Sunday, Dec. 17 at 3pm
Free | RSVP

Please join us for an end-of-the-year event, with works by Alvin Lucier performed by cellist Charles Curtis and bassoonist Dafne Vicente-Sandoval.

Alvin Lucier, Same and Different (2021) for bassoon and pure wave
Alvin Lucier, Slices (2007-2011) for cello and pre-recorded orchestra

Same and Different: During the course of the performance an electronically generated pure wave tuned at 442 Hz flows from a single loudspeaker mounted behind and above the heads of the audience. A bassoonist plays a series of 126 long tones consisting of near-unison variations of the pure wave caused by different fingerings. Small variations in pitch cause audible beating. The farther the distance between the pitches, the faster the beating; at unison, no beating occurs. Furthermore, the beating patterns may be heard to spin in space above the heads of the listeners.

In Slices for cello and pre-recorded orchestra, a 53-note chromatic tone cluster is sustained by 53 orchestral instruments, each recorded individually and looped. Against this sustaining surface, the solo cello performs melodic orderings of the 53-note set; with each played tone, the cluster is successively erased and then re-inscribed, in a gradual process timed and inflected by the soloist in real time. The entire cluster is traversed seven times altogether.

Dafne Vicente-Sandoval is a bassoonist who explores sound through contemporary music interpretation and electroacoustic performance.

Her research has translated into an intuitive investigation of the bassoon’s complex acoustical properties, embracing the elusive behavior of overtones as well as the countless possibilities in timbral shadings and idiosyncratic tunings. Her instrumental practice has led to the creation of a significant body of solo pieces in close collaboration with a handful of composers (Éliane Radigue, Jakob Ullmann, Alvin Lucier, Peter Ablinger, Phill Niblock, Tashi Wada). Over the last decade, Vicente-Sandoval has concurrently pursued an exploration of feedback generation and its contingent musicality.

A graduate of the Paris Conservatory and the Musik-Akademie Basel, Vicente-Sandoval currently lives in Paris. She has published essays in Darmstädter Beiträge zur Neuen Musik, Revue et Corrigée, Blank Forms and Sound American magazines. Recent releases include Ullmann's Müntzers stern/Solo II on Edition RZ, Niblock's NuDaf on XI Records and Minos Circuit on Portraits GRM.

Cellist Charles Curtis was born in 1960 in Laguna Beach, California. After attending Juilliard he taught part-time at Princeton, performed widely in the solo and chamber music repertoire, and worked with the bands King Missile, Dogbowl and You Suck. From 1989 to 2000 he was principal cellist of the Symphony Orchestra of the North German Radio in Hamburg. His long creative relationships with experimentalists such as La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela, Alvin Lucier, Tashi Wada and Éliane Radigue have brought into being a body of distinctive works modeled on his cello-playing and performing persona. Pieces by Terry Jennings, Richard Maxfield, Morton Feldman and Christian Wolff have likewise been touchstones in Curtis's performing life. He has made original music for films by Raha Raissnia, Jeff Perkins and Luke Fowler. Curtis is Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of California, San Diego.

Charles Curtis and Dafne Vicente-Sandoval appear with the support of Villa Albertine. Villa Albertine is creating a network for arts and ideas spanning France and the United States. It offers tailor-made residencies for global creators, thinkers and cultural professionals.