SLEE LECTURE PRESENTATION: SPLICE ENSEMBLE AND PAULA MATTHUSEN
Practing Entanglements:The Cave, The Tape, The Spark. Paula Matthusen(live-electronics), SPLICE Ensemble (Keith Kirchoff [piano], Adam Vidiksis[percussion], Sam Wells (trumpets), & Jennifer Beattie (mezzo-soprano).
Practing Entanglements:The Cave, The Tape, The Spark. Paula Matthusen(live-electronics), SPLICE Ensemble (Keith Kirchoff [piano], Adam Vidiksis[percussion], Sam Wells (trumpets), & Jennifer Beattie (mezzo-soprano).
Practicing Entanglements: The Cave, The Tape, The Spark discussesa few large-scale collaborative works and their tentacular means of takingshape. Of particular discussion is the work in progress led by Paula Matthusenentitled Weaving Resonances – a long-term research and conversation withMammoth Cave, its history, and the many people connected to it. Thisspecific set of sonic curiosities marks a recent return to Mammoth Cave followinga recording session originally completed in 2019, developed collaborativelywith the electroacoustic trio SPLICE Ensemble (Keith Kirchoff, Adam Vidiksis,Sam Wells) and Jennifer Beattie.
SPLICE Ensemble is a trumpet, piano, and percussiontrio focused on cultivating a canon of electroacoustic chamber music. Called a“sonic food fight” by Jazz Weekly, SPLICE Ensemble works with composers andperformers on performance practice techniques for collaboration and integratingelectronics into a traditional performance space, and they were recentlyawarded a Chamber Music America grant for a commission of a new 25-minute workwith composer Caroline Miller. The resident ensemble of both SPLICE Instituteand SPLICE Festival, SPLICE Ensemble has been a featured ensemble at M Woods inBeijing, SEAMUS, the Electroacoustic Barn Dance, SCI National, Electronic MusicMidwest, and New Music Detroit’s Strange Beautiful Music 10. They have recordedon both the SEAMUS and Parma Labels.
Vocalist/Poet/Composer Jennifer Beattie, hailed byOpera News for her “exuberant voice and personality”, performs a wide range ofvocal music from early to experimental. She collaborates as a poet/lyricistwith classical, jazz and experimental composers, and has premiered over 150works written for her voice.
Paula Matthusen is a composer who writes bothelectroacoustic and acoustic music and realizes sound installations. She writesfor diverse instrumentations, and seeks collaborations across the arts andsciences. Her work often considers discrepancies in musical space—real,imagined, and remembered. She is currently Professor of Music at WesleyanUniversity and the Slee Visting Professor in the Music Department at Universityat Buffalo.