

P and S waves and the sound-reection character-

istics o musical perormance-spaces. The title-punshould be accessible.

Program note by Gordon Mumma.

Groups for Piano (1959)Donald Scavarda

Born 1928 in Iron Mountain, Michigan

Scavarda composed Groups or Piano at Tanglewood

in 1959. In this work he poses the question: How

short can a piece be and still be perceived as com-

plete and coherent? The fve groups have durations

respectively o 7, 8, 10, 8, and 7 seconds with speci-

fed silences between them. Total duration is 55 sec-

onds. To create a sense o spatial depth every note

is given its own specifc dynamic, requently with

dramatic contrasts.

Leon Kirchner, with whom Scavarda studied

at Tanglewood, invited Paul Jacobs to première

Groups at a Composers Forum. The piece createda storm o controversy and dominated the audience

discussion.

Program note by Donald Scavarda.

in memoriam… Esteban Gómez (quartet) (1963)Ashley

The graph is read circularly (see opposite, page 22).Each dot represents a constant unit o time that is de-

termined privately by each perormer. This unit should

be a natural pulse that does not tend to subdivide in

the perormer’s mind.

The individual perormer assigns to each quadrant

o the score one o the ollowing sound elements: pitch;

intensity; timbre1; density2. These sound elements may

be assigned to the quadrants in any pattern, and that

pattern—while it will “revolve” in its relationship to the

score—will remain constant (in the relationship o its

parts) throughout the perormance.The ensemble should prepare a sonority within

which the individual instruments are not distinguish-

able. This sonority will provide, or the individual per-

ormers, a tonal reerence or the various sound activi-

ties that constitute the perormance.

Whenever any perormer is playing his contribution

to the reerence sonority, time (duration) is unmea-

sured (ree) or him.

Whenever any perormer is playing through the(16) measured pulses o a quadrant, he must deviate

continuously, but as gradually as possible, rom his

contribution to the reerence sonority.

The perormance begins with the reerence sonor-

ity. At any time, then, individual perormers may play

through any (starting) quadrant. Subsequently, they

will continue reading circularly, alternating unmea-

sured periods o their contribution to the reerence

sonority with measured periods o assigned deviations.

Whenever any perormer frst becomes aware o

a deviant element (other than his own) in the reer-

ence sonority, his pattern o assigned sound elements

(quadrants) shits circularly so that the mode o devia-

tion he recognizes is assigned to the quadrant opposite

that in which he is playing or will play next. (As the

pattern o quadrants remains constant, thus, all quad-

rants will be re-designated.) The pattern o quadrant

designations remains in its changed position until the

perormer has played through the succeeding (newly

designated) quadrant, ater which it is subject again to

transposition through the appearance o deviant ele-ments in the sonority.

Program note by Robert Ashley.

1Timbre reers to tonal color changes eected through

the use o mutes, flters, bow movement, etc.2Density reers to the mixing o tonal ingredients, as in

utter-tongue, double-stops, mixed vocal and instru-

mental sound, etc.

FilmSCORE for Two Pianists (1962)GREYS, A FilmSCORE (1963) silent versionGREYS (1963) stereo electronic music or Donald

Scavarda’s FilmSCORE Scavarda/Electronic music by Mumma

In these two interdisciplinary works, Mr. Scavarda

redefnes and expands the entire concept o musical

notation. He explores the physical properties o flm

itsel and produces a kind o visual music, an abstract

flm which simultaneously contains symbolic inor-

I MA G E : c o ur t e s y o f R o b e r t A s h l e y



24

O N C E . M O R E . O N C E T H E N

/ t u e s d a y , N

o V e m b e r 2

mation or perormers. Mr. Scavarda transormed

common objects into variously colored discs which

seem to be illuminated rom within. In FilmSCORE

or Two Pianists they move at dierent speeds, in

every direction and through all dimensions. The cli-

mactic section contains 12 separate and indepen-

dent layers o visual inormation. It is a dense, com-plex contrapuntal texture which suddenly erupts in a

renzy o activity.

Although GREYS employs the same kind o abstract

symbols as the earlier flm, the orm is quite dierent.

It is structured as a multi-layered, single di rection, con-

tinuous ux o varying densities and speeds. At its most

dense the flm contains 18 layers o material.


Cassiopeia (1962)George Cacioppo

Born September 24, 1927 in Monroe, Michigan

Died April 4, 1984 in Ann Arbor

Some o Cacioppo’s Pianopieces , such as Cassiopeia,

use a distinctive notational system (see acing score,

page 25). The player may ollow any given path rom

one note to another. (For paths with undefned pitches,

the player chooses them.) In Cassiopeia , volume is pro-portional to the size o a black circle, note lengths to

linear space. Convex paths indicate a slowing o tempo,

concave ones an acceleration. Asked to explain the ad-

vantages o this notation, Cacioppo replied that it gives

the perormer “an opportunity or his eye to roam about

the score and stimulate him to fnd perhaps a more

unique way o realizing the notes.” He compared the

experience to seeing “a cloud go by or a sunset, know-

ing that every time you see it, the experience and the

images will be dierent.”

Program note by Leta E. Miller, courtesy o the author.

Sinfonia (1958–60) 12 instruments andmagnetic tape

Mumma

Following the classic our-movement template, Sino-

nia ’s title indicates its structure and brevity, and echoes

my classical origins. The chamber ensemble o only 12instruments is joined by an electronic music sequence

in the last part o the third movement.

Each o the our movements is o substantially di-

erent character. The frst movement squeezes thebusy instruments into a two-octave range. The pointil-

list second movement spreads over fve octaves. The

complex thematic counterpoint o the third movement

evolves into a sound-specifed quasi-improvisation that

absorbs into electronic music. The ourth movement

overlaps the third as a dramatic scene change—a

quietly sustained instrumental soundscape with occa-

sional isolated motis. Although the Sinonia continues

to have subsequent perormances, I think none has

matched the careul preparation and enthusiastic en-ergy o the ONCE Festival première.


Matrix for Clarinetist (1962)Scavarda

Donald Scavarda is widely recognized or his early

discovery and development o clarinet multiphonics.

For centuries, these magnifcent sounds remaineddormant in the clarinet, their existence unknown. It

was believed that the instrument was capable o pro-

ducing only single tones. In 1962, Mr. Scavarda pub-

lished his revolutionary Matrix or Clarinetist in the Uni-versity o Michigan’s Generation Magazine . The score

provided special fngerings and instructions which, or

the frst time, enabled the clarinetist to produce mul-

tiple simultaneous tones. John Morgan premièred Ma-

trix or Clarinetist at a ONCE Friends concert in East

Lansing, Michigan, on May 25, 1962.


A Portrait of Vanzetti (1962–63) or narrator,instruments, and stereophonic electro-acoustic sound

Reynolds

A Portrait o Vanzetti , or chamber ensemble, narra-

tor, and electro-acoustic sound, was my frst extended

composition to combine electronic with instrumental

resources. (I had done Dervish, a brie work or piano

and percussion with tape, a year beore, in Ann Ar-

bor.) The duality present in Wedge was extended andradicalized now as an interplay between the thread o

narration and the ensemble’s perspectives.

L–R: Donald Scavarda and clarinet soloist John Morgan, Matrix or Clarinetist (1962).

P H O T O : ( L e f t ) c o ur t e s y o f D o n a l d S c a v a r d a



George Cacioppo’s notational system or Cassiopeia (1962).

25



26

O N C E . M O R E . O N C E T H E N

/ t u e s d a y , N

o V e m b e r 2


The place o political orces in my lie was sharp-

ened by Köln (it was bleak: still an intermittent patch-

work o rubble and rudimentary new construction),

and I decided to set a less abstract text—though still

a poetic one—edited rom the letters o anarchist Bar-

tolomeo Vanzetti.

Ater a brie, assertive “Introduction,” there is apause, and a voice begins gently, announcing its “com-

mon, harmless presence,” but soon pressing the anar-

chist theme: “We have war because we are not suf-

ciently heroic or a lie which does not need war.” There

is an episodic interaction between its frst narrator Jack

O’Brien’s urgent, articulate insinuations, and the shrill,

raucous, oten asymmetrically stabbing but sometimes

even velvety perspectives o the ensemble. Vanzetti’s

words claim that “anarchy is as beautiul as a woman or

me…” while the instrumental interjections themselves

sound anarchic: each a unique amalgam utilizing some

small subset o the total instrumental resource.

A piercingly intense coda closes the piece.

Program note by Roger Reynolds.

Please refer to page 40 for complete

ONCE THEN composer and artist biographies.

CrEATivE ArTS OrChESTrA

Mark Kirschenmann,

Director

Violins

Philip CoonceAshley Martin

Joachim Stepniewski

Katherine Van Duisen

Elizabeth Wright

Viola

Joshua Holcomb

Bass

Joseph FeeBenjamin Linstrum

Benjamin Rolston

William Satterwhite

Clarinets/Saxophones

Patrick Booth

Colin Johnson

Molly Jones

William Marriott

Daniel Padamos

Gabriel SaltmanEric Schindler

Trumpet

Derek Worthington

Trombone

Vincent Chandler

Tuba

Michael Musick

Harp

Christen Tamarelli

Piano

Michael Malis



27

O N C E .M O R

E . S Y MP O S I UM / We d Ne s d a y ,N o V

e mb e r 3

Robert She (at piano), ONCE perormer, the VFW Hall (1964).



28 ONCE. mOrE.

SympOSium

Wednesday, November 3, 2010,

9:00 am–4:00 pmRackham Amphitheatre and Assembly Hall


Ann Arbor


SympOSium SChEduLE

9:00–9:15 am Rereshments

9:15–9:30 am Introduction by Daniel Herwitz, director,

University o Michigan Institute or the Humanities

SESSiON ONE

9:30–10:00 am Leta Miller, proessor o music, University o Caliornia, Santa Cruz

10:00–10:30 am Nancy Perlo, curator o modern and contemporary collections,

Getty Research Institute

10:30–11:30 am Discussion and Break

11:30 am–12:00 noon Marjorie Perlo, Sadie D. Patek Proessor Emerita o Humanities,

Stanord University and Florence Scott Proessor Emerita, University o

Southern Caliornia

12:00 noon–12:30 pm Richard Craword, Hans T. David Distinguished University Proessor o

Musicology Emeritas, University o Michigan

12:30–1:00 pm Discussion

1:00–2:00 pm Lunch Break

SESSiON TWO

2:00–4:00 pm A Conversation with ONCE Composers Robert Ashley, Gordon Mumma,

Roger Reynolds, and Donald Scavarda

acilitated by

Michael Daugherty and Daniel Herwitz



29

O N C E .M O R

E . S Y MP O S I UM / We d Ne s d a y ,N o V e mb e r 3

dANiEL hErWiTz has been director o the Institute or the

Humanities and Mary Fair Croushore Proessor o the

Humanities at the University o Michigan since 2002.

He also holds proessorships in comparative l iterature,

philosophy, and history o art in the college, and is ad-

junct proessor in screen arts and culture. He holds

tenure in the School o Art & Design. Beore coming

to Michigan, Mr. Herwitz lived and worked in South A-

rica, where he was chair in philosophy at the University

o Natal (1996–2002) and director o the Center or

Knowledge and Innovation there. His book o essays,

Race and Reconciliation (Minnesota, 2003) is the re-

sult o that stay, along with short stories published in

the Michigan Quarterly Review . Mr. Herwitz has three

recent books which appeared in 2008: The Star as Icon

(Columbia), Key Concepts in Aesthetics (Continuum),and (edited with Ashu Varshney) Midnight’s Diaspora:

Critical Encounters with Salman Rushdie. He holds a

PhD in philosophy rom the University o Chicago.

miChAEL dAughErTy is co-director o ONCE. MORE. and

proessor o composition at the University o Michigan

School o Music, Theatre & Dance. According to the

League o American Orchestras, Mr. Daugherty (b.

1954 Cedar Rapids, Iowa) is one o the 10 most per-

ormed American composers. He has been hailed by

The Times (London) as “a master icon maker” with a

“maverick imagination, earless structural sense, and

meticulous ear.” Mr. Daugherty frst came to interna-

tional attention when the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

perormed his Metropolis Symphony with David Zinman

at Carnegie Hall in 1994. Ater teaching composition at

the Oberlin Conservatory o Music, he joined the Univer-

sity o Michigan School o Music, Theatre & Dance in

1991. His music has been perormed by the Cleveland

Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Or-chestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orches-

tra, Pittsburgh Symphony, San Francisco Symphony,

BBC Symphony Orchestra, RAI Orchestra o Turin, and

the London Symphony Orchestra. Current commissions

or the 2010/11 season include a new wind ensemble

work or the University o Michigan Symphony Band and

orchestral works or the RAI Orchestra o Torino (Italy)

and the Cabrillo Festival o Contemporary Music (Santa

Cruz). His music is published by Peermusic Classical

and Boosey & Hawkes and can be heard on Naxos,Argo, Nonesuch, and Equilibrium labels.

ONCE. mOrE. Sos Boaes

riChArd CrAWFOrd, widely acknowledged as the most

eminent Americanist in the feld o musicology, has

helped to shape the scholarly directions o American

musicology or more than 40 years. He retired rom

teaching in 2003 but remains the Hans T. David Dis-

tinguished University Proessor o Musicology Emeri-

tus at the University o Michigan. His books include

America’s Musical Lie: A History , An Introduction to

America’s Musical Lie , and The American Musical

Landscape: The Business o Musicianship rom Bill-

ings to Gershwin —one o the seminal works o Ameri-

can music history. Craword was the frst Americanist to

serve as president o the American Musicological Soci-

ety, where he let an indelible mark and initiated the im-

portant publications series Music in the United States

o America , o which he is editor-in-chie. Currently, heis working on a biography o George Gershwin.



30

O N C E . M

O R E . S Y M P O S I U M

/ W e d N e s d a y , N

o V e m b e r 3

LETA miLLEr is the author o the 100-page historical es-

say in the booklet accompanying New World Records’

fve-CD set, Music rom the ONCE Festival . She has pub-

lished widely on mid-20th-century music, including two

books on composer Lou Harrison, a critical edition ohis works, and about two dozen articles in musicological

journals and essay collections on Harrison, John Cage,

Henry Cowell, Charles Ives, and music in the San Fran-

cisco area. Her article “Henry Cowell and John Cage: In-

tersections and Inuences, 1933–1941” (in the Journal

o the American Musicological Society ) won the 2006

Lowens Award rom the Society or American Music or

the best article on an American music topic. She has

also been eatured as ute soloist (on baroque and mod-

ern ute) on more than 15 recordings. Miller has just

completed a book, Music and Politics in San Francisco:

From the 1906 Quake to the Second World War , which

will be published in 2011. She is the editor o the Journal

o the Society or American Music .

mArJOriE pErLOFF teaches and writes on 20th- and

21st-century poetry and poetics, both Anglo-American

and rom a Comparatist perspective, as well as on

intermedia and the visual arts. Her frst three books

dealt with individual poets—Yeats, Robert Lowell, andFrank O’Hara; she then published The Poetics o Inde-

terminacy: Rimbaud to Cage (1981), which led to her

extensive exploration o avant-garde art movements in

The Futurist Moment: Avant-Garde, Avant-Guerre, and

the Language o Rupture (1986 & 1994), and subse-

quent books (13 in all), the most recent o which is

Dierentials: Poetry, Poetics, Pedagogy (2005). The

Sound o Poetry / The Poetry o Sound , co-edited with

Craig Dworkin, was published in 2009 and UNORIGI-

NAL GENIUS: Poetry by Other Means in the Twenty-

First Century will be published in 2010. She has beena requent reviewer or periodicals rom TLS and the

Washington Post to major scholarly journals, and has

lectured widely in the US and abroad. She was recently

the Weideneld Proessor o European Literature at Ox-

ord University. Perlo has held Guggenheim, NEH,

and Huntington ellowships; served on the advisory

board o the Stanord Humanities Center; and has re-

cently completed her year as president o the Modern

Language Association. She is a member o the Ameri-

can Academy o Arts and Sciences and recently wasnamed honorary oreign proessor at Beijing Modern

Languages University. She received an honorary de-

gree rom Bard College in May 2008.

NANCy pErLOFF ’s scholarship addresses the Russian

avant-garde, European modernism, and the relation-

ship between sound and the visual arts. Her 2004

exhibition, “Sea Tails: A Video Collaboration,” recre-

ated the American composer David Tudor’s only videowork and inspired her 2004 article or Leonardo Mu-

sic Journal . Her essay, “Sound Poetry and the Musi-

cal Avant-Garde,” appeared in all 2009 in The Sound

o Poetry / The Poetry o Sound and she published

“Schwitters Redesigned: A Postwar Ursonate rom

the Getty Archives” in the Journal o Design History

(June 2010). Her exhibition, “Tango with Cows: Book

Art o the Russian Avant-Garde, 1910–1917”—which

travels to Northwestern University’s Block Museum in

2011—uses the GRI’s Russian modernist collections to

highlight the avant-garde’s transormation o the bookand experimentation with word-image-sound. Her

Monuments o the Future: Designs by El Lissitzky and

subsequent book, Situating El Lissitzky , also eatured

GRI holdings. Current projects include an essay on Na-

talia Goncharova and continued research on the early

Russian avant-garde.

Please refer to page 40 for biographies of the

ONCE composers.

P H O T O : c o ur t e s y o f t h e J o h n C a g e T r u s t



31


L–R: David Tudor, John Cage (circa 1962).



32The Penny Stamps

Distinguished Speaker Series

Presents

ThE JOhN CAgE TruST

iNdETErmiNACy

with Director Laura Kuhn

and DJ Tadd Mullinix

Thursday, November 4, 2010 at 5:10 pm

Michigan Theater

603 East Liberty Street

Ann Arbor


A program o the U–M School o Art & Design

inetenac

John Cage frst perormed Indeterminacy: New Aspect

o Form in Instrumental and Electronic Music as a

lecture at the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair. One week

beore, he began to prepare the lecture in a Stockton

hotel room. Remembering an earlier suggestion romhis long-time collaborator David Tudor that he “...make

a talk that was nothing but stories,” Cage wrote 30,

which he then read at Expo ’58, without accompani-

ment. Sixty more stories were written the ollowing year

to fll out a 90-minute lecture Cage and Tudor were to

give at Columbia Teacher’s College, or speaker and

live musician. Shortly ater, the two men recorded all

90 or what is now an enduring, historic Smithsonian/

Folkways recording.

Cage’s idea or Indeterminacy was simple: eacho the stories would be read aloud in the space o

precisely one minute: thus, i a story is long, it is read

very, very ast; i short, then very, very slowly. At the

same time, Tudor would simultaneously perorm a

spontaneous musical counterpoint comprising selec-

tions rom two earlier Cage compositions: Concert or

Piano and Orchestra (piano) and Fontana Mix (tape).

Most o the stories in Indeterminacy are about Cage

or his riends, and almost all o them have an element

o puckish humor. Some have an almost magical-re-

alistic theme, others are amusingly absurd, and stillothers make you laugh out loud. And while the stories

are a delight purely on their own, the added layer o

unexpected musical counterpoint complements in

ways that can’t ever be predicted.

ThE JOhN CAgE TruST was established in 1993 as a not-

or-proft organization with a mandate to preserve, en-

hance, and maintain the integrity o the artistic works

o the late American composer, John Cage. Its ound-ing board o trustees was comprised o our long-time

Cage associates: Merce Cunningham, artistic director,

Cunningham Dance Foundation; Anne d’Harnoncourt,

director, Philadelphia Museum o Art; David Vaughan,

archivist, Cunningham Dance Foundation; and Laura

Kuhn, who serves as its executive director. In 2008,

with the passing o d’Harnoncourt, Margarete Roeder,

Cage’s long-time gallerist, joined the ranks; in 2009,

Cunningham was replaced by Melissa Harris, long-time

editor o Aperture Magazine.In its 17 years o existence, the John Cage Trust

has been both proactive in its work to collect, inven-

tory, catalog, and place Cage’s various manuscript

collections, and responsive in its attempts to serve

the ongoing and emerging needs o scholars, creative

artists, and perormers the world over by providing

inormation, assistance, and access to its archives,

which includes extensive monographs and recorded

materials by and about John Cage, as well as a per-manent collection o Cage’s visual arts works, which

are lent to museums and galleries worldwide. And,

in addition to initiating and participating in educa-

tional settings and programs throughout the world,

the Trust actively promotes new projects utilizing its

holdings; publications, recordings, theatrical realiza-

tions, and new media products, oten utilizing inno-

vative technologies.

LAurA KuhN enjoys a lively career as a writer, perorm-

er, scholar, and arts administrator. She worked during

her graduate school years in the early 1980s with the

Russian-born inant terrible o American musicology,

Nicolas Slonimsky, becoming successor editor, upon

his death in 1996, o his acclaimed music dictionar-

ies Baker’s Biographical Dictionary o Musicians and

Music Since 1900 . In 1986, upon completion o her

MA degree rom the University o Caliornia, Los An-

geles (her thesis a comparative study o the theoreti-

cal ideas o German composer Richard Wagner withthe montage flm theory o the Russian director Sergei

Eisenstein), she also began working with the American

composer, visual artist, and philosopher John Cage in

PH O T O S : ( B e l o w ) B e t t y F r e e m a n , c o ur t e s

y o f t h e J o h n C a g e T r u s t ; ( O p p o s i t e ) J a m e s K l o s t y , C .F .P e t e r s E d i t i o

n s ,I n d e t e r mi n a c y

Laura Kuhn and John Cage



33


John Cage on Indeterminacy.

New York on a variety o large scale projects includ slated or release under the names o his other aliases:P H



34

T H E P E N N Y S T A M P S D I S T I N G U I S H

E D S P E A K E R S E R I E S / t H u r s d a y , N

o V e m b e r 4

New York on a variety o large-scale projects, includ-

ing his six “mesostic” lectures or Harvard University

as holder o the Charles Eliot Norton Chair in Poetry

(published as I-VI , Harvard University Press, 1990)

and his frst ull-scale opera, Europeras 1 & 2 , or the

Frankurt Opera. This work subsequently became the

subject o her 1992 doctoral dissertation rom UCLA,

John Cage’s “Europeras 1 & 2”: The Musical Means

o Revolution . From 1991 to 1996 she served as one

o 10 ounding aculty members at Arizona State

University West in Phoenix, where she helped to de-

velop and implement an innovative interdisciplinary

arts program. Simultaneously, upon Cage’s death in

1992, she worked with Cage’s long-time riends and

associates Merce Cunningham, Anne d’Harnoncourt,

and David Vaughan to ound the John Cage Trust or

which she continues to serve as executive director. In

this capacity, Ms. Kuhn travels extensively, lecturingand conducting perormance workshops in venues as

diverse as the Shanghai Conservatory o Music, War-

saw’s Museum o Contemporary Art, and the Brussels’

International Arts Festival. In 1999 she even prepared

a macrobiotic dinner or 80 (using Cage’s recipes)

to celebrate the frst-ever installation o Cage’s cel-

ebrated Roaratorio: An Irish Circus on Finnegans

Wake at Belast’s Queens Festival! Other projects or

the John Cage Trust under her direction have includ-

ed a CD-ROM o sampled piano preparations romCage’s landmark composition, Sonatas & Interludes

(1946–48) or use by MIDI keyboard musicians, and

the adaptation o Cage’s whimsical 1982 radio play,

James Joyce, Marcel Duchamp, Erik Satie: An Alpha-

bet , to the stage, which in 2000–2001 she directed

in seven venues around the world, including the US,

Australia, Germany, and the UK. In 1999–2000, on a

bit o a lark, she also joined the cast (as an onstage

singing guest) o Mikel Rouse’s irreverent “talk-show”

opera, Dennis Cleveland , last mounted at New York’s

Lincoln Center in May 2002. In 2007, the John Cage

Trust went into residential placement at Bard College

in Annandale-on-Hudson New York, where Ms. Kuhn

became the frst John Cage Proessor o Perormance

Arts. In celebration, she directed a ully staged ver-

sion o Cage’s sotly political theater piece, Lecture on

the Weather , with an all-star cast that included Merce

Cunningham, Jasper Johns, John Ashbery, Leon

Botstein, John Ralston Saul, John Kelly, and others.

She is currently working with the award-winning bi-

ographer Ken Silverman toward a collected edition oJohn Cage’s correspondence or Wesleyan University

Press (2011).

iN 1998, ater seven years o playing classical cello

and various instruments in punk bands, Tadd Mullinix

began to DJ in galleries and clubs while composing

music with a personal computer and synthesizers.

Disenchanted with reading sheet music and playing in

ensembles, he positioned himsel or a career in ar-

ranging and editing his own digital recordings. He pro-

duced music o contrasting styles and created aliases

in order to distinguish his projects. Being repeatedlyasked why he created separate aliases and didn’t com-

bine his projects under one name, Mr. Mullinix ound

that there was an illusion that electronic music must

be too quickly evolving to reer to its own heritage. In

a time where a new ease o use and accessibility to

computer technology should be stoking creativity, he

had the view that electronic music, despite its young

evolutionary line as a genre, was dependent on its con-

text in order to be eective or subversive.

Ater meeting Todd Osborn at Dubplate Pressure, a

record store in Ann Arbor which Osborn owned, the two

started a ragga-jungle style drum ’n bass label called

Rewind! Records. They wrote and produced nine 12-

inch vinyl singles under the names Soundmurderer

(Osborn) and SK-1 (Mullinix). Several years later, the

drum ’n bass world witnessed a wave o ragga-jungle

reinterpretations. Rewind! singles were repressed on

UK vinyl and reissued by Aphex Twin’s Rephlex label.

Mr. Mullinix relocated to Ann Arbor and started

working at Dubplate Pressure, where he met Sam Val-

enti IV, owner o the then young Ghostly Internationalrecord label. To Ghostly, he signed music that would be

slated or release under the names o his other aliases:

Charles Manier, inuenced by groups including Talk-

ing Heads, Liaisons Dangereuses, and Severed Heads;

James T. Cotton, dance music in the styles o jackin’

house and Detroit techno; Dabrye, hip-hop inuenced

by J Dilla and other golden-era beat-makers; Tadd

Mullinix, experimental and braindance electronica

that draws inspiration rom artists like Aphex Twin, Au-

techre, Morton Subotnick, and post-Second World War

classical and avant-garde composers.

As Dabrye, his collaboration with the late James

Yancey (aka J Dilla) on the single “Game Over” became

a Detroit underground anthem and lead to notoriety or

his Dabrye project in the hip-hop world. While this proj-

ect brought light to the connection between hip-hop

and electronic music, it is viewed as having inuenced

a shit in electronic music rom having rigid quantized

rhythms to a loose humanized eel.Tadd Mullinix currently resides and works in Ann

Arbor and perorms worldwide.

Te penn Stas dstnse

Seake Sees

Established with the generous support o U-M School

o Art & Design alumna Penny W. Stamps, the serieslooks to present visionary leaders who have used their

creative practice eectively. It celebrates those who

have made lasting marks by transcending traditions

and set a progressive, inuential tone with their work.

The series brings emerging and established artists/de-

signers rom a broad spectrum o media to conduct a

public lecture and engage with students, aculty, and

the larger university and Ann Arbor communities. Un-

veiling the leading voices o the day to a broad audi-

ence, the series has become a revered weekly event,serving as a orum or social dialogue, not only or the

academic and creative community, but or the greater

regional area. Lectures take place on Thursday eve-

nings at the historic Michigan Theater in downtown

Ann Arbor, are ree o charge, and are open to the gen-

eral public.

H O T O : M a k e p e a c e T s a o

Tadd Mullinix

ONCE Group at Robert Rauschenberg’s lot ater Judson Dance Theater

Festival, New York, 1965. (Front, L–R): Joseph Wehrer, Robert Ashley,

unknown, George Manupelli; (second row, L–R): Yvonne Rainer, George

Kleis (leaning against palm) unknown Gordon Mumma unknown



35

O N C E .M O R E . S Y MP O S I UM / We d Ne s d a y ,N o V e

mb e r 3

Kleis (leaning against palm), unknown, Gordon Mumma, unknown,

Cynthia Liddell; (third row, L–R): Jackie Leuzinger, Annina Nosei,

unknown; (seated in back on the right holding sandwich) Caroline Blunt;

others unknown.

OuTLiErCLOSiNg rECEpTiONS +P H O CELEBrATiON OF ThE JOhN CAgE



36 OuTLiEr:

hAuNTiNgS OF ThE AvANT gArdE

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Immediately ollowing ONCE NOW concert

1301 South University Avenue (ormer UMMA O/Site)Ann Arbor

$5 cover charge at the door; complimentary admis-

sion with ONCE NOW ticket stub. Open to the public.

imAgiNE A rOOm overwhelmed with sound + vision—

snatches o music, throbs + echoes, and sights unseen

until this night that somehow seem amiliar. Haunted by

ever dreams o the avant-garde past, Outlier combines

the heavy inuence o 20th-century composition with

contemporary approaches to experimental music and

perormance art in a space flled with psychedelic maj-

esty. Is it real? How will you explain it to others? How will

you explain it to yoursel? Ann Arbor producer HOTT

LAVA brings a stellar cast o musicians, composers,

perormance artists, and flmmakers including Laurel

Halo, Todd Osbourn, Sean Patrick, Tom Buckholz, and

Ted Kennedy to create a dynamic installation work that

will delight, provoke, and overload the senses.

A collaboration with

and First Martin & Co.

CLOSiNg rECEpTiONS +

CELEBrATiONS

OT O : M a k e p e a c e T s a o

CELEBrATiON OF ThE JOhN CAgE

+ ONCE. mOrE. ExhiBiTiONS


Immediately ollowing the Penny Stamps

Distinguished Speaker Series presentation oThe John Cage Trust: Indeterminacy

U-M Institute or the Humanities

202 South Thayer Street

Ann Arbor


ONCE NOW concert perormance to ollow reception

at Rackham Auditorium.

37



37

O N C E .M O R E

. S Y MP O S I UM / We d Ne s d a y ,N o V e

mb e r 3

ONCE Group perormance (November 1963)

38 ONCE mOrE



38 ONCE. mOrE.

ONCE NOW

Michael Daugherty and

Mary Simoni

Co-Directors

Faculty Artists o the University o Michigan

School o Music, Theatre & Dance, Ann Arbor

Improvisation Collective, and ONCE Quartet

Kyle Acuncius, Percussion

Melissa Bosma, Oboe

Jeremy Crosmer, Cello *

Michael Daugherty, Piano

Daniel Goldblum, Contrabassoon

Woody Goss, Piano Joseph Gramley, Percussion

Daniel Graser, Alto Saxophone

Cecilia Kang, Clarinet

Mark Kieme, Bass Clarinet

Yi-Ting Kuo, Violin *

Ryan Mackstaller, Guitar

Gordon Mumma, Piano

Hoi Yue Ng, Viola *

Anna Skálová, Violin *

Ming-Hsiu Yen, Piano *denotes member o the ONCE Quartet


Paul Dooley, Technical Assistant


Rackham Auditorium


Ann Arbor

132nd Annual UMS Season

ONCE. MORE.

The photographing or sound and video

recording o this concert or possession o any

device or such recording is prohibited.

Recent music + lms rom the ONCE Festival composers

Robert Ashley Van Cao’s Meditation (1991) or piano

Ms. Yen

Gordon Mumma Than Particle (1985) or live-percussion with synthesized percussion

Mr. Gramley

InterMISSIon

Donald Scavarda CINEMATRIX (2002) a flmSCORE perormed silently

Scavarda CINEMATRIX (2002) a flmSCORE perormed with multiple instrumentalists

Ann Arbor Improvisation Collective

Ms. Kang, Mr. Goldblum, Mr. Goss, Mr. Acuncius

Andrew Bishop, Director

Gordon Mumma Gambreled Tapestry (2007) or solo piano with internal electro-acoustics

Mr. Mumma

Scavarda Sounds for Seven (2010) or chamber ensemble

Ann Arbor Improvisation Collective

Ms. Bosma, Ms. Kang, Mr. Kieme, Mr. Graser, Mr. Mackstaller, Mr. Goss

Mr. Bishop, Director

Roger Reynolds Ariadne’s Thread (1994) or string quartet, computer-synthesized, andspatialized sound

ONCE Quartet

Special thanks to all o the U-M School o Music, Theatre & Dance aculty artists or their

ongoing commitment o time and energy to this special perormance.

In the interests o saving both dollars and the environment, please either retain this estival

guide and return with it when you attend other estival events or return it to your usher when

leaving the venue.

Please join ONCE. MORE. artists immediately ollowing tonight’s concert at Outlier:

Hauntings o the Avant Garde, a estival closing reception, at 1301 South University Avenue

(ormerly UMMA O/Site).

39Van Cao’s Meditation (1991) or piano ments, perorms rom a notated score, and at times

l d f d f ld i i i i

in a fxed group o overall designs. A perormance rep-

h d i l d h



39

O N C E .M O R E

. O N C E N O W / t H u r s d a y ,N o V e mb

e r 4

Robert Ashley

Born March 28, 1930 in Ann Arbor, Michigan

A ew years ago I saw a photograph in National Geo-

graphic magazine o an old man with long white hair

seated at a piano in a sunny music room with French

doors leading to a garden patio. This was part o an ar-

ticle on North Vietnam today. The caption explained,

cryptically, that this man, Van Cao, was a hero to the

Vietnamese, that he had been a amous composer in

prewar times, that he had written the national anthem

or North Vietnam and that now in his old age he mostly

sat at the piano, improvising and humming to himsel.

I had an intense desire to hear him play the piano and

hum. I ound out rom a riend who travels to Vietnam

that his piano is, perhaps, only one o two in the whole

country and that his situation is even more unimaginableto an American than the caption had suggested. I made

hal-hearted attempts to get some American agency to

send me to Vietnam, but I could not ollow through in

this eort. I could not allow mysel, because I thought o

my “desire” as almost purely musical. I would go with-

out any political strings attached, and o course that is

antasy. Certainly, Van Cao would see my visit in political

terms. And probably he wouldn’t like my music at all, so

it would be hard to be honest with him.

I was given a recording o some o Van Cao’s earlymusic. It is a collection o charming love songs in a

French cabaret style, surprisingly what one would ex-

pect. I don’t want to hear the national anthem. But the

“image” rom the photograph persists, in all o its musi-

cal and human mystery, and it is that image that this

composition represents.

Program note by Robert Ashley, November 1991.

Than Particle (1985) or live-percussion withsynthesized percussion

Gordon Mumma

Born March 30, 1935 in Framingham, Massachusetts

Than Particle (1985) is music or electronic and acous-

tical percussion. The acoustical component is per-

ormed by a percussion virtuoso; the electronic com-

ponent is achieved, typically, by computer synthesis.

The perormance score is notated with conventional

fve-line staves, one or the percussionist, the otheror coordination with the computer-synthesized part.

The percussionist chooses specifc contrasting instru-

employs defned felds o creative improvisation.

The music is composed in 10 seamless, one-min-

ute sections joined together with transitional seams,

and the overall structure has an umbrella o our sec-

tions. Part o the composer’s inspiration or this music

was nourished by the sometimes wonderully absurd

sound results o digital computer FM synthesis algo-

rithms attempting to achieve the acoustical complexi-

ties o real percussion sonorities. Than Particle thrives

on these dierences.

As with so many technological advances, the Ya-

maha computer used or the frst perormances, with

its usual sotware bugs, became obsolete, olkloric, and

then disappeared. Thus current perormances are done

rom a recording o the original computer sound-output.

Than particles are short-lived surrogate phenom-

ena, allegorically analogous to a 14th-century head-bashing game that involved, typically, acial laceration

and rampant wagering.

Than Particle was composed or percussionist William

Winant, who premièred the work, with the composer, at

the Arnold Schoenberg Institute on November 7, 1985,

or the New Music America Festival, Los Angeles.


CINEMATRIX (2002) a flmSCORE perormed silentlyCINEMATRIX (2002) a flmSCORE perormed

with multiple instrumentalistsDonald Scavarda

Born 1928 in Iron Mountain, Michigan

This is the third abstract flm intended or musical

interpretation. The Matrix in motion.


Gambreled Tapestry (2007) or solo piano withinternal electro-acoustics

Mumma

Gambreled Tapestry (2007) or solo piano was com-

posed with “construction-set” procedures, to be assem-

bled or perormance by the pianist. Most o the sound

resources are provided by two short musical gestures,

strictly specifed by music notation, which can then beassembled in a limited number o combinations. The

combination limits are defned by the composer to result

resents one o those designs selected rom the group.

Gambreled Tapestry can also be perormed with an op-

tional electronic component, designed by the composer

and applied to aggrandize the resonant characteristics

o the sound board inside the piano.

The titles o Mumma’s compositions oten have a

variety o meanings, descriptive or poetic, even extend-

ing to the absurd. A tapestry is made rom two sets o

interlaced threads. The result is a warp o length with a

welt at the width, resulting in defned patterns. A gam-

brel is a symmetrical, two-sided sloping structure with

additional internal angles, oten used in roo design or

efcient use o space. In Gambreled Tapestry it is ap-

plied to a exible, tapestry-like structure or the use o

time in the musical composition.


Sounds for Seven (2010) or chamber ensembleScavarda

Sounds or Seven is the ourth in a series o works de-

signed to expand the concept o musical notation

and encourage greater creative participation by the

perormers. The single-page score is completely ab-

stract. It is also in color, thus emphasizing the compos-er’s intention that the perormers explore the ull range

o instrumental timbres .


Ariadne’s Thread (1994) or string quartet, computer-synthesized, and spatialized sound

Roger Reynolds

Born July 18, 1934 in Detroit, Michigan

Ariadne’s Thread arose out o a longstanding interest

in line , whether evoked as sound or inscribed graphi-

cally by such masterul hands as those o Sengai, Klee,

or Rembrandt. Continuity, directionality, inection, in-

tensifcation, rareaction, whimsy, even violence are

subsumed in the maniestations and depictions that line

allows. Ariadne’s Thread is or string quartet and also

computer-generated sound which supports, augments,

alternates with, and occasionally replaces the instrumen-

talists’ eorts, expanding the range o what an unaidedstring ensemble can accomplish, and adds a choreo-

graphic spatialization to the music’s linear evolution.



41



Then + Now (rom top-let to bottom-right): George Cacioppo, Robert Ashley (1963), Gordon Mumma (1964), Roger Reynolds (1963), and Donald Scavarda (1963).

42(1966) and Telepos (1971). During those years he also

perormed in the touring Sonic Arts Union with Mr

sic (2002). Writing about the première o his ILLUSION

at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles Times critic

UCSD. Existing international relationships were now

woven into his southern Caliornia existence: compos-

P H O T O : (



O N C

E . M O R E . O N C E N O W

/ t H u r s d a y ,

N o V e m b e r 4

perormed in the touring Sonic Arts Union with Mr.

Ashley, David Behrman, and Alvin Lucier.

Gordon Mumma’s compositions have involved both

the electronic media and music or various ensembles

o acoustical instruments. Recordings o his music are

available rom Lovely Music, New World Records, and

Tzadik. A 2-CD set o his solo piano music was record-

ed in 2007 by Daan Vandewalle; a co-production by

New World Records and HR2 Frankurt.

From 1975 to 1994, Mr. Mumma was proessor o

music at the University o Caliornia. In 2000 he

received the Biennial Award o the New York City Foun-

dation or Contemporary Arts. Since 2002 he has lived

in both British Columbia and Caliornia.

rOgEr rEyNOLdS’ (born 1934) lie was marked rom thebeginning by interplay between the imagined and the

maniest. Music entered Mr. Reynolds’ lie abruptly

ater a chance encounter with a Vladimir Horowitz re-

cording o Chopin’s A-fat Polonaise which led to piano

studies. Eventually, music gave way to the pragmatic

attractions o an engineering physics program at the

University o Michigan. Lie as a systems development

engineer in Caliornia elt incomplete, though, and he

returned to Michigan to study music. Only at the “ad-

vanced” age o 25 did he understand that compositionwould be his calling.

Two inspirational teachers guided his studies:

American Ross Lee Finney and Spanish expatriate

Roberto Gerhard. Both had studied with Second

Viennese masters (Berg and Schoenberg, respective-

ly). Mr. Reynolds sought out creative perspectives o a

less traditional sort, making contact with Varèse, Cage,

Partch, and later Nancarrow. While still in Ann Arbor,

Mr. Reynolds was a co-ounder o the ONCE Group. He

and his utist partner, Karen, embarked on seven yearso European and Asian travel with Fulbright, Guggen-

heim, and Rockeeller support. Returning to the US

in 1969, Mr. Reynolds assumed a tenured position

at the University o Caliornia, San Diego Department

o Music. The Reynolds have collaboratively under-

taken a series o new music presentations including

the Séances de travail at Paris’ American Students

and Artists Center, CROSS TALK in Tokyo, The Pacifc

Ring Festival in La Jolla, Xenakis @ UCSD, and, in

2010, CHANGES:seasons in Washington, DC.

Immediately ater settling in La Jolla, Mr. Reynolds’secured unds (in 1971) rom the Rockeeller Foun-

dation to launch the Center or Music Experiment at

at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles Times critic

Mark Swed described him as “an all-around sonic

visionary.” The Washington Post termed the National

Gallery o Art’s presentation o his Sanctuary in 2007,

a “once-in-a-lietime experience.”

dONALd SCAvArdA (born 1928) is a native o Iron Moun-

tain, Michigan. He earned a Masters degree in musi-

cal composition at the University o Michigan where he

studied with Ross Lee Finney. In 1953, Mr. Scavarda

received a Fulbright Scholarship or study in Ham-

burg, Germany. One year later BMI Inc. o New York

awarded him the 1953 “First Prize” or his Fantasy or

Violin and Orchestra .

During the summer o 1960, Donald Scavarda co-

ounded the ONCE Festival o Musical Premieres andin the succeeding years produced a series o ground-

breaking works. His most recent compositions reect

the inuence o his work in the visual arts. He works

and resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

woven into his southern Caliornia existence: compos

ers Xenakis, Cage, Takemitsu, Nancarrow, Feldman,

and Babbitt visited; Harry Partch was already living in

San Diego.

The technological thread re-emerged in the late

1970s when John Chowning invited Mr. Reynolds to

Stanord’s CCRMA summer courses in computer mu-

sic. Shortly thereater, Ircam oered a commission

and extended residency. Thus began a decades-long

interaction with the Parisian center—dedicated to an

integrated engagement with technological and musical

innovation. This interaction spurred the integration o

computational aculty and resources into UCSD’s Mu-

sic Department.

Roger Reynolds’ work has requently addressed

distinctive architecture (Arata Isozaki’s Art Tower Mito,

Louis I. Kahn’s Salk Institute, Frank Lloyd Wright’sGuggenheim Museum, Christian de Portzamparc’s Cité

de la musique, and Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Con-

cert Hall), and has involved collaboration with con-

ductors Esa-Pekka Salonen, David Robertson, Seiji

Ozawa, Ralph Shapey, Gunther Schuller, and Leonard

Slatkin, with ensembles including Ensemble InterCon-

temporain, Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Ensemble

Recherche, Alarm Will Sound, Court-Circuit, The Paul

Dresher Ensemble, the Group or Contemporary Music,

The New York New Music Ensemble, choreographersLucinda Childs and Bill T. Jones, and a career-long re-

lationship with Irvine Arditti and his String Quartet. (Mr.

Reynolds has recently completed a ourth string quar-

tet or this ensemble entitled not orgotten.)

Roger Reynolds’ lie has also involved collaborations

with poets, among them John Ashbery (Whispers Out

o Time , a string orchestra work inspired by an Ashbery

poem which garnered him the 1989 Pulitzer Prize) and

inventor-philosopher, Buckminster Fuller.

Mr. Reynolds continues to be a sought-ater men-

tor, presenting master classes at the major NorthAmerican universities and at prestigious international

centers including the National Conservatory in Beijing,

the Sibelius Academy, the Paris Conservatoire, and at

Ircam, and Darmstadt.

C.F. Peters, New York, publishes Roger Reynolds’

music exclusively and it is widely represented on re-

cord labels in North America and abroad. The Library

o Congress established The Roger Reynolds Special

Collection in 1998 and supports an extensive website

detailing his work. He is the author o Mind Models:New Forms o Music Experience (1975; second edi-

tion, 2000 ) and Form and Method: Composing Mu-

L-R: Gordon Mumma with visiting composer Morton Feldman, ONCE

Festival (1964).

B e l o w ) D o n a l d S c a v a r d a

43



Title page to 1963 ONCE Catalog o compositions, installations, and flms.

44 ONCE ThEN / ONCE NOW

A t t + E bl B

Andrew Bishop (director, Ann Arbor Improvisation Collective )

is a versatile multi-instrumentalist (saxophone, clarinet, ute),

as soloist, lecture-recitalist, and collaborative artist in New York

City (Weill Recital Hall, Steinway Hall), Rutgers University,



O N C


/ t H u r s d a y ,

N o V e m b e r 4

Atst + Enseble Boaes

The Creative Arts Orchestra is one o the many courses and

ensembles oered by the Program in Jazz and Contempo-

rary Improvisation at the U-M School o Music, Theatre &

Dance. Utilizing strings, double-reeds, and instruments morecommonly associated with improvised music, the Creative Arts

Orchestra’s musical horizons encompass jazz, rock, contem-

porary concert music, and a myriad o ethnically inuenced

music, as well as collaborations with dancers, poets, and ac-

tors. While part o the ensemble’s programming includes com-

positions o students and aculty, the 20–25 member group is

one o the very ew ensembles o its size in the world which

perorms entirely improvised concerts, with no parameters set

orth in advance. The group presents several concerts per year

o this nature. The Creative Arts Orchestra has perormed at

New York’s Knitting Factory (with Gregg Bendian as eaturedsoloist), the Detroit Jazz Festival, the International Association

o Jazz Educators Chicago conerence, the Eastman School o

Music, Cornell University, and Humber College.

Students rom music, art, engineering, and dance make up

the Digital Music Ensemble (DME) directed by Stephen Rush.

Students work to collaborate in the creation o new work or per-

orm innovative/new works rom the past. The DME has given

works o varying content and approach, and has achieved a

remarkable reputation in just over a decade, perorming at

neighboring institutions, estivals, and abroad. The DME has

premièred works by composers La Monte Young, John Cage,

and Philip Glass, as well as perorming and recording with Pau-

line Oliveros and “Blue” Gene Tyranny.

A graduate o the Interlochen Arts Academy, Kyle Acuncius

(percussion ) received his bachelor’s degree rom the Eastman

School o Music, his master’s degree rom Indiana University

(where he was an Associate Instructor o Percussion), and is

currently pursuing a specialist’s degree in percussion as well as

receiving a second master’s in chamber music literature rom

U-M. He has served as principal percussionist o the TerreHaute Symphony Orchestra and is currently section percus-

sionist with the Ann Arbor Symphony. Mr. Acuncius can be

heard on the Eastman Wind Ensemble’s release Manhattan

Music , eaturing the Canadian Brass, and also on the Inter-

lochen Percussion Ensemble’s sel-titled album.

Roger Arnett (technical director ) has served as the media engi-

neer or the U-M School o Music, Theatre & Dance since 1978.

He has worked with a wide range o artists including compos-

ers George Crumb and Karlheinz Stockhausen, flm producer

Robert Altman, conductor Leonard Bernstein, jazz legendsDizzy Gillespie, Billy Taylor, and Bob James, blues singers Sip-

pie Wallace and Leon Redbone, and Marcel Marceau.

composer, improviser, educator, and scholar comortable in a

wide array o musical idioms. He maintains an active national

and international career and serves as an assistant proessor o

jazz and contemporary improvisation at U-M where he teaches

applied jazz saxophone, composition, and improvisation. Mr.

Bishop’s two recordings as a leader, Time and Imaginary Time and the Hank Williams Project (Envoi Recordings), received

widespread critical acclaim. He leads a variety o projects in-

cluding a jazz trio Bishop/Cleaver/Flood; a roots chamber en-

semble, Andrew Bishop’s Hank Williams Project; a mainstream

jazz group, the Andrew Bishop Quartet; and a global blues

project called Blue Origami. As a composer and arranger, he

has received over 20 commissions rom proessional organiza-

tions and universities. He has also received recognition and

awards rom the American Society o Composers, Authors,

and Publishers (ASCAP); The Chicago Symphony Orchestra;

the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; and a nomination rom the

American Academy o Arts and Letters.

Melissa Bosma (oboe ) is pursuing a master’s degree in oboe

perormance with Nancy Ambrose King. She received her bach-

elor’s degree summa cum laude rom Southern Methodist Uni-

versity where she studied with Erin Hannigan. Ms. Bosma was

recently a semi-fnalist or the Texas Young Artists Competition.

Chad Burrow (clarinet ) was appointed to the U-M aculty in 2009.

He is the winner o prizes and awards rom the 2001 Young Con-

cert Artist International Competition in New York City, the 2000

Woolsey Hall Competition, the 2000 Artist International Competi-tion, and the 1997 Fischo National Chamber Music Competition.

The ormer principal clarinetist o the Oklahoma City Philharmonic

and the New Haven Symphony, Mr. Burrow was also associate

proessor o clarinet at the Wanda L. Bass School o Music at Okla-

homa City University. In 2007, he was also named principal clari-

net o the Quartz Mountain Music Festival, clarinetist or Camerata

Pangaea, instructor at the Alpen Kammermusik Festival, and Art-

ist/Clinician or Buet Crampon, USA. Mr. Burrow appears in

concerts internationally.

Jeremy Crosmer (cello , ONCE Quartet ) is a doctoral student at U-M,

studying cello with Richard Aaron. He is also studying composition

as a masters student under Paul Schoenfeld. Mr. Crosmer is an

avid perormer o new music and has premièred over 30 works in

addition to his own compositions. Last year his work or string quar-

tet and electronics, Chrysalis Innitum , was premièred at U-M.

Please refer to page 29 for a biography of Michael Daugherty.

John Ellis (piano ) is associate proessor o piano and chair o

the piano department at U-M. He is in demand, nationally and

internationally, as a master class clinician, adjudicator, and lec-

turer on piano pedagogy. His recent travels have taken him tothe University o South Florida, the Sibelius Academy in Hel-

sinki, Finland, and Hawaii. As a pianist, Mr. Ellis has perormed

SUNY Purchase, Notre Dame University, Montclair Museum o

Art, the University o Helsinki, and the Sibelius Academy (Fin-

land), and Freiburg in Breisgau (Germany). He has recorded

the piano music o Arthur Cunningham.

Daniel Gilbert (clarinet ) joined the U-M aculty as associateproessor o clarinet in 2007. Previously, he held the position o

second clarinet in the Cleveland Orchestra rom 1995–2007.

Mr. Gilbert teaches at the State University o New York at Stony

Brook and also served as the associate proessor o clarinet at

the Oberlin Conservatory o Music rom 2000–2001. A native

o New York City, Mr. Gilbert received a BA rom Yale University

and both a MM degree and a proessional studies certifcate

rom The Juilliard School. Beore joining the Cleveland Orches-

tra, Mr. Gilbert was active as a reelancer in New York City, ap-

pearing regularly with groups including The Metropolitan Opera,

American Ballet Theater, New Jersey Symphony, Solisti New

York, the Stamord Symphony, and the New Haven Symphony,where he played principal clarinet rom 1992–1995. He has

appeared as soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleve-

land Heights Chamber Orchestra, the Suburban Symphony Or-

chestra, the New Haven Symphony, Solisti New York, and the

Aspen Mozart Orchestra. He is an active chamber musician,

playing regularly on the Cleveland Orchestra Chamber Series,

the Cleveland Museum o Art Chamber Series, and the Oberlin

Chamber Music series. Mr. Gilbert’s master classes and recitals

have received critical acclaim throughout the world.

Daniel Goldblum (contrabasson ) is an undergraduate bassoonperormance major at U-M. He maintains a career as an elec-

tric bassoon soloist and an improviser between Ann Arbor and

Los Angeles, his home town.

Joseph Gramley (percussion ) is a proessor o music at the

University o Michigan and director o the university’s amed

Percussion Ensemble. Mr. Gramley’s dynamic and exciting per-

ormances as a soloist have garnered critical acclaim and enthu-

siasm rom emerging composers, percussion afcionados, and

frst-time concert-goers alike. He is committed to bringing resh

and inventive compositions to a broad public and oten commis-

sions and premières new works. His frst solo recording, Ameri-

can Deconstruction , an expert rendition o fve milestone works

in multi-percussion’s huge new modern repertoire, appeared in

2000 and was reissued in 2006. His second CD, Global Percus-

sion , was released in 2005. An invitation rom Yo-Yo Ma in 2000

led Mr. Gramley to join Mr. Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble. In addi-

tion to participating in the group’s extended residencies in cities

across the globe, he has toured with Mr. Ma and the Ensemble

throughout the world. This past season, Mr. Gramley was the

eatured guest artist or both the New York and Alabama Days o

Percussion sponsored by the Percussive Arts Society.

Daniel Graser (saxophone ) is currently a doctoral teaching as-

sistant at U-M studying with Donald Sinta. Mr. Graser earned

45a master’s degree rom U-M and bachelor’s degrees in mu-

sic theory/history and saxophone perormance as a student o

D Ti th M Alli t t th C S h l M i H h

bel Cala Records, and one with Naxos Records. She will soon

release recordings o the Jennier Higdon Oboe Concerto with

th U M S h B d d th k D till b

(ACO) commissioned and premièred her Myrrha or voices and

orchestra in Carnegie Hall in May 2006. Her orchestral work

Th N th t i ACO’ U d d E i



O N C E .M O R E . O N C E N O W / t H u r s d a y ,N o V e mb

e r 4

Dr. Timothy McAllister at the Crane School o Music. He has

perormed twice as soloist with the U-M Symphony Band and

was a two-time fnalist in the U-M Concerto Competition. At the

invitation o music director Michael Tilson Thomas, Mr. Graser

is saxophone ellow at the New World Symphony during the

current 10/11 season.

Pia Eva Greiner (cello ) studied with proessors Jan-Ype Nota

and Michel Strauss at the Prins Claus conservatory in the Neth-

erlands beginning in 2001. During this period she won several

national competitions. Ms. Greiner is continuing studies at U-M

with proessor Richard Aaron where she graduated with her

master’s degree in May 2010.

David Jackson (trombone ) was eatured soloist at several recent

engagements, including perormances at Midwest Band and

Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, Music at Gretna in Mt. Gretna,

PA, and with the Ann Arbor Concert Band. He was also guestsoloist with the Los Angeles Symphonic Winds, both in Los

Angeles and at the MidEurope Festival in Schladming, Aus-

tria. Other recent solo perormances include the Interlochen

World Youth Wind Symphony and with the Idyllwild Festival

Wind Ensemble at Disney Hall in Los Angeles. An advocate o

new music, Mr. Jackson has commissioned and perormed the

world premières o numerous works or the trombone. He is a

Conn-Selmer artist and clinician.

Fritz Kaenzig (tuba ) has served as principal tubist o the Florida

Symphony Orchestra and as additional or substitute tubist withAmsterdam’s Concertgebouw and the symphony orchestras o

Detroit, San Francisco, Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and St.

Louis, under such conductors as Bernstein, Haitink, Leinsdor,

Ozawa, Salonen, and Slatkin. He has recorded and perormed

as soloist with several o these orchestras, as well as appearing

as soloist with the US Air Force and Navy Bands. Since 1984,

Mr. Kaenzig has been principal tubist in the Grant Park (Chi-

cago) Orchestra during summers, which has played to capacity

audiences since moving to the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium

Park in 2005. Mr. Kaenzig has perormed in ensembles ac-

companying artists as widely varied as Alan Ginsberg, Luciano

Pavarotti, and the Moody Blues.

Nancy Ambrose King (oboe ) is the frst-prize winner o the Third

New York International Competition or Solo Oboists, held in

1995. She has appeared as soloist throughout the US and

abroad, including perormances with the St. Petersburg, Rus-

sia, Philharmonic, the Janácek Philharmonic, the Tokyo Cham-

ber Orchestra, the Puerto Rico Symphony, the Orchestra o the

Swan in Birmingham, England, the Festival Internacionale de

Musica Orchestra in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the New York

String Orchestra, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, and Sinonia da

Camera. She has perormed as recitalist in Weill Recital Halland as soloist at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. She has

recorded three CDs or Boston Records, two or the British la-

the U-M Symphony Band, and the works o Dutilleux or oboe.

Ms. King was a fnalist in the Fernand Gillet Oboe Competition

held in Graz, Austria, and has been heard as soloist on WQXR

radio in New York City and NPR’s Perormance Today . She has

appeared as an international recitalist and was a member o

the jury or the esteemed 2009 Barbirolli Oboe Competition.

Mark Kirschenmann (director, Creative Arts Orchestra ) whose

pioneering live electric trumpet perormances are internation-

ally acclaimed, is a composer, perormer and scholar o cre-

ative improvisation. He is also the creative orce behind the

band E3Q (blockmrecords.org), an eclectic jazz-inuenced trio

with his wie, cellist Katri Ervamaa, and percussionist Michael

Gould. Most recently, he released the solo album entitled This

Electric Trumpet (sonikmannrecords.com), recorded with the

Nashville-based electronica duo Sub-ID and has appeared with

pianist Thollem McDonas, bassist Henry Grimes, utist NicoleMitchell, cornetist Rob Mazurek’s Sao Paulo Underground,

saxophonists Oliver Lake and Arthur Blythe, and pianist Iiro

Rantala o Trio Töykeät. As a composer and writer, he explores

the conuence o composition and improvisation. He has pub-

lished articles on Messiaen’s use o improvisation as a com-

positional technique, and on new approaches to melodic jazz

improvisation. He is on the aculty at U-M, where he shares his

time between the School o Music (Jazz) and the Residential

College. He also directs U-M’s Creative Arts Orchestra, an in-

novative, creative improvisation ensemble, and the Michigan

Youth Jazz Ensemble. Mr. Kirschenmann holds PhD degrees in

composition and music theory rom U-M and lives in Ann Arbor

with his wie and their three children.

Cary Kocher (percussion ) trained at U-M under Michael Udow,

the late Charles Owen, and Salvatore Rabbio. He has a di-

verse perorming schedule that includes work with the Ann

Arbor Symphony and other area orchestras. He has a weekly

gig with Latin jazz group Los Gatos, and plays drums with the

Easy Street Jazz Band. He co-leads a classic vibraphone quar-

tet with bassist Paul Keller, provides vibes or Dave Bennett’s

tribute to Benny Goodman, and plays drums and sings with

Espresso. As a middle school music teacher in Ann Arbor, Mr.Kocher adjudicates at jazz estivals and clinics, directed the

Gold Jazz Ensemble at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp or several

years, and teaches jazz vibes and drums at U-M.

Yi-Ting Kuo (violin , ONCE Quartet ) was born and raised in

Taiwan. Currently, she is a doctoral student at U-M, studying

with Yehonatan Berick.

Composer Kristin Kuster (piano ) “writes commandingly or

the orchestra,” and her music “has an invitingly tart edge”

(The New York Times ). Proessor Kuster’s colorully enthrall-ing compositions take inspiration rom architectural space,

the weather, and mythology. American Composers Orchestra

The Narrows won the top prize o ACO’s Underwood Emerging

Composer Commission in the ACO’s 2004 Whitaker New Music

Readings. Ms. Kuster earned her DMA rom U-M and divides

her time residing in both Ann Arbor and New York City. Ms.

Kuster joined the aculty o the U-M School o Music, Theatre &

Dance as assistant proessor o composition in 2008.

Christopher James Lees (conductor ) has appeared in concert

with the National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa, Canada), En-

semble Orchestral de Paris (Vendome, France), Cabrillo Fes-

tival Orchestra (Santa Cruz, CA), Cleveland Heights Chamber

Orchestra, and the Michigan Sinonietta. In 2007 he made

his debut in South America with a perormance o Beethoven’s

Symphony No. 5 at the Festival Internacional de Inverno de

Campos do Jordao (Brazil). As only the second American con-

ductor selected or the Zander Conducting Fellowship with the

Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, Mr. Lees assisted conductor

Benjamin Zander in perormances with the Boston Philhar-monic, Ulster, and London Philharmonia orchestras. Mr. Lees

received the 2009 Arts Alive Award or Rising Star Young Artist

while serving as associate conductor or the Akron Symphony

Orchestra and has worked with musicians including Lorin

Maazel, Pinchas Zuckerman, Marin Alsop, and Gustav Meier.

A dedicated advocate or contemporary American music, Mr.

Lees has given première perormances o numerous orches-

tral and chamber works, ounded a Composer-in-Residence

program as music director o the Akron Youth Symphony, and

served as associate conductor o the Boston-based Juventas

New Music Ensemble. He holds a master’s degree rom U-M,where he studied with Kenneth Kiesler.

Sam Livingston (percussion ) is currently a senior at U-M where

he pursues undergraduate studies with Joseph Gramley, Mi-

chael Udow, Cary Kocher, Ian Ding, and Brian Jones. He is a

native o Madison, WI, and has perormed as a soloist with the

Concord Chamber Orchestra in Milwaukee.

Jeffrey Lyman (bassoon ) has established himsel as one o the

première perormers, teachers, and historians o the bassoon

in the US. He has been associate proessor o bassoon at U-M

since 2006, and, prior to that, held positions at Arizona State

University and Bowling Green State University. He has been a

member o numerous orchestras across the country and has

perormed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Metropolitan

Opera Orchestra, the Opera Company o Philadelphia, the Sa-

vannah Symphony, the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra o Co-

lumbus, the Grand Rapids Symphony, and the Michigan Opera

Theater. Mr. Lyman has requently appeared on the international

estival circuit, most notably at the Moscow Autumn Festival, the

Festival dei Due Mondi (Spoleto, Italy), Académie Européene

d’Été de Musique (Tournon, France), Colorado Music Festival,

Vermont Mozart Festival, Bellingham Music Festival, Saint Bart’sMusic Festival (French West Indies), and the Chamber Music

Conerence and Composers’ Forum o the East at Bennington

46College. He perorms annually at the conerences o the Inter-

national Double Reed Society and is a popular clinician at bas-

soon master classes Mr Lyman is also known as an author and

Please refer to page 54 for a biography of Steven Rush.

Anna Skálová (violin ONCE Quartet) native o the Czech Re

ceived commission awards rom the Hanson Institute or Amer-

ican Music, PRISM Saxophone Quartet, New Music Project,

and Asia Trombone Seminar Her music has been recorded

P H O T O : Wi l l C



O N C


/ t H u r s d a y ,

N o V e m b e r 4

soon master classes. Mr. Lyman is also known as an author and

advocate o new music, and has many publications and com-

missions to his credit, including works by Yuri Kasparov, John

Steinmetz, John Allemeier, David Gompper, Bill Douglas, and

Kathryn Hoover. His article Ater Shostakovich, What Next? , an

annotated bibliography o recent music by Moscow composers,

helped to spread that repertory around the world.

Stacie Mickens (French horn ) is currently pursuing her doctor-

ate o musical arts at U-M. She previously served on the music

aculty at Luther College in Decorah, IA, and at Winona State

University in Winona, MN, where she was a horn and brass in-

structor and chamber music coach. In addition to her teaching,

she is a requent solo recitalist and chamber music participant.

Her primary teachers include Adam Unsworth, Douglas Hill,

Bryan Kennedy, and Michael Gast.

Hoi Yue Ng (viola , ONCE Quartet ), started playing the violin atthe age o six and in 2005 was awarded Fellowship o Trinity

College London (in violin). Born and raised in Hong Kong, Hoi

Yue won numerous prizes at the annual Hong Kong Schools’

Music Festival. Hoi Yue is currently an undergraduate pursuing

a dual degree in viola perormance and biology at U-M.

Three-time international prize-winning utist Amy Porter (futes )

has been acclaimed by major critics as an exciting and inspir-

ing American artist who matches “her fne controlled playing

to a commanding, sensual stage presence.” Ms. Porter frst

leapt to international attention winning the Kobe InternationalFlute Competition in Japan, which led to invitations to perorm

throughout the world. She is a touring concert artist who per-

orms recitals in the major concert halls o Asia and the US with

pianist Christopher Harding. She has perormed internationally

as concerto soloist with orchestras and has been heard in recit-

al on NPR and h ighlighted on PBS’s Live From Lincoln Center .

Recently, Ms. Porter has had our world-première commissions

composed or her. In 2010, Carl Fischer Publishing produced

and released her latest DVD, The ABC’s o Flute Playing or

the Absolute Beginner , with Larry Clark, Vice President, Editor-

in-Chie o Carl Fischer Music. This year she will visit Sloveniaor the 8th Slovenian Flute Festival, Brazil or the International

Flute Festival, the Oklahoma Flute Society, the Texas Flute So-

ciety, Classic Chamber Concerts in Naples, Florida, the National

Flute Association Convention in Anaheim, and participated in the

2010 ARIA International Summer Academy.

Theresa Prokes (violin ) began studying the violin at the age

o our at Bualo Suzuki Strings. In the Bualo area she has

appeared as a soloist with the Bualo Philharmonic Orches-

tra, the Ars Nova Chamber Orchestra, the Clarence Summer

Orchestra, and the Amherst Symphony Orchestra. She is cur-

rently pursuing a master’s in violin perormance at U-M withYehonatan Berick.

Anna Skálová (violin , ONCE Quartet ), native o the Czech Re-

public, started playing the violin at the age o our. In 2007

she participated in the New York String Orchestra Seminar as

assistant concertmaster and in 2009 she won “First Prize” in

the American String Teachers Association Competition in At-

lanta. She is a senior at U-M studying with Stephen Shipps. Ms.

Skálová has played concerts in Germany, Italy, France, Poland,

the US, and Singapore and has participated in master classes

with Shlomo Mintz, Rugierro Ricci and Jacques Israelievitch.

One o America’s most versatile tenors and enlightened mu-

sicians, George Shirley (narrator ) remains in demand nation-

ally and internationally as perormer, teacher, and lecturer. He

has won international acclaim or his perormances with the

Metropolitan Opera and with major opera houses and estivals

internationally. Mr. Shirley has recorded or the RCA, Columbia,

Decca, Angel, Vanguard, C.R.I, Capriccio, Philips, and Albany

labels; he received a Grammy Award in 1968 or his role (Fer-rando) in the RCA recording o Mozart’s Così an tutte . He has

perormed more than 80 operatic roles over the span o his 51-

year career, as well as oratorio and concert literature with some

o the world’s most renowned orchestras and conductors. He

was the frst black tenor and second Arican-American male

to sing leading roles with the Metropolitan Opera, where he re-

mained or 11 years as leading artist. He was the frst black high

school vocal music teacher in the Detroit Public Schools and the

frst black member o the US Army Chorus in Washington, DC.

Mr. Shirley is The Joseph Edgar Maddy Distinguished University

Emeritus Proessor o Music and Director Emeritus o the VocalArts Division o the U-M School o Music, Theatre & Dance.

Beore coming to U-M, Adam Unsworth (French horn) served as

ourth horn o The Philadelphia Orchestra rom 1998– 2007.

Prior to his appointment in Philadelphia, he spent three years

as second horn o the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He also

served as a guest principal horn with the St. Louis Symphony

as well as principal horn o the Colorado Music Festival. A or-

mer aculty member at Temple University, he has appeared at

many universities throughout the US as a recitalist and clini-

cian. Mr. Unsworth recorded Jazz Set or Solo Horn (2001) as

part o Thoughtul Wanderings , a compilation o Hill’s works

or horn. In 2006, he released his frst jazz CD entitled Excerpt

This! , which eatures fve o his original compositions or jazz

sextet and three unaccompanied works.

Ming-Hsiu Yen (piano ), a native Taiwanese, is an active com-

poser and pianist. Her compositions have been played by the

Minnesota Orchestra, YinQi Symphony Orchestra and Choir

(Taiwan), University o Michigan Symphony Orchestra, and

by the PRISM Saxophone Quartet, Brave New Works, and OS-

SIA. She has been the winner o the Heckscher Composition

Prize, the governmental Literary and Artistic Creation Compe-tition (Taiwan), Sun River Composition Competition (China),

and League o Composers/ISCM-USA Competition, and has re-

and Asia Trombone Seminar. Her music has been recorded

on the Innova and Blue Grifn Recording labels. Ms. Yen is

currently on the aculty at the Hong Kong University o Science

and Technology, teaching music composition.

C a l c u t t / A n d r e a S t e v e s

47




Andrea Steves’ PAT undergraduate thesis perormance.

48 WELCOmE i Am iNTriguEd by the irony o it all. Twenty-fve years a-

ter ONCE, the regents o the University o Michigan in-

augurated the Center or Perorming Arts & Technology

P H O T O : M a k e p



by Mary H. Simoni,

University o Michigan

associate dean or research and community

engagement, proessor o perorming arts

technology

25Th ANNivErSAry

OF ThE u-m CENTEr FOr

pErFOrmiNg ArTS

TEChNOLOgy

Friday, November 5, 2010,11:00 am–6:45 pm

University o Michigan North Campus

Ann Arbor


augurated the Center or Perorming Arts & Technology

(CPAT). What happened ater ONCE that laid the oun-

dation or CPAT? The simple answer is the persistent,

visionary leadership o Paul Boylan and the unwavering

support o James Duderstadt. By the time I arrived in

Ann Arbor in 1986 rom the Berklee College o Music,Paul and James had already sown the seeds or that

frst planting. My job, as I saw it, was to cultivate the

felds that seemed bound only by human imagination

and technological prowess. No one really knew exactly

what that frst harvest might bring.

By now, we know.

e a c e T s a o

49



O N C E .M O R E . S Y MP O S I UM / We d Ne s d a y ,N o V e m

b e r 3

Mary Ashley amongst Space Theatre projection screens (August 1964).

50 SChEduLE

11:00 am 12 noon

Mary Simoni and PAT students, Music and Sound Design

the questions that tempt the sleeper is composed o

three interwoven monologues, each centered on di-

25t Annesa Celebaton

Atst Boaes

P H O T O : M a k e p e a



U - M C

E N T E R F O R P E R F O R M I N G A R T S T E C H N O L O G Y 2 5 T H A N

N I V E R S A R Y C E L E B R A T I O N / F r I d a y , N o V e m b e r 5 11:00 am–12 noon

Mobile Phones for Musical Performance

Design Lab #1, Duderstadt Center

2281 Bonisteel Boulevard

This workshop explores how current mobile smart

phones such as Apple Computer’s iPhone can be used

as musical instruments. We will investigate urMus, a

platorm that allows us to defne what kinds o musi-

cal instruments we want to use and how they should

sound. Along the way, we will explore what music-mak-

ing with mobile devices means and think about playing

in a mobile ensemble. Far beyond playing ring tones

and mp3 songs, this workshop will ocus on how to

create new ways to play, perorm, and enjoy music. Led

by Georg Essl.

12 noon–1:00 pm

Lunch Break

1:00–1:55 pm

Timbral Sensitivity: Developing Aural Skills for Electronic

Music Composition and Sound Recording

Audio Studio, Duderstadt Center

Timbre can be described as the tone quality or texture

o sound. Since timbre is used as a means or artistic

expression in the felds o electronic music composi-tion and sound recording, a heightened sensitivity to

timbre and the sonic eects o audio equipment are

required or composers and engineers. This workshop

will explore some o the aural skills that are addressed

through technical ear training. Led by Jason Corey.

2:00–2:55 pm

Integrating Emerging Technologies and Music Performance

Teleconerence Room, Duderstadt Center

This workshop will investigate new technologies be-

ing used by composers and perormers and explores

how these tools have inuenced modern music. The

session will include live perormance, demonstrations,

as well as a brie historical look at technology’s role in

music perormance. Led by Jeremy Edwards and

Tim Flood.

3:00–3:55 pm

the questions that tempt the sleeper

A play by Shannon Dowd and Mary Simoni

eaturing the Michigan Mobile Phone Ensemble

Georg Essl, Director

Video Studio, Duderstadt Center

g

erent methods o enquiry in the moments between

sleep and wakeulness. Each monologue employs a

set o musical and literary devices that reerence the

history o the art while suggesting a unique interaction

o the literary and perorming arts. The mobile phoneensemble becomes a modern-day chorus, while con-

temporary dance and theater inorm motis drawn rom

literary modernism and surrealism. Ultimately, howev-

er, the piece seeks to draw insight rom the moments

in which we are made aware o ourselves and others, o

searching and loss, as inspired by Virginia Wool, rom

whose novel To the Lighthouse the title is derived.

4:00–6:00 pm

ReceptionStudio 2, Walgreen Drama Center

1226 Murn

Celebrate the 25th Anniversary o U-M’s Center or

Perorming Arts Technology

6:00–6:45 pm

Gypsy Pond Music XII : An Interactive Installation

by the Digital Music Ensemble

Stephen Rush, Director

“The Pond,” East side o the Earl V. Moore Building The Digital Music Ensemble celebrates the 12th year

o Gypsy Pond Music , based on a story about Stephen

Rush. Visiting Hungary and longing to hear Gypsy mu-

sic, Mr. Rush went to caés and roamed the streets only

to be disappointed. Ater two weeks o searching, he

decided to take the train. There, at the train station,

he heard a two-hour impromptu concert o authentic

Gypsy music. As John Cage noted, “Music is (indeed!)

all around us, i only we had ears to hear.”

Students rom music, art, engineering, and dance

studies enroll in the Digital Music Ensemble. The stu-

dents create a site-specifc work on “The Pond” that

is inspired by their deep and personal encounter with

these stories and traditions. The Digital Music En-

semble has recorded with Pauline Oliveros and “Blue”

Gene Tyranny, and has premièred works by Philip

Glass, John Cage, and La Monte Young.

As associate proessor and chair o the department o

perorming arts technology, Jason Corey teaches and

conducts research in the areas o sound recording and

production, technical ear training, and multichannelaudio. He recently published Audio Production and

Critical Listening: Technical Ear Training (Focal Press/

Elsevier). He is a member o the Audio Engineering

Society, the Acoustical Society o America, the Interna-

tional Computer Music Association, and the Society or

Music Perception and Cognition.

Jeremy Edwards is a drummer/percussionist, record-

ing engineer, composer, and educator. He received a

bachelor’s degree in music technology and percussionand a master’s degree in improvisation rom U-M. Mr.

Edwards has actively toured the US and Canada per-

orming original music and continues to perorm locally

with rock, jazz, and experimental music groups. He

works or the U-M School o Music, Theatre & Dance

as a music and multimedia computer specialist.

Georg Essl, assistant proessor in computer science and

perorming arts technology at the University o Michi-

gan, holds a PhD in computer science rom Princeton

University. He is ounder and director o the Michigan

Mobile Phone Ensemble and has also helped co-ound

and co-direct the Stanord University and Berlin Mo-

bile Phone Orchestras. His current research in mobile

phones as musical instruments is motivated by his be-

lie that the joy o music-making should be accessible

to all people and inventing new expressive technologies

are essential to this goal.

Tim Flood is a composer, improvisor, and programmer

specializing in live interactive electronic perormance.Currently, he is a lecturer o perorming arts and tech-

nology at the U-M School o Music, Theatre & Dance.

He has also taught electronic music and media courses

at Alma College, and bass perormance at Albion Col-

lege. Mr. Flood has recorded a critically acclaimed CD

entitled Bodies and Soul (CIMP) with ree-jazz legends

Frank Lowe and Charles Moett.

Please refer to page 54 for a biography of Stephen Rush.

Please refer to page 54 for a biography of Mary Simoni.

a c e T s a o

51

O



ON C E .M O R E .

S Y MP O S I UM / We d Ne s d a y ,N o V e m

b e r 3

Milton Cohen’s Space Theatre, Ann Arbor.

52 u-m CENTEr FOr

pErFOrmiNg ArTS TEChNOLOgy

Written, Composed, Connect the Dots

and Directed by

Andy Kirshner



25Th ANNivErSAry CONCErT

Michael Coletti, Percussion

Dane Crozier, Percussion Katri Ervamaa, Cello

Arthur Greene, Piano

Andy Kirshner, Video Projections and

Sound Design

Stephen Rush, Piano

Solomia Soroka, Violin


Saturday, November 6, 2010 at 8:00 pmRackham Auditorium

915 East Washingtong Street

Ann Arbor


Jennier Furr peacock blue or loudspeakers

Erik Santos KATA-KATA or Percussion Duo and Recorded Sound

Mr. Coletti, Mr. Crozier

InterMISSIon

Mary Simoni Piano Trio or Piano, Violin, and Cello with ElectronicsMovement I

Movement II

Movement III

Ms. Ervamaa, Mr. Greene, Ms. Soroka

Stephen Rush BukMix or Computer and Piano

Mr. Rush

53

U

Connect the Dots

Andy Kirshner

C t th D t i th f t l t d

Hot Hand. This device contains technology that senses

human motion and transmits the data wirelessly to a

receiver connected to a computer. The computer ana-

l th d t th H t H d d d b

Atst Boaes

Please refer to page 44 for a biography of Roger Arnett.



U-M C E NT E R F O R P E R F O R MI N G A R T S T E C HN O L O G Y 2 5 T HA NNI V E R S A R Y C O N C E R T / s a t u r d a y ,N o V e mb e r 6

Connect the Dots is the frst completed scene rom a

eature flm that I am currently developing, entitled

Liberty’s Secret: The National Security Musical. It is the

story o Liberty Smith, an aspiring star o “Christ-cen-

tered musical comedy,” who becomes vice-presidento the US. When innocent young Liberty stumbles onto

a shocking government secret, she’s conronted by the

ull orce o American Power—and only the teamwork

o a amily-values preacher and a lesbian biker gang

can save her. The development o the project has been

supported by the Oice o the Vice President or

Research at the University o Michigan. For urther inor-

mation, please visit www.libertysecretmovie.com.

Program note by Andy Kirshner.

peacock blue or loudspeakers (2010)Jennier Furr

KATA-KATA or Percussion Duo and RecordedSound (2005)

Erik Santos

KATA-KATA or percussion duo was written or Eric and

Stacey Jones (aka Equal Temperament Percussion

Duo) or the 2005 Percussive Arts Society International

Convention in Columbus, Ohio. Kata-kata is the name

o a particular style o Japanese rattle that is used to

brighten a child’s spirit when they are sad or scared.

In the darkness, a voice whispers in Japanese: “Now it

begins. Don’t orget, you don’t have to be araid...” The

text was written and spoken by Toko Shiiki.

Program note by Erik Santos.

Piano Trio or Piano, Violin, and Cello withElectronics (2009–10)

Mary Simoni

Piano Trio is a three-movement work that explores the

number fve and its relationship to the fngers o the hu-man hand. The technological premise o the piece cor-

relates the grouping o fve with a device known as the

lyzes the data rom the Hot Hand and responds by cre-

ating a sonic signature that corresponds to the speed

and trajectory o the human hand. The composer mod-

ifed the Hot Hand rom its original orm as a ring to a

bracelet that is attached to the bow arm o the violinistand cellist.

Program note by Mary Simoni.

BukMix or Computer and Piano (2001)Stephen Rush

Programming by Greg Syrjala

Bukmix is another installation in my lielong ascina-tion with poet Charles Bukowski (madman? genius?

drunk?). It is especially ftting or the ONCE. MORE.

Festival to eature Bukowski, since his publisher, Black

Sparrow Press, had deep connections to Ann Arbor in

the 1960s.

The text rom BukMix is taken rom Bukowski’s

readings rom Ham On Rye , his autobiography (o

sorts). The texts reect deeply elt hatred o his parents’

riends, a stiing ather, and a search or deep beauty

amid dysunction. These things all rang sadly true orme as well, hence my sordid interest in these particular

quotes rom Ham On Rye .

The quotes are “ed” to the perormer—as well as

to the audience—in chapters, or amilies. Each chapter

has a short pre-written composition (á la Well-Tuned

Piano by La Monte Young). The perormer then plays

the written work, ollowed with improvisation based

on the composition. The improvisation is defnitely in-

spired, as well, by “Blue” Gene Tyranny’s work. “Blue”

was originally known as Robert Sche, a member

o the ONCE Group. The text and the improvisation

(piano-music) are manipulated by a computer running

MAX/MSP, programmed by my lielong riend and col-

laborator, Greg Syrjala, an engineer rom Rochester,

New York.

All told, the perormance is an integrated envi-

ronment with “computer mitigation” certainly, but an

opportunity or the audience member as well as the

perormer to reect on his or her childhood, and con-

template one’s own journey, both the pluses and mi-

nuses. All things in balance.

Program note by Stephen Rush.

Finnish-born cellist Katri Ervamaa, DMA, is a versatile

perormer who specializes in chamber music, new

music, and creative improvisation. Her current groups

include the Muse String Trio, Brave New Works new

music ensemble, and E3Q, an improvisation-based

genre-deying trio with her husband Mark Kirschen-

mann and percussionist Michael Gould. She is on the

aculty at U-M’s Residential College where she is the

head o the music program. Ms. Ervamaa is a mother

o three and lives in Ann Arbor with her amily.

Jennifer Blair Furr holds a DMA in composition rom

the University o Michigan where she was a Regents

Fellow. Her works have won awards rom SCI/ASCAP,IAWM, and have been perormed at ICMC, the U-M

Electronic Music Studios Microestivals, and the Aspen

Music Festival. Most recently her work has been ea-

tured on WCBN’s radio show Special Ed . Ms. Furr is

currently a lecturer in the University o Michigan de-

partment o perorming arts and technology.

Born in New York, Arthur Greene studied at Juilliard with

Martin Canin. Mr. Greene was a Gold Medal winner in

the William Kapell and Gina Bachauer InternationalPiano Competitions, and a top laureate at the Busoni

International Competition. He perormed the complete

solo piano works o Johannes Brahms in a series o

six programs in Boston, and recorded the complete

etudes o Alexander Scriabin or Supraphon. He has

perormed the 10-sonata cycle o Alexander Scriabin

in Sofa, Kiev, and Salt Lake City. He has recorded to-

gether with his wie, the violinist Solomia Soroka, the

Violin-Piano Sonatas o William Bolcom and the Violin-

Piano Sonatas o Nikolai Roslavets, both or Naxos. He

gave the Ann Arbor première o John Corigliano’s Pia-

no Concerto with the University Symphony Orchestra,

Kenneth Kiesler conducting, in February 2006.

Andy Kirshner is a composer, writer, perormer, and

flmmaker who makes hybrid perormances and musi-

cal flms. An associate proessor at U-M, Mr. Kirshner

is jointly appointed by the School o Music, Theatre &

Dance, and the School o Art & Design. His work has

been commissioned by the National Endowment or

the Arts, Artserve Michigan, Meet the Composer, andthe Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust.

54

6

Stephen Rush has premièred and recorded his classical

and jazz compositions worldwide as well co-authored a

book on jazz theology,Better Get It In Your Soul . He has

perormed with Roscoe Mitchell Henry Grimes Steve

Violinist Solomia Soroka, born in L’viv, Ukraine, is

among the most accomplished Ukrainian musicians o

her generation. She has won top prizes in three presti-

gious international violin competitions held in the ormer



U - M C

E N T E R F O R P E R F O R M I N G A R T S T E C H N O L O G Y 2 5 T H A

N N I V E R S A R Y C O N C E R T / s a t u r d a y , N o V e m b e r perormed with Roscoe Mitchell, Henry Grimes, Steve

Swell, Eugene Chadbourne, Pauline Oliveros, “Blue”

Gene Tyranny, the late Peter Kowald, and his band,

Yoganaut. His music has been perormed by Leonard

Slatkin, Neeme Jaarvi (Detroit Symphony Orchestra)and has been recorded by members o the Cleveland

Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.

Erik Santos is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and

singer in many musical genres, including rock, clas-

sical, electronic, and music or theater and dance.

Awards or his music include the Charles Ives Scholar-

ship and the Charles Ives Fellowship rom The Ameri-

can Academy o Arts and Letters, Broadcast Music

Incorporated (BMI), the MacDowell Colony. His record-ings can be ound on the Naxos American Classics,

Centaur, Eroica and Oddellow labels.

Mary Simoni, associate dean or research and com-

munity engagement at the U-M School o Music, The-

atre & Dance, has done post-doctoral studies at the

Stanord University Center or Computer Research

in Music and Acoustics, the City University o New

York Center or Computer Music, and the Mills College

Electronic Music Studios. Her music and multimedia

works have been perormed in Asia, Europe, andwidely throughout the US, and have been recorded

by Centaur Records, the Leonardo Music Journal

published by the MIT Press, and the International

Computer Music Association. She is a recipient o the

Computer World Honors Award or her research in

digital music inormation retrieval. Proessor Simoni

has appeared as a pianist, using live electronics at the

Society or Electroacoustic Music in the US and the In-

ternational Computer Music Association, o which she

is a past president. She has authored books, A Gentle Introduction to Algorithmic Composition , published by

the University o Michigan, and Analytical Methods o

Electroacoustic Music , published by Routledge. The

Knight Foundation, the Kellogg Foundation, the Na-

tional Science Foundation, and the Michigan Council

or the Arts and Cultural Aairs have unded her re-

search.

gious international violin competitions held in the ormer

Soviet Union—the Prokofev, Lysenko, and Zolota Osin’

competitions. Ms. Soroka earned her master’s degree

summa cum laude and completed postgraduate studies

at the Kyiv Conservatory later serving on its aculty in thechamber music department. She has a DMA rom the

Eastman School o Music.

55o academic possibilities or its students. The school itsel o-

ers a wide range o programs, rom traditional to cutting-edge,

rom primarily perormance-based to academically centered.

The aculty is frst rate, with active perorming careers, yet still

COLLABOrATOrS,

ThANK yOuS, + CrEdiTS

For Mark Clague’s The Creativity of Community , Sources +

Further Reading:

Gerhard, Roberto. “Is Modern Music Growing Old?” in



very much resident. The School o Music, Theatre & Dance o-

ers its students extraordinary perormance opportunities, with

more than 450 concerts, recitals, and staged perormances

presented each year.

One o the oldest perorming arts presenters in the country,

the University Musical Society of the University of Michigan

(UMS) is committed to connecting audiences with perorming

artists rom around the world in uncommon and engaging

experiences. With a program steeped in music, dance, and

theater, UMS contributes to a vibrant cultural community by

presenting approximately 60–75 perormances and over 100

ree educational activities each season. UMS also commis-

sions new work, sponsors artist residencies, and organizes

collaborative projects with local, national, and international

partners. While proudly afliated with the University oMichigan and housed on the U-M campus, UMS is a separate

not-or-proft organization that supports itsel rom ticket sales,

grants, contributions, and endowment income.

Please refer to page 34 for information on the Penny Stamps

Distinguished Speaker Series.

For urther inormation on addi-

tional estival events and exhibits,

please visit www.ums.org/ONCE orscan the QR code to the let with

your mobile device.

Front Cover (L–R): Roger Reynolds, Donald Scavarda, and

George Cacioppo (Ann Arbor, 1963); photo: Bernard Folta.

Gathering o students o Roberto Gerhard (Ann Arbor, 1960)

(see page 9 or complete identifcation o subjects); photo:

Donald Scavarda.ONCE Group at Robert Rauschenberg’s lot (New York, 1965)

(see page 35 or complete identifcation o subjects);

photo: Makepeace Tsao.

Back Cover (L–R): Mary Ashley’s amous 1964 ONCE Festival

poster. (L–R): Gordon Mumma, Donald Scavarda, George

Cacioppo, Robert Ashley, Martina Algire (model).

Outdoor perormance o Mary Ashley’s Truck (1963); photo:

Makepeace Tsao.

Milton Cohen’s Space Theatre (1964); photo: Makepeace

Tsao.

mAJOr FuNdiNg prOvidEd By

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

AddiTiONAL FuNdiNg prOvidEd By

George Cacioppo Memorial Fund

The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series o the

University o Michigan School o Art & Design

University o Michigan Digital Media Commons o the

Duderstadt Center

University o Michigan School o Music, Theatre & Dance

University o Michigan Institute or the Humanities

University o Michigan Ofce o the Vice President or

Research

University Musical Society o the University o Michigan

CrEdiTS

Makepeace Tsao’s ONCE photographs courtesy o the

Tsao Family.

Donald Scavarda photographs courtesy o the composer.

Special thanks to Robert Ashley, Gordon Mumma,

Roger Reynolds, and Donald Scavarda or their time,

generosity, and essential contributions to ONCE. MORE.

Special thanks to Laura Kuhn, executive director o the John

Cage Trust; and Leta Miller, proessor o music, University o

Caliornia, Santa Cruz, or generously allowing the reprinting o

her work in this publication.

ONCE. MORE. estival guide co-edited by Mark Jacobson,

University Musical Society o the University o Michigan (UMS)

and Stephanie Harrell, U–M Institute or the Humanities.

Designed by Savitski Design, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

, g

Gerhard on Music: Selected Writings , edited by Meirion

Bowen (Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate, 2000).

Finney, Ross Lee. Prole o a Lietime: A Musical Autobiography

(New York: C.F. Peters, 1992).

Interviews by the author with Robert Ashley, Gordon Mumma,

Roger Reynolds, and Donald Scavarda (July 2010).

“International Conerence o Composers” in The Encyclopedia

o Music in Canada (online) at

www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com.

James, Richard S. “ONCE: Microcosm o the 1960s Musical

and Multimedia Avant-Garde,” American Music 5:4

(Winter, 1987), 359–90.

Miller, Leta. “ONCE and Again: The Evolution o a Legend-

ary Festival,” essay in Music rom the ONCE Festival,

1961–1966 (New York: New World Records 80567-2,

2003), 13–104. Note: this 5-cd set o archival ONCEFestival recordings is recommended to those interested in

urther listening.

Mumma, Gordon. “The Once Festival and How It Happened,”

Arts in Society 4:2 (Summer, 1967), 379–98.

Peckham, Howard H. The Making o The University o

Michigan, 1917–1992 (Ann Arbor: Bentley Historical

Library, 1994).

Reti, Jean. “An International Conerence o Composers,” Tempo

55/56 (Autumn-Winter, 1960), 6–7.

Weingarten, Emily. “The Music o ONCE: Perpetual Innovation,”

unpublished student paper, 2008.

COLLABOrATOrS

The Institute for the Humanities is a center or innovative, col-

laborative study in the humanities and arts. We provide el-

lowships or Michigan aculty, graduate students, and visiting

scholars who work on interdisciplinary projects. We also oer

a wide array o public and scholarly events, including weekly

brown bag talks, public lectures, conerences, art exhibits, and

perormances. Our mission is to serve as a national and inter-

national centerpiece or scholarly research in the humanities

and creative work in the arts at the University o Michigan. Weexist to deepen synergies between the humanities, the arts and

other regions o the university, to carry orward the heritage o

the humanities, and to bring the voices o the humanities to

public lie.

Founded in 1880, the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance is

one o the fnest perorming arts schools in the country. Encom-

passing programs in dance, music, musical theater, and the-

ater, it is consistently ranked among the nation’s top perorming

arts schools. Its setting within a highly ranked research univer-

sity adds to its uniqueness and opens up a breadth and depth

Date post:	10-Apr-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	sarabill
View:	218 times
Download:	0 times

ONCE Festival Guide

Documents