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I/O Fest

Thu, January 11th, 2018
7:30 pm

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I/O FEST 2018
NEW YEAR…NEW MUSIC
presented by the Williams College Department of Music
January 11-13 ‘62 Center for Theatre and Dance
January 14 The Clark Institute of Art

Matthew Gold, artistic director; Leonard Bopp ‘19, student director; Kate Soper, composer in residence; Fresh Squeezed Opera, guest ensemble

All events are FREE and open to the public: no ticket required.

The I/O Fest is the Williams College Department of Music’s annual immersion in the music of now. Over the course of four days and nights performers and audiences take a deep dive into new and adventurous music from around the world and down the street. Performances, talks, and workshops are held in the ’62 Center for Theatre & Dance and The Clark Art Institute, with a special interest in unconventional spaces and modes of performance. I/O Fest 2018 features composer/performer Kate Soper, in residence for a performance of her landmark chamber opera Here Be Sirens by guest ensemble Fresh Squeezed Opera, and performances by the I/O Ensemble, IOTA, and an array of Williams faculty, students, alumni, and guests.

Thursday, January 11 at 7:30 p.m., CenterStage, ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance
I/O Ensemble – Anthem
The opening concert of I/O Fest 2018 offers boundary defying works by a group of restless composers challenging the limits of conventional instruments and the human voice. This program promises a journey through new sounds, falling objects, jazz and Cuban inspired rhythms, and new approaches to instruments ranging from the piano to the Chinese guqin and electronics.
Thursday, January 11, between concerts, CenterStage lobby, ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance
Audience Reception

Thursday, January 11 at 10 p.m., Dance Studio, ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance
Night Jams 1 – Inaudible Time
Night Jams 1 takes place in a unique venue and features sounds of the night. Enjoy light refreshment at a reception before Night Jams after the opening concert! Featuring the Kris Allen Ensemble and Axxea String Quartet. John Coltrane: Song of the Underground Railroad (arr. Kris Allen) (1961/2017); Jürg Frey: Unhörbare Zeit (2005/06)

Friday, January 12 at 7 p.m. CenterStage,’62 Center for Theatre and Dance
A pre-concert talk/discussion, Here Be Sirens, with Prof. Kate Soper and Prof. Alison Case

Friday, January 12 at 8 p.m., CenterStage, ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance
Kate Soper’s Here Be Sirens
Here Be Sirens is an opera in one act, book and music by Kate Soper, performed by Fresh Squeezed Opera. Here Be Sirens blends beautiful music, terrifying noise, screwball comedy, and Aristotelian tragedy to present the mythological sirens as real beings, invested in their own origins and obsessed with the possibility of escape from the tedium of endless irresistible desire. Hailed by The New Yorker as “…an erudite, hilarious, furiously inventive meditation on the siren myth…”

Saturday, January 13 at 8 p.m., CenterStage,’62 Center for Theatre and Dance
Iota Ensemble – in the dead of night
This program,“in the dead of night,” mixes works by young composers, Williams alums, and some of today’s foremost composers. The music celebrates the spirit of inspiration and the objects, places, and people from which we derive it. In particular, it explores the difficult act of drawing inspirations from settings which seem otherwise dark, disparate. It is often from the presence of this darkness that creativity springs forth, that our most profound ideas are born.

Saturday, January 13 at 10 p.m., CenterStage,’62 Center for Theatre and Dance
Night Jams 2 – After Hours Jam Session
Night Jams 2 is an informal session of new music, and some old.

Sunday, January 14 at 1 p.m., The Clark Art Institute, Conforti Pavillion
I/Out Loud – All Ears
All Ears is a free one-hour concert at which kids and their families can discover new sounds and create live music with students and faculty from Williams College. Kids can explore the hidden sounds in everyday objects and uncover the strange and wonderful noises of the instruments of the orchestra. Open your ears to the sounds all around us, and be prepared to make some noise!

Sunday, January 14 at 3 p.m. The Clark Art Institute, Conforti Pavillion
The Form of Space
I/O Fest presents a one-hour program of works that explores space, form, and the physical materials of sound through music for instruments ranging from woodwinds, brass, and strings to drums and everyday objects. With musicians arranged around the pavilion, the audience is immersed in a living and kinetic world of sound. At the center or the program is Michael Pisaro’s Ricefall (1) for sixteen percussionists, which envelops the listener in a soundscape composed of falling grains of rice. Also featured are Zosha Di Castri’s La Forma Dello Spazio, Matthias Pintscher’s Shining Forth, and Gérard Grisey’s funereal Stèle.

 

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