Alvin Lucier is honorary guest of Skaņu Mežs 2019

Legendary composer of experimental music Alvin Lucier will be the honorary guest of Skaņu Mežs festival for adventurous music in Riga, Latvia. He will pefrom his iconic work „I am Sitting in a Room”, and glockenspiel player and percussionist Trevor Saint will perform his pieces „Ricochet Lady” and „Tilted Arc”. A workshop/lecture by Lucier at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music will also be announced soon. Skaņu Mežs will happen on October 11-12 at concert hall Hanzas Perons (16a Hanzas street) with a free-entry opening event on October 5 at the Art Museum Riga Bourse (Doma Square 6). First 100 two-day passes to the festival can be purchased for 22 EUR at www.bilesuserviss.lv.

Alvin Lucier was born in 1931 in Nashua, New Hampshire. He was educated in Nashua public and parochial schools, the Portsmouth Abbey School, Yale, and Brandeis and spent two years in Rome on a Fulbright Scholarship. From 1962 to 1970 he taught at Brandeis, where he conducted the Brandeis University Chamber Chorus, which devoted much of its time to the performance of new music. In 1966, along with Robert Ashley, David Behrman and Gordon Mumma, he co-founded the Sonic Arts Union. From 1968 to 2011 he taught at Wesleyan University where he was John Spencer Camp Professor of Music.

Lucier lectures and performs extensively in Asia, Europe and The United States. He has collaborated with John Ashbury (Theme) and Robert Wilson (Skin, Meat, Bone). His recent sound installation, 6 Resonant Points Along a Curved Wall, accompanied Sol DeWitt’s enormous sculpture, Curved Wall, in Graz, Austria, and in the Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University in January 2005. Recent instrumental works include Coda Variations for 6-valve solo tuba; Twonings for cello and piano; Canon, commissioned by the Bang on a Can All-Stars, and Music with Missing Parts, a re-orchestration of Mozart’s Requiem, premiered at the Mozarteum, Salzburg in December 2007. In October 2012 Two Circles, a chamber work, commissioned by The Venice Biennale, was premiered there by the Alter Ego Ensemble and in December 2013 a new work, December 12th, was performed by the Ensemble Pamplemousse at the Issue Project Room, Brooklyn and Firewood, performed in March 2014 by the Bang on a Can All Stars at Merkin Hall, New York.

In 2013 Mr. Lucier was the guest composer at the Tectonics Festival in Glasgow, the Ultima Festival, Oslo and gave a portrait concert at the Louvre, Paris, with cellist Charles Curtis. Recent events in 2014 include three evenings of Lucier’s works presented by the International Contemporary Ensemble, in Chicago; two concerts at Roulette, performed by the Callithumpian Consort, as well several concerts at The Tectonics Festival, Reykjavik, Iceland. In October 2014 Lucier was honored by a three-day festival of his works at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.

„Reflections/Reflexionen”, a bi-lingual edition of Lucier’s scores, interviews and writings was published by MusikTexte, Köln. In September 2012 the Wesleyan Press published Lucier’s latest book, „Music 109: Notes on Experimental Music”.
Alvin Lucier was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States and received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from the University of Plymouth, England. In November 2011 Wesleyan University celebrated Alvin Lucier’s retirement with a three-day festival of his works.

Trevor Saint plays the glockenspiel. He performs the first solo works for the extended-range instrument, and improvises wildly with the instrument’s extreme offerings. Trevor performs in the duos Skewed and Such (Jeff Herriott, laptop) and Tanngrisnir (Christopher Burns, electric guitar), with the duo Tongue Depressor (Henry Birdsey/Zach Rowden, fiddles), and in the Ever Present Orchestra.
Stay tuned for further announcements of Skaņu Mežs 2019. Tickets to the festival can be purchased here: ticketservice.lv. Advance sales ticket for a single concert night currently costs 15 EUR and will increase in price. Meanwhile, the first 100 two-day passes are available for 22 EUR.

Skaņu Mežs festival is supported by the Ministry of Culture of Latvia, State Culture Capital Foundation, the Municipality of Riga, Trust for Mutual Understanding, Danish Cultural Institute as well as iRobot, Valmiermuiža and Red Bull Music Academy. Skaņu Mežs is also a member of the SHAPE platform for innovative music and audiovisual art, supported by the „Creative Europe” program of the European Union, and I.C.A.S., an international network of festivals, devoted to adventurous sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZahY5IjbkZU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIPU2ynqy2Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAxHlLK3Oyk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXgGfuLztXo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daDdiITVuWU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-Pnb_ZE7Hs

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