
The Giga-Hertz Award Festival 2020 concludes with exploring the work of award winner Alvin Lucier. The closing concert contains two German first performances of the composer.
Alvin Lucier is a key figure for anyone who would like to fully understand the unfolding of music during the second half of the 20th century until today. Along with Robert Ashley, David Behrman and Gordon Mumma with the »Sonic Arts Union« (active from 1966 to 1976), Alvin Lucier managed to pursue and renew the path traced by the American avant-garde, in particular John Cage, by extending the compositional techniques towards devices and acoustic phenomena, thereby reshaping the process of composition itself. His impact on the musical field is also fundamental in his teaching activities, notably at Wesleyan University (1968–2011) and in some of his writings. Also inspirational is his ability to perpetuate this curiosity about the sound phenomenon and the way we can experience it as humans – that is to say to extend, musically, the disarming experience of being human, facing a phenomenal world that you can't decipher.
The exploration of Alvin Lucier's varied oeuvre will start with a film screening and a panel talk. The following concert will present four compositions from his life work, including two German premieres; additionally, you can experience another work by the sound poet in the form of a two-day online installation.
Program
4 pm | Filmscreening »No Ideas But in Things« by Viola Rusche and Hauke Harder about the life and work of Alvin Lucier | |
5.45 pm | Panel Talk Prof. Ludger Brümmer, Prof. Dr. Rudolf Frisius, Prof. Dr. habil. Sabine Sanio and Julia Gerlach |
7 pm – Concert
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- Alvin Lucier »Wave Songs« (1998)
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- Alvin Lucier »Music for Cello With One or More Amplified Vases« (1993)
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- Alvin Lucier »Music for Piano with One or More Snare Drums« (1990)
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- Alvin Lucier »Music for Pure Waves, Bass Drums, and Acoustic Pendulums« (1980)
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- Alvin Lucier »I Am Sitting in a Room« (1969)
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- Website
- The Event via Livestream